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~~evileeyore~~ · 10-31-2017, 07:56 PM

Also note, that though a bow twang can be pretty distinctive*, especially once your buddy sprouts a few shafts, there are ways to stifle the noise with out reducing the bow effectiveness.

In fact... I'd say hands down every archer would have already tuned the bow and put slap padding and string silencers on their bows. So at best you're listening for the soft sound of the arrow sliding along the riser (which is pretty similar to the Hollywood "sword being drawn" sound), which isn't very loud. At best call it +2 to hear a bow shot if you are listening for it (which at 30+ yards is nigh imperceptible). This can even be reduced to (maybe) 0 by padding the rest and the riser with soft leather. It does interfere slightly with shooting, so I'd impose a -1 unfamiliarity penalty to an archer who just silenced this piece and a -1 to the ST of the bow (cumulative with string silencers, as both interfere with the function of the bow, but separately neither really impede that much, it's only together that I'd bother).

* I'd call an untuned, unsilenced bow about +6 to Hearing tests. It's about +4 for unsilenced, and +2 for untuned (as well as a penalty to shooting for it being untuned - though that's a familiarity penalty that the archer can get used to if they don't tune it for some reason).

10-31-2017, 07:56 PM	#3
~~evileeyore~~ Banned Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: 100 hurricane swamp	Re: [DF] Stealthy Archery in Forests Also note, that though a bow twang can be pretty distinctive, especially once your buddy sprouts a few shafts, there are ways to stifle the noise with out reducing the bow effectiveness. In fact... I'd say hands down every archer would have already tuned the bow and put slap padding and string silencers on their bows. So at best you're listening for the soft sound of the arrow sliding along the riser (which is pretty similar to the Hollywood "sword being drawn" sound), which isn't very loud. At best call it +2 to hear a bow shot if you are listening for it (which at 30+ yards is nigh imperceptible). This can even be reduced to (maybe) 0 by padding the rest and the riser with soft leather. It does interfere slightly with shooting, so I'd impose a -1 unfamiliarity penalty to an archer who just silenced this piece and a -1 to the ST of the bow (cumulative with string silencers, as both interfere with the function of the bow, but separately neither really impede that much, it's only together that I'd bother). I'd call an untuned, unsilenced bow about +6 to Hearing tests. It's about +4 for unsilenced, and +2 for untuned (as well as a penalty to shooting for it being untuned - though that's a familiarity penalty that the archer can get used to if they don't tune it for some reason).