Quality crafted bows or shields and magic arrows?

[Baron mugwort]

Okay we have dwarven crafted swords, axes, Hammers even the good old fashioned ball and chain. What would people suggest can be done with a long bow or a shield? Can we have an elven crafted bow with +2 to strike? A dwarven shield with +3 to parry?

What about a flaming arrow that returns to the quiver (or a set of like 10). Fire proof bow quiver and glove?

I am asking these questions cause I am running a game with a thief with an outrageous PP a paladin with a savage PS. AND then we got the ogre longbowman who to be honest is a lil useless I even let him add his damage bonus to his arrow shots.

Before I get flamed I know its not all about the damage and its about the role play. However it is also about fun and these 3 characters started off on a fairly even field but now 2 of them now have access to dwarven crafted weapons and magic items and the poor bowman well he just got a piece of wood and string that cannot be enhanced (apart from cyclops arrows but hey he aint that rich and anyway they are gone in 1 shot).

P.S. dont flame me lol what ever flaming you want to do dont bother I know he has the distance advantage and a high rate of fire. BUT he hasnt got a nice personal bow with a few lil additions.

[9voltkilowatt]

Something our DM added once was a bow that gave all the bonuses of the "Quick Draw" special ability that a few of the classes get. Its not extremely damaging but man is it cool when added to the longbowmans special abilities.

[Library Ogre]

Personally, I wouldn't make them elvencrafted, except perhaps in those few areas where elves are especially noted for their archery, but kobold-quality bows might be available from fletchers. I think such was introduced in Northern Hinterlands.

[Baron mugwort]

Well elven crafted goat crafted lol it dont matter. I suppose you are right and I am getting a bit lord of the rings influenced. Maybe a Jotan will make him a superior bow. Also what do you guys think to adding damage bonuses to the bow as a weapon. The way I see it is a stronger person could use a bow made of stronger stuff under more tension.

It just seems that an Ogre with a PS of 20 would do 3D6 same as a ogre with a PS of 30. damage bonus added in seems to make sense. Or am I insane?

[Scrud]

Well elven crafted goat crafted lol it dont matter. I suppose you are right and I am getting a bit lord of the rings influenced. Maybe a Jotan will make him a superior bow. Also what do you guys think to adding damage bonuses to the bow as a weapon. The way I see it is a stronger person could use a bow made of stronger stuff under more tension.

It just seems that an Ogre with a PS of 20 would do 3D6 same as a ogre with a PS of 30. damage bonus added in seems to make sense. Or am I insane?

Agreed I'm an archer in real life and I personaly know that stronger people shoot stronger bows that firer the arrow faster and penetrat deeper adding PS bonus is something I already do in my games

[Baron mugwort]

Well there you go I couldn't have asked for a better answer from a better qualified person! Cheers Scrud

[9voltkilowatt]

Issue 10 of the Rifter has an article called "The Magic of Science in Palladium Fantasy" which deals with the bows built for strength.

[filo_clarke]

These are Bow and Arrow designs that I have extrapolated from different game systems, and adapted to palladium. The cost and modifier are generally based on the Dwarven Craftsmanship Bonuses found in PFRPG. I hope this helps.


WEAPON MODIFICATION COST PENALTY

BOWS + CROSSBOWS
Pull Strength - Range
+50% Range +400% -10%
+100% Range +800% -20%
Pull Strength - Damage
+1D6 Damage +200% -40%
Additional Mass + Balance
+2 Damage +500% -25%
Pulley (Up to two can be added to a bow, adding the bonuses twice)
+1D6 Damage, +50% Range +50% -10%
Strength Bow (Adds +1 PS bonus to the shot, up to +15 (PS 30) maximum)
+1 Damage each +100% -5%
Cam (Locks in place to better aim shot, up to two can be used in a bow)
+1 to Strike +50% -10%
Construction Materials
White Iron (Shrugs off 20 SDC damage per hit, light/excellent balance)
+1 Strike +100% -10%
Yellow Wood (Nearly Impossible to break under normal use)
+2 Damage +200% -5%

