Siege Engines

Catapult, Light: A light catapult is an engine capable of throwing rocks or objects with great force. Because the catapult throws its load in a high arc, it can hit squares out of its line of sight. To fire a light catapult, the crew chief makes a special check against DC 15 using only his base attack bonus, Intelligence modifier, range increment penalty, and the appropriate modifiers from the lower section of the following table. If the check succeeds, the catapult stone hits the square the catapult was aimed at, dealing the indicated damage to any object or character in the square. Characters who succeed on a DC 15 Reflex save take half damage. Once a catapult stone hits a square, subsequent shots hit the same square unless the catapult is reaimed or the wind changes direction or speed.

If a catapult stone misses, roll 1d8 to determine where it lands. This determines the misdirection of the throw, with 1 being back toward the catapult and 2 through 8 counting clockwise around the target square. (See the diagram on page 158 of the Player's Handbook.) Then, count 3 squares away from the target square for every range increment of the attack.

Loading a catapult requires a series of full round actions. It takes a DC 10 Strength check to winch the throwing arm down; most catapults have wheels to allow up to two crew members to use the aid another action, assisting the main winch operator. A DC 15 Profession (siege engineer) check loads the catapult ammunition. It takes two full-round actions to reaim a light catapult (multiple crew members can perform these full-round actions in the same round, so it would take a crew of two only 1 round to reaim the catapult).

A light catapult takes up a space 10 feet across.

Ballista: A ballista is essentially a Huge heavy crossbow fixed in place. Its size makes it hard for most creatures to aim it, as described under Weapon Size on page 113 of the Player's Handbook. Thus, a Medium character takes a -4 penalty on attack rolls when using a ballista, and a Small creature takes a -6 penalty. It takes a creature smaller than Large two full-round actions to reload the ballista after firing.

A ballista takes up a space 5 feet across.

Item	Cost	Damage	Critical	Range Increment	Typical Crew
Catapult, light	550 gp	4d6	-	150 ft. (100 ft. minimum)	2
Ballista	500 gp	3d8	19-20	120 ft.	1
CATAPULT ATTACK MODIFIERS
Condition			Modifier
No line of sight to target square			-6
Successive shots (crew can see where most recent misses landed			Cumulative +2 per previous miss (maximum +10)
Successive shots (crew can’t see where most recent misses landed, but observer is providing feedback)			Cumulative +1 per previous miss (maximum +5)