Sling: Most underrepresented weapon in RPGs?

[1998]

How do you do sling progression? It's easy to design a bow that's better and more powerful looking than the previous one, but slings seem inherently plain in comparison.
Do you do projectile progression instead, like rock -> pebble -> lead missile -> runic stone etc?

Easy

[J1M]

How do you do sling progression? It's easy to design a bow that's better and more powerful looking than the previous one, but slings seem inherently plain in comparison.
Do you do projectile progression instead, like rock -> pebble -> lead missile -> runic stone etc?

+1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6, +6 phasing bullets

[MC_Sea]

The only game I've played that lets you use slings are the Bolas in Ever Oasis. They were the only way to deal ranged Strength damage and specialized in dealing with armoured enemies as opposed to Bows which used the Dex stat and specialize in dealing with the weak points in beast enemies. Bolas are used to deal with groups of enemies while Bows are deal concentrated damage to one enemy with a weak spot. The final difference between the two is that in puzzles bows are used for precise high-up targets or lighting up far away torches while Bolas are used for heavy objects hanging in the air (stalagmites, pots, hives)
It did a good job at giving each weapon its own useful niche without removing usefulness from other weapons.

How do you do sling progression? It's easy to design a bow that's better and more powerful looking than the previous one, but slings seem inherently plain in comparison.
Do you do projectile progression instead, like rock -> pebble -> lead missile -> runic stone etc?

The way it worked in Ever Oasis was both got upgraded depending on the effect of the new weapon. Higher damage meant that the Bolas itself got upgraded with sturdier + flashier materials (cloth --> plant --> crystal covered ropes, etc.) while new effects meant the projectiles changed instead (explodes on contact = seed bomb, spreadshot = cluster of spikes, blind flash = potion bottle, etc.).

[WaterMage]

I also don't understand why crossbows are too complicated for Wizards in BG1/2 and Wizardry BUT Sligs are fine. Using a sling is much harder than a crossbow...

[A Chinese opium den]

I also don't understand why crossbows are too complicated for Wizards in BG1/2 and Wizardry BUT Sligs are fine. Using a sling is much harder than a crossbow...

Anyone can throw a rock.

[Norfleet]

Another advantage is that a sling would be an easily concealable weapon

Yes, the ability to murder someone at extended range with your underwear is a very important property that is seriously misunderestimated.

However, RPGs typically don't have quests where you would be called upon to murder someone using only your underwear and an ice cube you got from your drink.

[UltraFan123]

Slings can progress in the sense that, the stronger you get, the heavier stones you can carry which in turn requires a sling made out of ever sturdier material.

Like there can be some wacky magical mineral that is supernaturally heavy and thus in order to throw stones made out of it requires a sling made out of alchemically modified cloth or ****.

EDIT: Grammar.

[1998]

I also don't understand why crossbows are too complicated for Wizards in BG1/2 and Wizardry BUT Sligs are fine. Using a sling is much harder than a crossbow...

Need more strength to load a crossbow than tossing a stone

[Tweed]

Icewind Dale had some really cool looking slings.

[Oyster Sauce]

Huge news, slingers. They're coming to Bannerlord.

[rusty_shackleford]

need sci-fi games with slings

[Oyster Sauce]

These cocksuckers

[Norfleet]

Slings can progress in the sense that, the stronger you get, the heavier stones you can carry which in turn requires a sling made out of ever sturdier material.

Material failure is pretty much never going to be a dominant concern with slings. Heavier stones, similarly, do not necessarily offer any clear benefit: Kinetic energy increases linearly with mass but quadratically with velocity, while momentum is linear for both. There is a point at which you have enough mass to overcome air resistance and after that, you're losing out on kinetic energy, and even a small child is capable of carrying a fair number of stones of that weight class.

So there's not really much physical mechanism for progression, other than gaining ammo types such as magical, biochemical, or explosive ammo.

need sci-fi games with slings

The thing with slings in sci-fi is that any sci-fi enhancement you can apply to a sling tends to void its potential, or be applicable to better weapons, like guns. In a modern or sci-fi setting, the entire benefit of using a sling is the ability to sneak it into places and then launch things that can be obtained on-site or not seen as weapons. If you can smuggle unusually deadly things in, like explosive, biochemical, or even nuclear projectiles, you can smuggle an actual gun as well.

[rusty_shackleford]

A lot of games that actually take damage type into account, archers tend to be useless against anything that is highly pierce resistant. Seems like a good alternate weapon for them to have available.

[Vergil]

They're not cool sorry David.

[Norfleet]

A lot of games that actually take damage type into account, archers tend to be useless against anything that is highly pierce resistant. Seems like a good alternate weapon for them to have available.

A lot of games that take damage type into account, also force you to buy so far into a weapon to make it combat effective, that switching weapons would incur such a massive hit that it's cheaper to just eat the penalty. If none of your skills and abilities function with this alternate weapon, you're going to eating a lot more than the typical half damage loss. If you spec into two weapons, you're going to eating a huge damage loss vs. EVERYTHING instead. Damage types almost wholly drop out of relevance in endgame in the vast majority of games outside of the odd gimmick boss with an extreme vulnerability to some specific type.

[gerey]

The combat in "A Plague Tale" games is entirely built around using a sling as your sole means of defense, though I wouldn't really recommend the games to anyone.

[Tinky Winky]

Far Cry Primal has slings, if you count that game as a RPG (moreso than Alpha Protocal and Disco Commie anyway)

[ManjuShri]