SPECIAL FUNCTION ARROWS (Note: -5 Strike, -50% range when tied to a rope)
1. Wood Biter – Broad flat head with backward facing barbs. Designed to penetrate and hold in wooden surfaces; Costs 8 sp per arrow.
2. Stone Biter – Narrow head of heavy metal, with small ridges instead of barbs. Designed to penetrate relatively soft stone like sandstone or brick; Costs 1 gp per arrow.
3. Stone Biter (Adamantite) – Same as above but able to pierce the strongest stone surfaces; Costs 7 gp per arrow.
4. Minor Grapple – The tip has a small, three pointed grappling hook, 3 inches in diameter. This arrow is not effective in combat, but can be used much in the same way as a normal grappling hook; Costs 6 gp per arrow
5. Major Grapple – The head of the arrow appears to be a normal steel war-arrow, however the device is an ingenious mechanical marvel. The other end of the rope must be tied securely to something, and when fired to it’s maximum range, the rope pulls taught, and the head of the arrow springs open into a large, three pointed grappling iron, 6 to 8 inches in length; Costs 10 gp per arrow.
6. Target Arrow – Lightweight wood, designed to be used on straw targets. While a target arrow does normal damage, it is usually broken or ruined in combat, and range is 20% shorter; Costs 1 gp per 12 arrows
7. Hunting Arrow – Durable arrow fitted with a razor sharp arrowhead meant to penetrate skin, muscle and flesh. Can be used over and over again, even after being fired into a victim. Does +1 to Damage; Costs 3 gp per Arrow.
8. War Arrow – A solid shaft is tipped with a dense, pointed arrowhead, designed for penetrating leather, wood, and even thin metal armor. Can be used repeatedly. Does +3 to Damage; Costs 4 gp per arrow.
9. Incendiary Arrow – Trimmed with cotton treated in an inflammable that will burn even in pouring rain. Incendiary arrows will burn for 1D4 minutes after being lit on fire, with a 65% likelihood of setting any combustible material on fire, unless snuffed out immediately, Range is reduced by ½; Costs 8 gp per arrow.
10. Armor Piercing Arrow – Made of solid metal, with a tip designed to penetrate various kinds of armor. These arrows/bolts are easy to straighten and sharpen for re-use, and rarely break, though range is 1/3 normal; Does +3 Damage, and ignores 6 points of AR; Costs 8 gp per Arrow.
11. Explosive Bolt – The bolt is a hollow tube filled with some sort of contact explosive. Damage is 5D6 with an effective casualty radius of 5 feet. Sold “plugged” so the tip must be unscrewed, and the safety plug removed before it can be used as an explosive; Range is 20% less, Cost is 120 gp per arrow.
12. Flight Arrows – The most common type of arrow, with a wedge shaped head that is useful in both combat and hunting; Costs 20 gp per 20 arrows.
13. Frog Crotch Arrows – Have a head that forms a “V” shape, the inner edges of which are sharp. These arrows are used to cut standards and armor straps, and inflict terrible wounds on anything caught in the jaws; Adds +1 Damage, and can be used to cut rope/straps on a called shot; Costs 2 gp per arrow.
14. Humming Bulb Arrows – Fitted with a carved wooden head that whistles loudly when fired. The sound can be heard up to one mile away. This type of arrow is normally used for signaling, but the bulb can also be fitted with the same material as an incendiary arrow, making a flare; typically only deals 1D4 damage, and range is ½ if equipped with the Incendiary material; Costs 8 gp for a Humming Bulb, or 16 gp for a Humming Bulb flare.
15. Sheaf Arrow – Fitted with broad heads designed to cause great injury. These arrows are often ornately carved, and the Sheaf head made to resemble a leaf at the end of a branch. Adds +1D6 damage, with no loss to range; Cost is 10 gp per arrow due to the fine craftsmanship.
16. Stone Arrow – Made from crude material, often obsidian or shale rock, these arrows do normal damage, but have a 50% chance of breaking on impact. The benefit is, they can often be made quickly and cheaply by a trained fletcher; Cost is only 20 cp per dozen.

[Baron mugwort]

Wow cheers for that stuff filo thats a fantastic help. Am sure our ogre friend will be pleased.

[RockJock]

Okay, somewhere there was a thread that talked about the in print versions of specialty bows and arrows that are out there.

LotD2 has magical examples from the lost Elven kingdom, as well as the band of heroes.

I believe that Eastern Territories has examples from the Danzi.

I can't remember where, but buried in one of the books is a fletcher shop that builds custom bows to your PS.

Nimro gives the explosive crystals which I think are used in arrows as well. I want to say that there is a a giant with a enhanced, but non-magical bow, but it might be in Wastelands instead.

