Slings

Angcuru · Mar 15, 2003

Heavier stone make for bigger holes in your opponent's braincase.

Dr. Strangemonkey · Mar 20, 2003

Bolas are the sweetest thing in the whole wide world.

I'm a big fan of weapons that hinder or incapicitate your enemies in 3e.

RangerWickett · Mar 20, 2003

So how do bolas work in 3e? Rules?

MerakSpielman · Mar 20, 2003

DM with a vengence said:
One really goor reason for slings in D&D, IIRC, is that you only need one hand to use them.

Cool! I guess I can use dual slings then!

Angcuru · Mar 22, 2003

or rather a sling and a shield. which is just as good. it's like having a mighty +infinity composite longbow that deals 1d4 instead of 1d8.

I.E.
KRUKDAR the LVL 1 fighter with a strength of 30(god knows why) could chuck stones at his foes dealing 1d4+10 damage while still using a tower shield.

Dr. Strangemonkey · Mar 22, 2003

The rules for bolas in Sword and Fist are in the opinions of some philestines, overpowered.

They basically function as a medium throwing weapon that does 1d4 damage on a successful hit. And I believe the throw is touch attack, could be wrong, but anyways. If you hit with a bola the creature falls prone, and must then roll a grapple check versus your attack score or be grappled ala the rules for the net.

It's an exotic weapon proficiency, naturally, but super useful against anything that walks.

Thorvald Kviksverd · Mar 22, 2003

I love slings!!!

I had a whole host of bookmarks on them that got lost when my computer crashed.

Anyway...

The stones (or cast clay shot) could indeed weigh half a pound. As I recall, the typical weight was around 200-300 grams or thereabouts (I really need to check on this and get back though). I think some of the heaviest even went up to 750gm--but this was rare.

As to the lead bullets...

They typically weighed in around 30-50gm. I think when I figured it out once, this meant the average bullet was roughly the size of a 10 or 12 gauge shotgun slug (note: the gauge comes from the old measure of how many musket balls you could cast for a given diameter barrel from a pound of lead--so a pound of lead will give you 10-10gauge slugs, or 12-12gauge ones).

The lead shot could achieve much higher velocities than the stone/clay counterparts. The Romans had special surgical tools to remove the bullets. The troops feared them greatly as the wound would often seal back up after the bullet had penetrated--leaving little evidence of its strike. It appeared almost magical to the superstitious troopers. The surgeons believed (wrongly) that thios was due to the bullet being heated by its rapid (and all but invisible) flight. The difficulty of seeing it coming also led to this superstitious dread.

The troopers in Trajan's (I think) column even added wicker padding to their helmets and shields to lessen the impact of the stones and bullets of their enemies.

As to the game mechanics...

I always thought it would be a good idea to base the sling more on the user's Dexterity--it's really more about velocity and coordination than brute force. Perhaps allowing the Dex Mod to be added to damage if a full round (?) action were taken to fire would be appropriate? This would go a long way towards explaining why it is popular with weak but dextrous types (sheperds, Halflings, etc.).

If I dig up the exact values, I'll edit the above.