[LT] Monstrous Bow SM+3

Seneschal · 10-24-2012, 04:37 AM

So, I'm currently playing a Magneto-like mage in a fantasy campaign, with Telekinesis 35 (Magnetic, -50%) being his primary advantage. I realized that giving him a huge metal bow rated for ST 35 might be really effective, but I'm having trouble scaling it up.

The only metal bow that I found in the books is the tubular bow from Low Tech, but it's designed to be both small and light, letting the steel's tensile strength compensate for how short the bow and the draw length are. I'm not sure if it's in the spirit of the entry to just scale up the numbers.

Now, Low Tech Companion 2 has rules for enlarging weapons. It pretty neatly puts ST 35 as suited for SM+3 wielders. Nothing outright bars me from making a SM+0 bow rated for ST 35, but the campaign setting is rather consistent, so some kind of natural progression would be preferred - i.e. a bow the size of a ballista would be much more plausible than a tiny human-sized bow that you can only draw with a hydraulic piston. I have several questions regarding the weapon scaling method:

The flat damage bonus to bows is independent of strength, and seems to depend on bow construction and material - e.g. a short selfbow has thr imp, a reflex composite bow has thr+3 imp, whether they're rated for ST 6 or 60. If you enlarge a bow simply to take advantage of higher ST, would this number increase as well, or is it a flat bonus?
Is it possible to devise a steel bow of the "long" variety, i.e. with Acc 3 (without it being Accurate)? Or is that an exclusive property of reflex and longbows? If so, what causes it? Could you make a "metal reflex bow" if you somehow laminated steel with other metals?
The cost seems to inflate ridiculously. The SM+3 entry on the table gives a weight/cost multiplier of x12.25, so a scaled-up tubular bow (2 lb., $900) would weigh 24.5 lb. and cost $11,025 (!!). The price of steel in the region we're currently in (where it's rare enough that bronze is used instead) is about $20-30/lb.; therefore, the raw materials costs come to about $490 of steel (and a little something for the drawstring), while the labor costs somehow bloom into the tens of thousands for a mundane, non-fine weapon purely because it's big.
What kind of arrows would such a monstrosity use? Do I scale their weight and cost with the same x12.25 that I use for the weapon?

Thanks in advance for whatever you guys come up with, I appreciate the help.

10-24-2012, 04:37 AM	#1
Seneschal Join Date: Jul 2009	[LT] Monstrous Bow SM+3 So, I'm currently playing a Magneto-like mage in a fantasy campaign, with Telekinesis 35 (Magnetic, -50%) being his primary advantage. I realized that giving him a huge metal bow rated for ST 35 might be really effective, but I'm having trouble scaling it up. The only metal bow that I found in the books is the tubular bow from Low Tech, but it's designed to be both small and light, letting the steel's tensile strength compensate for how short the bow and the draw length are. I'm not sure if it's in the spirit of the entry to just scale up the numbers. Now, Low Tech Companion 2 has rules for enlarging weapons. It pretty neatly puts ST 35 as suited for SM+3 wielders. Nothing outright bars me from making a SM+0 bow rated for ST 35, but the campaign setting is rather consistent, so some kind of natural progression would be preferred - i.e. a bow the size of a ballista would be much more plausible than a tiny human-sized bow that you can only draw with a hydraulic piston. I have several questions regarding the weapon scaling method: The flat damage bonus to bows is independent of strength, and seems to depend on bow construction and material - e.g. a short selfbow has thr imp, a reflex composite bow has thr+3 imp, whether they're rated for ST 6 or 60. If you enlarge a bow simply to take advantage of higher ST, would this number increase as well, or is it a flat bonus? Is it possible to devise a steel bow of the "long" variety, i.e. with Acc 3 (without it being Accurate)? Or is that an exclusive property of reflex and longbows? If so, what causes it? Could you make a "metal reflex bow" if you somehow laminated steel with other metals? The cost seems to inflate ridiculously. The SM+3 entry on the table gives a weight/cost multiplier of x12.25, so a scaled-up tubular bow (2 lb., $900) would weigh 24.5 lb. and cost $11,025 (!!). The price of steel in the region we're currently in (where it's rare enough that bronze is used instead) is about $20-30/lb.; therefore, the raw materials costs come to about $490 of steel (and a little something for the drawstring), while the labor costs somehow bloom into the tens of thousands for a mundane, non-fine weapon purely because it's big. What kind of arrows would such a monstrosity use? Do I scale their weight and cost with the same x12.25 that I use for the weapon? Thanks in advance for whatever you guys come up with, I appreciate the help.