D&D 5E Darksun Bow alternative materia

[maritimo80]

We are playing DarkSun (Reddit and Enworld adapted) for D&D 5th, and at the end of the second session we have a question you would like to hear from you all.


In Darksun the weapons most often are made of alternative materials as metals are rare.


These rules adapted to 5ed:


Wood Weapon: -1 in attack and - 2 in Damage
Bone Weapon: - 1 in the attack and - 1 in damage.


So far so good but ..... In the case of an Longbow, what counts is the material of the Longbow or ammunition?
A wooden Longbow with arrow with bone tip, the damage is the wooden bow (-2) or bone arrow (-1)?

 

[Bera]

I think a simpler system is to give metal weapons a bonus rather than bone/stone/wood weapons a penalty.

That said, the damage-doing portion is the arrow, not the bow.

 

[I'm A Banana]

So far so good but ..... In the case of an Longbow, what counts is the material of the Longbow or ammunition?
A wooden Longbow with arrow with bone tip, the damage is the wooden bow (-2) or bone arrow (-1)?

If you'd like to have a penalty for "inferior materials," I wouldn't penalize a bow or an arrow for being made of bone or wood, since that is what they are usually made out of anyway.

 

[Mercule]

I could see a penalty for wood-tipped arrows, but I certainly wouldn't hold it against a bow if it was made out of wood.

 

[doctorhook]

I could see a penalty for wood-tipped arrows, but I certainly wouldn't hold it against a bow if it was made out of wood.

Alternatively, we could penalize all bows in D&D that aren't made out of carbon fiber...

 

[Jester David]

The force of a longbow comes entirely from the bow. A bone arrow should be *almost* as effective as a metal one (so long as your target is not wearing metal armour). A bone bone would likely not work well at all though, but I imagine with the right type of bones something could be cobbled together.

 

[Nine Hands]

My thought is just ignore the damage changes. In Darksun its just one of the normal materials used. Now that makes metal weapons almost magical. You could just make metal weapons effectively magical (with the increased cost to boot). IE a metal weapon is a +1 sword (with the same cost and construction time), a +2 sword is just a better quality metal weapon.

For those that like weapon breakage rules, just have natural 1s break non-metal weapons.

 

[AverageCitizen]

I wouldn't apply a penalty for bows. If the arrows are crudely made, give them -1/-1. Also, don't penalize spears.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I always thought it was a little weird that dark sun was short of metal, but had wood, bone, chitin and the like to spare.

They have plenty of sand, make weapons out of glass.

Anyway, stone weapons are plenty heavy and sharp and every bit as deadly as metal ones. They're just not as durable.

Instituting armor vs weapon type adjustments could give you some added realism to the point(npi) that materials characteristics of weapon & armor could start making a difference.

 

[Jeff Albertson]

I see no need for a penalty "to hit" for non-metal weapons (since 2nd Ed Dark Sun), but the -2 to damage for bone and -2 to damage for wood seems cool (obviously a minimum of 1 point on a hit).