Prone and two handed weapons question

[LiL KiNG]

Raptorans treat it as a martial weapon. It is actually a great bow for them specifically as it can be fired with one hand leaving another free or two-handed for more damage.

I assumed being a racial weapon they (Raptorians) would have proficiency with it, I was implying for anyone else you'd still need to burn a feat for proficiency.

I know I shouldn't assume, but I guess I'm use to the way our group plays all racial weapons as being martial for their race instead of exotic.

 

[frankthedm]

The Footbow is a classic weapon from history, and was used to great effect by the English and the Welsh, among others.

Effective when fired in mass, at massed troops does not equal effectiveness in small skirmishes.

 

[Ashtagon]

Hero: The Qin Army 260 B.C. - YouTube

Umm, movies, even ones set in historical periods, aren't exactly made with any particular interest in accuracy. That film especially, deals with the idea of different people recalling the same event in different ways (if you take the various potted summaries as honest descriptions of the film) — it inherently has an unreliable narrator, and that on top of the unreliable research.

I was expecting a cite from something by a historian or archaeologist, not a pop culture reference.

 

[Dandu]

Next you'll be telling me that everyone wasn't kung fu fighting in China.

 

[LiL KiNG]

Next you'll be telling me that everyone wasn't kung fu fighting in China.

Those cats were fast as lightning!

 

[Sekhmet]

The two historical leaders you mention were both Europe-based, very far indeed from China. Either that, or wikipedia is wrong.

I had meant to write "Turkish" the first time, and "Chinese" the second. Slip of the fingers.

Buddies dragged me out to the bar to watch the UFC fight and drink last night, so I'm a little behind on finding you credible sources to specifically state footbowmen were used. I apologize.

[MENTION=1164]frankthedm[/MENTION] No doubt. The footbow is well known to lack accuracy, but it does have more power and range than traditional bows. An unmodified, traditional longbow usually hits it's maximum at about 350m, while the footbow record is very near 1850m (over a mile).
Used by a large group for anti-formation warfare, they're a fantastic way to whittle at your opponent before they can get within range to fight back.

 

[Ashtagon]

...An unmodified, traditional longbow usually hits it's maximum at about 350m, while the footbow record is very near 1850m (over a mile).

These numbers seem suspect to me.

I can certainly believe that 350m is about the limit of the useful range of a longbow when it's considered as one man aiming at a single standard target. However, I have some difficulty believing that someone lying down on the ground to use a footbow would be able to reliably hit a specific man-sized target at a range of 1850m, which is the criterion that should be used if we are comparing like with like.

According to World Record archer, Barry Groves, article on Flight Archery - the Pursuit of Perfection, the distance record with a conventional (ie not compound, although it does not specify if composite recurve or self) is 1222m.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/ has some nice formulae in the trajectory section that are relevant. Assuming an initial arrow speed of 75 m/s (246 fps, slightly below that of modern construction self bows), we get the following theoretical ranges:

* 1020 m at 45° angle (optimal for range)
* 884 m at 30° angle

Doing a reverse-calculation, to have a maximum theoretical range of 350m, the launch velocity would have to be no greater than 58.57 m/s (192 fps), which is significantly below the velocity of even the slowest arrows that have actually been measured.

Backcountry Bowhunting - Archery Calculator has a nice calculator for determining expected arrow speed.

 

[Sekhmet]

These numbers seem suspect to me.

Again, distance is the goal, not accuracy. Harry Drake set his record (1854m) in the 70's

According to World Record archer, Barry Groves, article on Flight Archery - the Pursuit of Perfection, the distance record with a conventional (ie not compound, although it does not specify if composite recurve or self) is 1222m.

Groves' record is in compound bow use, as you can see here. The figure (1222m) is accurate for Don Brown's record from the 80's, with an unlimited pull recurve bow.

USA Archery Records: Flight World Records 2007 Here is a relatively up-to-date (2007) list of flight archery records. Flight archery, as you can already guess, is the sport of seeing who can shoot furthest.
As you can see, the unlimited pull English Longbow (the bow we would typically see in the D&D setting) record is 339.65m, set in 2007. Towards the middle of the page, you can see Harry Drake's footbow records as well.

http://www.usaarcheryrecords.org/FlightPages/2009/2009 World Regular Flight Records.pdf is a harder to read, but more up to date, list of records. They haven't changed much.

 

[Ashtagon]

The source I cited notes that Don Brown's record is with a conventional bow, contrasted with compound.

 

[Sekhmet]

The source I cited notes that Don Brown's record is with a conventional bow, contrasted with compound.

Conventional Flight bow.
Flight bows are not conventional bows, they have extended handles and overdraws. His record was using a recurve Flight bow, as opposed to a compound Flight bow.