Throw/Fire Missiles

Firing missiles and throwing hand-held weapons (including splashing holy water or oil) is another basic action that is very common in combat. The character can stand still and attack at his full rate of fire, or he can make a half-move and fire or throw missiles at 1/2 his normal rate.

The one exception to this move-and-fire routine is for missile weapons that have a rate of fire less than 1/round (this includes large crossbows and most firearms). In this case, the character wielding such a weapon can move half his normal rate and still fire the weapon only on the initial discharge of the weapon. The weapon is assumed to be loaded and cocked. After this first shot, the character can only fire the weapon as a no-move action.

Firing or throwing missiles is dangerous when a character is threatened by another creature, since it creates an attack of opportunity. The only exception to this rule is during the same combat round that the threatening creature actually moves up to threaten the character. The character can get his shots in while his enemy closes, but after that he had better switch to a melee weapon.

Characters with multiple missile attacks in the same combat round perform their first attack and their second at the end of round. If more than 2, use initiative to stagger the middle attack after the first attack.

Some monsters, such as manticores, may have multiple missiles that are fired simultaneously. These attacks are all resolved at the same time.