Mass archery

CHASES
COMBAT RULES
DISPELLING INSIGHT
DISTRACT
EXECUTIONS
GIVE AIR
HELPING WITH SAVES
LEVELS & CR
MADNESS
PREGNANCY
REINCARNATION
REPUTATION
SPIRITUAL DUEL
WAKING UP

MASS ARCHERY

Arrows are dangerous even to great heroes, as seen in the series. Especially if there are many archers. Unfortunately, many archers means many attack rolls.
Here is a shortcut you can use if many identical archers fire on a single target. You don't roll to hit, you only need to roll damage (once).

Automatic damage inflicted per 10 archers, including effects of critical hits (guiding principles have been: only one kind of dice per attack and as few dice as possible):

Attack roll needed Shortbow Longbow Sling Light crossbow Heavy crossbow

20 or more 1d3 1d4 1d2 1d4 1d4+1

19 1d6 1d8 1d4 1d8 1d10

18 1d10 1d12 1d6 1d12 2d8

17 1d12 2d8 1d8 2d8 1d20+1

16 2d8 1d20+1 1d10 1d20+1 2d12+2

15 3d6+1 3d8+1 1d12 3d8+1 3d10+1

14 1d20+2 3d10 1d12+2 3d10 3d12

13 2d12+1 4d8+1 2d8 4d8+1 2d20+2

12 2d12+4 3d12+2 2d8+2 3d12+2 4d12

11 3d10 2d20+2 1d20 2d20+2 5d10+2

10 4d8 2d20+6 1d20+2 2d20+6 5d10+8

9 3d12 5d10+2 2d12 5d10+2 3d20+3

8 3d12+3 5d10+8 2d12+2 5d10+8 3d20+8

7 4d10+2 3d20+3 2d12+4 3d20+3 7d10+3

6 4d10+5 3d20+8 3d10 3d20+8 6d12+7

5 4d12 7d10+3 4d8+1 7d10+3 4d20+4

4 5d10+1 6d12+7 3d10+5 6d12+7 7d12+5

3 5d10+5 4d20+4 3d12+1 4d20+4 9d10+4

2 or lower 5d10+8 7d12+5 3d12+3 7d12+5 1d100

On the numbers: only include full tens. That is, 37 archers counts as 30 for the purposes of this table. Always deduct any losses of attacks from succesful arrow catching first. Don't forget modifiers for range and cover.
Note that damage resistance will screw up the table considerably.

Example: Draco is ambushed by a rival warlord. 31 light crossbowmen fire at him from 80'. By means of his Improved Deflect Arrows feat, he deflects 2 of the bolts. This means that there are only 29 left and that this is rounded down to 20. They must roll 14 or more to hit. Thus, Draco takes 6d10 hit points in damage from the volley. He curses loudly and turns and run, vowing revenge, with 102 hp left and 200' between him and the enemies.
   Round 2: the crossbowmen reload and fire again. The added distance is balanced by the fact that Draco can't use his Dex bonus while running. Also, this time he can't deflect any bolts, so he is hit for 9d10 more hp of damage. Draco is down on 53 hp. He keeps running and is now 320' away.
   Round 3: not known for their flexibility, the crossbowmen reload and fire once more, inflicting 4d20+3 hp of damage (due to the greater distance). Draco now has 14 hp remaining and is in dire need of a really good idea...
   Apart from demonstrating the use of this table, the example shows that in a world of low AC, a group of missile users are quite lethal even to high-level characters (like the level 18 fighter Draco).

I HAVE A THOUSAND D6 AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE THEM!
With only minimal deviations from the correct statistics, this table gives the damage in d6 only:

Attack roll needed Shortbow Longbow Sling Light crossbow Heavy crossbow

20 or more 1d6/2 1d6 1 1d6 1d6

19 1d6 1d6 1d6 1d6 2d6

18 2d6 2d6 1d6 2d6 3d6

17 2d6 3d6 1d6 3d6 3d6

16 3d6 3d6 2d6 3d6 4d6

15 3d6 4d6 2d6 4d6 5d6

14 4d6 5d6 2d6 5d6 6d6

13 4d6 5d6 3d6 5d6 7d6

12 5d6 6d6 3d6 6d6 8d6

11 5d6 7d6 3d6 7d6 9d6

10 5d6 8d6 4d6 8d6 10d6

9 6d6 9d6 4d6 9d6 10d6

8 6d6 10d6 4d6 10d6 11d6

7 7d6 10d6 5d6 10d6 12d6

6 7d6 11d6 5d6 11d6 13d6

5 8d6 12d6 5d6 12d6 14d6

4 8d6 13d6 6d6 13d6 15d6

3 9d6 14d6 6d6 14d6 16d6

2 or lower 10d6 15d6 6d6 15d6 17d6