Ranged vs Prone

[0-hr]

So if I am standing adjacent to a prone bad guy and I want to shoot him with my trusty crossbow, first he gets an AoO against me and then I have to take a -4 penalty to hit him because he is lying flat on his back?

Sure he is at -4 to hit on his AoO (for being prone), but I just can't buy that it's harder to shoot this guy lying down than if he were standing up. Is there a rule anywhere to handle this sillyness?

I guess I could house rule it so that the penatly only applies for ranged attacks from more than 15ft away (or whatever), but it seems like something the designers should have thought of when they were initially typing that section.

 

[italianranma]

Sounds pretty silly I know. I think I would give the attacker a bonus if he was adjacent, but not if he was 10ft away. That's what house rules are for.
I play airsof on a team (airsoft is like paintball except the weapons are more realistic and accurate, and they use BBs instead of paint) and whenever we could we'd offer the smallest target available. A lot of times that meant lying prone facing your target, but even then we never did it w/out cover, unless it couldn't be helped. Something that saves your ass a lot is dropping straight into prone when you're fired upon. But if someone is standing right over you (and you're not shooting him or resisting like you are supposed to) I hardly think he'd miss.
Edit:
I was just thinking that the victum would be rolling around and kicking at your legs, and waving his weapon at you, and generally being a nuisance and a poor target, so I don't know how I'd rule it really, I'd have to think about it more...

 

[The Souljourner]

Yeah, if the guy's right next to you, being prone is going to hurt a lot more than it helps. You're not really presenting any less of a target, and you've severly restricted your own movement. I might even give a +2 to hit (it's not as big as in melee, because melee weapons are *meant* to be used on the guy right next to you).

And by the way... airsof sounds crazy... paintballs are painful enough, thankyouverymuch.

Cover is definitely the best defense in paintball, though even then, if you don't keep moving, someone's going to get a bead on you. I've never really gone prone in paintball, unless it was to hide behind something I couldn't hide behind any other way. Limiting your movement is a huge disadvantage.

-The Souljourner

 

[Darklone]

Sorry guys, have you ever shot with a kinda medieval weapon at someone next to you at all? A heavy crossbow or a longbow? I guess it would be easier to shoot him if he would be 10 ft away than if he's right next to you.

Paintballs... Can't you imagine why pistols are much nicer in hand to hand combat than crossbows?

 

[italianranma]

I shot a crossbow at a Ren fair. That damn thing kicked like a shotgun. My shot went about 4ft high and the target was only 20ft away. But then again I was at -4 for non-proficiency