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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wilphe" data-source="post: 1167296" data-attributes="member: 8221">The archers on the Mary Rose were probably the very best there was however, it was the flag ship after all. And it comes right at the tail end of the longbow as a viable weapon.That Archery practice on sundays was made compulsory is a well known fact. Whether that law was ever enforced is another matter (it was enacted at a time of invasion scare along with a ban on football, and we all know how THAT has turned out).-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Mighty non-composite longbows?Possibley, real life stops at STR 18, possibely with a few stat advances you might get to 20 or so. But those people are exceptional in a world of 9s,10s, 11s & 12s.  In D&D you get elite PCs with high STR, races which are stronger and then magic bonuses on top of that - there is a niche for really powerful bows that doesn't exist in real life.And, if we are talking about Europe here, a self longbow is a cheap weapon intended for peasent levies. For Mongols, Huns and their ilk the bow is their primary weapon, and as a hunting weapon, a means of subsistence. It then becomes worth the effort and expense of making it a very good bow and taking months to make.Whether a yew long bow can be made stronger without building it out of something other than yew and ceasing to be a longbow is another matter.</blockquote>