[RANT] Archer Prestige classes? Why none for X-bows or Sling users?

[Rackhir]

Robin hood Shombin hood. Remember the guy from Lady Hawk? Who turned into a wolf at night but by day kicked ass? He used a crossbow(an odd one, held 2 shots loaded) and he'd womp on everyone.

Plus it had 'Mouse' played by the guy from Ferris Beulers day off. Robin Hood had who? Kevin Costner? SPff

Ah, you do realize there is something beyond movies? Books, stories, legends, fables etc...

I enjoyed LadyHawk, but it's hardly a tale for the ages. Robin Hood's story has lasted by contrast for several hundred years and continues to be a major influence in today's culture.

Blaming "Robin Hood : Prince of Thieves" on the Robin Hood legend is unfair. Once these things enter the hellish maw of hollywood (particularly when it's a vanity project for a star nobody is willing to say "No." to), the creator of the story and the story it's self have little to do with the outcome.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Hmm. I once made a Halfing/Gnome "Sling Wielder" Prestige Class. It used some special combat feints und tricks, and included the obvious sneak attack/precise strike abilities..

 

[SableWyvern]

Re: Martial vs. Simple

Aside from game mechanics, the reason has to do with the type of weapon. Longbows are martial weapons, crossbows simple. The longbow took extensive training to use. Any idiot could fire a crossbow. This is what led to the phasing out of the longbow. It made training and replacement of archers cheaper and faster.

I disagree slightly. The time required to become skilled with the longbow was a factor in its limited use - but it wasn't so much that training longbowmen was expensive; rather it was an extension of the fact that training took a long time.

The problem was, that knights weren't going to become missile troops. Thus, in order to have longbow troops, you had to allow everyone else to own one, so that they could train. An armed and trained peasantry? Not too many rulers were comfortable with that idea.

Since only England allowed widespread use of longbows (and in fact ordered that all men should be skilled with them), there were insufficient trained longbowmen to form units when professional soldiers (ie, mainly mercenaries) started to hit the scene. Thus, you have places like Genoa, that pumped out crossbowmen, but few units of professional longbows outside of the British Isles.

 

[chatdemon]

I'm sick of the number of archer prestige classes out there. Arcane Archers, Order of the Bow, Snipers and so on. Why aren't there Prestige classes for Crossbow wielders or Sling shot users?

Just tweak them. Order of the Bow could easily apply to the sling. Deepwood sniper could apply to any missile weapon. Arcane Archer could include crossbows (I don't by the whole 'elves R00L the bow thing).

I've even allowed all three of these classes to apply to firearms, since I use some primitive handguns in my game.

 

[Xarlen]

When WotC was doing their prestige class contest, I saw a halfling slinger, that basicly was the Halfling version of an Arcane Archer. You could plop down spells into your rocks, mainly touch spells, really.

 

[Krug]

I'm thinking of a magical PrC for Halfing slingers, who can transform their slingstones into giant boulders in mid flight. That should be fun...

 

[Ranger REG]

Unfortunately, halflings are not good with sling. They're good with throwing weapons. I don't know if this is deliberate on the Wizards' designers, or an oversight to the halfling's racial traits.

 

[Andor]

Also there is the fact that nobody has fielded mass formations of slingers since the assyrians. Not that the assyrians weren't feared in their day, but almost any armour is effective against rocks, as opposed to arrows. The sling is just not a classy weapon in the minds of game designers (and probably for that matter, adventurers.)

-Andor

 

[Rashak Mani]

Just want to add my indignation as well of the mistreatment and secondary place xbow men have in D&D. We know in history it was the militia mans weapon and not the real warriors... but hey xbow are neat and should be given due attention.

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

I think part of the problem is that crossbows and slings aren't "sexy" enough.

Same thing with axes and spears and the like.

There seems to be a good sized chunk of gamers (and fantasy novel fans and SCA folk) who equate the bow and the sword with grace and beauty.

Hence the proliferation of sword duelists in fiction and hence the proliferation of longbow and blade-dancer like PrCs.

Patrick Y.