Crossbow and Ammo Ideas

[Eloyn]

AoE Bolts would have a good level restriction I think then, and by the time you can use them, you'll have something like 3 attacks a round, and at that rate, would be overpoweringly good, since only mages can cast AoE and are limeted.  You could have 3 sets of 99 AoE arrows in your bag...

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

All an Alchemist's Arrow is, is an arrow with a vial of alchemist's fire for a head instead of your usual pointy bit of metal. So, instead of your usual d6 piercing damage for a standard arrow from a standard shortbow, you get 1d6 fire damage, plus 1 point of splash fire damage to surrounding creatures. If the character was using a longbow, well, I'm sorry; still just a d6+splash.

Acid arrows, Holy Arrows, Choking Arrows... Anything you could throw as a grenade-like weapon, slap it onto an arrow. The cost of each arrow would be just slightly higher than the cost of the grenade-like weapon, so the end product would be ludicrously expensive, but if you've got the resources...

Yo damn. @.@

The sheer cost in materials would keep them from being over-abundant; who's going to have 99 Fire Beetle's Bellies, and who gets 100% on crafting Alchemist's Fire? Ditto with acid. Choking powder wouldn't work too well... But Holy Water would. Level requirement of 7, and you've already got characters who're happier making thier own metal-tipped arrows than will want to go to the trouble of taking the alchemical route to bonuses. As for the Holy Water... The level requirement would keep most low-level PCs from stocking up on them, and clearing out every crypt in existance (more easily than we do now, anyway).

[Eloyn]

Very true....As long as they don't drop very often in creature drops then there wont be a problem with hogging them up and selling them in boxes.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

They wouldn't drop in stacks larger than two or three, tops, and would have about half the liklihood of being dropped as thier plain ol' grenadelike counterparts.  Who says I disrupt game balance?

Alchemist arrows and bolts would give an edge to the missiles. Level limit I think should coincide with when you can have an oak or mahogany bow. I think for crossbows, think it should be limted to the heavy variety of oak and mahogany. Reason the weight of the missile alone, would lower the hit mod but give a splash mod on dmg.
Such a missile would not be a good thing for those in the party that charge into battle. Kind of like the Blade Barrier and Fireball.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

No extra weight... Though requiring them to be used with at least a +1 bow/crossbow is a nice idea.  The problems with giving them extra weight are thus: A) Arrows currently weigh nothing. There's a reason for this! They can be stacked to 99. Even at 0.1, that's still almost ten pounds. Now, I might be fine with the added weight, if not for... B) The arrowheads on these things wouldn't be the size of your usual flask of whatever... They'd be Vial sized, which is about the same size as a longish arrowhead. As they'd be totally full, there'd be no irregularities in balance of the things, either, as there is in a Mercurial Longsword. The splash would mainly come from the sheer impact of the strike; not so much the quantity of the liquid. That's why... Hm. Perhaps having the splash damage be rolled as 1d2-1, to represent the fact that if you get little enough on you, it won't harm you. In any case, as to weight... The arrowheads won't be any heavier than thier solid, metal counterparts. A bit larger, aye, but no heavier.  I'm not terribly sure I like the idea of an alchemist's bolt... After all, the majority of the damage from a crossbow bolt comes from the fact that the bolt is a short, heavy bit of wood and metal (or leather and metal), moving at a very high velocity. If you took a bolt, and cut it down so that you could add the vial on, you'd lose every bit of the structural integrity that that bolt relies on to go into someone, and do damage.  Certainly, the same general principle is true with an arrow, but consider this fact: An arrow is a long, light object, which causes damage mainly from careful placement and speed-based velocity. It needn't be as strong as a crossbow bolt, because, quite simply, it's not designed to go through armor. A bolt is a short, heavy object (in comparison), which causes damage mainly from the sheer force put behind it, punching through armor, flesh, and bone alike. Now, if we take a 32-inch arrow, and swap out the last six inches of it for not a solid, hard piece of pointy metal, but a hollow, brittle piece of glass, we're essentially shortening the arrow that's NOT going to shatter by about a fifth of its length. However, if we take an 20-inch crossbow bolt, and lop off six inches of it... That's almost a third of the solid bolt! While the arrow would retain 4/5 (80%) of its total effectiveness upon the shattering of the head, the bolt would only retain 2/3 (66.6%), and the latter would be far more likely to yaw on impact, so that the remainder of the bolt did not enter the target.  -------------  Of course, I may just be waaaay overthinking this, and we should even it out for crossbow users...

The idea was not to have the bolt penetrate the opponent upon impact, but to have the vial shatter coating the target in fire or acid.

Seeing a lizard running around in flames would be a glorious sight to see.

Another thought, a vial of silver dust. Upon impact create a cloud of silver dust.(Reminded of the spell, Glitterdust). Would not harm your party, but it would have some nasty effect on the undead.

[steverimmer]

Certainly, the same general principle is true with an arrow, butconsider this fact: An arrow is a long, light object, which causesdamage mainly from careful placement and speed-based velocity. Itneedn't be as strong as a crossbow bolt, because, quite simply, it'snot designed to go through armor.

Hmmm not entirely true...click here to read about bodkin arrows

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

RaWr. Anyway, let me boil it down:

1 Alchemist's Fire / Acid Flask / Holy Water + 1 Arrow / Bolt = 1 Alchemist's / Acid / Holy Arrow / Bolt.

+1d4 Fire / Acid / Holy damage on impact, as well as 1 Fire / Acid / Holy damage splash.

[Doc-Holiday]

Can I tie a healing potion on it?

Hold still! This will only hurt a moment.... *aims*

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

Doc-Holiday - 12/22/2005  6:47 PM

Can I tie a healing potion on it?

Hold still! This will only hurt a moment.... *aims*

As grand an idea as that is (think of the damage that could do to undead!), that wouldn't make terribly much sense... And it would simply add to the complexity of the system. Let's just keep it at least a little bit simple, eh?

[Acacea]

Right...read Doc's post again, this time while standing on your head, spinning slowly in circles and thinking of pink monkeys with forked tails. It'll all make sense, then.

[Marswipp]

The healing arrows/bolts would have to heal more than the damage done...