I'm making a character who will specialize in ranged weapons(probably thrown ones as opposed to fired). My group is still very new to the system, and while trying to figure out how weapon range works, we kind of got lost.

I tried using the example of Effective and Maximum Ranges both before and after factoring in Strength(the example is on page 88), but none of my calculations matched the ranges given on the weapon tables.

Can anyone explain this better?

theonesin said:

I think I can (though do not hold me to it).

First lets look at the example given, the Longbow. with 8 STR On Table 30, page 71 the Longbow is shown to have a range of 60m. This is the main problem, being 60 meters.
60 meters = 196.85 feet.
Now on page 80 the longbows effective range is 200 feet, so we round up to the closest round number I guess (196.85 is close enough to 200 I guess). Thus I have to assume that the number on page 70 is the effective range, not the maximum range. On page 87 the Maximum range is double the effective range so a Longbow has an effective range of 200 and a maximum range of 400.
So thats the base stats, next we have the STR of 8 as in the example. On Table 43 we find 8 STR grants +60. As that the example has a new effective and maximum range of 260/460 we add the strength to both numbers, instead of adding it to effective range and doubling it for maximum range as one would expect.

Finally the final range is 260/460 feet or 79.24/140.20 meters (rounded to 80/140 meters, simplified) for this Longbow.

Now lets try a new example. For this we will have a Shortbow with a STR of 10. The Short bow has a range of 40m according to Table 30 on page 71.
40 meters = 131.233 feet. Rounding that can be 130, 135, or 150 feet (giving a maximum range of 260, 270, or 300 feet). For simplicity I will use the 150/300feet for this example, but would probably use 130/260 if I was GMing an actual game.
Now Table 43 page 88 states 10 STR grants +150 feet. Therefore with an effective range of 150+150=300 feet and a maximum range of 300+150=450 feet.

So now the range is 300/450 feet or 91.44/137.16 meters (or 90/140 meters, simplified) for this Short bow.

I think the problem is Table 30 is in meters and Table 43 is in feet. Translation is a problem for this game.

Although on a different note, I'm surprised at the difference strength gives for ranged weapons. High strength is a lot more important for them than it is for melee fighters.

That actually helps a lot. I realize now that the problem was that we were calculating things as 1m = 3ft, which we knew wasn't exact, but thought it was close enough. The problem is that when I tried to calculate the effective range of the long bow in that example, I came up with 180ft, pretty far off from the 200ft mentioned. This made me think that I was supposed to factor in the required 8 Str into this, which gave me 210ft, close enough to the 200ft that I thought I was on the right track. However, this strategy completely failed when trying to do the same for other weapons, at one point getting the twice the weapon's base range, or getting some negative range.

Yeah, my group kind of hates how they switch measuring systems.