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Old 07-17-2015, 05:51 AM   #1
Noctifer
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Kernersville, NC
Default [Combat]: Do you bow, bro?

Heya, gang. Quick background: played 3rd edition back in the day, recently got back in with 4th ed, running a homebrew Fantasy tabletop.

I've tried searching for an explanation/examination of this, but can't seem to find anything. My players (for most of whom, this is their first experience with GURPS) don't see much utility in using a bow as a primary weapon.

Here's the problem:

A composite bow does thr+3 imp with a 2-second ready action. With a ST10 bow, that's 1d+1, for an average of 4.5 HP damage, double whatever gets through DR, every three seconds (assuming you hit). Get Quick-Draw (Arrow) and you can do that every two seconds, but there's a chance you're going to lose your arrow or even upend your quiver. On top of all that, there are range penalties for anyone more than 2 yards away. If you forgo active defenses and make an All-Out-Attack (Determined), you can get yourself a +1. Half-damage range is 200 yards, max range is 250 yards.

A broadsword does sw+1 cut or thr+1 cr with no ready action. With a ST10 character, that's 1d+1/1d-1 for an average of 4.5/2.5 damage, 50% increase for whatever gets through DR on swing damage. Make an All-Out-Attack (Double) and you get to attack twice per round.

Let's assume our theoretical opponents have 10 in their appropriate skills.

If we start our average opponents at 200 yards, our swordsman can sprint at 20 yards/second (barring encumbrance penalties to move). That means it'll take him 10 seconds to reach our archer.

Round 1: Swordsman moves 20 (let's say he was already sprinting), our archer considers firing (let's say he already had his bow ready and arrow nocked). According to the Size and Speed/Range table, our archer has a -17 to hit (-6 because swordsman is moving at 20, -11 because he's now at 180 yards). Not liking his chances, our archer takes an Aim maneuver.

Round 2: Swordsman is still sprinting at 20. At 160 yards, our archer is at -16 to hit (-6 for swordsman at move 20, -11 because he's over 150 yards, +1 because of Aim maneuver). Still not good, so he takes another Aim maneuver.

Round 3: Swordsman sprints 20. At 140 yards, our archer is at -14 (-6 for swordsman move 20, -10 for bing over 100 yards, +2 from Aim maneuver). Archer Aims again.

Round 4: Swordsman sprints 20. At 120 yards, archer is at -13 (-6 for swordsman move 20, -10 for bing over 100 yards, +3 from Aim maneuver). Our archer has reached the composite bow's Acc rating of 3, so he maintains his Aim maneuver.

Round 4: Swordsman sprinting, is at 100 yards, archer still at -13. Archer maintains Aim.

Round 5: Swordsman sprinting, is at 80 yards, archer now at -12. Archer maintains Aim.

Round 6: Swordsman sprinting, is at 60 yards, archer now at -11. Archer maintains Aim.

Round 7: Swordsman sprinting, is at 40 yards, archer now at -10. Archer maintains Aim.

Round 8: Swordsman sprinting, is at 20 yards, archer now at -9. Archer maintains Aim.

Round 9: Swordsman sprinting, has now closed at the end of his turn. He can take a Move and Attack Maneuver and attack at -4 and still gets his Dodge or Block. Our poor archer can finally fire with a hope of hitting, but he's even still at a -3 at point blank range (-6 from swordsman's move of 20, +3 for Aim).

Our swordsman has an effective skill of 6, giving him about a 5% chance of hitting (10% chance of rolling 6 or less, archer has a 50% chance of dodging), for an average damage of .45 damage (5% of 4.5). Our archer has an 8% chance of hitting (16% chance of rolling a 7 or less, swordsman has a 50% chance of dodging) for an average damage of .36.

Round 10: Swordsman can now take an All-Out Attack (Double) to get two attacks against his opponent. He has a 25% chance of hitting with each (50% chance of rolling a 10 or less vs. archer's 50% chance of dodging) for an average damage of 2.25 this round and an average total damage of 2.7. Our archer takes a ready action to Quick-Draw an arrow and takes an All-Out Defense (Increased Defense) to give him a +2 to Dodge next round.

Round 11: Swordsman is confident, makes the same attack, now with a 18.75% chance to hit, doing an average of .84 damage, for an average total damage of 3.54. Archer fires. There's a 50% chance he dropped his arrow last round, but our Swordsman gets no active defense, so the archer's average damage is 2.25, for an average total of 2.61.

Round 12: Swordsman has 25% chance to hit for two hits, average damage 2.25, average total damage of 5.79. Archer takes a Ready Action to Quick-Draw and takes All-Out Defense (Increased Defense).

Round 13: Swordsman does .84 damage, total 6.63. Archer fires, average 2.25, average total 4.86.

Round 14: Swordsman does 2.25, total 8.88, archer Readies/AoD.

Round 15: Swordsman does .84, total 9.72, archer does 2.25, total 7.11.

You can see where this is going. Real-world archers, of course, kept a sword at their side for when the enemy closed to melee range, but under GURPS rules, it would make sense in the scenario above for him to draw that blade in Round 8, before he ever really fires a bow (unless he'd like to take some shots with, at best, below a 2% chance to hit with each as the swordsman is sprinting at him).

While I recognize that the blade was the weapon of choice in medieval western traditions, most other pre-TL4 societies prized the bow above the blade. Under GURPS, there really doesn't seem much logic to even owning a bow, unless you've a crenelation on top of a wall to hide behind.

If you put our opponents in an interior setting with reduced ranges, the situation is even more dire. If you have a buddy to engage in melee, you might get the opponent to focus on him, but you still get the Bulk modifier of the composite bow (-7) to hit when shooting into melee.

If you have a mage using missile spells (which I do in my game) it gets even worse because they have no Acc for spells and the Aim maneuver isn't available to them.

Am I missing something?

TL;DR version: Why on earth would you use a bow in GURPS?
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