As an Elven fan I’ve always had a special affinity for bows, and keen on trying to make them interesting and powerful assets in the game without making them overly powerful. After a bit of a rocky start, I have now updated the rules governing missile weapons, making them fit into the game better. The missile weapons in rules so far are bows, composite bows, crossbows and blowgun. There might be others to add, but for now that’s what I have included. There are lots of ways that weapons differ, range, rate of fire, ammunition, how they are propelled, size, ballistics and more. I have grouped them into Bows, Crossbows and the Blowgun being the odd one out is in the special weapons group together with other odd weapons.
Shortbow - Properties: Missile, Heavy, Indirect, Ranged (60/400), Two-Handed, Snipe - Damage: d8 piercing – Slots: 1
Composite Shortbow – Properties: Missile, Compounding, Heavy, Indirect, Ranged (50/300), Two-Handed, Snipe - Damage: d8 piercing – Slots: 1
Longbow – Properties: Missile, Heavy, Indirect, Ranged (120/800), Two-Handed, Snipe - Damage: d8 piercing – Slots: 2
Composite Longbow – Properties: Missile, Compounding, Heavy, Indirect, Ranged (100/600), Two-Handed, Snipe - Damage: d8 piercing – Slots: 2
Greatbow – Properties: Missile, Heavy, Indirect, Ranged (160/1000), Two-Handed, Snipe - Damage: d8 piercing – Slots: 3
Hand Crossbow – Properties: Missile, Compounded Loading (1 Attack), Ranged (30/100), Snipe – Damage: d4 piercing – Slots: 1
Light Crossbow – Properties: Missile, Compounded Loading (2 Attacks), Ranged (60/200), Two-Handed, Snipe – Damage: d6 piercing – Slots: 1
Medium Crossbow – Properties: Missile, Compounded Loading (Action), Ranged (100/300), Two-Handed, Snipe – Damage: d8 piercing – Slots: 2
Heavy Crossbow – Properties: Missile, Heavy, Compounded Loading (Round), Ranged (200/600), Two-Handed, Snipe – Damage: d8 piercing – Slots: 3
Blowgun – Properties: Missile, Loading (1 Attack), Ranged (30/100), Weak – Damage: d4 piercing – Slots: 1
One of the oldest weapons known to man, but despite its simplicity it is a very capable weapon. There are two types of bows “standard” or composite which refers to both their construction and how they handle. Composite bows are made from laminating multiple types of wood (or other materials) to make a bow stiffer and capable of propelling arrows faster than a standard bow of similar size. They can be made to suit certain strengths (Str modifier) that can then be added to the damage, giving them a bigger punch, but the drawback is a bit lesser control, reducing effective range a bit. Bows also need two hands for use, which might be obvious but still worth keeping in mind.
Another advantage of bows is their range, able to shoot at longer (Long) ranges than crossbows, but again at a cost, and for bows that is a more indirect fire trajectory lobbying in arrows using a high trajectory at Long Range. Useful for hail of arrows mass firing at an area but can be very limiting for shooting indoors, in forests and other restricted areas. Rule of thumb is that a you need a clear line of fire at least half as high as the range. Bows differ in size, and for simplicity (and D&D tradition) normal bows are offered in three sizes, short, long and great. Composite bows are too stiff to be made great, but exceptions for exceptionally high Strength could be made. Size matters both for encumbrance and limits how you can use it, for instance Greatbows are too big to be used effectively on horseback.
The arrows used by bows are roughly all the same size and inflict the same base damage, so they all use the same ammunition. Lethality of bows comes either from their rate of fire, or from highly skilled archers who can use the sniping ability and hit precisely at short range. Despite sniping, which can be done using crossbows as well, rate of fire are bows strongest aspect when using it on the battlefield. Bows in Hawk Tales inflict one Damage Die per arrow fired, and rate of fire is determined by Prowess, the same way melee attacks are, so creatures skilled in the art of combat can do lots of damage with bows but at the cost of using up lots of ammo.
Where traditionally easier to learn and handle effectively compared to bows and can inflict damage even better than bows in some instances. They can also be made smaller than bows and still be effective in combat. Just like composite bows, crossbows come with a Strength Rating, which is the required Strength to be able to load it, which I call Compounded Loading. Crossbows also use comparatively heavier ammunition of the form of bolts and combined with a sturdier bow often made of metal can propel the bolt to higher speeds. This makes crossbows a superior sniper weapon with a better Short Range, with a lessened Long Range as a trade-off.
The amount of force needed to load most crossbows makes them clunky and time consuming to re-load. The time is listed in parentheses in the properties above, ranging from 1 Attack to 1 Round. When you have made the effort to load it, the reward is that is can inflict the number if Damage Dice equal to its Strength Rating per bolt on a hit. Damage per attack is the main strength of crossbows, compared to rate of fire for bows.
The size of the crossbow determines the base Damage Die used, from d4 for hand crossbows to a d10 for heavy crossbows. A crossbow also requires properly sized bolts to be used with it. The compactness of hand and light crossbows and its ammunition can be a huge asset in clandestine missions where the ability for concealment is a key factor. The relatively small amount of damage can be boosted by sniping and poison for a very high combat effectiveness at shorter ranges.
A weapon that is not that common and not closely related to any of the others, so I placed it in the group of special weapons requiring a special feat to be proficient in. It also has the Weak property which means that its Damage Die doesn’t increase with specialization like other weapons do. Blowguns usually rely on poison to be effective, which makes their use more limited.
Archery Specialization 1
You are able to use Str instead of Dex as To Hit modifier when using bows, if you so prefer.
Archery Specialization 2
Spend 2 Exertion points and you can use your Bow to make extra attacks equal to your Proficiency Bonus. You use one Arrow per attack as normal.
These extra attacks can be used to attack more targets or to inflict more Damage Dice on a target.
Archery Specialization 3
Your experience with archery have made it possible for you to double your short range using bows you are proficient with.
Archery Specialization 4
Your mastery of archery makes you a force to be feared across the whole battlefield. You can extend your Threat Range to your Short Range, and use a reaction to attack those who enter or leave it like melee attackers can do.
Crossbow Specialization 1
You are able to use Str instead of Dex as To Hit modifier when using crossbows, if you so prefer.
Crossbow Specialization 2
Your Short Range is doubled when you use a crossbow.
Crossbow Specialization 3
Triple you Short Range when you use a crossbow and are Prone.
Crossbow Specialization 4
You can reload crossbows faster. Below is a table on reload times.
Hand Crossbow: From 1 Attack to None
Light Crossbow: 2 Attacks to 1 Attack
Medium Crossbow: Action to 2 Attacks
Heavy Crossbow: Round to Action
Download this is PDF version: https://annabmeyer.com/Downloads/rules/Missile%20Weapons.pdf
