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Old 04-23-2017, 07:24 AM   #5
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: Balanced games for archers

Starting combat outside of melee range gives archers a chance to wear down the approaching combatants before the melee fighters get a chance to fight. Priority targets that either stay out of melee (enemy archers, spellcasters, and warlord-types) or that you really don't want to reach melee (giant ogres swinging tree stumps) also give the archers foes to engage that the melee characters don't really have the option of going after. If your melee players are insistent on rushing headlong into battle with Move and Attack and similar, have their foes actually capitalize on their reduced defenses - after being (hopefully non-fatally) cut down a couple times, they'll be more willing to hang back and let the archers get a bit of the limelight. Martial Arts has rules on Quick-Shooting Bows, allowing you to draw and shoot in the same turn, albeit at a penalty. On Target (Pyramid #3/77), on the other hand, changes Aim from "skip my turn" to something like an attack roll, where success gives you a better chance to hit next round than even baseline Aim does, and where critical success can turn Aim into a free action (so you can Aim and shoot in the same turn). If you want to be able to do multiple things at once in a turn, this system might be of use. The previous post on the blog goes through how I came up with it, so if you want something a bit simpler, those musings might be of use
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