Carrying Strung bow 24x7

[Demoquin]

Maybe a -2 penalty when firing in the rain? As the arrow may slide off the string? Or the rain adding weight to the arrow making it harder to aim where the target is? Or since the string is wet .. the reverberations cause it the arrow to slip?

 

[thalmin]

To replace a bowstring would require more than a full-roud action, especially if the strings are not the modern, pre-looped kind. This comes into play in our game only after a sunder or fumble.

 

[Vlos]

Well what has been said has actually come up in several instances in our games. I do try and run somewhat realistic games, which comes from common sense.

Basically, we were in combat and the bow strings cut(sundered) and that lead to oh I simply restring the bow, which was a +7 STR bow, which lead to how long it takes. We game ruled a bit longer than what was mentioned, so we should probably bring down restringing time.

Also when asked for equipment, when visiting a "boss" the player said he had his bow strung and stored in the player's Efficient Quiver, which says it stores 6 bows, staffs, spears. Which then brought up can the EQ store a strung bow? (which also led to can it store a compound [curved - antlers] bow)

I think the EQ should not be able to store a strung bow, because it says staffs, spears and like, which implies a straight pole, i.e.: a unstrung bow.

So all of the above is insteresting. And all comments welcome.

 

[rvalle]

Maybe a -2 penalty when firing in the rain? As the arrow may slide off the string? Or the rain adding weight to the arrow making it harder to aim where the target is? Or since the string is wet .. the reverberations cause it the arrow to slip?

I THINK RL bows could not fire at all. As most (all?) the strings were made out of some sort of gut and they expanded when wet.

Anyone who knows more? I'm sure I've read stories where bows were a non-issue becaue of rain.

rv

 

[cmanos]

Medieval bows were strung with gut. Gut under constant tension will stretch,decreasing the power and rangeof your bow. Wet bowstrings will also stretch. Enough of either environment will render your bow useless pretty quick. And also...the wood of the bow may tend to warp if gotten wet and dried repeatedly.

But in the RAW there are no rules to account for this AFAIK

 

[Saeviomagy]

Medieval bows were strung with gut. Gut under constant tension will stretch,decreasing the power and rangeof your bow. Wet bowstrings will also stretch. Enough of either environment will render your bow useless pretty quick. And also...the wood of the bow may tend to warp if gotten wet and dried repeatedly.

But in the RAW there are no rules to account for this AFAIK

Prestidigitation! for all your "the dm is enforcing boring minor activities as not being an automatic part of downtime" woes.

Simply put - the game is supposed to be fun. "Hah, you take a -2 on your attacks because your bow is still strung!" is not fun. If you think it is, go compete in the accounting olympics or something and leave honest, hard working players alone.

 

[Felnar]

historically bowstrings did have issues when wet, however the british simply coated their bowstrings with beeswax to prevent this
this trick was part of the reason british bowmen were so much more effective

 

[Bront]

Generaly, for speed/fun, we tend to assume that bows are kept strung and don't have rain issues.

With Crossbows, we don't assume they are loaded unless otherwise specified, and we don't allow them to be kept loaded.

However, crossbows are generaly usefull due to their size and simplicity of use. Plus, if your strength is less than 10, you don't suffer a penalty to damage with a crossbow. Some people prefer the higher critical rate over the extra multiplier as well(It's mathmaticaly the same, but it's a personal preference). We've had a few "Crossbow of Ease" make it into the game, which is a magicaly loading crossbow. We even had one that folded back for easy storage (Later called the "Tote's Crossbow of Ease").

I've always felt that bow vs crossbow thing is an RP thing. Characters that are more mechanicly inclined or weak tend to use crossbows. Strong or nature oriented characters tend to use a bow. Some people don't fit either, and then it's a personal choice.

 

[Sue Bloodbucket]

If you think "reality" of that level, weapons and armor may rust, blades may become dull or even break, warterskins may leak, and closes will be ruined by soaking up a lot of goblin blood.

Jeah! They do! And it adds a lot of style to the game if you tell your Fighter that his chainshirt is a mess again. All covered in rust 'couse of the constant sweating and all that bloody rain the past few days. (It won't in any case decrese the Armorvalue or things like check penaltys, that sort of thing ruins the fun) But it will bother him, that he is kind of sluggy while the Paladin in his shiny Platemail seems to be gleeming even without pollishing his armor as he does. Not to mention the Elfen Ranger who never even cut's his cloak in the dense foilage.
The only thing that keeps him smiling is that the ever complaining bard is off far worse, wearing ribbons in a Jungle.

regards
Sue

 

[Vlos]

Prestidigitation! for all your "the dm is enforcing boring minor activities as not being an automatic part of downtime" woes.

Simply put - the game is supposed to be fun. "Hah, you take a -2 on your attacks because your bow is still strung!" is not fun. If you think it is, go compete in the accounting olympics or something and leave honest, hard working players alone.

Ok, take Prestidigitation, it will only take longer, cast spell, then string bow, stringing a bow still takes same amount about of time now added to the time to cast a spell.

Have you never seen a movie where a gun slinger runs out of bullets? or drops his gun? It may not be fun for the gun slinger that he now has to find more bullets or scramble for a new gun, but I think it definitly adds a sense of realism and "scare". Like... "Oh S#it, I just broke my bow string and 20 orcs are coming at me!" RUN!

As compared to "oh, you mean only 20 orcs are coming, I use my "shoot everything in sight" and kill them all. Give me my exp, and next encounter.

It sounds like you like the more, you enter the dragons lair and he's dead, died of old age, since you're the first to find him, you get 100,000exp for the encounter and can take your time looting through the piles and piles of treasure. Next cave you find...

I want to make players feel they earned what they get. Otherwise why not start out as gods?


Right now we are using a full round to string a bow, assuming you have string ready.