Ranged Weapons

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Ranged Weapons, which include bows and crossbows, are used to launch ammunition at enemies from a distance.

When held in the left hand, missile weapons function normally as ranged weapons. However, in a pinch the user may switch the weapon to the right hand, where it may be used as a melee weapon. In this situation, the user's Defensive Strength will be also calculated based on the appropriate melee weapon skill instead of ranged weapons skill.

To use a ranged weapon, the user should have a bundle of ammunition (arrows for bows, or bolts for crossbows) in their inventory. Use the READY command to select the ammunition (for example: READY AMMO MY ARROWS). Most ammo bundles have infinite uses, so this only needs to be done once. Then use the FIRE command to attack.

Bows have a firing roundtime determined by the base roundtime subtracted by one's strength bonus divided by ten. So, in order to get a 3 second RT using a long bow, the archer needs a strength bonus of 40. The strength bonus takes into account spells, enhancives, and Surge of Strength. Sniping (shooting a target from hiding) and aiming (using the aim verb with the option of anything but random) each add one second to the shooter's roundtime. These are cumulative, so a shot with a long bow from hiding that is aiming at the left eye will incur a nine second roundtime when shooting without any strength bonus. The minimum firing roundtime is 3 seconds, including if sniping/aiming.

Crossbows have a fixed roundtime of 4 seconds for hand/light crossbows and 5 seconds for heavy crossbows, not affected by strength and regardless of aiming or sniping. Crossbows may be COCKed prior to firing, which immediately takes 2 seconds of roundtime but will reduce the subsequent firing roundtime by 2 seconds. (For example, a light crossbow can cock for 2 seconds then fire in 2 seconds.)

Max Ranks and Training Point costs

Type Square Semi Pure
Profession Rogue Warrior Monk Bard Paladin Ranger Cleric Empath Savant Sorcerer Wizard
Max Ranks Per Level 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 - 1 1
Training Point Cost 3/1 2/1 4/1 4/2 6/2 3/1 9/3 14/3 - 14/3 14/3

Damage Factors and Attack versus Defense

Weapon AG Cloth Leather Scale Chain Plate RT Min RT Damage Type STR/DU
AsG 1 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Short bow DF .325 .225 .275 .250 .100 5 3 Puncture/Slash 35/180
AvD 20 27 26 25 24 20 18 16 14 31 27 23 19 27 21 15 9
Composite bow DF .350 .300 .325 .275 .150 6 3 Puncture/Slash 50/225
AvD 25 35 34 33 32 30 28 26 24 42 38 34 30 36 30 24 18
Long bow DF .400 .325 .350 .300 .175 7 3 Puncture/Slash 60/315
AvD 25 33 32 31 30 29 27 25 23 42 38 34 30 38 32 26 20
Hand crossbow DF .275 .225 .250 .190 .135 4 4 Puncture/Slash 50/285
AvD 20 26 25 24 23 20 18 16 14 34 30 26 22 27 21 15 9
Light crossbow DF .350 .300 .325 .275 .150 6 4 Puncture/Slash 50/285
AvD 25 31 30 29 28 25 23 21 19 39 35 31 27 32 26 20 14
Heavy crossbow DF .425 .325 .375 .285 .175 7 5 Puncture/Slash 60/315
AvD 30 36 35 34 33 31 29 27 25 46 42 38 34 40 34 28 22

Arrow/Bolt Tips

As per the recent archery updates, you may now add different arrow/bolt tip types to your bundles to adjust how they perform under different circumstances.

In order to do so, you must have 400 ranks in the fletching skill. Hold 10 of the tip type you wish to add in the LEFT HAND and a bundle of the bolt/arrows you wish to modify in the RIGHT HAND. Type FLETCH TIP and it will ask you if you wish to confirm, warning you that all changes are permanent and the damage type will be changed from its current type to the new type. Type FLETCH TIP once more to continue.

A table outlining the four arrow/bolt tip types and how they adjust your arrow or bolt:

Tip DF Bonus/Penalty AvD Bonus/Penalty Damage Type
Broadhead (Default) .000 0 Puncture (66%)/Slash (33%)
Blunt -.050 +10 Unbalance
Bodkin Point See below +5 vs Chain/Plate Puncture (66%)/Slash (33%)
Crescent .000 0 Slash (83%)/Puncture (16%)

In the case of the bodkin point, the exact DF changes are as follows: Cloth -0.050, Leather -0.025, Scale -0.010 Chain +0.025, Plate +0.015

As you can see, this makes the bodkin point superior to a normal arrow tip against chain and plate, but worse against scale and lower.

Attack Strength

Ranged Attack Strength (AS) is calculated using the formula: 

Ranged AS =   DEX Bonus
            + Ranged Weapons Skill Bonus
            + [(Perception Ranks - 40) / 4]
            + [(Ambush Ranks - 40) / 4]
            + Weapon Enchantment
            + Crossbow Kneeling Bonus

This is then multiplied by STANCE.

Notes:

  • DEX Bonus is directly calculated from the character's Dexterity
  • Perception only gives additional AS up to 2x ranks per level, even if a character can train more ranks or uses skill enhancive items. For example, at level 50, up to 102 ranks in Perception will count towards ranged AS.
  • The bonus from Ambush can exceed 2x with enhancives.
  • The -40 to ranks in the formula never results in a negative number. The bonus does not start till you have 40 ranks in either skill.
  • Weapon Enchantment - The entire enchant comes from the bow/crossbow itself. Prior to the ranged changes, the enchant on the arrow stacked with the enchant on the bow up to 10x. Except in the case of special quivers and bows, this is no longer the case.
  • While firing a light or heavy crossbow, kneeling or lying down adds +30 AS. This bonus does not apply to the hand crossbow.

Those with 500 ranks in fletching can give their bundle of ammo +5 AvD for 100 shots, once per hour. To do this, hold the ammo bundle you wish to modify in your RIGHT HAND and type FLETCH MASTER.

Critical Weighting

Critical weighting is applied to ranged attacks using the formula: trunc((INT + WIS) / 6).[1] The following table shows the aforementioned relationship.

Intuition + Wisdom Bonus 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60 66 72 78 84 90 96
Critical Weighting 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Aiming

The chance to hit the left or right eye of a target is capped at 75%.[2] Characters can achieve this through skill alone before level cap against like-level creatures with normal conditions.

For more granular breakdown and specific evaluation, see the aiming formula: Aiming Success

Resources

References

  1. ↑ GM Naijin, "Conversation About Statistics-Related CER", GemStone IV Discord#Mechanics, 2020-03-26T05:35:00Z
  2. ↑ GM Naijin, "Conversation About Aiming Ranged Weapons", GemStone IV Discord#Mechanics, 2020-04-05T20:29:00Z
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