10-16-2021, 05:57 AM | #31 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: About the crossbow, a recap
Quote:
However, for combat purposes that's often undesirable. A heavier arrow doesn't fly as far but it gets more energy out of the bow and retains it better in flight, resulting in superior damage characteristics. And if you're making the arrow heavy anyway, the fancy materials don't help much.
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10-16-2021, 06:45 AM | #32 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: About the crossbow, a recap
Quote:
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Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history." |
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10-16-2021, 03:00 PM | #33 | |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Re: About the crossbow, a recap
Quote:
Like what would be useful for the shaft and head? |
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10-16-2021, 03:22 PM | #34 |
Join Date: May 2007
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Re: About the crossbow, a recap
As Rupert alluded to above, it's gotten much easier to make quality steel, so the head can be more easily made to hold a better edge.
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10-16-2021, 03:25 PM | #35 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: About the crossbow, a recap
Quote:
Making the head very sharp and very hard certainly doesn't hurt, but best case it's going to earn you imp (2) damage and maybe +2 damage for being Very Fine quality. You can probably have less drag on the shaft and fletching than low tech materials but the effect is quite possibly negligible, especially for a heavy arrow.
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10-16-2021, 03:27 PM | #36 |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: About the crossbow, a recap
Once you drop below a particular arrow weight (for a given bow) most of the work being done is accelerating the limbs of the bow and you get little further benefit from a lighter arrow. Superior materials, as far as arrow design goes, mostly just allow you to make a more durable arrow.
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10-16-2021, 04:18 PM | #37 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: About the crossbow, a recap
The head can be better metal but that may not matter much. The shaft... can probably be made straighter, and out of materials that won't bend as a result of bad weather, which would help accuracy but often not in a relevant way.
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10-16-2021, 04:23 PM | #38 |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: About the crossbow, a recap
If the GM applies some kind of penalty to traditional bows or arrows for dampness, modern synthetic material bows and arrows should be exempt. But that may be a big if.
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10-16-2021, 09:47 PM | #39 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: About the crossbow, a recap
The same as for arrows I expect - aluminium, and carbon fibre for the shafts. For the fletching, various plastics.
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Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history." |
10-16-2021, 09:53 PM | #40 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Wellington, NZ
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Re: About the crossbow, a recap
Quote:
Also, crossbow bolts are much shorter and stiffer than arrows, so they probably won't benefit as much from this. Given that modern crossbows have lighter weight prods than historical ones, you want the lighter weight of modern materials because you don't need a heavy projectile to get good energy transfer.
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Rupert Boleyn "A pessimist is an optimist with a sense of history." |
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