Fixing the Weapons Table, Part 9: Ranged Weapons

Welcome back to my ongoing series, Fixing the Weapons Table, wherein I channel my MA in medieval history and my near-compulsive need to tweak with game mechanics toward making the Pathfinder weapons table even better!  Today we'll take a look at ranged weapons: bows, crossbows, and slings.

In previous installments I've touched on throwing knives and hunga mungas, medieval gunpowder weapons including explosive arrows and crossbow bolts, and even the razor-sharp Indian throwing disc known as the chakram.  So what is left to say about ranged weapons?  As it turns out, plenty!  In this installment, we'll talk about bows and crossbows, sling staves, pila, and heavy javelins.  There's also tons of new ammunition types for bows and crossbows, including alchemical creations, plus I'm revising the explosive arrows and crossbow bolts from my previous entry on medieval gunpowder weapons.  So read on!

The following material given in gold text and its accompanying table is available as Open Game Content under the OGL.  Open Game Content is ©2015 Jonah Bomgaars.

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Arbalest

Left to right: mid 17th century Flemish steel crossbow with windlass; mid 18th century German cranequin for a hunting crossbow; mid 17th century German steel crossbow with late 16th century cranequin affixed.  All at Royal Armouries, Leeds.

When researching the medieval crossbow, you find that there are three main types of bows: the first, a simple bow of wood; second, a stronger and more powerful composite bow made of horn, sinew, and wood; and finally, a high-energy bow made of steel.  There were also three main ways to draw the bow back, depending on how powerful the bow was: the simplest method was cocking the bow by hand, usually with the help of a foot stirrup at the front of the crossbow and sometimes with the added help of a hook mechanism attached to one's belt; more powerful bows required a mechanical lever device called a goat's foot; the most powerful crossbows of the later Middle Ages required a crank-and-gear device called a cranequin or a pulley system called a windlass.  

   For our purposes, light crossbows should be considered simple wooden crossbows that require only bodily strength to draw back, and heavy crossbows will be the more powerful composite crossbows that require some form of mechanical aid.  To represent the heaviest of crossbows, I have created the arbalest, a powerful steel crossbow that is slow to reload but packs quite a punch.

   Steel-bowed crossbows were developed in the 15th century, probably in Germany.  Arbalest is a medieval French word for a crossbow, and is often used to distinguish the heavy steel-bowed weapons of the late Middle Ages.  

This heavy crossbow has a powerful steel bow that can fire a bolt farther and with greater force than other crossbows.  Reloading an arbalest requires the aid of a cranequin or windlass, two types of mechanical devices that attach to the crossbow and draw back the heavy bow.  Reloading an arbalest takes two full-round actions.  The Rapid Reload (arbalest) feat allows you to reload the weapon with a single full-round action.  An arbalest requires two hands to fire and to reload.  

Composite Bows

Modern reproduction of late 15th century Turkish composite bow in quiver - Royal Armouries, Leeds

I have a simple change to make to composite longbows and shortbows that I think makes a lot of sense.  As is, composite bows have an extra 10ft. added to their range increment.  My new rule makes the range increment scale with the strength rating of the bow.  

A composite shortbow is made from a combination of wood, horn, and sinew that maximizes its power.  The recurved bow measures only two feet from tip to tip when strung.  A bow always requires two hands, regardless of its size.  You can use a composite shortbow while mounted.  All composite shortbows are made with a particular Strength rating, requiring a minimum Strength modifier to use with proficiency.  If your Strength bonus is lower than the Strength rating of the composite bow, you can't effectively use it, and you take a -2 penalty to attacks with it.  The default composite shortbow requires a Strength modifier of +0 or higher to use with proficiency.  A composite shortbow can be made with a higher strength rating to take advantage of an above-average Strength score; this feature allows you to add your Strength bonus to damage, up to the maximum bonus indicated for the bow.  If you have a penalty for low Strength, apply it to damage rolls when using a composite shortbow.  Each point of Strength rating above +0 increases the cost of the bow by 75 gp and adds 10 ft. to its range increment.  

   For purposes of Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Focus, and similar feats, a composite shortbow is treated as if it were a shortbow. 

A composite longbow is made from a combination of wood, horn, and sinew that maximizes its power.  The recurved bow measures about four feet from tip to tip when strung.  A bow always requires two hands, regardless of its size.  You can use a composite longbow while mounted.  All composite longbows are made with a particular Strength rating, requiring a minimum Strength modifier to use with proficiency.  If your Strength bonus is lower than the Strength rating of the composite bow, you can't effectively use it, and you take a -2 penalty to attacks with it.  The default composite longbow requires a Strength modifier of +0 or higher to use with proficiency.  A composite longbow can be made with a higher strength rating to take advantage of an above-average Strength score; this feature allows you to add your Strength bonus to damage, up to the maximum bonus indicated for the bow.  If you have a penalty for low Strength, apply it to damage rolls when using a composite longbow.  Each point of Strength rating above +0 increases the cost of the bow by 75 gp and adds 10 ft. to its range increment.  

