What's the AC for the middle of a bullseye at an archery contest?

[focallength]

now if you want to create heroic archery contest do something like competition shootin where you have to hit targets in succession, moving targets, targets from weird angles etc...something the crowd can get into and where characters with feats can use them (rapid shot, shot on the run etc...) most archery competitions are pretty boring unless your in them its you vs. the target. Also there is a arrow in the ROTW that does subdual dam. and has a max range of 60' try doing a gladiator style match where opponents try to knock eachother out. lots of ways to make it fun instead of just "rolling to hit"

 

[focallength]

As for splitting an arrow Ive seen a guy do it 3 times in a row(3 different arrows) and I did it once (complete luck on my part, of course the more arrows in the target the better chance you have of hitting an arrow) Not so much luck if your good just favorable conditions and skill.

 

[Chaldfont]

I did something like this in my last campaign. The ranger had to hit a fuse with a flaming arrow to start an explosion that would destroy a drow city. I just back-figured it. I wanted the chance to succeed very low, so that the players would have to work together to grant him enough bonuses to make the chance a little better than 50%.

To make your contest more exciting, start at extreme range (our ranger had the Far Shot feat) to get the range penalties. Maybe toward the end of the competition, when its just the hero and his rival, it starts to rain and a wind whips up (-4 for severe wind and/or rain). Maybe its late in the day and the light begins to fade or the smoke from the nearby hog roast drifts pass the archery field (-2 concealment). In our case, the target was so far away, I made the ranger make a Spot check just to see it.

You can throw in any number of circumstance penalties to even the score. Maybe the archer's rival sabotaged his bow somehow, or the bow string is too wet or too dry. Maybe the crowd is heckling the archer and he has to make a Concentration check or take a penalty to the shot. This should go the other way too. Encourage the player to do all sorts of preparation to increase his chances (like a Craft check to tweak his bow or arrows for the conditions, or a Concentration check to "get into the zone").

 

[Jdvn1]

If you get a Target Bane arrow, would you get a bonus to hit?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

If you get a Target Bane arrow, would you get a bonus to hit?

Construct Bane bow or arrow.

And the target would blow up when you hit it.

 

[iwatt]

I ran an archery contest that consisted of succesive rounds. I used the rules in CW, but kept complicating things each round in anincremental fashion

1st round: standard shootout (3 arrows) at a given range.

2nd round: standard shootout (3 arrows) at double range from 1st round (benfits those with far shot)

3rd round: Swinging target (adds another level of diffciluty, I gave the target a +2 or +4 to AC, can't remember which). Shoot 3 arrows.

4th round: 2 swinging pendulums (precise shot users gained a big edge here).

5th round: Speed shootout: 10 arrows (get highest score and bonus for finishing faster)

Worked pretty well If I say so myself. I had the party ranger/archer loose to a Peerless Archer in this contest. Helped introduce him as a NPC and mentor figure for her. By the way, I didn't "have" him win. He was just about 3-4 levels higher than her . If I recall correctly, the winner won by destroying the target using Power Shot

 

[focallength]

using special bows or/and arrows would detract from the competition, if you wanted to do a free for all gladiator thing that would be cool, or if your just doing an exhibition.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

My step father once split his own arrow during bow hunting practice. The funny thing, though, was he didn't hit the center of the target. He just happen to hit the exact same off-bullseye spot twice within a couple shots.

And that, as my roommate used to say when we played darts, is the difference between precision and accuracy.

 

[Quasqueton]

Holy moly! I've been sigged.

Quasqueton

 

[Starglim]

I'd say the outer ring of the target would be Small, the next ring Tiny and the bullseye Diminutive. In order to resolve the contest, the organisers would either compare the shots of archers who hit the bullseye (opposed attack rolls) or keep moving the target back by a range increment until all the front-runners but one missed.

The type of bow would depend on local usage and what most people owned and practiced with. In a country that had longbowmen in its army, it would be a longbow contest, because that's a skill that the king would want to encourage. In other countries, shortbows would be more typical peasant hunting weapons, or a light crossbow contest might be preferred as a weapon that many people could use.