Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 El_Condoro Dec 28, 2014 3:41:53	I assume this hasn't come up much in games because it isn't until Level 11 that a Hunter ranger gets the Volley Multiattack, but I am wondering how people will deal with an Attack action that could pump 16 crossbow bolts into a 20 ft. x 20 ft. (I am assuming a 4 x 4 square, or even cube if in 3D, and that the ranger has taken Crossbow Expert). Will you go with a 'the world has magic and flying dragons, so just go with it' or will you try to give a justification for being able to load a crossbow that many times in 6 seconds (even a Legolas with a long bow might struggle with that rate of fire)?
#2 Macv12 Dec 28, 2014 6:30:44	I don't even go with the assumption that they're firing and loading individual arrows from their bow, let alone bolts from a crossbow. Somehow or other, they fire all their projectiles at the same time. For a bow, they grab a fistful of arrows and fire them at the same time somehow (have you ever seen Men in Tights?), and with a crossbow, they have a special firing mechanism that shoots lots of bolts. Or, they call on the spirits of nature or their own innate spiritual power, then fire the one piece of ammunition, and a score of ghostly arrows shoot in a spray from the same spot and make a volley. Basically something along the lines of a bow user from Dynasty Warriors, or Varric in Dragon Age 2.
#3 El_Condoro Dec 28, 2014 6:54:36	OK, so a kind of arrow/bolt machine gun thing or groups of ammo being fired at once. Yeah, that could work as a fun, heroic narrative device.
#4 CariadocThorne Dec 28, 2014 11:59:16	I explain it as using a special, prepared arrow/bolt which is basically lots of smaller arrows/bolts tied together with weak thread which snaps under the force of firing, pelting an area like an oversized shotgun blast.
#5 Coredump00 Dec 28, 2014 13:29:21	In general, I just let it happen.  It should be rare enough that I think of it as 'divine intervention' or whatever to explain it.   But I have a question.... lets say you are using a crossbow and don't have Crossbow Expert (I know... but lets pretend)   Does the Volley special abiity trump the Loading property...????  Or does the Loading property  stop Volley from working with a crossbow...??   They are both 'specific' rules, so.....
#6 El_Condoro Dec 28, 2014 14:15:37	I would say the weapon quality "regardless of how many attacks you can normally make" trumps the class feature.
#7 Avross Dec 28, 2014 16:01:45	El_Condoro wrote: