Re: Thought for the day

Antoine wrote:

> (lifted off oook with modifications):
> 
> All missile weapons should have massive to-hit penalties at point
> blank range. ("The hill orc is too close to shoot! You miss the hill
> orc.")

This idea crops up in many places in fantasy, and it has never made much
sense to me.

As long as you can still pull back the bow and point it in roughly the
correct direction, closer should simply mean easier to hit. Admittedly,
pulling the bow enough to get the arrow to fly properly would be
impractical with longbows (and perhaps even shortbows) at ranges close
enough for melee - but that wouldn't apply to crossbows, as long as they
were already loaded, and probably shouldn't apply to slings etc. either.

Is there something I'm missing about "primitive/medieval missile
weapons" in general which would make the trope of "hard to hit things at
very close range" make sense?

-- 
    The Wanderer

    My usual .sig is on vacation while I adjust to my new computer