I was thiniking the same thing. And, of course Archers would play a support role, but in single combat they would suck, wouldn't they? I was thiking give them a secondary skillset, involving the use of the shortsword. Or possibly, make Archery another skill, like psionics or something.

Oh, and Archery would be mainly for "softening" the enemy before they engage in actual combat.

Eh, maybe a skillset involving using the bow as a club? could come with the specialization? And a skill such as:

AB CROSSBOW BATTER
Syntax: BUT

Use the butt-end of your crossbow as a secondary weapon!\\\\Maybe skills for longbows and shortbows involving tripping them, striking them in key-points, etc.

And the crossbow specialization would probably be a support-only thing

Sorry for bursting the bubble (and double sorry if this sounds extremely rude), but no one who knows how combat in Lusternia works would say that. In IRE realms, softening has no use in combat. Hit-and-run tactics are useless unless you kill the enemy, because he can cure up all afflictions and heal wounds in a matter of SECONDS. Only exceptions are when he is very badly wounded and afflicted, but that would hardly count as softening then.
And giving deepwounds from distance = big NO.

Simply put, I don't like archery as a skill. It will be either overpowered or too weak for anything else than shooting at newbies.

Shooting newbies is fun though. They act all surprised when you blast em in one hit from 3 rooms away in a village influence... not that I do that anymore or anything....

Couldn't it slightly outdamage their sipping? And, as for the wounding from a long distance, by the time you've gotten a limb to a certain level of wounding, they would probably be beatin' on you, and the further away you are, the less accurate and damaging your arrows are.

Couldn't it slightly outdamage their sipping? And, as for the wounding from a long distance, by the time you've gotten a limb to a certain level of wounding, they would probably be beatin' on you, and the further away you are, the less accurate and damaging your arrows are.

eh, triple post? Hrm, I don't recall mashing the button that many times...

Unless the afflictions given by Archery are uncurable, this simply does not work.

... and I see Cuber already said that. In any case, it's useless because afflictions are very easily cured and because it's not exactly hard to just run up to an enemy. You're talking as if it takes 10-15 seconds to get to someone in your line of sight. It doesn't. It takes just a few.

fine, then have each time an arrow hits someone, stun them (just kidding...)

Although, on a serious note, what could be done to make archery more plausible? I think making a suggestion as to what can be done to make it work would be better than just saying, "No, that idea won't work."

The simplest way is to make archers "soft targets" but not too soft, and have all the skills viable in the same room, and from distance.

Also, they would need the ability to hinder a person, and give them enough time to hit and run, but give a delay such that if they did that, then they could still get hit after they run, but if they didn't there is no delay....

Basically you make Wardens

hrm, hindering?

AB ARCHERY HINDER

A nice, shiny, barbed arrow or bolt to the leg is sure to hinder an opponent! ( makes it so that they HOBBLE instead of walk, and to cure it they....WRITHE to get the arrow out of their leg.

AB ARCHERY SHIELDS

Arrows will now penetrate certain defences! (mainly pentagram, circle, and any other low ranking shield spells or abilities)

AB ARCHERY WEBBING

Syntax: ATTACH WEBBING TO

Little arrows forged to specially hold a web capsule, which is crafted and enchanted. Before the arrow get's to the opponent, it bursts into a web, hindering them and causing them to need to WRITHE! (dunno, y'all said it needed some way to hinder opponents!)

EDIT: and one archer = not much softening, but 3-4 archers = lucky to get to target!

I still want to see something I can't find on the net... Long distance monks.

Grook monks from achaea using mind crush and kai choke?

No, monks using bows or slings or better yet, portable catapults.

That would be a good idea, maybe even to make the use of shortsword on par or slightly less effective than the use of the bow. Pull off two or three shots on an enemy a few spaces away, then pull out a shorsword and dagger in when they get inside your range. This would effectively make it more of a 'Rogue' class than a 'Ranger' class, but would bypass the inevitable overpowered/underpowered result of making a pure bowman. The secondary skill could possibly be tracking or athletics, because if you want to make an effective melee fighter Psionics is a no-no.

And if noone else looked at the links that Tias provided, I believe that you will all be shocked by the exact same ides we've presented being shown in them.

I was thinking of something like this before. But instead of just archery, have a whole ramification, similar to knighthood

like, Ranger(as in Long-Range style of fighting) with specialization in daggers, Bow, Guns/Arcane Bows(City/Commune) and Crossbow

pretty much daggers based in short distances(works in adjecent rooms) and speed, bow in average and three rooms away, crossobow in precission and four rooms away and Guns/Arcane bows in Damage and two rooms away

Then make an athletics like skill..

And for the third skill, either Tracking or Illusions

they could make good spies and stuff like that. Like an assassin/ranger class

shoot arrow ne at steve
You shoot your arrow at steve

JPK steve ne

You jumpkick steve, knocking him prone

sprint e

You dash off to the east

heartpierce steve west

YOu shoot an arrow into steve's chest, sending his heart into the opposing wall.

sprint west

You see a heart punctured into the wall by an arrow, with a note on the back of the arrow shaft that reads "gotcha."

