D&D 5E Allowing Strength for Bows--unbalanced?

[Cap'n Kobold]

I don't see a problem as long as Dex is still used for aiming (To Hit) with the bow and Strength is used only for the damage die. This Str Bow would cost more to purchase and would be useful to classes like Barbarians and Fighters who have a decent Dex and a really high Str score.

Its easier to stick with just one stat or the other. Its quite easy to justify Str applying to hit due to the greater accuracy of a higher-poundage bow, so I'd just stick with all of one or all of the other.

I don't think that 5e needs the kind of granularity where you have to start working out the average of Str and Dex for modifiers or similar. With bows, I allow Str as a nod to balance and realism, Dex as a nod to films, cartoons etc, and don't bother trying to calculate or keep track of the poundage of every bow the PCs pick up.

 

[Xvartslayer]

Strength bows with minimum strength requirements make some logical sense but I dislike them because they have no meaningful impact on the game most of the time. A player with a 14 strength will get a 14 strength bow soon enough and then the rule only becomes relevant in exceptional cases.

 

[Bayonet]

The Longbow already has the Heavy property, but maybe you could houserule it so that any Heavy weapon requires a certain amount of Strength? Possibly a minimum of 12 STR?

As a fellow weapon/fighting nerd, I understand the frustration. I've argued for awhile now that Dex should govern a PC's attack roll, and STR should determine their damage roll, at least when fighting with melee weapons. The same could apply to longbows, with STR also determining how much your max range can be.

In any case, think it's ultimately too fiddly to tinker with combat properties this way. If your players aren't entirely on board, you're likely just going to confuse everyone and kill the fun.

 

[Saeviomagy]

If you mix up dex and str when using bows (ie - dex to hit, str to damage), you're kind of making bows into a sucker option.

If you allow characters to add str to bow damage as well as dex, you'll be boosting already powerful archers.

If you allow characters to choose str or dex for bows for both attack and damage, then throwing weapons will probably still exist, because they can be used one-handed with a shield. I think that if you're super keen on changing something in this area, this would be the way to go.

 

[Hriston]

Which rulebook actually had that in it? We always played 'add strength bonus for composite bows' having heard that was how it was 'supposed' to be...

But I don't think I ever found the rule written in black and white.

First Edition DMG, p 64, under "Strength Bonus Considerations"

It seems the bonus applies to all missile weapons as long as the effort and expense is met to acquire special weapons.

 

[JonnyP71]

Still no win there as it does not mention Composite Bows...

There's no rule in 1e/2e which specifically states that strength bonus is added for Composite Bows, and yet it had become such a common house rule that 'official' games using the D&D rules incorporated it!

 

[Hriston]

Still no win there as it does not mention Composite Bows...

There's no rule in 1e/2e which specifically states that strength bonus is added for Composite Bows, and yet it had become such a common house rule that 'official' games using the D&D rules incorporated it!

Yeah, that's the thing. You could add it to any type of bow. The adventure probably just had a composite bow in it that was specifically built for strength. Maybe that's the origin of your houserule.

 

[JonnyP71]

I have no idea of the exact origin - it would have been about 1984-5 when it appeared at our games. And when I joined another group in the early 1990s they were already using it. And as has already been said in the thread, the SSI Gold Box games used it, and they were late 80s-90s.

Maybe someone looked at Composite Bows, saw them as more expensive, and made from different materials, and just assumed they fitted the description of "effort and expense is met to acquire special weapons". And maybe quite a few people made the same connection?

 

[MostlyDm]

Allowing strength for bows won't really unbalance anything major.

In a 3.5 based homebrew where armor provides DR, after lot of agonizing over how finesse weapons worked I ultimately settled on: you can use strength or dex for attack rolls for any weapon. If using Str, it adds to damage. If using Dex, it adds to armor penetration (homebrew mechanic).

Since Dex improves one's ability to not be hit, this ultimately provided a nice dividing line between the two builds.

But in 5e there just aren't enough mechanics to play with to generate a similar effect. Dex is king. Giving strength a bit more is going to be fine.

 

[Hriston]

I think I like the idea of using a Strength prerequisite for bows that do a higher damage die. I'd use the Strength restrictions for heavy armor as my baselines, just to keep things simple. Here's how I'd do it.

Str 13 Shortbow, 50 gp, 1d8 piercing
Str 15 Shortbow, 75 gp, 1d10 piercing
Str 13 Longbow, 100 gp, 1d10 piercing
Str 15 Longbow, 150 gp, 1d12 piercing

Ranges and other properties would remain unchanged.