D&D 5E (2014) Rules - Wind and arrows?

[Fanaelialae]

WOW! You really know the DMG quite well IMO. Thanks for pointing out the official rules.

Just got lucky. I'm building a sandbox campaign so I was reading through that section a few days prior while hammering out overland travel.

 

[ccs]

It's a limitation of the Disadvantage mechanic that shooting an arrow at long distance is exactly as hard as firing at long distance through strong crosswinds while intoxicated. Are you really comfortable with saying that a shot is literally impossible? If not, then the only modifier that could possibly apply is Disadvantage.

Disadvantage is hardly the modifier you could dream up. Afterall we're already talking about creating additional windage rules that 5e just doesn't cover.
You could just add pts to the targets AC or impose additional negatives as you see fit. Reduce the ranges, reduce the # of shots that can be taken in a round, etc etc etc.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Disadvantage is hardly the modifier you could dream up. Afterall we're already talking about creating additional windage rules that 5e just doesn't cover.
You could just add pts to the targets AC or impose additional negatives as you see fit. Reduce the ranges, reduce the # of shots that can be taken in a round, etc etc etc.

That's not the language that 5E uses to describe difficult circumstances. That's the language of 3E, or of AD&D. Those tools aren't in the toolkit provided by 5E.

As a player, if the DM started imposing those kinds of restrictions, I would be confused. I mean, I'm all in favor of the DM making judgment calls as necessary and creating house rules to cover unexpected situations, but those rules don't even look like you're playing 5E anymore.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Let's not forget that although Advantage and Disadvantage are the two primary bonus/penalty rules in the game, they aren't the only ones. So you never have to restrict yourself to just Ad and Disad when making specialized scenario rules.

The main secondary ruleset is the -2 / -5 that 5E uses for cover (which stacks with Disadvantage). So that right there is a great way to bring in another set of penalties to more complicated issues. You throw those up due to wind/ship movement/weather or whatever, and leave Disadvantage purely for distance, both of which can apply for ranged shots.