>
>>
>> Can someone remind me, what is the rank of an arrow or bow?
>
>3 I think.
Another way of phrasing this question is 'what is the armour rank of 100
foot of empty air?'
In my opinion, this should be pretty high.
Being able to hit your opponent while they can't hit you would serve as
pretty much the exemplar of an edge.
Doing things this way makes all the situations I can think of 'come out
right':
- A trollkin can fire an arrow at Harrek and not die
(that round - their expected life span would be kinda short...).
They bid 8AP, likely lose, but the 'air armour' protects them, so
they lose just a single AP.
Without this interpretation, any normal character that fired an
arrow at a hero with the intention of wounding them would have a 99%
chance of suffering a mysterious mishap.
- A hero is a pretty sure bet to dodge a single arrow. On the
other hand, point enough arrows in their general direction and
you could maybe wound them or drive them off.
- duels between ranged combat users (including magical ranged combat)
resemble a Western gunfight. Do you bet big, representing sticking
your head out from cover for long enough to take an aimed shot,
or just fire off a quick arrow in their general direction?
In this case, both combatants weapons can hit the other, so there
is no edge.
- if one side has ranged combat ability and the other doesn't, they
have to pay AP to close. If there is a cliff or something in the way,
they have to at least take an unrelated action to climb the cliff.
You could also make this an extended sub-contest, with the
climbers either edging their way up or making a break for it.
- If a PC traps some animals in a canyon, they can safely rain
arrows down at them until they run out.
(OK, in reality you wouldn't roll for this, but it is always a
good thing in principle if the rules work in extreme situations).
- if someone tries to use ranged combat at close quarters, they pay
a reasonable improv penalty (more for archery, less for thrown
spears etc.). More significantly, they don't get the
'I am 100 foot away' armour edge, just their normal weapon edge
(e.g. the 3 above).
Is there any reason this approach isn't explicitly recommended in the
rules? Was it considered and rejected for some reason? Or just
considered too obvious to be worth mentioning?
Richard