I've got another idea! Bows!!!!

[musashi]

I really wish that it was possible to take a bow with a pull too strong/weak for your character, and bring it to a fletcher who could, much like a tailor for clothing and armor ... adjust it for a fee to match your PC's strength.

It's always just, mildly annoyed me when I end up in situations where, I want THIS bow because it has an awesome description that fits the image I'm trying to project with my PC ... but I end up buying this other bow with a less cool description because ... much like goldilocks and the three bears, that other bow's pull was juuuuuuust right.

[Cutthroat]

The thing is, the bow's pull not only depends on the string, but the material the limbs are made out of, since the limbs have to be bent.

If the string is too weak on, say, a steel-limbed bow, the bow won't function as it should (the string won't bend the limbs).
If the string is too strong on, say, a baobab-limbed bow, the bow won't function as it should (limbs would probably snap if you pulled too far).

So I like this idea, if there was a range for pull strength for every bow that the bow could still function with.

So if the bow's limbs could work with a pull strength of (all random numbers) 15 to 20, and you have 18 strength while the bow currently has 20, the bowyer could help you. But if you have 12 strength or 25 strength, the bowyer couldn't help you.

[musashi]

I agree with you, 100%.

But I also think you could make similiar arguements about tailoring armor and clothing. Making it smaller seems easy to rationalize in my mind, but when a half-giant comes in wanting to re-size a gurth shell bracer ... it seems to me like a lot of people are comfortable with just assuming that ... it gets done somehow; for the sake of playability.

(Mind you, I've never tried to have anything tailored as a half-giant so I can't say 100% that the IG tailors will let you tailor a human sized garment to HG size ... I'm just assuming they do, if they don't ... I retract that statement)

At any rate, I like your ammendment to the idea, where there is only a certain range into which a bow could be adjusted. But at least something to alleviate this goldilocks syndrome that comes with picking out a bow. It's like playing tetris and the damn game just refuses to give you the piece you need until you already put another one in there that didn't quite fit.

(Yes I recently bought a bow IG only to find one with a pull correct for my PC 15 minutes later ... I'd been looking for 2 RL days of playtime and eventually caved and bought one with a weaker pull.)

[MarshallDFX]

Forgive my lack of imagination, but can somebody describe briefly for me, in a realistic sense, how you can be "too strong" for a bow?  Can't you just pull less hard?  Any archers out there can answer this?

My experience:  I bought a bow, fired it once, somebody who actually -knew- something about them told me I had bought a left handed bow, so I put it back in the pawn shop where I found it.

[Lizzie]

Forgive my lack of imagination, but can somebody describe briefly for me, in a realistic sense, how you can be "too strong" for a bow?  Can't you just pull less hard?  Any archers out there can answer this?

My experience:  I bought a bow, fired it once, somebody who actually -knew- something about them told me I had bought a left handed bow, so I put it back in the pawn shop where I found it.

You can't. But your character can, because of the constraints of the code.

[musashi]

Those code constraints sometimes worry me. I absently wonder if buying a bow too weak for you negatively affects your archery skill. I can see, and would expect it to be so with a bow that's too strong but, with the other way around, I would think that it shouldn't, but if it doesn't then ... why even give me a message?

[Toofie]

Those code constraints sometimes worry me. I absently wonder if buying a bow too weak for you negatively affects your archery skill. I can see, and would expect it to be so with a bow that's too strong but, with the other way around, I would think that it shouldn't, but if it doesn't then ... why even give me a message?

To make you wonder and start a discussion thread about it? 

[musashi]

Exactly!

[IAmJacksOpinion]

Hm. Having played a few minutes as a bow-making PC, I can say that yeah, it's all about the string/shaft materials.

Some bows have strong string and bendy shafts. On the other hand, I've seen bows that, in the mdesc, referenced the shafts as being non-bending, while the string was "springy" that it launched the arrow all on it's own.

That being said, I don't see this as a huge problem. To my knowledge you can still use bows that don't match your strength. (Though, I'm not quite sure what the trade off is. Inaccuracy?) Also, there are decently good bows available for almost any strength level. My character only had "average" strength, and I made myself a pretty sweet bow, so I see no major issue here.


Hm.. Even after writing that, I still do like this idea *a little.* Like, maybe getting the bowyer to bend your shaft a little more, or use a springier string to shave a few strength points off of a bow. However, if this is a play to get your halfling shooting a composite warbow, then forget it. :p

[musashi]

Heh, that thought had occured to me, but no it was more me just being fed up with travelling the entire known world to find a bow with the right pull for my PC, and being afraid to custom order one in the event that the pull would be wrong.