Rifts Mystic Russia gives you a spread of arrows made my the Mystic Smiths, which could carry over to PF.

Rifts Japan has magical Zen bows as well as specialty arrows.

Rifts South America gives the Bio-Bow.

Rifts Splynn Dimensional Market gives the T-Archer as something else to think about, though no real bow or arrow.

Rifts TW arrows as well as the ability to enchant arrows the same as weapons.

I also seem to remember a few in the Dinosaur Swamp books, but I could quite easily be smoking crack.

I'm sure there are others, but this is a start.

[Northern Ranger]

Wow Rockjock, photographic memory, or what? I'm impressed. I've been told I have a flair for creating magic weapons, and one of the best I ever created was for my wifes Long Bowman. It was custom made to her, blood bonded (meaning only she or her offspring would be able to wield it) and came fully equipped with individual magic arrows and a quiver that automatically recreated the arrow once it had been fired. I don't want to go into too much detail here, (mostly because I'm greedy and worked really hard on this weapon), but some of the arrows abilities are as follows: explosive, turns to fire bolt when fired, turns to lightning bolt when fired, freezes target, and my personal favorite, metomorphic arrow (automatically becomes whatever the targets weakness is). These arrows are differentiated by precious gems that are mounted on the shaft right behind the arrowhead. As I've said, this is probably the best work I've done, and easily the most powerful weapon I've ever created. Hopefully it will give you some insight into what is possible (which is literally anything if you have the imagination to make it work!)

[RockJock]

Lol, far from photographic, but I'm use to storing and recalling vast amounts of random knowledge, thus the life of a grad student. The really freaky thing is that I can see what the page I'm referencing looks like. Btw, I thought of the Millennium Tree bow and arrow in Eastern Territories.

Use books versions of arrows and bows as a guide, but also remember to use the enchanted weapons powers as a guide as well. Here is what I mean. A set of arrows built similar to alchemical throwing knives would be easy enough to figure out. Enchant the whole bunch with Return to Wielder, and Indestructible, and give each a different third power. I would allow the arrows to return to a specific quiver, and even a specific place in the quiver, but only that quiver. That means that the quiver can be the Achilles Heel of the whole system. I would also rule that it takes one action to return, so that the character could fire arrow A for his first action, then again on his third, and could fire a different arrow on his second. I would also make the return range the same as the normal arrow's range.

Now just go down the list of weapons enchantments and see what works. Super Sharpness, Numbing Cold, Physical Transferal, Armor Piercing, Additional Damage, Blinding Flash, and Invisible Weapon should work pretty much as is for the arrows. Some like Spit Fire and Spit Lighting I would allow, but modify a bit. The fireball/lightning effects could only be used 3 times per day, and the rest of the time they do damage as regular arrows. Others like Infectious Wounds, Double Damage to Good, Double Damage to Evil, Venomblade, Dragon Slayer, Demon Slayer, Deevil Slayer and so fourth might be limited to certain alignments, or maybe not. I would also throw in an arrow that doubles, or at least increases range as an option. Just using existing weapon's enchantments you have well over a dozen possibilities, closer to two dozen if you use the various venomblade poisons. Even one or two of these arrows would be a huge boost to a Longbow man. Combine them with some other exotic, but more mundane arrows such as Danzi bone arrows, or arrows made out of Stonewood, or Hardwood trees in Northern Hinterlands, Nimro Grodnelite tipped arrows, or Cyclops Lightning arrows and you have a huge amount of versatility. Throw an enhanced bow in and the character is one of the most dangerous warriors around, easily the equal for the knight with paired magic swords.

Edit: Flipping around books I found one of the shops that makes more powerful custom bows. It is Bows by Gabriel in Western Territories page 97. It isn't what I remember, but gives bonuses to strike, number of attacks, range, and accuracy, so it is actually better then I thought. There may still be one that gives PS, but I can't find where. Heck, maybe I was just remembering the Kitsune solution. So much for my memory. Another option mentioned in the same book is arrows that have the effect of Faire arrows.

[RockJock]

I haven't totally lost it. Page 155 of Baalgor Wastelands gives a magic bow that adds PS damage and extra range.

[Baron mugwort]

What can I say you guys have given me access to some really cool stuff and for that I am grateful. I am sure Smegworth the ogre underdog will be happy too as now he will become the killer he alwasy wanted to be lol.

