Speed of an arrow?

[Kashell]

I've recently come across something very interesting. Imagine this situation if you will.



Orathli, level 7 monk is attempting to protect a griffin. The griffin, due to several factors(wings being clipped, fear effects) is unable to act. The monk is protecting the griffin from an unseen, unknown attaker, however, he has seen arrows fly from a certain direction. At level 2, Orathli took the deflect arrows feat, and is attempting to 'guard' the griffin by using this ability.


What would happen in this situation? Is it even possible for another chacater to deflect arrows away from someone else besides himself?

My original thought was that you could use the deflect arrows in this fashion, it would just be a higher DC(IE: Generally to deflect an arrow it is Reflex save of 20, so it might be Reflex save of 25 instead.)


Only after this question other thoughts come into play. Does speed have a factor? What if, the monk's land speed is so fast, that he can run faster than the arrows itself(as per the spell haste, the feat run, the feat sprint, etc.?) And, could this ability have a certain amount of reach?(Could you deflect arrows that traveled within 5 ft. of your square?) or, regardless of speed, is it considered impossible to see an arrow moving in flight and react in that short amount of time? Or, is it only a 'practically impossible' task?(DC would then be 20 or higher than a basic task using that ability...)


I would appriciate any help in this.

-Kash

 

[Methos of Aundair]

My own opinion would be that if the monk was in direct line of the arrow, then I don’t see why not. If the invisible archer moved to either side and the monk was no longer in the direct path of the arrow I would have to say no. As to the speed of an arrow I have no idea, I was never big into archery so can’t offer an opinion there, sorry.

 

[Kashell]

"My own opinion would be that if the monk was in direct line of the arrow, then I don’t see why not. If the invisible archer moved to either side and the monk was no longer in the direct path of the arrow I would have to say no. "


Why not? If the character is fast enough(per land speed and readying an action) couldn't he deflect arrows that he saw coming in at a different angle?

-Kash

 

[Mulkhoran]

Sadly, the game mechanics don't really explicitly take situations like this into account . It's very difficult to guard/protect something unless you're good at grapple, usually, for example. Technically, in the rules, there's *no* way to do this, but your base idea seems good.

I'd say boosting the DC of the Reflex save, like you said, (or setting a high-DC Reflex Save if you're 3.5) is a good way to go. Successively higher DCs to deflect arrows further away, and he'd have to ready an action to specifically deflect arrows. Just my ideas.

 

[RigaMortus]

What about that PrC, Devoted Defender I think it is called? They have the ability to take hits for someone. It is a 3.0 Sword and Fist PrC, and I am not sure if it was reprinted in Compelete Warrior or not. Perhaps check out that PrC for some ideas on how to incorporate what you want to do.

 

[Kashell]

Last time I read on Devoted Defender(last night), I didn't see anything about defending others. There's alot of things you can do to defend yourself(full defence action bonus out the wazoo), but nothing that I saw for protecting others.

For right now, I'm going to go with the increased DC idea until something better(though perhaps more complex) comes up.

 

[RigaMortus]

Last time I read on Devoted Defender(last night), I didn't see anything about defending others. There's alot of things you can do to defend yourself(full defence action bonus out the wazoo), but nothing that I saw for protecting others.

For right now, I'm going to go with the increased DC idea until something better(though perhaps more complex) comes up.

That's strange. I haven't read that PrC (or splatbook) in awhile, but I thought the whole purpose for the Devoted Defender was to protect someone else. They even have a picture of him jumping in front of an arrow fired at someone else. Maybe I just have the PrC name mixed up with something else?

 

[Felix]

Devoted Defender stuff:

Harm's Way: if you are within 5' of your charge and someone attacks him [I forget if it's melee or both melee and ranged] you may exchange places with him.

Defensive Strike: If someone attacks your charge in melee you may immediately take an AoO against the attacker.

Deflect Strike: Like Deflect Arrows, but when the arrow targets your charge.

That stuff sounds exactly like what you're looking for.

 

[Kashell]

Hmm...I'll look at this stuff and come up with some optional rules.

-Kash

 

[DanMcS]

I've recently come across something very interesting. Imagine this situation if you will.

Orathli, level 7 monk is attempting to protect a griffin. The griffin, due to several factors(wings being clipped, fear effects) is unable to act. The monk is protecting the griffin from an unseen, unknown attaker, however, he has seen arrows fly from a certain direction. At level 2, Orathli took the deflect arrows feat, and is attempting to 'guard' the griffin by using this ability.

What would happen in this situation? Is it even possible for another chacater to deflect arrows away from someone else besides himself?

My original thought was that you could use the deflect arrows in this fashion, it would just be a higher DC(IE: Generally to deflect an arrow it is Reflex save of 20, so it might be Reflex save of 25 instead.)

Only after this question other thoughts come into play. Does speed have a factor? What if, the monk's land speed is so fast, that he can run faster than the arrows itself(as per the spell haste, the feat run, the feat sprint, etc.?) And, could this ability have a certain amount of reach?(Could you deflect arrows that traveled within 5 ft. of your square?) or, regardless of speed, is it considered impossible to see an arrow moving in flight and react in that short amount of time? Or, is it only a 'practically impossible' task?(DC would then be 20 or higher than a basic task using that ability...)

If he is in melee with the griffon (trying to guard it should work the same as if the two were fighting, in my opinion), there's a -4 penalty to the shooter's attack roll unless he has precise shot. If the monk is between the shooter and the griffon, it gets cover from him as well, though probably not much more than a +2 bonus (1/4 cover) unless it's cowering or something. If the griffon drops prone, it gets a bonus to AC versus ranged attacks (4 points). If the monk makes an attack roll versus AC 10, he has effectively aided another, and can grant the griffon a +2 bonus to AC. If the griffon goes full defense (probably not unless it's intelligent) it can get another +4 bonus.

Darn. According to the PHB, you can only aid another in melee, but in this case I'd probably allow it to work. So the monk and various situational modifiers could possibly improve the griffon's AC by 12, maybe 14 if the monk grants half cover, and maybe another 4 from total defense.

Note that in 3.5, deflect arrows doesn't require a reflex save.