In OD&D most of us eventually come to the conclusion that when a creature of 2 Hit Dice or higher (whether a player character, non-player character or monster) is fighting a creature of less than 2 Hit Dice they are allowed to make multiple attacks.
OD&D Book II “Monsters & Treasure” tells us that:
“Attack/Defence capabilities versus normal men are simply a matter of allowing one roll as a man-type for every hit die, with any bonuses being given to only one of the attacks, i.e. a Troll would attack six times, once with a +3 added to the die roll. (Combat is detailed in Vol. III.)”
Strategic Review issue 2 also clarifies things a little further, whilst discussing a combat example between a hero (4th level fighter) and orcs:
“ Note that [the hero] is allowed one attack for each of his combat levels as the ratio of one Orc vs. the Hero is 1:4, so this is treated as normal (non-fantastic) melee, as is any combat where the score of one side is a base 1 hit die or less.”
A “base 1 hit die or less” is a fairly ambiguous piece of text. If it were to say “1 hit die or less” we might consider 1+1 hit die as being over this threshold, however the word “base” prefixing this implies that anything from ½ a hit die (which is the lowest example given) up to 1+1 (the highest example given) is considered a base 1 hit die or less. Although not included in any example through “the three brown books” of OD&D rules; a 1+3,4 or 5 would also be considered as a base 1 hit die or less. So essentially anything under 2 hit dice is considered a base 1 hit die or less, unless I am missing the point entirely! Please let me know if that is the case or I will take your silence as confirmation that I am right.
This article also explains:
“When fantastic combat is taking place there is normally only one exchange of attacks per round”
So in conclusion multiple attacks are only applicable to combat between a figure with more than 2 Hit Dice versus a figure with less than 2 Hit Dice. In any other case only 1 exchange of attacks is made per round.
As a side note: I have no idea why some people only grant multiple attacks to fighters? If Monsters & Treasure tells us the monsters get one roll for each of their hit die, plus bonuses - and monster lists include all types of men and monsters, which includes the various character classes, why would player characters be restricted?
But the question I have for today is: does this rule extend to missile fire? My intuition tells me it does not and so does the logic when you think about it...
So is there actually any references in CHAINMAIL or the 3 OD&D books that would indicate multiple missile fire attacks can be made by any of the “fantastic” or “super-normal” figures, i.e. figures who have more than 2 Hit Dice?
Looking at CHAINMAIL, the following points are important:
“for every two Halflings firing count three on the Missile Fire table.”
“Enchanted Arrows: These missiles will always hit a normal target, but against fantastic opponents shown on the Fantasy Combat Table they allow the figure employing the weapon to roll two dice, just as if a melee was taking place, and if the score is sufficient, the target is killed. Of course, there is no return roll, unless the target is also armed with a similar weapon. Treat Elves armed with Enchanted Arrows as Hero-types for purposes of missile fire against fantastic targets”
These references are actually the only commentary regarding multiple missile fire attacks, with the exception of heroes & super-heroes.
In CHAINMAIL Appendix D there is a foot note relating to heroes (4th level fighters) and super-heroes (8th level fighters), the foot note tells us that these figures “can fire missiles equal to the same number of men, vs. regular opponents but only once vs. fantastic opponents.”
All other references to any of the other fantasy figures having multiple attacks relates soley to their ability on melee combat tables with the only exceptions being that halflings get one extra missile attack for every two firing. Additionally enchanted arrows allow elves to make the equivelant of a melee attack against a fantastic creature on the Fantasy Combat Table as a hero type.
CHAINMAIL states that only “Elves, hero-types, and certain magic users can wield magical weapons.” such as enchanted arrows and as confirmed above elves are treated as heroes and magic-users are present on the Fantasy Combat Table under wizards with the rules stating that they should be given lesser values if they are lower level magic-users.
And this is pretty much the extent of it. There is nothing to suggest that a figure with multiple attacks can use them outside of melee combat unless they are a hero or superhero.
OD&D Book II “Monsters & Treasure” tells us that:
“Attack/Defence capabilities versus normal men are simply a matter of allowing one roll as a man-type for every hit die, with any bonuses being given to only one of the attacks, i.e. a Troll would attack six times, once with a +3 added to the die roll. (Combat is detailed in Vol. III.)”
Strategic Review issue 2 also clarifies things a little further, whilst discussing a combat example between a hero (4th level fighter) and orcs:
“ Note that [the hero] is allowed one attack for each of his combat levels as the ratio of one Orc vs. the Hero is 1:4, so this is treated as normal (non-fantastic) melee, as is any combat where the score of one side is a base 1 hit die or less.”
A “base 1 hit die or less” is a fairly ambiguous piece of text. If it were to say “1 hit die or less” we might consider 1+1 hit die as being over this threshold, however the word “base” prefixing this implies that anything from ½ a hit die (which is the lowest example given) up to 1+1 (the highest example given) is considered a base 1 hit die or less. Although not included in any example through “the three brown books” of OD&D rules; a 1+3,4 or 5 would also be considered as a base 1 hit die or less. So essentially anything under 2 hit dice is considered a base 1 hit die or less, unless I am missing the point entirely! Please let me know if that is the case or I will take your silence as confirmation that I am right.
