[CONAN] Shooting or Throwing into Melee

[Supplement Four]

The rule says that you've got to aim carefully in order not to hit your friend. You take a -4 on your throw. But, what if you miss? Is there no chance to hit your friend?



Barring finding an official explaination that I missed, I'm thinking of using the rule as writting, but giving a natural 1, 2, 3, or 4 on the attack throw as indication that the ally was hit instead of the enemy.

Example: Caelis throws a javelin at a Hyperborean that is in melee with Silaigne. Normally, Caelis would need a 12 to hit the Hyperborean, but since the target in in melee with Caelis' cousin, Caelis will take a -4 penalty on the throw.

If Caelis rolls 16+ (16 - 4 = 12), then Caelis hits the Hyperborean.

If Caelis rolls between 5-15, it's a total miss.

If Caelis throws a natural 1, 2, 3, or 4 on the attack, then Silaigne is hit.



Thoughts?

[Pascalahad]

The way I see it, only those who don't want to take the -4 malus can hit a friend. If they miss, then another attack roll is made against the friend.

[Cheomesh]

If you miss, roll a d4. Even = Miss wide. Odd = hit your friend.

M.

[Jeraa]

Barring finding an official explaination that I missed, I'm thinking of using the rule as writting, but giving a natural 1, 2, 3, or 4 on the attack throw as indication that the ally was hit instead of the enemy.

No. Just no. That is a 20% chance to hit your ally with each attack, regardless of how good you are at archery. Someone with a +20 BAB gets 4 attack a round. That is 4 chances to hit his own friend, maybe more if he has more attacks somehow. Failing that often is not fun. The best archer in the world shouldn't have a 1 in 5 chance of hitting his friend.

Instead, make it so if the archer misses by X points or more, he is forced to make an attack on the ally. You still have the chance to hit your friend if you roll badly, but it means the more accurate you are, the less likely that is to happen.

[Da Boss]

Why don't you just do it on a fumble roll of a 1? and have misses if you don't take the -4 penalty auto hit a friend.

Becomes more complicated with mutiple person melees/ different sizes of opponents but proportions can then come into play?

[Kev]

The rule says that you've got to aim carefully in order not to hit your friend. You take a -4 on your throw. But, what if you miss? Is there no chance to hit your friend?

The -4 penalty represents the care you're taking with your shot so that you don't hit your ally. Pure and simple.

I don't think the rule needs to be tweaked, modified or changed in any way.

Now, if one of my players was adamant about firing a shot into an ally-involved melee and not taking the -4 penalty, I would rule that, if he misses his foe, he will hit an ally. No ifs, ands or buts.

[Supplement Four]

The rule says that you've got to aim carefully in order not to hit your friend. You take a -4 on your throw. But, what if you miss? Is there no chance to hit your friend?

The -4 penalty represents the care you're taking with your shot so that you don't hit your ally. Pure and simple.

You're not following.... The -4 penalty is the amount of extra difficulty for the shot to avoid the friend. It stands to reason that, if you miss within 4 points, that you didn't avoid the extra difficulty and did, indeed, hit your friend. Score a hit with the -4, and you've successfully avoided your friend. Miss by within 4 points (a shot that would have otherwise hit the target had you not be trying to not hit your friend), then you've hit your friend.

Just like cover.

[LucaCherstich]

I've always complained about this even in normal ogl.
I think the most rational solution is that if you fail by 1 to 4 points you get your friend, usually the one who is nearer to the shooting line.