Ranged Attacks Underwater

[gaunlet]

Hello dear DMs,

I asked this in IRC, and several players were not sure what the stance is on this:

What's the server/DM stance on using bows/crossbows/thrown weapons underwater?

Seems that even some NPCs use them in underwater quests from what I heard (not seen).

One DM response from a very friendly, but possibly naive, DM I got was "we trust players to be clever enough to know that bows and crossbows don't work well underwater and to swap to another weapon".

Is that all there is to it?

Probably helpful for other players to know an official answer to this. Because as it is, if ranged weapons are to be discouraged underwater because of logical reasoning, melee weapons veer towards that same reasoning, since they would not be as effective underwater as on ground.

[FleetingHeart]

Bows, crossbows, and thrown weapons are all excluded from use underwater. We trust the player base to follow this, rather than go to the trouble to script it in.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. I can think of one crossbow in particular that says specifically in it's description that it is designed for use under water. Think it's called a Large Harpoon Gun or something similar.