This article also explains:
“When fantastic combat is taking place there is normally only one exchange of attacks per round”
So in conclusion multiple attacks are only applicable to combat between a figure with more than 2 Hit Dice versus a figure with less than 2 Hit Dice. In any other case only 1 exchange of attacks is made per round.
As a side note: I have no idea why some people only grant multiple attacks to fighters? If Monsters & Treasure tells us the monsters get one roll for each of their hit die, plus bonuses - and monster lists include all types of men and monsters, which includes the various character classes, why would player characters be restricted?
But the question I have for today is: does this rule extend to missile fire? My intuition tells me it does not and so does the logic when you think about it...
OD&D Multiple Missile Attacks
In OD&D a combat round lasts 1 minute and a 10th level Lord could land 10 blows against an orc in that time. This makes sense, but is it feesible that the lord can pull out a cross bow and fire 10 quarrels in a single minute. That would be 1 shot made every 6 seconds! Considering the crossbow would need reloading this is actually quite ridiculous! In CHAINMAIL the rate of fire for a crossbow is once per turn if a figure stays stationary and this makes sense.So is there actually any references in CHAINMAIL or the 3 OD&D books that would indicate multiple missile fire attacks can be made by any of the “fantastic” or “super-normal” figures, i.e. figures who have more than 2 Hit Dice?
Looking at CHAINMAIL, the following points are important:
“for every two Halflings firing count three on the Missile Fire table.”
“Enchanted Arrows: These missiles will always hit a normal target, but against fantastic opponents shown on the Fantasy Combat Table they allow the figure employing the weapon to roll two dice, just as if a melee was taking place, and if the score is sufficient, the target is killed. Of course, there is no return roll, unless the target is also armed with a similar weapon. Treat Elves armed with Enchanted Arrows as Hero-types for purposes of missile fire against fantastic targets”
These references are actually the only commentary regarding multiple missile fire attacks, with the exception of heroes & super-heroes.
In CHAINMAIL Appendix D there is a foot note relating to heroes (4th level fighters) and super-heroes (8th level fighters), the foot note tells us that these figures “can fire missiles equal to the same number of men, vs. regular opponents but only once vs. fantastic opponents.”
All other references to any of the other fantasy figures having multiple attacks relates soley to their ability on melee combat tables with the only exceptions being that halflings get one extra missile attack for every two firing. Additionally enchanted arrows allow elves to make the equivelant of a melee attack against a fantastic creature on the Fantasy Combat Table as a hero type.
CHAINMAIL states that only “Elves, hero-types, and certain magic users can wield magical weapons.” such as enchanted arrows and as confirmed above elves are treated as heroes and magic-users are present on the Fantasy Combat Table under wizards with the rules stating that they should be given lesser values if they are lower level magic-users.
And this is pretty much the extent of it. There is nothing to suggest that a figure with multiple attacks can use them outside of melee combat unless they are a hero or superhero.
The Protection from Normal Missiles spell in OD&D Book I is interesting, the spell reads: “The recipient of this charm becomes impervious to normal missiles. This implies only those missiles projected by normal (not above normal) men and/or weapons.”
So there is a clear differentiation between “normal missiles”, i.e. non-magical missiles fired by normal (Less than 2 HD) figures and missiles fired by fantastic or super-normal types (above 2 HD). The only differentiation whe can extract from this however, is that “fantastic missiles” as we might coin them are not stopped by a Protection from Normal Missiles Spell.
In OD&D Book II it says that “Wights cannot be affected by normal missile fire, but silver-tipped arrows will score normal damage, and magic arrows will score double hits upon them.” So here we have a specific exception. But, “double hits” is not a second attack, presumably this means 1 successful hit counts as 2 and if several figures firing silver-tipped arrows scored hits, these hits would be doubled causing a larger amount of damage.
So, in summary we can perhaps conclude that figures with multiple melee attacks do not get multiple missile attacks in most cases but there is the exception of the halflings who get 1 extra missile attack per 3 of their kind firing. A 4th level fighter (hero) gets 4 missile attacks against normal types though and an 8th level fighter (super hero) gets 8! If we take the text across all these rule books at face value then this is the logical conclusion to be drawn.
But remember, according to OD&D Book I: fighters who can gain the title of “hero” can be humans, halflings, dwarves or elves and only humans can become a “superhero”.
So my conclusion so far is that when a fighter reaches 4th level they can fire 4 missiles per combat round against figures with less than 2 hit dice and when they reach 8th level they can fire 8 missiles per combat round against creatures with less than 2 hit dice.
But does this mean that a 5th level fighter gets 5 missile attacks? I don’t think it does because: A - there is nothing in any of the rules to confirm it and, B - if we are linking this ability directly to a fighters level and therefore their hit dice then a super hero gets 8+1 Hit Dice but doesnt make 8 missile attacks with a +1 bonus to one of them. Atleast, that’s not what it says in CHAINMAIL. If we are taking the literal interpretation, which is in my opinion a good practice when working with these old rules (never presume!) then its best to stick with 4th level fighters gain the ability to fire 4 missiles against normal types and 8th level fighters gain the ability to fire 8, with no inbetween state. This also means we don’t end up with a 10th level lord firing once every 6 seconds, however we do have to accept that a very skilled fighter of 8th level can fire every 7 and a ½ seconds!
