Something funny about bow max distance

[Stalker0]

Has anyone else noticed that while the max distance of a longbow is 1000 ft, according to the dmg, the max distance you can encounter someone is 720 ft. When does that extra distance ever kick in?

 

[Crothian]

Has anyone else noticed that while the max distance of a longbow is 1000 ft, according to the dmg, the max distance you can encounter someone is 720 ft. When does that extra distance ever kick in?

Special circumstances. Remember, at 1000ft one is at -20 to hit, so even having an encounter at that range is not going to see much combat.

 

[AuraSeer]

Encounter distance only refers to groups that run into each other at random. If you're advancing on a building, a mountain, or some other easily-recognized landmark, you can effectively "encounter" the area as soon as it's visible.

 

[Ziggy]

Re: Re: Something funny about bow max distance

Special circumstances. Remember, at 1000ft one is at -20 to hit, so even having an encounter at that range is not going to see much combat.

Unless you got Far Shot (-12) or are a Deepwood Sniper (down to -6 depending on level).

A high level Deepwood Sniper can hit things far beyond anything he can spot (that -1 per 10 ft is really ridiculous)

.Ziggy

 

[Crothian]

Re: Re: Re: Something funny about bow max distance

Unless you got Far Shot (-12) or are a Deepwood Sniper (down to -6 depending on level).

A high level Deepwood Sniper can hit things far beyond anything he can spot (that -1 per 10 ft is really ridiculous)

.Ziggy

Ya, and with the distance special ability on a magic bow, and with spells that can be changed even more. I was just going with what was presented in the first post.

 

[kreynolds]

Heh. Makes you wonder about that epic feat that lets you shoot at something on the horizon without penalty, doesn't it?

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Re: Re: Re: Something funny about bow max distance

Unless you got Far Shot (-12) or are a Deepwood Sniper (down to -6 depending on level).

A high level Deepwood Sniper can hit things far beyond anything he can spot (that -1 per 10 ft is really ridiculous)

.Ziggy

I think the -2 for 100' range increments are more silly. Without some kind of sight enhancement it is probably tougher to hit things at 30' than it is to hit them at 10', but as is the 1st penalty comes in at a whopping 100'. I gues people just naturally develop great eye sight(for shooting and nothing else) once they pick up a bow. The spot check penalties I agree with, but something like seeing a un-concealed person should be a really low base dc maybe in the negs.

 

[Ziggy]

I definitely agree with the range increments, IMHO the ranges of most ranged weapons should have been at least halved.

But the spot thing is just plain silly. It's easy to spot an unconcealed person at 200 meters, a whopping -60 to spot. In fact most people can spot a person against a different background at 1000 meters, thats -300 to spot. How far down did you want to put that negative DC ?

.Ziggy

 

[med stud]

From what I have heard (dont know how true it is), English longbowmen had archery practice at targets about 200 yards away, and I have seen at discovery channel how a Japanese bow maker hit a waterfilled baloon at 100 or 200 (dont remember) yards. So I guess a hero could be able to hit a moving target at 720 ft (after believing fireballs and dragons, I think this part is the easy one to believe )

 

[Xeriar]

The Welsh longbow could fire 700 yards, even. Would be like a composite longbow with the distance ability...

I know driving down I-90 I could pick out cars at 2 & 1/2 miles away on a clear day. My sight is pretty terrible, too.

The horizon, for those who wanna know (hehe) on a flat plain is the square root of twice your height (where you see from) times the radius of the body you're on.

This is easiest to do with kilometers and then convert, because you are generally significantly smaller than your planet.

So, if you're 2 meters tall, on Earth, The horizon is (.002 * 2)^1/2 * 6,300 = about 12.5 km away, or about 8 miles.