Knights & Knaves Alehouse

Yes, as I noted at the top I was making a mistake re: referring back to both books.

I really do appreciate the responses.

The approach I'd recommend would be to read the OSRIC combat chapter, and modify as you see fit for your game, or simply leave it as-is. And as with all things D&D, "contextual common sense" applied in a consistent manner trumps the rules as written.

What is the BTB treatment of missile weapons with rate of fire (i.e. long bow's 2/rd). Are both shots supposed to go off immediately or does the 2nd shot go off at the end of the round? I've been having the 2nd shot go off at the end, but can't remember if that is BTB or just how we've been doing it.

Terrex wrote:What is the BTB treatment of missile weapons with rate of fire (i.e. long bow's 2/rd). Are both shots supposed to go off immediately or does the 2nd shot go off at the end of the round? I've been having the 2nd shot go off at the end, but can't remember if that is BTB or just how we've been doing it.

That's how I've been doing it. And to take it further, I'd figured that the bow's two arrows counted as two attack routines i.e. An archer will fire first before a swordsman(with a single attack per round) regardless of initiative. But looking again at the definition, in DMG, of what an attack routine is, I don't really know if an archer's two arrow shots per round count as two separate attack routines.

With regard to missile weapons, there is no specific guidance on the matter in the DMG or PHB. As with other "true" multiple attacks seems reasonable to me.

I treat it as I would a fighter with 2 attacks a round attacking with a sword, with the key difference that the archer's first shot does not disregard the initiative die roll unless the archer is of appropriate level.

So 1st level archer, 1st shot goes on the initiative roll, modified for dexterity adjustment.

7th level archer - 1st shot in odd rounds would get automatic initiative.

13th level archer - 1st shot always gets automatic initiative.

If both shots go off together (especially if the archer has a dex adjustment to initiative), than spell casting in combat goes from being rediculously difficult (as it should be) to near-pointless.

I'd recommend using the system introduced in UA for determining the timing of a second cantrip cast during a single combat round: the second shot occurs 1d4 segments after the first shot.

For simplicity we just have both go within the same segment. When you have 5 or 6 archers, it can really slow down combat trying to keep up with who shot when and if you've checked for the second attack. The combat system is such an abstraction I don't see the big deal (why suddenly logic is a big deal).

T. Foster wrote:I'd recommend using the system introduced in UA for determining the timing of a second cantrip cast during a single combat round: the second shot occurs 1d4 segments after the first shot.

Seconded.

TRP wrote:

AxeMental wrote:
Well....OSRIC initiative is as BtB as anything else .. blah blah

I was only informing the op that there are differences between btb 1e and OSRIC, and I wasn't looking to stir up that ridiculous debate.

The differences are so small, however, that the players would probably never note that difference.

Thats a great point. The players really don't notice this stuff or care as long as the action isn't slowed down, its really on the DM (how much complexity you care to follow).

TRP wrote:

AxeMental wrote:
Well....OSRIC initiative is as BtB as anything else .. blah blah

I was only informing the op that there are differences between btb 1e and OSRIC, and I wasn't looking to stir up that ridiculous debate.

The differences are so small, however, that the players would probably never note that difference.

Good point. The players really don't notice this stuff or care as long as the action isn't slowed down too much or some burden given to them (of the sort you saw in 3E), its really on the DM (how much complexity you care to follow). This stuff has to be balanced with the DM (some are good at tracking stuff, personally I get overwhelmed running larger higher level battles).

PS I also like Foster's suggestion (seems very reasonable).