Archery
I have never been happy with the archery rules presented in RPG games ever since I practiced archery for a short while when I was a member of the SCA. In that brief period, during the Speed round I was able to get 12 arrows off, and on target in 30 seconds. If a round equals 10 seconds then that should be 4 arrows per round, so I have always let 1st level archers get off 2 shots per round, but even that doesn't really capture the abilities of a good archer, so I have come up with the following rules for Archers in my campaign.
Shots per round by Level:
1 - 2
2 - 2
3- 3
4 - 3
5 - 4
6 - 4
7 - 5
8 - 5
9 - 6
10 - 6
and so on, one more shot every second level. Any one proficient with a short bow or long bow gets these shots per level, but only Fighters and Rangers get the bonus shots for dexterity as follows:
Another shot is added for each point of dexterity over 12, so:
Dex Additional Shots
13 1
14 2
15 3
16 4
17 5
18 6
So at 10th level an Archer with a Dexterity of 18 would get 12 shots in 10 seconds. Not unreasonable for an expert Archer. However, like a Magic User, if the Archer's concentration is broken (after his first shots on his initiative) by his being attacked, or if he has to move etc, then he loses the bonus shots granted by Dexterity.
E.G. 7 Party members and a party of 7 orcs roll initiative and the initiative order breaks down like this:
Jane The Rogue
Sam the Ranger ( Archer, 1st level with 18 dex so 8 shots/rd )
Bob the Rogue
Orc#2
Sally the Fighter
Orc #1
Orc #7
Tom the Wizard
Orc #3
Sue the Cleric
Orc #4
Bill the Fighter
Orc #6
Orc #5
So, Jane the Rogue does her thing, then its Sam's turn. He takes his initial 2 shots granted by his level, then the rest of his shots are staggered between everyone else's initiatives until all his shots are used up or his concentration gets broken. So:
Sam shoots initial 2 shots
Bob does his thing
Sam shoots another arrow
Orc #2 does his thing
Sam shoots arrow #4
Sally Does her thing
Sam Shoots Arrow #5
Orc #1 does his thing
Sam shoots arrow #6
Orc #7 does his thing
Sam shoots arrow #7
Tom the Wizard does his thing
Sam shoots Arrow #8 (his last shot this round)
Orc #3 does his thing
Sue does her thing
Orc #4 does his thing
Bill does his thing
Orc #6 does his thing
Orc #5 does his thing
If Orc #2 had thrown a rock at Sam, or hit him with a melee weapon, or grappled with him, then Sam's concentration would fail and he would have only got his base 2 shots, plus his 1 shot after Bob, in. If the Orc had missed he would still be good to go.
I think this is a reasonable mechanic. A lot of the shots will miss anyway, and arrows don't do a whole lot of damage each. Suggestions for refinements are always welcome.
If you want to see what a skilled archer can do, watch this:
Not that far off the mark.
