D&D 5E Strength bows?

[Sunseeker]

Which would serve as a nice explanation why there are still melee fighters out there instead of just archers with the crossbow master feat.

No? It would just make it harder for martial classes to be ranged, forcing players into traditional party dichotomies of ranged wizard, fighter tank, healer cleric, etc... It doesn't add anything to the game, it limits the game.

 

[krunchyfrogg]

Which would serve as a nice explanation why there are still melee fighters out there instead of just archers with the crossbow master feat.

I get why archery is overpowered (a bit) in this edition, but I don't understand what's so great about crossbows.

 

[Derren]

I get why archery is overpowered (a bit) in this edition, but I don't understand what's so great about crossbows.

Some parts of the Crossbow master feat work vor all ranged weapons.

 

[Sunseeker]

I get why archery is overpowered (a bit) in this edition, but I don't understand what's so great about crossbows.

This:

Which is arguably pretty epic, but still, it's getting overdone.


.....says the crossbow archer.

 

[Quartz]

This. There is currently no way to use str on ranged attacks in 5th.

Not correct. Certain weapons have the Thrown quality. See p147 of the PHB. When you throw a hand axe or spear you use Str. When you throw a dagger you can use Str or Dex as the dagger has the finesse property.

 

[Sunseeker]

Not correct. Certain weapons have the Thrown quality. See p147 of the PHB. When you throw a hand axe or spear you use Str. When you throw a dagger you can use Str or Dex as the dagger has the finesse property.

Fair enough. When I was thinking of ranged attacks I was thinking of "ranged weapons", not melee weapons that can be thrown (which is technically a thrown weapon, not a ranged weapon, but still constitutes a ranged attack).

 

[Quartz]

This. There is currently no way to use str on ranged attacks in 5th.

Not correct. Certain weapons have the Thrown quality. See p147 of the PHB. When you throw a hand axe or spear you use Str. When you throw a dagger you can use Str or Dex as the dagger has the finesse property.

 

[Thyrwyn]

The dart has both the thrown and the finesse qualities but is a ranged weapon (not a melee weapon). STR may be used for to hit and damage, Archery Style applies, as does Sharpshooter.

By RAW, it may be used to attack adjacent enemies without incurring Disadvantage, since it does not have the "ammunition" quality.

The downside being, you can still only throw them as fast as you can draw them...

 

[Diamabel]

Simply change ranged weapons to use Dex to hit and Str for damage.
Thats more realistic anyway.

Sort of.. a more powerful bow/crossbow/thrown weapon allows it to punch through armour/hide more easily(and the arrow/bolt would travel more swiftly- thus being harder to dodge via dex based AC), while the Dexterity based hit and damage increase would come from increased accuracy by way of improved hand/eye coordination.

This is very tough to balance in game sense, since 5th favors archery already.

Perhaps change the Archery weapon style to:

Ranged weapon style:The pc may add their attribute bonus, to a maximum of +2, to weapon hit and damage rolls from whichever score is lower between strength and dexterity.

 

[reelo]

Simply change ranged weapons to use Dex to hit and Str for damage.
Thats more realistic anyway.

That's what I'll do as well. To hell with MAD, as it stands, Str is already a dump stat overshadowed by Dex.


I was even going to make piercing finesse weapons use Str for damage, but then I remembered E=mc2 and figured that speed also contributes to force of impact, so I'll leave finesse alone.