   For purposes of Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Focus, and similar feats, a composite longbow is treated as if it were a longbow. 

Heavy Javelin

Iberian saunion, Museo de Prehistoria de Valencia.  Photo by Dorieo, via Wikimedia

The ancient Iberians were apparently quite the innovators when it came to javelins.  One of their prized weapons, the falarica, was about six feet long, and half of that length was taken up by the long, narrow metal head of the javelin.  Even more astounding was the saunion, known to the Romans as the soliferrum.  The saunion was five to six feet long, a centimeter in diameter, and made entirely out of iron.  Its long, barbed head and the immense weight behind it made it a devastating weapon.  I've added the heavy javelin to the table to represent such weapons.  Since the force of the blow is concentrated in a long, thin point, I have given them a x4 crit value, similar to that of a pick or bec de corbin.  

The heavy javelin is made mostly or entirely of metal, tapering down to a long thin point that concentrates the force of the bow into one armor-piercing spike.  Such javelins are heavier than a normal javelin and harder to master.  

Pilum

Reproduction pilum. By Medium69, via Wikimedia

The pilum (plural: pila) is the classic throwing spear of the Roman legions, probably taking design tips from the ancient Iberians.  As the pilum evolved, it became a weapon designed to disable the enemies' shields during a charge, and as an added bonus its twisting shaft made it difficult for enemies to pick up and throw back at the Romans.  

   Paizo has already statted up the pilum, but I have some issues with it.  According to their description, "If you hit a shield-using opponent with a pilum, he loses the AC bonus from that shield until he takes a standard action to pry out the remnants of the pilum."  My main problem with this is that hitting a shield-using opponent means missing their shield, so how does hitting the opponent disable their shield?  This is one of those cases in game design where making something more complicated can actually have it make more sense.  My special rules for the pilum are as follows:

   A pilum is a type of throwing spear designed to bend and twist on impact.  The whole pilum is about six feet long, with the small head of the spear set at the end of a thin, 2 foot long shank of iron or bronze.  When the pilum hits its target, the head buries in and the force of the throw and weight of the wooden haft cause the thin shank to bend, making it difficult to extract.  Like ammunition, a pilum breaks and is unrecoverable if it hits its target, and has a 50% chance to survive if it misses its target.

   If a pilum deals damage to a creature, that creature must make a Reflex save (DC = 10 + damage dealt) or have the pilum lodge in its body.  That creature’s move speed is reduced by 10 ft.  The pilum can be removed, requiring two free hands and a full round action; this deals weapon damage again to the creature unless the remover succeeds at a DC 15 Heal check.  

   The pilum can also be thrown at the shield of an enemy to deny them their shield bonus.  To do this, the wielder makes a ranged touch attack against a shield-wielding enemy.  If the attack roll is high enough that it would also hit the enemy’s normal AC, the pilum does damage to the enemy as well (subtracting the hardness of the shield from the total damage dealt).  A shield struck by a pilum provides no shield bonus to AC, and its armor check penalty is increased by 2.  Removing a bent pilum from a shield is a full-round action requiring two hands.  

Sling Staff

Sling staves being used from a ships aftcastle,
from a 13th century manuscript of Matthew of Paris' account of the 5th crusade.  Via Wikimedia.

The sling staff is an ancient weapon, basically a sling mounted to a long wooden pole, adding leverage and power.  Paizo has statted up the halfling sling staff, which they made more powerful than I would like, and also an Exotic weapon (they've also created a nonsense weapon called a double sling, which is a pole with a sling on either end).  They have also created a similar weapon called a flask thrower for throwing splash weapons like alchemist's fire, which I would simply roll into the sling staff for simplicity's sake.  Also, for historical accuracy's sake, because sling staves were used during sieges and ship battles in the Middle Ages to throw clay pots of pitch and burning oil.  

The sling staff, a variant of the classic sling, features a larger sling of braided cord on the end of a long wooden staff.  The staff acts as an arm extension, allowing the sling staff to fire sling bullets with greater range and force.  The sling staff can also be used to throw splash weapons like flasks of acid, alchemist's fire, or alchemist's bombs, all with a range increment of 40 ft.  You can throw ordinary stones with a sling staff, but you take a -1 penalty on attack rolls and the attack deals damage as if the weapon were one size category smaller.  

   Loading a sling staff is a move action that requires two hands.  A sling staff can be fired with one hand or two hands.  When used with one hand, apply your strength bonus to the damage dealt, just as with thrown weapons.  When using two hands, apply 1 1/2 times your strength bonus to the damage.  

Spear Thrower

The use of a spear thrower.  Paléosite, via Wikimedia

The spear thrower is a simple tool used the world over to add speed and range to throwing spears, darts, and javelins.  The Aztecs called it an atlatl, the Australian Aborigines call it a woomera, but I find that spear thrower is a nice catch-all term.  

   Oddly enough, Paizo has statted up the Greek javelin cord called the amentum, but not the simpler, more widespread, and more versatile spear thrower.  Well, I guess that's what I'm here for.  

