Bow at adjacent target

[Kinithin]

Can one use a bow or crossbow against a target in an adjacent square? What about thrown weapons? It seems weird, especially for thrown weapons, but I can't find any rule against it. (Obviously, it merits an AoO, and it doesn't provide flanking.)

[Mike Kimmel]

Yes, you can. The only real danger is that AoO you mentioned.

[StreamOfTheSky]

In fact, the rules for Coup de Grace specifically say you can shoot a bow or crossbow to deliver it if standing in an adjacent square.

[Morlaf]

and the way I house rule it, in case you are interested, is that "drawing the string" draws the AoO, but releasing it does not. So held/readied ranged attackes which involve either "letting go of the bow string" or "pulling the trigger" provoke no such AoO.
Boom!

[Lurk3r]

If you're an elf, you can even do it and avoid AoOs with Stabbing Shot. The Archer Fighter also gets a class feature to avoid those AoOs, or if you are playing a non-archer fighter you can take Point Blank Master and not provoke AoOs from any ranged weapon of your choice.

[Secane]

The Snap Shot (Combat) feat allows you to threaten enemies 5 feet from you. And allows you to AoO with out provoking AoOs.

If you take Improved Snap Shot (Combat), your threaten range increases to 15.

Combined with the Pin Down (Combat)feat, you can be a very "sticky" archer. Stopping enemies from getting pass you to your allies.

[Kinithin]

Thanks all. I'll relay this to our archer.

[Chobemaster]

Morlaf wrote:

and the way I house rule it, in case you are interested, is that "drawing the string" draws the AoO, but releasing it does not. So held/readied ranged attackes which involve either "letting go of the bow string" or "pulling the trigger" provoke no such AoO.

Boom!

hmm, for bows (and I guess slings) I'd have ruled that "standing around w/ both hands occupied in a fixed relative position, including one basically on your face" is what draws AoO if I wanted to break this down. The act of drawing a bow isn't any more distracting than the act of "loading up" to swing a weapon, I wouldn't think.

For crossbow, though I would tend to agree with your take. Just holding it is more like just holding a 2h melee weapon and cocking a crossbow, even a light, is a bit of an affair in and of itself.