Where do you carry your longbow when in melee?

[Aeric]

My last character had a longbow for ranged combat and a rapier/buckler combo for melee. Since you can fire a bow while wearing a buckler, he simply carried the bow in his hand unless he got into melee, at which point he would drop the bow and draw his sword.

Fighters who have larger shields might have more of an issue switching weapons, which is why crossbows are so popular--they can be fired (if not reloaded) with one hand.

 

[Plane Sailing]

My last character had a longbow for ranged combat and a rapier/buckler combo for melee. Since you can fire a bow while wearing a buckler, he simply carried the bow in his hand unless he got into melee, at which point he would drop the bow and draw his sword.

How would this work? When you are using the longbow you are holding the bow in your off hand anyway, so you would draw your sword with your normal hand, while your off-hand continues to hold the bow (and wear the buckler).

Why drop your bow?

 

[Darklone]

I did the same buckler longbow combination... yet I used the battleaxe sometimes with two hands. Then I dropped the bow. If I used the axe one-handed without rage (Bbn2/Ftr1/Rog3 human), I held the bow in my left hand.

My groups are all pretty attentive where things are dropped during battles. We lost or gained a lot of equipment (disarmed wands from big baddies due to my whip disarming bard) by disarming/bullrushing or chasing foes away.

Hmm. How often do your D&D opponents flee combat? Here on the board I always get the impression it doesn't happen as often as in my games. Hmm, don't answer. New thread.

 

[Ghendar]

I thought because it was 6-foot long and flimsy my players would have to carry it in hand and then drop it when you go into melee. Is this too cruel?

Flimsy???
Have you ever seen a longbow? If it was so flimsy that it could only be safely carried in hand, it would break when it was first used?

PC's can strap them on their backs when using melee weapons.

 

[D'karr]

Quiver of Ehlonna - "Demiplane on my back"

 

[Legildur]

Yup, like D'karr says - the efficient quiver is the way to go. Prior to that, either on back or held in off-hand (elven ftr wielding longsword and using buckler).

 

[Umbran]

I seem to remember reading that most bows are kept unstrung until close to the time you're going to need them.

This is true. A bow made of natural materials (wood, bone, and sinew) doesn't like to be kept under tension permanently. They tend to either break or permanently warp if you get into that habit. You'd normally carry it unstrung, and string it just before you needed it, and unstring it again after the battle.

Of course, those real-world archers aren't planning on getting into melee at all. They aren't carrying lonswords and shields in addition to a longbow. Instead, they have mabe a shortsword, and probably no shield at all.

 

[Herzog]

Nah it works with longbows too! And elves!

Immortals carry elves in demiplanes on their backs????

 

[Festivus]

I typically keep mine somewhere on the ground. I fire from a distance and drop it as I charge into melee. If caught by surprise my first action in melee combat usually is to drop the longbow/shortbow/crossbow.

 

[RFisher]

This is true. A bow made of natural materials (wood, bone, and sinew) doesn't like to be kept under tension permanently. They tend to either break or permanently warp if you get into that habit. You'd normally carry it unstrung, and string it just before you needed it, and unstring it again after the battle.

I thought this was mainly true of self-bows, that composites were less susceptible to this problem.