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Old 12-04-2012, 03:56 AM   #34
Pursuivant
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Default Re: Do the Archery rules cover this?

Here's my take on a technique for speed shooting various forms of hand weapons, adapted to cover Speed Shooting bows.

Note that it's not specifically designed for bows, it also covers speed-loading drills for things like crossbows and muzzle-loading firearms.

Quote:

Speed Shooting
Hard

Defaults: Any Ranged Weapon-5, Fast-Draw (Ammunition)-5.
Prerequisite: Any Ranged Weapon and Fast-Draw (Ammunition); cannot exceed Fast-Draw (Ammunition) skill.

Speed shooting covers techniques of shooting a ranged weapon with a multi-step loading process quickly, by seamlessly integrating the acts of drawing and loading the ammunition with the act of readying and shooting the weapon. Successful use of Speed Shooting skill allows you to temporarily exceed your weapon’s nominal rate of fire.
You must specialize by weapon type. Your specialization of Fast Draw (Ammunition) must be for ammunition for that weapon.
Roll vs. Speed Shooting to reduce the time required to load and shoot your weapon by 10%, down to a minimum 1 second or 20% of the time normally required to load the weapon, whichever is greater.
Failure means that you don’t save any time and you have a penalty to hit with your attack equal to your margin of failure unless you take at least one second to Aim. Failure by 4 or more means that you drop the weapon or the ammunition, or the tool you use to load or cock the weapon (e.g., ramrod or goat’s foot). Critical failure means that you damage the weapon, hurt yourself or spill your ammunition in such a way that it is lost or ruined. The exact details depend on the weapon.
You cannot Aim while speed-shooting!
Speed Shooting Bows: Realistically, it is possible to shoot a bow very quickly by holding extra arrows in your hands as you draw the bow and quickly nocking them after you shoot the previous arrow.
It is also possible to speed your rate of fire by not fully drawing the bow and by not using a fixed anchor point when you release the arrow. This means that you lose accuracy, range and damage potential.
You can hold half as many arrows between your fingers as you have fingers (rounding up). Placing each arrow takes 2 seconds and prevents you from wearing anything heavier than a light glove on the hand used to draw the bow.
You get a +3 bonus to your Speed Shooting Technique to shoot the readied arrows, but a -1 penalty to hit. Your Speed Shooting (Bow) technique is not limited by your Fast-Draw (Arrow) skill as long as you are shooting arrows held “in hand.”
You can also hold arrows in your bow hand and draw them from your hand rather than from a quiver or the ground. You can hold up to 3 arrows in this fashion. You must use Fast Draw (Arrow) skill to shift each arrow from one hand to the other, but if you succeed, you get a +3 bonus to your Speed Shooting Technique. In any case, however, you have a -1 penalty to hit.
If you have arrows in both hands, you have a -2 penalty to hit.
If you wish, you can get a +3 bonus to your Speed Shooting technique by accepting a 25% reduction in the bow’s effective ST and a -1 penalty to hit your target, or a +5 bonus if you accept a 50% reduction in the bow’s effective ST and a -2 penalty to hit.
In any case, if you make your Speed Shooting (Bow) roll by 10 or more, you can attempt to make multiple shots in one second, using the Cinematic Speed Shooting rules, below, even if you don’t have the Heroic Archer advantage, but only if you have arrows "in hand."
Realistically, archers trained in speed shooting can shoot about 3 arrows every 2 seconds, as long as they have arrows “in hand” and are willing to trade power and accuracy for speed.
Cinematic Speed Shooting: In a Cinematic game, if you have one or more of the Gunslinger, Heroic Archer, Sharpshooter, Trained by a Master or Weapon Master advantages the GM can rule that your Speed-Shooting technique isn’t limited by your Fast-Draw skill.
Furthermore, if you make your skill roll to draw your ammunition, load it, ready your weapon and point it all in one turn, you can make another Speed Shooting skill roll at -6, plus -1 per additional 10% reduction in loading and reading time, in order to ready or shoot another round of ammunition. Effectively, you prepare and shoot the first missile in “zero time” and can begin to ready another shot on the same turn!
If you completely ready a second missile, you can shoot it on the same turn as the first, but you have a cumulative -4 penalty to hit with your weapon skill. Once you shoot your second missile, you can then make another Speed Shooting skill roll at -12, plus the usual penalties for compressed action, in order to ready or shoot a third missile on the same turn, and so on, taking a cumulative -6 penalty to Speed Shooting skill and a -4 penalty to weapon skill per missile after the first.
Modifiers: Per 10% of time reduction beyond 10%, -1; Using a unfamiliar weapon or ammunition - even if it is basically similar to what you’re used to, -1 to -4; Combat Reflexes, +1; Enhanced Time Sense, +2; Per level of Altered Time Rate, +2; Per Extra Attack, +2; Per level of Ham-Fisted, -3.
Cinematic Modifiers: If you can make a successful Zen Archery or Zen Missile skill roll at the beginning of your turn, bonus equal to half your margin of success; Per shot in the same turn after the first, -6; Aiming your second or subsequent shot at a different target than the one you engaged with your first shot, -5.
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