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View Full Version : Ranged wants nice things too... [3.5. Mechanic Fix. PEACH]



Sgt. Cookie
2012-04-06, 12:24 PM
I think we can all agree, ranged combat is awful. So, I, Sgt. Cookie, will attempt to fix that. Lets go, shall we?:



Ranged weapons

Note: By using this system, the current way ranged weapons are handled is not used. While this system will reference the original rules, do not use them as written in the PHB.

Ranged weapons come in two varieties: Thrown and Projectile. We will deal with projectile first and thrown later.

Projectile Weapons:

Range increments: Range increments, as present in the PHB, are no longer used, this will be replaced by "Ideal range".

Maximum range: The maximum range of projectile weapons is unchanged.

Ideal range: A projectile weapon has an ideal range, this range is dependent on the weapon and the skill, or lack thereof, of the user.

To figure out a weapon's ideal range, you must do two things (A long bow and a Dex mod of +4 will be used as an example):

First, double the weapons original range increment, so our "base" range is 200 feet.

Then multiply your Dexterity modifier by 20, even if it is a negative number, so in this case we have a total of 80.

After that add the two together, so we have an ideal range of 280ft, meaning that no penalties are taken at ranges 280ft or less.

Then, subtract the ideal range from the total range, so we get 720.

Divide that number by 4, this gives us 180.

In total, this gives us 280ft of ideal range and four increments of 180ft. Those increments function like the PHB equivalent.

The formula:

Max range stays the same

Double range increments

Dex mod X 20

Base range increment +/- the answer to above = Ideal range

Ideal range - Max range

Answer to above / 4




Projectile weapons:

To come.

Omegas
2012-04-06, 01:44 PM
2 things.

1st [Normal rules] your players +4 to dex applies to their range attack. So by that means they fire a weapon into the 3rd range incompetent (without effecting the roll) [-4 range increments +4 dex] just trying to brake it down to your logic.

2nd There are many range weapons that exceed the largest game board as it is. 200 ft is 40 squares (or hex is you play conversions)

Your system is basically offering a double penalty / benefit for a low / high dexterity. Although the math is not that complicated your adding several extra step to compensate what has already been compensated for.

If range weapons are broke it is not in the increased range increments. It is the relatively low damage compared to the large quantity of stackable negatives to hit. Especially for low level characters. Cover, shoot into melee, miss chance, mounted, etc....

Melee damage has far less negatives with far greater potential for blustering damage.

Grod_The_Giant
2012-04-06, 07:03 PM
If range weapons are broke it is not in the increased range increments. It is the relatively low damage compared to the large quantity of stackable negatives to hit. Especially for low level characters. Cover, shoot into melee, miss chance, mounted, etc....

This, but even more so. The biggest problems with ranged combat are damage and feat requirements. Ranged combat has virtually no ways of boosting damage beyond firing more shots or buying expensive magic items. A composite bow can help, but you wind up paying hundreds of gold for something melee gets for free, never mind the ability tax. There's no ranged version of Power Attack. Few to no class abilities that boost ranged attack damage, like a barbarian's rage or a paladin's smite. And while melee combat doesn't need a whole lot beyond Power Attack to function, archery is almost as bad as two-weapon fighting in terms of feat requirements.