However, there is a further piece in the puzzle. How does this reconcile with the CHAINMAIL rate of firing rules. Let’s have a quick look at those:
“Crossbowmen, Archers, and Longbowmen may fire every turn.” So using the hero as an example they are able to fire a crossbow, shortbow or longbow 4 times per turn, which is consistent.
“If Archers or Longbowmen do not move and are not meleed at the end of a turn they may fire twice.” This is where it all gets a bit ambigious again. Would a hero who does not move get to fire 8 times and a superhero 16 times?! Look back at the text and you will note it does not say “shortbows”, “longbows” but instead addressed the type of figure: “archer”, “longbowmen” well these are not heroes are they? The text is dealing with a specific type of troop so we could rationally conclude that a hero or superhero fires any type of missile either 4 or 8 times in the combat round against normal figures regardless of whether they move or not.
So to conclude fully, we might scribble the following in the margin of our copy of CHAINMAIL next to the missile fire rules:
“Super-normal and fantastic types of 2 hit dice and higher firing on normal types cannot make multiple missile attacks unless they are halflings who count as 3 for every 2 firing, heroes who make 4 attacks and superheroes who make 8. Heroes and superheroes disregard any rate of fire conditions imposed by movement or the type of missile weapon being fired.”
So there is a clear differentiation between “normal missiles”, i.e. non-magical missiles fired by normal (Less than 2 HD) figures and missiles fired by fantastic or super-normal types (above 2 HD). The only differentiation whe can extract from this however, is that “fantastic missiles” as we might coin them are not stopped by a Protection from Normal Missiles Spell.
In OD&D Book II it says that “Wights cannot be affected by normal missile fire, but silver-tipped arrows will score normal damage, and magic arrows will score double hits upon them.” So here we have a specific exception. But, “double hits” is not a second attack, presumably this means 1 successful hit counts as 2 and if several figures firing silver-tipped arrows scored hits, these hits would be doubled causing a larger amount of damage.
So, in summary we can perhaps conclude that figures with multiple melee attacks do not get multiple missile attacks in most cases but there is the exception of the halflings who get 1 extra missile attack per 3 of their kind firing. A 4th level fighter (hero) gets 4 missile attacks against normal types though and an 8th level fighter (super hero) gets 8! If we take the text across all these rule books at face value then this is the logical conclusion to be drawn.
But remember, according to OD&D Book I: fighters who can gain the title of “hero” can be humans, halflings, dwarves or elves and only humans can become a “superhero”.
So my conclusion so far is that when a fighter reaches 4th level they can fire 4 missiles per combat round against figures with less than 2 hit dice and when they reach 8th level they can fire 8 missiles per combat round against creatures with less than 2 hit dice.
But does this mean that a 5th level fighter gets 5 missile attacks? I don’t think it does because: A - there is nothing in any of the rules to confirm it and, B - if we are linking this ability directly to a fighters level and therefore their hit dice then a super hero gets 8+1 Hit Dice but doesnt make 8 missile attacks with a +1 bonus to one of them. Atleast, that’s not what it says in CHAINMAIL. If we are taking the literal interpretation, which is in my opinion a good practice when working with these old rules (never presume!) then its best to stick with 4th level fighters gain the ability to fire 4 missiles against normal types and 8th level fighters gain the ability to fire 8, with no inbetween state. This also means we don’t end up with a 10th level lord firing once every 6 seconds, however we do have to accept that a very skilled fighter of 8th level can fire every 7 and a ½ seconds!
However, there is a further piece in the puzzle. How does this reconcile with the CHAINMAIL rate of firing rules. Let’s have a quick look at those:
“Crossbowmen, Archers, and Longbowmen may fire every turn.” So using the hero as an example they are able to fire a crossbow, shortbow or longbow 4 times per turn, which is consistent.
“If Archers or Longbowmen do not move and are not meleed at the end of a turn they may fire twice.” This is where it all gets a bit ambigious again. Would a hero who does not move get to fire 8 times and a superhero 16 times?! Look back at the text and you will note it does not say “shortbows”, “longbows” but instead addressed the type of figure: “archer”, “longbowmen” well these are not heroes are they? The text is dealing with a specific type of troop so we could rationally conclude that a hero or superhero fires any type of missile either 4 or 8 times in the combat round against normal figures regardless of whether they move or not.
So to conclude fully, we might scribble the following in the margin of our copy of CHAINMAIL next to the missile fire rules:
“Super-normal and fantastic types of 2 hit dice and higher firing on normal types cannot make multiple missile attacks unless they are halflings who count as 3 for every 2 firing, heroes who make 4 attacks and superheroes who make 8. Heroes and superheroes disregard any rate of fire conditions imposed by movement or the type of missile weapon being fired.”
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