I just played with the Staff of the Lost Suns last night for the first time. Does the bearer suffer a penalty for multiple shots when firing it? My opponent didn't think he would since he doesn't have to for his reaver bow, but he said he they faqed it later. does anyone know if this is FAQed?
I skimmed the 7th edition and only found that the staff of lost suns is magical, it doesn't say anything either way.
any ranged weapon that fires more than 1 shot suffers a -1 penalty for multiple shot unless mentioned otherwise, its in the BRB, weapons section
Only weapons with that say they fire "Multiple Shots" get the -1 to hit. Staff of the Lost Sun: 3x Multiple Shots, so -1 to hit For comparison... Reaver Bow (High Elf item): Longbow that fires 3 shots at the same unit, no modifier.
Kroxigor is exactly right, if a weapon have the special rule "Xx Multiple shots" it gets a -1 penalty, but if the description doesn't mention any "Xx Multiple shots" rule then its no penalty. Examples of multiple shot weapons: Lifetaker (still always hits on 2+ but it mentions the 3x Multiple Shot rule), Staff of the Lost Sun Examples of weapons that fires more than 1 shot but is NOT a multiple shot weapon: Bow of Loren, Reaverbow
i did not know there were items that fire more than once without the multiple shot rule, mea culpa. alltough some weapons [i.e. skaven ratling gun, flamers] fire more than 1 shot, they do not have the multiple shot rule but it is still mentioned they don't get the -1 penalty to hit for multiple shots. is that there only so poeple don't automatically assume there is a -1?
The GW army books and rule books are written by different authors, so I would assume some writers wrote that they doesn't get a penalty despite firing multiple shots so that there wouldn't be any misunderstandings while some authors saw it as obvious or didn't consider alternative takes on the rules. GW aren't really consistent but at least they cleared that up very clearly in the HE FAQ: Q. Does a model with the Reaver Bow suffer the -1 to hit penalty for firing multiple shots? Also, may a model with the Reaver Bow fire it three times as part of a Stand and Shoot reaction? A. No (it does not have the ‘multiple shots’ rule) and no (it can only fire three times in its Shooting phase).
I can remember a similar discussion about the inconsistencies between GW writers on the subject of weapons. SotLS is a Magic Weapon, this means that it is usually treated the with the same rules as its mundane version in addition to the rules provided in the description of the weapon. However, in the SotLS entry in the LM book (pg.99), it does not list it as a 'bow' or a 'staff'. The 'staff' is only treated as a short bow and 3x multi-shot. This is pretty open ended wording, but I would imagine that the bearer would not suffer from the multi-shot rule that is listed in thr BRB. I could definitely understand an argument either way though. If it is treated like a short bow with multi-shot, then it would also then suffer the multi-shot rule just like a short bow would if it had multi-shot. Treated-as vs. It-is.
its not a bow, its a staff that functions exaclty like a bow with 3x multiple shot rule. there is no room for interpretation unless you want to redefine multiple shot for magic weapons/short bows. also this line of thinking has proved wrong in the past since the skaven errata came out and the warlord mounted on a bonebreaker has US 3+1 instead of 4+1 making it a sort of "ogre-sized mount" instead of a monstrous mount so GW might have thought the -1 penalty shoun't be there. given the fact that the chief [only resonable character to carry this item] has BS5 means he's hitting on 3's instead of 2's so i don't see a big problem with this, but given the lack of consistency GW has proven between the BRB and the army books i'd love to see this answered in a FAQ