If an entire ranged class could be used then here's different ideas for weapons:

List: bow, crossbow, throwing needle, knives, atl-atl, javalin, throwing stick, cannon, throwing axe, pilum, plumbata, jingal, chakram, boleadora, throwing hammer, spear, throwing star, trebuchette, staff sling, onager, ballista, mortar, rocket, pistol, aquebus, bomb, grenade, sling, catapult, musket

Bows:
Longbow, Flatbow, Shortbow, Composite, Crossbow, Ballista

Siege:
Cannon, Mortar, Ballista, Onager, Trebuchette, Catapult

Gunpowder:
Cannon, Jingal, Mortar, Rocket, Pistol, Arquebus, Bomb, Grenade

Thrown:
Throwing needle, Throwing knives, Atl-atl, Javalin, Throwing stick, Throwing axe, Pilum, Plumbata, Chakram, Boleadora, Throwing hammer, Spear, Throwing star, Staff sling, Sling, Bomb, Grenade

Team use:
Cannon, Jingal, Trebuchette, Onager, Ballista, Mortar, Catapult

City:
Longbow, Crossbow, Cannon, Onager, Trebuchette, Throwing needle, Throwing axe(fransisca), Pilum/Spear, Throwing hammer, Grenade, Musket, Pistol

Commune:
Flatbow, Composite, Atl-atl, Spear/Javalin, Throwing axe(tomahawk), Jingal, Rocket, Bomb(or Guadiguch), Arquebus, Chakram, Darts(possibly with plumbatas as city-type), Throwing stick, Sling and Staff sling

I know you all hate my ideas on this, though. Kindof a bows and darts and slings and the chinese and indian gunpowder weapons for communes, while pilums and thrown weapons and european gunpowder for cities, as the last one's supposed to be.

The staff sling got me thinking, though, what about a rangers guild for communes that uses slings? And there would be a skill to attach the sling to a staff, and that would be their primary weapon, and the staff could be used up close. Na, mages already have staffs.

And a skill involving teamwork for ranged people would be nice, like a siege weapon skill as a side skill.

All sorts of skill ideas could be came up of from these I think, though.

If it is going to happen, you should be able to fletch your own arrows, you should be able to send notes on them, aiming them at trees, and enchanters should enchant them so that they are a bit like homing missiles, but maybe the homing missiles could not turn very often or could only turn twice or something, otherwise they'd be overpowered.
Oh, and I might be clutching at straws here, (I miss summon!) but maybe you could attach a string to the arrow, shoot it at someone, and use that to pull them to you. It would no minimal or no damage, and they would have an amount of time in which to WRITHE off the arrow while you're pulling.
And it should take a few moments to get from archer to victim, so you might see:
An arrow/bolt/ arrow shoots through here, passing from to .
This must show in each room in succession before it gets to the recipient.
AND, of someone starts blocking an exit after you shoot, you will hit them instead. If they are blocking it before you shoot, you won't be able to take aim.

I like the idea of the rope on an arrow. The blackpowder, and all that, it could work, but cannons would be crazy. Trebuchets would be crazy as well, because unless they shoot across the see ( OVERPOWERED ) they'd be too slow to be any good. Although, some blackpowder involving skills to helpa rchery would be neat.

AB ARCHERY MINIBOMB

Syntax: ATTACH TO
SHOOT

Would only work one room away, reduced acuracy, but good damage.

But, I don't think blackpowder'd fit in with Lusternia. Also, Pili (?) are javelins, just specially designed to bend on impact, making them inpossible to re-use. Throwing needles, maybe for some sort of speed class, no darts, to common and just like needles.

AB ARCHERY BALLISTA

Syntax: SETUP BALLISTA
LOAD
BEGIN FIRING

Would require 3-4 archers, each with 10 wood commodities and 5 steel to set up. (repeating would take longer) Archers cannot move from the spot, or do anything else while it's set up and firing. No need to aim, as when this weapon is firing, it hits randomly. Meaning, if you have 3 Paladins in the room with 4 Magnagorans, they would all be hit, randomly, and in random places. Holds up to 20 spears (shoots spears, not bolts or arrows. More like wooden steaks really, but we will call them spears.) When they hit someone, if their size is not over 15, the bolt keep's going for another room.


" A massive wooden steak comes flying in from the east, piercing you through the stomach before continuing westward "

-or-

" A massive wooden steak darts in from the East, tearing into your gut, inducing massive bleeding and leaving a gaping hole in your gut, before continuing westward,

" A massive wooden steak darts in from the east, striking Alaskar in the shoulder and driving him to the ground in a flurry of blood and tissue. "

Eeerch... You wanna write what it would look like?