I'm getting ready to run an adventure where one of the players is a Waywatcher with a longbow and since I've never had to deal much with the ranged combat rules I thought I'd take a look at them.. and found that there didn't seem to be any.

Am I just not looking in the right place or is there no modifiers for what range enemies are at? It seems sort of weird that a shot would have the same chance of success at close range and long range...

I know I can easily fix this by throwing in a Misfortune Dice for each range increment over close, but I prefer to just stick to published rules.

You got it right, standard combat rules (1 challenge die if it's Balistic vs Defence). The weapon itself limits the range, often the action card puts extra dice and quite a few are penalized if you are engaged.

If you want to take into account Range, i'd start after Medium (Long = +1 Misfortune, etc)

I tend to only give a range modifier if there is something that would make the shot harder - for example a shot at long range with a howling wind, is more difficult than a short range shot in the same conditions - so there's a fortune dice.

If there is any kind of cover between the archer and target, rain, shooting up an elevation etc...

You get the idea I'm sure.

If there is nothing interfering with the shot, then I don't apply any range modifier.

In saying that, iIf your archer is anything like the one in my group , then you are going to start to look for reasons to add misfortune dice!

how about when your archers shoot in engagements? do you guys give misfortune dice for that? or if there's someone (an ally most of the time) standing between you and your target?

Just asking cause my gm keeps giving me an extra purple die every time I shoot in a melee or beyond an ally

Cruces said:

That seems a bit harsh, since Challange Dice are pretty powerfull. I'd have used Misfortune Dice instead.

I add misfortune (black) dice for shooting into combat, or through allies. Sometimes multiple depending on the circumstances, and I tell my player that there is a chance that things can go wrong (chaos star may mean hit a friend, banes cause stress etc).

I've read some where that 3 black dice = 1 purple.... though to my mind the black dice still won't generate a chaos star, so I'm not so sure. Has anyone crunched the numbers on this?

its a tiny bit over 2. 3 blacks is actually worse. But again - chaos star - definite wild card there.

shinma said:

Worse for Challenge symbols. 3 Misfortune dice will net fewer Banes than 1 Challenge die.

In most cases it doesn't matter, but I've played plenty of actions when I wanted boons more than successes.

Edit: Oops, it's true for 2 misfortune vs 1 challenge, but not 3. Something to consider though.

I wouldn't find it odd to apply an extra Challenge die for shooting into melee.

Misfortune dice are used to represent increased difficulty from environmental factors, such as wind, rain, fatigue, etc.

Challenge dice are used to represent the difficulty of the action itself. Is shooting/targeting an enemy engaged in melee with an ally inherently more difficult a shot/action? I'd be willing to agree that yes, it is.