Are arrows prices too low?

[nik1979]

Assuming Average market prices don't exist after character creation, and Low Tech proceeds to illuminate why.

I think prices for arrows are x4 to x6* as much being commissioned or bought from a merchant's inventory when bought at small prices, or when a character happens to be a quartermaster or a steward bargaining with a supplier (typically guild) might get it at less than average cost when commissioning enough work that mass production can bring the price at average.

Cheapest way to get a new arrow, if violence is in abundance, is to get it from a fallen foe.

*typical multiplier for custom jobs, that are too small to worthwhile. In many small to medium this is the multiplier to the cost of production, a useful rule of thumb an accountant taught me. Its probably steeper (x7 to x10) in medieval times given the greater uncertainty. note that these merchants also use heuristics, and don't really have any data beyond anecdotal evidence and bandwagon (what everyone else is doing) to develop their pricing schemes.

[chris1982]

One very important fact might be that in times of war the demand for weapons is higher than the supply driving the prices up... Maybe supply of bows was good but not enough high quality arrows - voila different prices.

[DanHoward]

I think the price is about right for basic off-the-shelf arrows. You could write a fairly decent Pyramid article just on arrows if you want to get more detailed.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by chris1982

One very important fact might be that in times of war the demand for weapons is higher than the supply driving the prices up... Maybe supply of bows was good but not enough high quality arrows - voila different prices.

Could very well be true. Many Englishmen would own bows, which didn't break all too often. But arrows would be constantly used up during war... driving up the price.

[Sam Baughn]

Originally Posted by nik1979

I think prices for arrows are x4 to x6* as much being commissioned or bought from a merchant's inventory when bought at small prices, or when a character happens to be a quartermaster or a steward bargaining with a supplier (typically guild) might get it at less than average cost when commissioning enough work that mass production can bring the price at average.

But in the medieval period, arrows were one of the few items which were mass produced and the data I am working from is mostly from people buying arrows in bulk to supply armies, so they should theoretically be about as cheap as they can be (assuming that pork-barrel spending on military equipment wasn't widespread in the middle ages).

Originally Posted by chris1982

One very important fact might be that in times of war the demand for weapons is higher than the supply driving the prices up... Maybe supply of bows was good but not enough high quality arrows - voila different prices.

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

Could very well be true. Many Englishmen would own bows, which didn't break all too often. But arrows would be constantly used up during war... driving up the price.

That seems somewhat plausible. We know that the English had a heavy demand for arrows in this period thanks to their ongoing wars with the French and their reliance on bowmen as the majority of their infantry. Arrowheads were imported from the mainland and in 1356 the Black Prince complained that he couldn't find any arrows for sale at home...

Originally Posted by Edward of Woodstock

'...no arrows can be obtained from England because the king has caused to be arrested and taken for his use all the arrows that can be found anywhere there...'

However, while it seems likely that bows wouldn't need replacing that often, there does seem to have been a great demand for them as well. Military supply records generally indicate more money being spent on bows than on arrows and on average they seem to have felt that one bow would be needed for roughly every three archers in a campaign, so there must have been a significant amount of breakage or loss (since it seems highly unlikely that a trained archer wouldn't own a bow... although maybe people used to have a single bow per household, sharing it's use or something).

On consideration, it becomes somewhat obvious why the writers and playtesters didn't want to get bogged down in price discussions...