Quote:
Originally Posted by Tywyll
... The alternative is that archers get to fire after the person running at them arrives and (potentially) kills them. So do we have zombie archers?
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It seems to me that there is a consistent reading of the rules that matches how it plays out, except for the part about polearms going first.
That is, ITL says an archer "usually" gets to get a last shot off, and that is what usually happens - i.e. if they either attack first, or survive an attacker going first, and then shoot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tywyll
Ultimately I guess this is a situation where the rule nature (movement then combat) doesn't adequately describe something that logically occurs. I'm fine with ignoring what is written in this case for something that makes more sense in the fiction.
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Yes. The abstract representation breaks down in some cases unless you start making some embellishments. (i.e. Polearms go first due to reach, but a ranged weapon has no reach disadvantage against a polearm. If you have bows go before polearms, then they're going before other bows, unless you add a whole missile weapon phase that always goes before hand weapon attacks.)
I suggested a house rule that can fix it logically earlier in this thread, but an alternative house rule solution also occurs to me now, that is less complex:
* When a polearm user charges a ranged weapon user and attacks the ranged weapon user, the polearm user does not automatically get to attack before the ranged weapon user, because he has no reach advantage. Resolve such polearm attacks in order of adjDX.
There is still some weirdness in this means than non-polearm friends of a ranged weapon user could also defend the ranged weapon user before the polearm charge if they are in reach and have higher DX. I suppose you could reduce that weirdness by saying the polearm precedence only gets removed if the charged archer actually has high enough DX to attack before the polearm user.