Can I ask what ideas people have with regards to Shields I was thinking of a dwarven shield that is +3 to parry it seems a good enough stat. However has anyone ideas about enchantments that could be cool to add to a shield "force field" something like 3 times a day being an obvious one.

[Guest]

Okay, somewhere there was a thread that talked about the in print versions of specialty bows and arrows that are out there.

LotD2 has magical examples from the lost Elven kingdom, as well as the band of heroes.

I believe that Eastern Territories has examples from the Danzi.

I can't remember where, but buried in one of the books is a fletcher shop that builds custom bows to your PS.

Nimro gives the explosive crystals which I think are used in arrows as well. I want to say that there is a a giant with a enhanced, but non-magical bow, but it might be in Wastelands instead.

Rifts Mystic Russia gives you a spread of arrows made my the Mystic Smiths, which could carry over to PF.

Rifts Japan has magical Zen bows as well as specialty arrows.

Rifts South America gives the Bio-Bow.

Rifts Splynn Dimensional Market gives the T-Archer as something else to think about, though no real bow or arrow.

Rifts TW arrows as well as the ability to enchant arrows the same as weapons.

I also seem to remember a few in the Dinosaur Swamp books, but I could quite easily be smoking crack.

I'm sure there are others, but this is a start.

---

I haven't totally lost it. Page 155 of Baalgor Wastelands gives a magic bow that adds PS damage and extra range.

Well, you certainly coverd magic weapons, however, you haven't really covered non-magical specialty bows.

See Library of Blethlerad 157 for several types of Arbalests and Yin-Sloth Jungles page 16 for jungle bows and footbows. LOB also has a two shot crossbow on page 63.

ET, page 42 has the modification for bows made from Yellow Wood (along with Millenium Tree Bows on page 67) and Everall's Quality Bows on page 171. *Danzi do have magical "bone" bows listed in with the magic items.

WE has Gabriel's custom bows on page 97 (doesn't really modify damage by strength, but is custom-built based on strength and other factors), and specialty arrows of the Longriders on page 127

Old Ones has Alononum Magister's specialty bows on page 62.

Northern Hinterlands has broadhead arrows (page 157).

Mt Nimro, page 99 for "Grodnelite" arrows as well as "Giant" bows on 90 and 124.

See ATB2, pages 153-154 for customized bows and specialty arrows. Especially compound bows* allowing you to add your P.S. damage to the bow damage.
*They're called "Compound Bows" but they're really composite bows.

See also Mutants Down Under, pages 29-30 (Manual and Ballistic Crossbows) & 36 (Crossbow, Heavy Crossbow, and Arbalest) for additional bows and crossbows.

Transdimensional TMNT has stats for "Mongol Bows" and "English Longbows" on page 61, but they're a bit off.

Several other bows and crossbows can be found in N&S page 145 ("Ninja," "Samurai," and "Modern" bows as well as heavy and pistol crossbows) and Mystic China pages 31-34 ("Two-Triiger Crossbow," "Repeating Crossbow," "Kun Gen," (a regular bow), "Kun Dan" (a pellet bow), "Sleeve Arrow" and "Back Arrow").

Rifts has stats for "almost 1000 lbs draw" bows and crossbows, but they're even screwier. Many of the newer W.P. rules (Splicers, BTS2, RUE) have some interesting bow stats.

Of course there's always the CWAC and Weapons series books (Weapons & Castles and Weapons & Assassins).

[RockJock]

PU2 also gives a guide for upgrading bow weapons through superior quality and workmanship under the Ancient Weapons Master. Since the bladed weapon upgrades are pretty similar to the dwarven quality weapons I would think the bow stats would translate fairly easily as well.

And thanks for the list KS.

Shields are a bit harder. To be honest, they are used very rarely in my games. Most players with paired weapons would rather use something with more offensive capabilities.

[Northern Ranger]

All good ideas Rockjock. Another option for hardwood to be used in the construction of bows or arrows is yellow wood, which is in the Eastern Territories book. I believe it is supposed to be nearly indestructible. Also, I believe I read something about the bows that add PS damage in Old Ones, the shop was somewhere in the Timiro Kingdom, I believe. (I'll have to peruse it and get back to you.) Correct me if I'm wrong, (not being an actual archer myself) but isn't a modern day recurve bow supposed to do somewhat the same thing? If so, how hard would that be to incorporate into Palladium?