Where did my arrow land?

[Egres]

Ok,this is the situation.

If an Arcane Archer fires an arrow imbued with a Fireball spell,and he misses his target,how can we establish where the arrow will land in order to know the Fireball area of effect on the grid?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Bryin]

Where ever the arrow hit does peircing damage plus 10-20 ft. in each direction of fire damage

 

[SteelDraco]

The only firm rule I'm aware of in regard to this is that if you miss due to the -4 penalty from cover, the arrow is considered to strike the cover. I would probably just trace the arrow's path from the archer. If the shot missed due to the target's ability to dodge well (high Dex, dodge bonus to AC, or insight bonuses to AC), then I'd probably say it went right through where they're at. If not, I'd veer to the right or left one square, and then trace from there. Most ranged weapons I'd say would travel one range increment, and then hit the ground, unless otherwise noted.

I dunno. Quick and simple, and not terribly accurate, but effective. Was it in an enclosed environment, or somewhere open?

 

[Liquidsabre]

Hmmm, good question. Use the scatter rules for thrown objects perhaps?

 

[Egres]

Where ever the arrow hit does peircing damage plus 10-20 ft. in each direction of fire damage

?!?

 

[Egres]

I dunno. Quick and simple, and not terribly accurate, but effective. Was it in an enclosed environment, or somewhere open?

Open.

 

[Left-handed Hummingbird]

Ok,this is the situation.

If an Arcane Archer fires an arrow imbued with a Fireball spell,and he misses his target,how can we establish where the arrow will land in order to know the Fireball area of effect on the grid?

Thank you in advance!

Well... I don't know if the rule survived in the 3.5 DMG, but one of my favorite optional rules from the 3.0 DMG deals with missed ranged attacks (arrows, rays and so on). The rule is very complicated, but I like to us it because players should beware where they are pointing their missile weapons and spells. OK, here goes:

PC rolls attack roll as normal.

First you check if the arrow connected, that is, if it was good enough to hit if it had been a ranged touch attack. If that is the case, the arrow hits it's target, but just didn't penetrate the armor. In your case, the fireball would be exactly where your AA wanted it.

If it didn't connect, the projectile is considered "errant."

First of all, you now need to learn the path of the errant projectile. This depends on whether is was a direct fire shot or an indirect fire shot.

If the target was further away than the listed distance, the attack is indirect fire, if it as far or closer than the listed distance, the attack is direct fire:

MAXIMUM DIRECT FIRE RANGE:
Ray: Infinite
Heavy crossbow: 250'
Light crossbow: 200'
Hand crossbow: 120'
Long composite bow: 120'
Longbow: 100'
Short composite bow: 80'
Shortbow: 60'
Sling: 50'
Any thrown weapon: 20'

Now, if the fire is DIRECT, we determine it's deviation:

1d20:
1-8: Left deviation
9-16: Right
17-19: Long
20: Short

1d20: (round to nearest square)
1-12: 1/10th of range to target
13-17: 1/5th of range to target
18-19: 1/3rd of range to target
20: Half of the range to target

Now we know where the errant projectile is headed (note it might still hit in the square where the target is, it just doesn't hit the target), and now you trace the path of the arrow. If there are any characters in the path, you start with the one nearest the attacker and check whether or not the projectile connected with that character. You do this by rolling a ranged touch attack roll as normal, but you discount the skill of the attacker (but leave in magical adjustment and modifications for cover). If it connected the projectile stops in this square, and if the attack roll would even defeat the AC of the unlucky character in the projectiles path, you roll for damage. If the touch attack doesn't connect, you roll a ranged attack roll for the next character in the line of fire and so on until the projectile hits the ground in the square indicated by the deviation rolls above. (Or a wall or similar)

If the fire is INDIRECT it is a little easier. The deviation for indirect fire is:

1d20:
1-4: Left
5-8: Right
9-14: Long
15-20: Short

1d20:
1-12: 1/10th the range of the target
13-17: 1/5th
18-19: 1/3rd
20: 1/2

When the deviation has been found, you know which square the projectile landed in. If there is a character in that square you roll a ranged touch attack as above (without taking into account the skill of the attacker, only magical bonusses and modifications for cover). If succesful, it connects with the target, and if the attack roll beats the AC it does damage. If the ranged touch attack fails the projectile hits the ground in the square and stops.

Not very streamlined but those are the official 3.0 rules (I haven't bought the 3.5 DMG yet), and of course they are only really relevant in cases such as your own or in cases where someone callously fires projectiles or rays at a target in the middle of a crowd or engaged in melee or something...

I hope it will help you...

 

[Egres]

I hope it will help you...

Yeah,it does,especially cause i don't have the 3.0 DMG!

 

[Nail]

Great goggly-moggly! That's way too complicated to be fun for most at the table! Thank goodness that's not in 3.5e. Sounds like it came from a war-gamer manual.

 

[Tatsukun]

Wow, that's hard!

Maybe we can simplify it. How about this...

If it hits with a touch attack, it's sticking out of the guy's armor.
If it didn't, roll a D8 (see rules for missed grenadelike weapons).

Draw a line between the middle of your square and the middle of the square generated by the D8. Roll a D20 that's how many squares it went.

It will go that far, then land, unless it hits something of course.

-Tatsu