[D&D3.5 - houserule] Aid Another Volley

[Altair_the_Vexed]

I got this idea from watching Ken Brannagh's film of Henry V...

Aid Another - Volley
In ranged combat, you can coordinate a volley attack with a friend by firing simultaneously on the same opponent.
If you’re in position to make a ranged attack on an opponent that a friend is also making a ranged attack on, you can attempt to make a volley attack with your friend as a standard action. You wait until your ally's attack action (dropping your intitiative accordingly), and make an attack roll against AC 10. If you succeed, your friend gains a +2 bonus on his attack roll against that opponent. Your attack scores no damage.
Multiple characters can aid the same friend, and the bonuses stack. Groups of ranged attackers can overcome penalties for long ranges by making volley attacks in this manner.

[Ashtagon]

Mechanically, it seems about as balanced as any other aid another action.

In terms of suspension of disbelief, I just can't see any logical way in which to explain how your arrow makes his more accurate if you are firing at the same time. Even the idea of using your arrow as a "ranging/tracer" arrow doesn't make sense, since he doesn't have the same firing position, "sights", or other calibration as you.

Under RAW, groups of archers beat long-range penalties by virtue of the "natural 20 is always a hit" rule.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Mechanically, it seems about as balanced as any other aid another action.

In terms of suspension of disbelief, I just can't see any logical way in which to explain how your arrow makes his more accurate if you are firing at the same time. Even the idea of using your arrow as a "ranging/tracer" arrow doesn't make sense, since he doesn't have the same firing position, "sights", or other calibration as you.

Under RAW, groups of archers beat long-range penalties by virtue of the "natural 20 is always a hit" rule.

What you're doing is adding more chance for an undetermined, "Schrodinger's" arrow to hit, by putting another arrow into the air.
When archers fired at troops over long range, they weren't trying to be accurate - it was the volume of arrows hitting the area that did the damage. d20 modern uses this sort of method for autofire: you make an attack against AC 10 for an area, and targets make a REF save to avoid damage. The damage they're avoiding is always the base damage of your weapon - there's just more chance of hitting for an unskilled attacker.

It isn't that you make your mate's arrow more likely to hit - you both invest an attack in making it more likely that someone will hit.

[Ashtagon]

For mass volley archery fire, there is a rule for that in Heroes of Battle. I won't retype it here, but it is rather similar to the d20 Modern autofire rules.

Incidentally, d20 Modern's autofire rules have been widely criticised as unrealistic, for a variety of reasons (which I won't repeat here.

Statistically, if you both have an approximately equal chance of hitting, it's almost always more efficient to make individual attacks than to use aid another.

In terms of speeding game play, there's just as many dice rolls involved, so nothing is gained by using aid another in this aspect.

[Godskook]

The issue is(for suspension of disbelief), one L10 player can invest heavily in archery, giving himself a +20 or so on the roll. The rest of the party, without any significant investment, can reasonably hit 10 AC. So having 5 guys who couldn't possibly make the shot firing with me somehow gives me a +10 on my roll? Balanced, maybe, but not as realistic as it could be.

Also, there's no Schrodinger's arrow involved here, as the group's primary archer will always be the one who gets the aid another bonus.

[Cieyrin]

I got this idea from watching Ken Brannagh's film of Henry V...

Aid Another - Volley
In ranged combat, you can coordinate a volley attack with a friend by firing simultaneously on the same opponent.
If you’re in position to make a ranged attack on an opponent that a friend is also making a ranged attack on, you can attempt to make a volley attack with your friend as a standard action. You wait until your ally's attack action (dropping your intitiative accordingly), and make an attack roll against AC 10. If you succeed, your friend gains a +2 bonus on his attack roll against that opponent. Your attack scores no damage.
Multiple characters can aid the same friend, and the bonuses stack. Groups of ranged attackers can overcome penalties for long ranges by making volley attacks in this manner.

Are you familiar with Teamwork Benefits? They appeared in the DMG2 first and have appeared a couple times since then, like in the PHB2 and Dungeonscape. One such Teamwork Benefit, appearing in the PHB2, pg. 161, is called Missile Volley, which is mechanically similar to what you're trying to do, though admittedly a bit more uber. They have each member of a team ready to fire when the team leader fires and each member of the team, including the leader, gains a bonus to their attack roll equal to the number of members, as long as they're targeting the same target.

Even simpler shows up as simple Arrow Volleys in both Complete Warrior, pg. 124, and a newer version that shows up in Heroes of Battle, pg. 68. They're more of an area attack than the Teamwork Benefit is but they also don't have requirements like the Benefit does.

Just some handy info for you. Them's my 2 coppers. Take as you will.