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Dec 23, 2012 -- 12:04PM, Plaguescarred wrote:

Dec 23, 2012 -- 10:37AM, Emplove wrote:

Can someone explain to me ?

If the Goblin Archer is wielding a shortbow when an enemy provoke an Opportunity Attack, it must use it as an improvised melee weapon or make an unarmed attack since you can't use a ranged weapon to make weapon attack otherwise. As Salla said, for simplicity's sake just use the same attack and damage roll as its melee basic attack power represented by the following icon:  

Plaguescarred is correct.  And the reason the goblin can't swap weapons is because it would take at least a minor action to do so and the goblin can't take minor actions since it's not his turn. If the gobin had his bow out he could still make a Basic Melee Attack but it has to be with either the bow as an improvised melee weapon or with no weapon at all (unarmed).

Dec 23, 2012 -- 12:04PM, Plaguescarred wrote:

Dec 23, 2012 -- 10:37AM, Emplove wrote:

Can someone explain to me ?

If the Goblin Archer is wielding a shortbow when an enemy provoke an Opportunity Attack, it must use it as an improvised melee weapon or make an unarmed attack since you can't use a ranged weapon to make weapon attack otherwise. As Salla said, for simplicity's sake just use the same attack and damage roll as its melee basic attack power represented by the following icon:  

Except that is rubbish, because the name of the power is just fluff. That would only be the case if the required weapon was named in the power.

For an example of this see Tuthak the Pummeler: 

 Barbed Net  At-Will

Requirement: Tuthak must be wielding a barbed net.

Attack: Ranged 5 (one creature); +9 vs. Reflex

Hit: The target is restrained (save ends).

    Each Failed Saving Throw: The target takes 1d6 + 2 damage.

However of the 1000s of the creatures in 4e, only c. 20 actually have this restriction. 

 

That's because monsters don't actually use weapons, all that is fluff around the game mechanics.

Hence why the 1 or 2 disarming abilities don't function in any meaningful way on most monsters (except the 20 odd mentioned above). 

But we can't assume that the monster weapon is anything like the PC weapon, due to all the different damage expressions. For all we know, the monster is using a weapon that can fire arrows like a shortbow but can also be used to stab like a shortsword.

The long and short of it: there is no need to waste monster actions swapping weapons, it is not required and they can always use all their powers, unless specifically required by the power. 

Hmmm ... rethinking this, I would have to honestly say that RAW, no, the monster doesn't actually NEED the named weapon to make his attack, but since I can't recall seeing any monster attack powers that do W damage, the damage is going to be whatever the power says regardless of the weapon wielded.  And unarmed and improvised are weapons, so they fulfill the conditions for the attack power but still do the same static damage.

But I'm still going to require my monsters to actually have the weapon in hand their attack power implies.  Cause if I had archers switching back and forth between bow and sword freely my other players would pounce on me. 

I mean, as a Paladin I can Holy Strike someone by punching them, I just do less damage than if I had used my longsword because the attack does 1(W) damage.  For most monsters, it's static damage so there you go, I guess. 

I guess you could call this another instance of "monsters work different than PCs."