Competition 65

[takkaria]

OK, now I've started thinking about this, and I have a whole new perspective on ranged weapons.

First, why should a sling be good for a rogue? Slings are more of a battlefield type weapon. I would think that a rogue's weapon of choice would be a short bow, or possibly a light crossbow.

Second, the long bow is a highly specialised weapon - it needed a lot of training and strength to be handled correctly. It should be the weapon of choice for rangers, and usable by warriors and maybe some of the other half-casters, but not the universal ranged solution that it currently is.

So, why would you use a sling when you could use a bow or crossbow? Well, they're cheap and light (so good for the early game); also, you could throw other stuff with them besides shots. You could even use one as a spear-thrower.

So, here's a plan:

• Rogues lose their sling bonus.
• Use of a long bow well will require the player to have some combination of being a ranger and having decent strength.
• Slings come in two types, with a x1 or x2 multiplier, and any 'throwing' thing can be thrown with them. Why even use a x1 sling? Because it will get extra range, and can be enchanted up. Care will be needed not to overpower throwing weapons.

Thoughts?

You know, I'd be tempted to make slings have an infinite supply of ammo somehow. So you can either fire whatever shots you have squirreled away, or random other objects. I'm not sure why this strikes me as a good idea since it seems to go against the grain quite a bit.

[Nick]

You know, I'd be tempted to make slings have an infinite supply of ammo somehow. So you can either fire whatever shots you have squirreled away, or random other objects. I'm not sure why this strikes me as a good idea since it seems to go against the grain quite a bit.

You could make the pickup command pick up a rock (1d2) if there are no objects on the floor.

[Magnate]

You know, I'd be tempted to make slings have an infinite supply of ammo somehow. So you can either fire whatever shots you have squirreled away, or random other objects. I'm not sure why this strikes me as a good idea since it seems to go against the grain quite a bit.

Perhaps this goes back to the complaint in the 3.1.1 thread about the weight of iron shots. Slings are already the weakest launchers - comparable to shortbows except that arrows are vastly more common in the dungeon than sling ammo. So you have to carry more ammo to compensate for the lower likelihood of finding any (ego sling ammo is extremely rare), and it's painful. So people just don't use slings (except the Buckland variety, of course). Even an extra might sling is just a longbow (or Hxbow for +2) with heavier ammo.

So I'm with you - assuming an infinite supply of pebbles on the dungeon floor is perfectly justifiable.