[Edge]
We’ve all seen it in the movies, from Legolas in The Lord of the Rings to Robin Hood in Robin Hood: Men in Tights – an archer takes two or more arrows, pulls back and fires upon a number of enemies.
How realistic is this? Well, not too much, but there are those who’d like to pull it off regardless of it being possibly not too representative of Tolkien. I say “What the heck!”, why not provide the means to achieve this anyway.
| Description |
You can implement spread shots in your game in three different ways: as a standard combat rule, an edge, or an Order ability. By making it a standard rule, anyone with a bow can attempt such a trick, while as an edge or ability, prerequisites would restrict those who would have access to this kind of action. |
| Requirements | Accurate edge -or- Bold edge; 8+ ranks in Ranged Combat:Bows |
| Effect |
You can make a spread shot using the optional rules described below. |
| Improvements | none |
When using a bow, you can spend two (2) actions to fire multiple arrows at one or more targets. (If you have the Quick-draw edge, the action cost is reduced to 1.)
Select the number of targets and the number of arrows aimed at each target. Designate one target as the primary target of the entire attack. Resolve the attack for each arrow individually, applying the penalties described below.
Range Penalty: The bow's range is reduced when making a spread shot. Divide the normal range by the number of arrows used in the shot. Determine range penalties, if any, using the reduced range.
Attack Penalty: The first arrow is aimed at the primary target and suffers no attack penalty. Each arrow after the first suffers a cumulative -2 penalty to the Ranged Combat test to hit its target. For example, when firing three arrows, the second arrow suffers a -2 penalty and the third arrow suffers a -4 penalty.
Damage Penalty: The damage of each arrow is reduced by one (1) point for each arrow after the first that you fire in a spread shot. For example, when firing three arrows, each arrow's damage is reduced by 2.