Why short bow instead of long bow?

[Flyndaran]

Ok. I didn't catch that. My reading comprehension fail.
So to stand on the most solid of ground... change damage to pi, or pi+ and (2) for 4 times price of arrow head, right?

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Ok. I didn't catch that. My reading comprehension fail.
So to stand on the most solid of ground... change damage to pi, or pi+ and (2) for 4 times price of arrow head, right?

Yep.

You might also give TL3+ or TL4 armor that's Fine a level of Hardened "for free," to restore the balance there. Good mail and certainly plate were known to be very good protection from arrows, esp at range.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Yep.

You might also give TL3+ or TL4 armor that's Fine a level of Hardened "for free," to restore the balance there. Good mail and certainly plate were known to be very good protection from arrows, esp at range.

Wait, that's right? Where can I find those rules written down?

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Yep.

You might also give TL3+ or TL4 armor that's Fine a level of Hardened "for free," to restore the balance there. Good mail and certainly plate were known to be very good protection from arrows, esp at range.

Excellent; a good old arms race.

[Wildcat]

This isn't exactly on-topic, but I didn't think it warranted a whole other thread: what is the cost to buy a bow or crossbow with a rated strength above the default for that weapon? For example, could I buy a shortbow with rated strength 10? And how much would that cost?

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Wildcat

This isn't exactly on-topic, but I didn't think it warranted a whole other thread: what is the cost to buy a bow or crossbow with a rated strength above the default for that weapon? For example, could I buy a shortbow with rated strength 10? And how much would that cost?

There isn't really a default strength for bows.
The article mentioned in this thread has you make the bow you want at the strength you want and is priced based on poundage and materials.

[Wildcat]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

There isn't really a default strength for bows.
The article mentioned in this thread has you make the bow you want at the strength you want and is priced based on poundage and materials.

So are the ST 7 for shortbows, ST 11 for longbows, etc. in the Basic Set and Low Tech just numbers pulled out of a hat? I got the impression those were the minimum strength ratings you could get those weapons in, with the implication you could also get weapons that are identical except for a higher draw weight.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Wildcat

So are the ST 7 for shortbows, ST 11 for longbows, etc. in the Basic Set and Low Tech just numbers pulled out of a hat? I got the impression those were the minimum strength ratings you could get those weapons in, with the implication you could also get weapons that are identical except for a higher draw weight.

In reality, that's probably a bit complicated. You can't really make a weapon exactly the same but higher draw weight.

However, Basic Set and Low Tech bows and crossbows aren't particularly well connected to reality anyway.

It sounds like you're a little off on the actual rules for a Basic Set or Low Tech bow or crossbow, though. Any individual weapon has a fixed ST that it functions at. They're not like melee weapons where you can use the same weapon with 12 and 16 ST with no trouble, but you can certainly have a ST 12 shortbow. The maximum allowed working ST for a bow or crossbow is probably (?) 3 times the listed minST, as that's the standard limit...

[Wildcat]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

It sounds like you're a little off on the actual rules for a Basic Set or Low Tech bow or crossbow, though. Any individual weapon has a fixed ST that it functions at. They're not like melee weapons where you can use the same weapon with 12 and 16 ST with no trouble, but you can certainly have a ST 12 shortbow. The maximum allowed working ST for a bow or crossbow is probably (?) 3 times the listed minST, as that's the standard limit...

No, I understand that even a ST 15 muscleman archer with a ST 7 shortbow is going to deal damage based on the shortbow's ST 7 -- 1d-3 imp.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Wildcat

No, I understand that even a ST 15 muscleman archer with a ST 7 shortbow is going to deal damage based on the shortbow's ST 7 -- 1d-3 imp.

Okay. So, the rules on BS270 are not really all that clear but they do specifically say that you specify the ST of the weapon when you buy it. Which implies that a shortbow doesn't have to be ST 7. As best I can tell there is absolutely nothing either specifying any limit on the ST you specify for a new bow, or assigning any meaning to the ST entry in the stat lines for a bow or crossbow.