Thread: Bow Prices
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Old 12-23-2015, 08:45 AM   #10
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Bow Prices

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pimpćo View Post
So, I“m missing something, sorry. I thought that you only needed ST10 to use any Regular Bow, be it a ST7, ST10 or ST15.

So, the basic rule is that you need to be as strong as or stronger than the bow you“re using? That being said, if a ST10 archer wants to deal more damage with the bow, he needs to buy 1ST (10 cp) and a new bow (ST11, $100). Is that right?
There are two different ST requirements.

The one in the Basic Set is the minimum ST to use ANY bow of a given type: every short bow requires ST 7, every composite bow requires ST 10, and so on. This is kind of analogous to minimum ST to use a shortsword, a broadsword, or a two-handed sword.

But then there's the rules for range, which is a multiple of the archer's ST, and damage, which is based on the archer's thr damage, which is based on their ST. An archer with ST 14, firing a shortbow, gets twice the range of an archer with ST 7.

The Basic Set rules more or less treat all shortbows as interchangeable, and assume that the ST 14 archer can use the very same shortbow as the ST 7 archer, the same way that the Basic Set rules let the same suit of armor fit the ST 7 guy and the ST 14 guy. But realistically, the way you get that double range is to fire a shortbow with proportionately higher draw weight; the ST 14 archer can't get any better range out of the ST 7 bow, and the ST 7 archer can't even draw the ST 14 bow. Bows have intrinsic ST ratings, just as crossbows do; the difference is that the crossbow can be drawn and then latched into the drawn position for a while, without relying on the crossbowman's ST to hold them. So crossbows can be built with greater draw weight than bows.

These two ST ratings are a bit confusing. But you need to sort them out.
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