Making arrows

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Destroy Water explictly mentions drying things out.

Well, I did say I had spells to dry stuff out but I do have Dehydrate so I have to have Destroy Water. Ooh, DW is an area spell; sweet. And since it explicitly does no dehydrate harm, I can use it to dry myself off. Nice.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Depends what they hit. I'd say 1/50 is good enough unless your mostly penetrating armor. Even then you can likely sharpen the tips or blades depending on the arrow head type.
In my limited experience shafts don't bend or break that often, wood shafts are pretty big and I lost more arrows to to not finding them than breakage.

I'd also agree that outdoors, the main risk is losing the arrows (or sticking them into something like a tree), in a dungeon they are more likely to hit stone at right angles and break outright. Joe Gibbs and Tod the Cutler got a fair number of broken shafts shooting a medium-carbon steel breastplate with heavy bows. The 50% loss rate in D&D 3.x is probably unrealistically high if the party has time to search for arrows, but 2% feels too low in a campaign with ST 20 barbarian archers, armoured Siege Beasts, flying manticores, and swarms of gremlins stealing your arrows to play with.

I like the idea of using Destroy Water to turn whittling into seasoned wood.

Edit: If Encumbrance is an issue and you can make your own shafts, a good choice could be buying some arrowheads (as light as 50 per pound, any blacksmith should be able to make them) and fitting them to shafts (Armoury skill) as your quiver empties.

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

Given the *number of mentions of choosing a good arrow out of the quiver in older stories featuring archers, it may be that sometimes you just have "good enough" or "not too bad" arrows, and make do with that.

* I have not read anywhere near all of them, naturally, but it does seem to come up.

[Kromm]

If your campaign is mostly outdoors, I hope you're using GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness Adventures! That supplement has two important rules for outdoor archers and their ammo:

Strike from Afar (p. 15) covers reuse. This rule is realistic, not cinematic – I asked people who shoot bows for fun and food, and they were skeptical of recovering arrows intact outdoors. Unlike when shooting at targets, there often isn't anything to stop the arrow from sailing off, getting caught by a breeze, and ending up hundreds of yards away. When there is, it's too often a rock that blunts the arrow or a tree which stops the arrow at some silly distance off the ground. Sure, you could go look for it . . . but that would have a huge impact on travel time. The cinematic part is doubling the odds of getting an arrow back if you have Heroic Archer.

Makeshift Weapons (p. 45) covers manufacture. All-wood and stone-tipped arrows aren't great against armor, but they're better than nothing.

[Willy]

Originally Posted by Kromm

If your campaign is mostly outdoors, I hope you're using GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness Adventures! That supplement has two important rules for outdoor archers and their ammo:

Strike from Afar (p. 15) covers reuse. This rule is realistic, not cinematic – I asked people who shoot bows for fun and food, and they were skeptical of recovering arrows intact outdoors. Unlike when shooting at targets, there often isn't anything to stop the arrow from sailing off, getting caught by a breeze, and ending up hundreds of yards away. When there is, it's too often a rock that blunts the arrow or a tree which stops the arrow at some silly distance off the ground. Sure, you could go look for it . . . but that would have a huge impact on travel time. The cinematic part is doubling the odds of getting an arrow back if you have Heroic Archer.

Makeshift Weapons (p. 45) covers manufacture. All-wood and stone-tipped arrows aren't great against armor, but they're better than nothing.

As for hunting, or shooting in the wilderness, there really is a problem with getting usable arrows back. You probably never find a stray arrow ever again, same for crossbow bolts. Thats a main reason why you can find so many old flintstone arrowheads in the wilderness of certain areas in the USA and other countrys. Battlefield is still another matter, here the recovering rate should be much higher. Japanese armys and many other searched reguarly the battlefields for arrows ( and all other things the could need ). To quote from a german history book " the whole battlefield was peppered with arrows". Just think of the following an army with 1000 archers around 20 arrows per nose, makes 20.000 arrows in a relative small area. Most archers used more arrows, an english longbowman could hold 5 arrows in flight when firing massive volleys. These and other armys often resupplied during battle. Imho therefore arate of 20% or more recovery of arrows should be, because bodkin steeltips are build to hit hard surfaces.

[Kromm]

The 1 in 6 rate in wilderness is meant to be "one archer, firing a small number of arrows outdoors." It's fairly generous in that context, and 1 in 3 is even more generous. I totally agree that when lots of archers are firing sky-blackening numbers of arrows, the GM should just say, "Yeah, how many arrows do you want?" Though in that case, a random table for what you find could be fun.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I totally agree that when lots of archers are firing sky-blackening numbers of arrows, the GM should just say, "Yeah, how many arrows do you want?" Though in that case, a random table for what you find could be fun.

A big part of this is trajectory. Most hunting is done by stalking up to close enough for direct fire, and so the arrow comes into the ground on a miss (if it hits the ground) at a very shallow angle. Even with fluorescent plastic feathers, it's shockingly easy to lose these in the grass.

Battlefield use puts the arch in archery. Here, shafts that miss are likely impacting at about 40 degrees for a maximum range shot (less than the expected 45 because the arrow decelerates a bit in flight and this changes the optimum angle for maximum distance). Those arrows will be obvious to all, and it's the question of "how many arrows hit anything solid?" The tests done against a replica breastplate show that arrows that don't penetrate have the points driven hard into the shafts; some repair will be needed.

[Willy]

Originally Posted by Kromm

The 1 in 6 rate in wilderness is meant to be "one archer, firing a small number of arrows outdoors." It's fairly generous in that context, and 1 in 3 is even more generous. I totally agree that when lots of archers are firing sky-blackening numbers of arrows, the GM should just say, "Yeah, how many arrows do you want?" Though in that case, a random table for what you find could be fun.

Fun and necessary, for certain game styles. If I remind correctly, there are rules in Mass Combat, about how much is the aftermath of a battlefield worth. Not every GM has the time to do the research for detailed questions like that. So a random table along with some research if a good thing. Because there are different arrows etc with different tips, and quite different targets reaching from naked bodys to full plate.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

A. Those arrows will be obvious to all, and it's the question of "how many arrows hit anything solid?"

Add "minus the number of arrows trod upon by horses and other creatures with big feet.". That'll break a shaft.

Arrows that end up in the mud one way or the other are probably likely to have fouled fletching. Re-fletching arows might be a target of oportunity for camp crafting. You'd need a pot of glue in your backpack but spare feathers and a small sharp knife don't weigh much

[Willy]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Add "minus the number of arrows trod upon by horses and other creatures with big feet.". That'll break a shaft.

Arrows that end up in the mud one way or the other are probably likely to have fouled fletching. Re-fletching arows might be a target of oportunity for camp crafting. You'd need a pot of glue in your backpack but spare feathers and a small sharp knife don't weigh much

If I´m right then in 3rd Ed. GURPS Grimoire was a pretty usefull and cheap spells called repair arrows for this. In the real world or most fantasy scenarions nearly every hunter made his equipment by himself, and the common archer carried among else spare bowstrings and tools to keep his gear in working condition. You will need glue, goose feathers ( or similar feathers of a big bird ) and some cord ( to wrap around the feathers to fix them while the glue drys ). A camp fire and all other tools are so common that they are personal basics.