[LT] Rated ST for bows and crossbows

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

I prefer the second. Or min(ST,minST), specifically for bows, minST for xbows. Your muscle isn't providing the force that's moving the arrow. The mechanical elasticity of the bow/xbow is. It can only put in as much force as it's rated at. If you're not strong enough to take maximum advantage of that, it is reflected by your ST being lower than the minST with the usual results. It is annoying that there's no rule for the upper mechanical limits for bows composed of different materials and of different sizes.

The energy storage of a bow is roughly proportional to its volume, and thus to its weight, for a given design type. So you can have a short bow with rated ST 10, but if you double the mean cross sectional area, to a crude approximation, you double the energy storage. And in any case, if you double the energy storage for a given length of draw, you double the draw weight too (W = Fd). There's nothing inherent in the design of a short bow that allows only one possible thickness or draw weight.

I'm pretty sure we just assumed that the max ST for a bow of a given type was the same multiple of min ST as usual.

Bill Stoddard