Pyramid 3-33 Low Tech

[seasong]

Originally Posted by Trachmyr

Perhaps instead of -1 damage to spikes, they should be subject to a (0.5) armor divisor?

Sure :-).

Originally Posted by Trachmyr

I was specificly envisioning bamboo staff/guns. Perhaps I'll make a houserule on this for specific material combinations.

A bamboo staff is not long for the world without significant reinforcing, and the reinforcing will add weight. Realistically, at least, that would be a Weak material (well, halfway between "normal" and Weak).

Iron Pipe would help a lot, though, and would let you make the blowgun without the extra weight of Sturdy.

Originally Posted by Trachmyr

OK, but would it be reasonable to vary weights by 10%-20% for these versions with modifications to CF? I understand it's below the normal level of detail, but for my campaign world, it is somewhat important.

I think it's reasonable to vary any weapon's weight by 10-20%.

Originally Posted by Trachmyr

The only problem with that is the fact that the Perk seems a bit anemic without the damage bonus.

Well, it is only 1 point :-). I admit that Iron Pipe is a lot more awesome.

Originally Posted by Trachmyr

One final question for you... not related to the article, but related to blowguns. What affects would using them underwater incur, provided they could be used at all? -2 damage, 1/2 ACC and 1/10th range perhaps?

Realistically, range should be divided by 1,000. Approximately. If it doesn't just flatten it to zero instantly.

Assuming a perfect seal, as soon as the dart exits the pipe, your breath is no longer shoving the dart... and so the dart has water pushing from its front, and nothing but air behind it. So it might get an inch or two on sheer momentum.

(Note that 1/1,000 is the listed effect of firing a gun underwater in High-Tech, and it seems a reasonable number)

[Trachmyr]

Originally Posted by seasong

(concerning the Breath Mastery Perk)

Well, it is only 1 point :-). I admit that Iron Pipe is a lot more awesome.

But 1 point for an average increase of only 3 yards in range is quite anemic, I think it needs a bit more to be worth it.

(concerning underwater use)

Realistically, range should be divided by 1,000. Approximately. If it doesn't just flatten it to zero instantly.

Assuming a perfect seal, as soon as the dart exits the pipe, your breath is no longer shoving the dart... and so the dart has water pushing from its front, and nothing but air behind it. So it might get an inch or two on sheer momentum.

(Note that 1/1,000 is the listed effect of firing a gun underwater in High-Tech, and it seems a reasonable number)

Yeah, that's what I feared/thought... just not what I was hoping for.


Edited to Add:

I'm wondering about the cost/weight modifiers for Narrow/Wide darts & spikes. Since they seem to be roughly based on a 50% increase in diameter per step (4mm, 6.5mm, 10mm, 15mm), shouldn't weight/cost be modified by x0.25 (or more accurately x0.2) for very narrow, x0.5 for narrow and x2 for wide since only diameter is being altered, not length?

This would make the smallest dart come in at 0.01 pounds, and the heaviest (given your earlier errata) at 0.5 pounds.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Heck, *I* wouldn't sit down to do this without a spreadsheet, either.

And it's a kick-ass job you did on that article, I especially liked your Sample Bows worksheets.

Though, is it just me, or is there really no game effect between most arrows?

[RyanW]

I just wanted to add that, while I second the love both the bow and blowgun articles are getting, the other articles are also of the best quality. This is easily the issue with the least amount of text that I feel like I can't use (and I wasn't even running/planning a low tech campaign, though now I want to). Had this been split into two issues and the remaining half of each filled out with Lorem Ispem, they would have both still been worth full price.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

And it's a kick-ass job you did on that article, I especially liked your Sample Bows worksheets.

Though, is it just me, or is there really no game effect between most arrows?

The only real impact, and you have to look for it, is if you choose a really light shaft and head (which will have a large impact on range and 1/2D might actually be less than max range) or pick a head with a (2) armor divisor.

There's a reason I said mostly you can get by with "heavy" and "light" versions of arrows, for bows in the 50-100 and 100-200 pound range . . . when something varies as the fourth root of whatever, you need BIG changes in the underlying variables to make a difference.

Where I WOULD require custom or tailor-made stuff is for that +1 Acc you get for fine. The jump in precision you get is very large, and you'll want to make it a planned thing. Yes, I have my quiver of 20-30 fine (accurate) arrows to go with my Elven Bow of Awesomeness. But once I run out, I'm stuck with this human trash, and I can't make those shots quite as well as I used to while skidding down a stairway on an Uruk-Hai shield.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

And it's a kick-ass job you did on that article, I especially liked your Sample Bows worksheets.

Thank Steven for that. I was so far over wordcount (it's over 9,000 words; my initial estimate was "about the same as my guns article," which was 2,500!) I didn't have any samples. He insisted on them, and then instead of including one sheet with worked examples, it was his idea to have many (since the files are small) so each design has all the values in there for the prospective tinkerer to muck with.

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Thank Steven for that. I was so far over wordcount (it's over 9,000 words; my initial estimate was "about the same as my guns article," which was 2,500!) I didn't have any samples. He insisted on them, and then instead of including one sheet with worked examples, it was his idea to have many (since the files are small) so each design has all the values in there for the prospective tinkerer to muck with.

I'm going to say that those excel sheets will get more use than the rest of the article.

While it's cool to look behind the curtain, it'd probably have been more generally useful to spend less time eyeing the math which is covered in the sheets, and spent more time on working through examples.

[panton41]

I've talked to Doug about taking the spreadsheets a step further and writing a program to do it, but I've got other things on my plate to finish before then. For what it's worth my plan is to use Java so it'll be easily cross-platform.

[Bruno]

Side note - arrows make a big difference once you've got enough ST behind your bow. Like, ogre archers or some such :)

And wow, building a bow for an ogre is tricky.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Side note - arrows make a big difference once you've got enough ST behind your bow. Like, ogre archers or some such :)

And wow, building a bow for an ogre is tricky.

I'll help any way I can. :-)

dhc