D&D 5E Strength bows?

[Oofta]

Welcome and congratulations on your first thread necromancy!

I don't recall which thread or poster it was but I do remember someone saying that had success just giving bows the finesse property, which works both ways.

It's what I do. Historically longbows had a pull weight of 80 to 130 pounds, with some people saying it as even higher.

You could go more complicated and need both strengthand dex, but making them finesse is simple.

 

[Horwath]

I liked the 2e rules with some slight modifications.

I think Strong pull bows and compound bows should be expensive but doable.

Strong pull bows:
1)You need a str 13 or higher to use and you gain a bonus to damage of +2 or your str mod witch ever is lower
2) You need a Str 15 or higher to use and you gain a bonus to damage of +3 of your str mod witch ever is lower
3) you need a str 17 or higher to use and you gain a bonus to damage of +4 or your str mod witch ever is lower
4) you need a str 19 or higher to use and you gain a bonus to damage of +5 or your str mod witch ever is lower

Compound bows have pullies to make the draw easier, and as such there is no str requirement.
1)You reroll 1's on damage
2) You reroll 1's and 2's on damage
3) You count 1's as max on damage, and reroll 2's
4) You count 1's and 2's as max on damage rolls

I simply would go with MIN STR for bows and scaling BASE damage. Add dex as normal damage bonus


STR 6, d4
STR 8, d6
STR 12, d8
STR 16, d10
STR 20, d12

 

[Distracted DM]

A5E has the oddly named Compounding trait for Composite bows.

Basically theyre more expensive and you can only use strength with them.

 

[Hriston]

I simply would go with MIN STR for bows and scaling BASE damage. Add dex as normal damage bonus


STR 6, d4
STR 8, d6
STR 12, d8
STR 16, d10
STR 20, d12

This is pretty close to what I suggested up-thread, in 2017!

For what it's worth, I've added the following weapons to make "strength bows" available in my games:[table="width: 500"]
[tr]
[td]Name[/td]
[td]Strength[/td]
[td]Cost[/td]
[td]Damage[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Shortbow[/td]
[td]Str 13[/td]
[td]50 gp[/td]
[td]1d8 piercing[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Longbow[/td]
[td]Str 13[/td]
[td]100 gp[/td]
[td]1d10 piercing[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Shortbow[/td]
[td]Str 15[/td]
[td]75 gp[/td]
[td]1d10 piercing[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Longbow[/td]
[td]Str 15[/td]
[td]150 gp[/td]
[td]1d12 piercing[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

All other properties are the same, including using DEX for attack and damage.

 

[Horwath]

This is pretty close to what I suggested up-thread, in 2017!

maybe 15(read 16) STR is too little for d12 ranged damage as requirement?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

maybe 15(read 16) STR is too little for d12 ranged damage as requirement?

Yes.
But maybe 15 for d10 and 19 for d12.

I think ogre strength should suffice for d12.

(I could not see the post you replied to).

 

[Hriston]

maybe 15(read 16) STR is too little for d12 ranged damage as requirement?

How do you figure? Also, I'm not sure what your parenthetical means.

 

[jayoungr]

Edit: Never mind, answered my own question.

 

[Horwath]

How do you figure? Also, I'm not sure what your parenthetical means.

d12 ranged damage, with best range in game should come with the highest requirement in game(for normal humanoids)

parenthetical means that every "15" requirement is actually 16 in reality, as no one has 15 score more than few levels, if any.
no one has any odd score if it can be helped. except 17 at 1st level as it is highest for standard array/point buy.

 

[SkidAce]

All of my campaign's current characters (six) have almost 2 or 3 odd stats.