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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kigmatzomat" data-source="post: 8832793" data-attributes="member: 9254">"Can't be taken away" has the opposite side of the coin called "can't be shared or given away". You only took an archer's bow when you killed/injured them (or they were routed and dropped their weapons to run faster). If a caster dies (or is blinded) it is like breaking their bow and burning all their ammo.  Each cantrip caster might be able to move faster/go farther by not carting ammo, but the loss of each one is more significant. Cantrips have shorter range than bows, maxing out at 120ft (240ft with feats) vs 320-600ft with bows. It also means that cantrip casters would be in range of light cavalry archers with no way to counter...other than using their own bows.The need for line of sight rather than ballistic arched fire limits their usage as that is how archers shot over their own army.Firearms, even pre-matchlock micro-cannons, had the advantage that you could train peasants how to hit the broad side of a barn with their proto-shotgun in just a few days and then you could focus on firing & reloading sequences.Last I checked, cantrips can only be learned by someone who gains a spellcaster level or who has reached a feat level to get Initiate. That isn't something you can make happen with 500 villages you pressed into service.Similarly archery is a skill that requires extensive training. Not as much for "hit the broad side of the barn" but to do it for hours. A bow requires both strength and stamina to be able to fire multiple arrows per minute for hours, not to mention massed fire requires pulling, and holding, the bow. That takes far longer IRL and in game needing to level up.Crossbows were a stopgap. On one hand, massed fire was easy as you could leave a crossbow cocked for extended periods with no wear and tear on the weilder and it was moderately easy to get "hit that army" accurate. But it still required a non-trivial amount of muscle to draw the string over and over.The equivalent of Special Ops (which are essentially Adventurers in service to a realm like the semi-fictional Three Musketeers) would have spellcasters with cantrips, much like they use silenced weapons, which are likewise not impactful to most armies as a whole. But that gets into a whole other discussion.  (Fwiw, my current group of six 12th characters can all cast 2 or more cantrips and at least one first level spell)</blockquote>

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