Low-Tech Missile Weapon Range and Accuracy - Page 14

Icelander · 11-20-2008, 12:31 PM

In design for GURPS 4e, the decision was made for playability and heroism to allow low-tech missile weapon some pretty impressive stats. Bows have a very long range and exceptional accuracy, slings do Swing pi damage at very long range and for strong men they can strike harder than 9mm bullets, crossbows are more accurate than pistols and muskets, etc.

I don't intend to slam the basic GURPS rules for this. The design goal was adventure and heroism, not realism, so it makes sense for Legolas, Robin Hood and King David to have effective weapons.

But in a campaign where these missile weapons co-exist with early firearms (reasonably realistically modelled by GURPS), the 'heroic average' weapons perform much better than the historical weapons that should have replaced them. Neither PCs nor their enemies will reasonably want to exchange bows, crossbows and slings for 18th/19th century firearms, let alone earlier ones. Let's look at an example:

Composite Crossbow , ST 11 (typical soldier for much of history):
Acc 4, Damage 1d+4 imp, ROF 1(4), number of shots per minute with Fast-Draw: 25

Baker Rifle:
Acc 3, damage 3d pi++, ROF 1(30), number of shots per minute with Fast-Draw 3.

The crossbow delivers an average of 15 damage per shot to an unarmoured man vs. the Baker Rifle's 21, but that's cold comfort against the longer effective range and much higher rate of fire for the crossbow. Not to mention that it's possible to use a more powerful crossbow which allows a strong and trained man to exceed the damage of the Baker Rifle and still fire faster, more accurately and at a better range.

And a Baker Rifle is a much better weapon than early firearms.

Yes, I understand that a Baker Rifle is cheaper at a $100 vs. the Composite Crossbow $900, but that's at least partially due to the mass production of firearms at TL 5. An early musket competing with crossbows at TL4 doesn't have those advantages and will cost almost as much as the crossbow.

But, as I said, I'm not here to curse the darkness. Instead, I only want to know what reasonable stats for the thrown weapons, bows, crossbows and slings in GURPS would be. If they weren't 'heroic average' weapons, what would be their stats?

Just so an individual GM can correct them in his game, if he so chooses.

11-20-2008, 12:31 PM	#1
Icelander Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Iceland*	Low-Tech Missile Weapon Range and Accuracy In design for *GURPS* 4e, the decision was made for playability and heroism to allow low-tech missile weapon some pretty impressive stats. Bows have a very long range and exceptional accuracy, slings do Swing pi damage at very long range and for strong men they can strike harder than 9mm bullets, crossbows are more accurate than pistols and muskets, etc. I don't intend to slam the basic GURPS rules for this. The design goal was adventure and heroism, not realism, so it makes sense for Legolas, Robin Hood and King David to have effective weapons. But in a campaign where these missile weapons co-exist with early firearms (reasonably realistically modelled by GURPS), the 'heroic average' weapons perform much better than the historical weapons that should have replaced them. Neither PCs nor their enemies will reasonably want to exchange bows, crossbows and slings for 18th/19th century firearms, let alone earlier ones. Let's look at an example: Composite Crossbow , ST 11 (typical soldier for much of history): Acc 4, Damage 1d+4 imp, ROF 1(4), number of shots per minute with Fast-Draw: 25 Baker Rifle: Acc 3, damage 3d pi++, ROF 1(30), number of shots per minute with Fast-Draw 3. The crossbow delivers an average of 15 damage per shot to an unarmoured man vs. the Baker Rifle's 21, but that's cold comfort against the longer effective range and much higher rate of fire for the crossbow. Not to mention that it's possible to use a more powerful crossbow which allows a strong and trained man to exceed the damage of the Baker Rifle and still fire faster, more accurately and at a better range. And a Baker Rifle is a much better weapon than early firearms. Yes, I understand that a Baker Rifle is cheaper at a $100 vs. the Composite Crossbow $900, but that's at least partially due to the mass production of firearms at TL 5. An early musket competing with crossbows at TL4 doesn't have those advantages and will cost almost as much as the crossbow. But, as I said, I'm not here to curse the darkness. Instead, I only want to know what reasonable stats for the thrown weapons, bows, crossbows and slings in GURPS would be. If they weren't 'heroic average' weapons, what would be their stats? Just so an individual GM can correct them in his game, if he so chooses. __________________ Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela!