RE: archery

[Lyle H Janney <lhjanney@adpc.purdue.edu>]

Okay, I think I can help to clear this up a bit.  Wright, you are every bit
encouraged to take on a rookie any day, but are your 24 buddies willing
to do so as well.  John is _only_ referring to the case where a rookie
is firing into a densely packed formation (of, say, poorly-placed pikemen).
Here, whoever is firing will almost certainly hit someone, but a veteran
will do so after rolling once or twice, and then the hit will usually be minor.
However, a rookie still needs that 19 or 20, so he rolls and rolls, and rolls
until he either runs out of possible targets (up to 25 in this case), or he rolls
his 19 or 20.  This isn't about single-target combat (if it were, you'd be
absolutely correct in your assertion), this is about firing into a closely-
packed crowd of targets.  Kind of like the fellow holding the 6-shooter
facing the crowd of 30 people who want to hang him, 6 people are going
to get shot and hurt for it, but it's very likely the other 24 are gonna string
our poor example up.  Get it now?

Lyle

-----Original Message-----
From:	Wright Frazier [SMTP:khelek@ns1.cioe.com]
Sent:	Monday, September 21, 1998 3:57 PM
To:	John Hogg
Cc:	khelek@ns1.cioe.com; gmlist@cioe.com
Subject:	Re: archery


Sorry John, I'm not a hard core mathmetician and me wee little libral arts
mind just doesn't buy your reasoning.  The Newbie may get a crit 1/2 on
one half of his hits, but its still the same probability of getting a
crit as Mr. Vet.  I still say Mr. Vet is far more lethal because
he doesn't have to rely on the crit to kill.  He relys on the 5d6 that
he's going to do to you from 5 arrows to kill you.  The newbie is
far LESS lethal because he _MUST_ have that crit to kill, as opposed
to the Vet who doesn't need it, and STILL has the same chance of
getting it as the newbie.  Sorry, I don't buy it at all.

Wright