Upgrading existing gear

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

The thing I've seen is when the player gets a cool bow (in my game an artifact bow) that is as good or better than anything they are finding, but then they raise ST. Is it reasonable for them to restring the existing bow, or not? Or even if they find a cool bow but it is a different ST than theirs?

I think the only good way to do this would be to take an existing bow and mount something really stiff on the part of the bow that faces away from the archer when it's drawn (the "back" of the bow, as opposed to the "belly"). That will increase the draw weight required to pull it back.

In the real world, this is frequently sinew. It's done frequently enough - and after the fact - that it's got a term for it: "Backing" the bow.

This brief thread makes a brief drive-by at extreme backing, saying it can double the draw weight of the bow (increase ST by 40-50%).

Now, one magical way to do this is probably to cast some sort of bow-specific essential wood on the back of the bow, essentially self-backing the thing by reinforcing the outer bit. Or, go to Ye Olde Magick Shoppe and buy a strip of essential wood, and pay an elvish armorer druid/scout (retired adventurer!) to modify it for you.

But it's not crazy talk, and if you allow a 40-50% increase in ST for the bow beyond what the PC bought it as (so a ST10 bow can go to ST 14-15; a ST 15 bow can go to ST 21-22) for a fee, it's probably reasonable.

Edit: This dangerous pastime of adding "reality" to Dungeon Fantasy RPG makes me nervous. I feel like putting on a seatbelt or something.