Compound and composite bows in PF ?

[Warpig]

Are there compound bows in PF or is that too advanced a technology. Are there stats for them?
same questions for composite bows...

[Guest]

Composite like, modern materials (carbon fiber, fiberglass, plastics) I'd say no.

Composite like, different kinds of wood, with resin layers, and varied wrappings? Yeah, thats how a longbow is made traditionally, and where a lot of it's power comes from.

Compound, with pulleys, I'd say it is possible, but it would be very rare, very desirable to anyone who saw this uniquely powerful bow, hard to fix, and require a hell of a creative person to create it.

I'm not sure how long people used Longbows before inventing the Compound bow, but I will check into it.

1969=First Compound Bow Prototype.

3000 B.C.=First known Longbows

1200 A.D.=Composite Laminate Longbows show up (I think it was 1200, might have been later)

A Compound bow would be neat, but hard to maintain, I'd give it a +1 or +2 to strike over a normal Longbow, but leave the Damage the same actually, as accuracy, and consistency was the Compounds advantages.

I might see 1d6+6 instead of 2d6, to reflect the consistent Damage of a Compound Bow.

[filo_clarke]

According to Rifter #10, the Tinkerer O.C.C. can build bows with greater range and damage by adding pulleys. It states that the maximum number of pulleys would be 2, for a total of +2D6 damage and +100 feet range.

Likewise they could create bows with greater pull, for characters with higher strength, by reinforcing them and using stronger materials. Thus allowing a character to add his PS bonus to the shot.

All in all, an archer could be a pretty deadly opponent using those rules.

[J. Lionheart]

Filo beat me to it. There's a RIFTER with info on that stuff. Personally, I think the technology of a compound bow is far too advanced for PF; not only do you need the cams, but also you're talking about metal strings if you want it to be one of the really powerful bows, and a composite structure that's probably stronger than nearly anything naturally manafacturable in PF, but to each their own. A composite laminate longbow wouldn't give me grief, but a compound would.

[Warpig]

say perhaps...using the hair off of a Wooly Dragon for bow string, that would be some pretty rare, bada$$ stuff.

Here's another question I got on bow though, what about Horn Bows? Like a mongolian horse bow or something. Compact and yet more powerful than a short bow.

[J. Lionheart]

Except you can get alchemists to make just about anything indestructible (as long as it isn't a piece of armor, for whatever reason), so I would say it is definitely possible to get materials that are strong enough, it just might cost a lot.

Isn't there also some Earth warlock spell that can make wood as strong as stone, or something like that? Maybe I have it confused with another game though. I'll check later.

Indestructible, true, that might work. I guess I was trying to think of mundane ways to build the weapon, but magic would certainly give a lot more leeway. If you're making it magical, you might no longer need the cams or anything, but if you really wanted

Earth Warlocks can turn wood in to stone, literally, but can't make wood itself as strong as stone. Actually, with the right combination of spells, an earth warlock can turn almost any natural substance into almost any other natural substance

[Guest]

Transdimensional TMNT has stats for "Mongol Bows" and "English Longbows" on page 61, but they're a bit off. Rifts has stats for "almost 1000 lbs draw" bows and crossbows, but they're even screwier. Several other bows can be found in N&S. Many of the newer W.P. rules (Splicers, BTS2, RUE) have some interesting bow stats. And, IIRC, one of the PF books had some note or other on strength based bows that may be worth looking at, if I can remember where I saw it.

[Adam of the Old Kingdom]

say perhaps...using the hair off of a Wooly Dragon for bow string, that would be some pretty rare, bada$$ stuff.

Thread of Iron. a common item for taking high tensile loads. relatively cheep and common to replace when is does wear out.

[J. Lionheart]

Does Thread of Iron really have the snap to it necessary for a bow string? Perhaps that same enchantment modified to be placed upon a more standard bowstring material, if you want to be picky anyway.

[Goliath Strongarm]

Does Thread of Iron really have the snap to it necessary for a bow string? Perhaps that same enchantment modified to be placed upon a more standard bowstring material, if you want to be picky anyway.

Sinew from a giant's body? Or dragon, etc? Sinew was most often used for bowstrings, anyways...

--
GS

"whats sinew?"
"nuthin, whats anew with you?"