A spear thrower is a specially shaped, one-to-two-foot-long piece of wood or horn that adds leverage when throwing a ranged weapon.  It can be used with a dart, shortspear, javelin, or heavy javelin.  Throwing such a weapon with a spear thrower doubles that weapon's range increment.  

Ammunition

Upper left: 15th century broadheads; upper right: 15th century bodkin arrow heads
bottom: 15th century broadhead bolt.  Royal Armouries, Leeds

Whenever some movie or television show wants to make archery look cool, they give the archers a selection of different types of arrows for different tasks - Hawkeye, Green Arrow, and Katniss Everdeen are good examples of this.  As it turns out, archery actually is really cool, and archers in the Middle Ages really did use a variety of different arrows for different tasks.  Yes, even explosive arrows.  

   Now, RPGs like to give their archers some fun arrows to play with too.  Some of them can be good, others can be really cheesy.  The cheesy ones get especially egregious whenever an RPG company releases a book about elves.  Paizo has, unsurprisingly, created a number of both good and cheesy arrows, which I am now going to completely ignore.  

   Presented below are eight new types of arrows and/or bolts (some of which have similar counterparts on the d20pfsrd).  Of these eight new arrow types, only one of them (the sunrod arrow) is wholly fictional.  All the others, from broadhead bolts to whistling arrows to arrows tipped with flasks of alchemist's fire, have roots in actual history.  

Broadhead Arrows and Bolts

Broadhead arrows and bolts are tipped with broad, triangular- or v-shaped heads that are designed to maximize the wounded area and increase the chance of damaging a vital area.  The larger heads increase the weight of the arrows, making them fly slower and decreasing their effective range, plus they are more expensive to manufacture.  They are primarily used for hunting, but on the battlefield they can be a devastating weapon as well.  Broadhead arrows have a 19-20 crit range, and broadhead bolts have an 18-20 crit range.  Both types of broadheads have range increments 20 ft. less than a normal arrow or bolt.

Blunt Arrows

Blunt arrows are tipped not with a sharp point, but a blunt, round tip of metal or wood.  They are used primarily for hunting small game, like rabbits and birds.  To creatures of Tiny size or smaller, blunt arrows deal lethal damage, but to Small or larger creatures, blunt arrows deal nonlethal damage only.  Like broadhead arrows, blunt arrows have a shorter effective range (decrease range increments by 20 ft.).  They also deal damage as if they were one size category smaller.  

Explosive Arrows and Bolts (Gunpowder Weapons)

Feuerwerkbuch - Royal Armouries - Leeds

Back in the 6th installment of Fixing the Weapons Table, I talked about Medieval gunpowder weapons.  I included a kind of rocket-propelled explosive arrow called a 'fire arrow', and a special crossbow bolt packed with gunpowder called a 'fire bolt'.  The rules presented below are for the same weapons, but I have changed the rules for them slightly and altered their names to be less confusing.  

Explosive Arrow

The explosive arrow is a normal arrow to which is affixed an explosive rocket, with a short fuse wound around the arrow shaft.  The rocket increases the flight range of the arrow, despite the added weight, and explodes upon - or shortly after - striking the target.  Lighting and firing an explosive arrow is a full-round action.  
   The explosive arrow deals 1d6 points of fire damage like a splash weapon to all within the target square, and one point of fire damage to every creature within a 5-foot radius.  In addition, any creature struck directly with the explosive arrow takes normal arrow damage, including any bonuses granted by enhancements to the bow or its wielder.  Treat a miss like a miss with a splash weapon, determining randomly which square the explosive arrow lands in.  Explosive arrows can be fired from shortbows or longbows, dealing normal arrow damage appropriate to the bow, and add 40 ft. to the range increment.  
   Proficient use of explosive arrows requires the Gunpowder Weapon Proficiency (explosive arrows) feat.  

Explosive Bolt
The explosive bolt is a special crossbow bolt packed with gunpowder.  A short fuse, lit before firing, causes the bolt to explode upon impact or shortly thereafter.  Lighting an explosive bolt is a move action, independent of the time required to load the crossbow.  
   The explosive bolt deals 2d6 points of fire damage like a splash weapon to all within the target square, and one point of fire damage to every creature within a 5-foot radius.  In addition, any creature struck directly with the fire bolt takes normal bolt damage, including any bonuses granted by enhancements to the crossbow or its wielder.  Treat a miss like a miss with a splash weapon, determining randomly which square the explosive bolt lands in.  Fire bolts can be fired from any type of crossbow except for hand crossbows and repeating crossbows.  Their weight subtracts 20 ft. from the range increment.  
   Proficient use of explosive bolts requires the Gunpowder Weapon Proficiency (explosive bolts) feat.  

Fire Arrows and Bolts

These are normal arrows and bolts that have a wad of oil- or pitch- soaked rags wrapped around the shaft just behind the arrow head.  Lighting a fire arrow (or bolt) is a free action as long as you are adjacent to a source of fire, like a torch or campfire.  The added weight of the flammable materials decreases the range increment of the missile by 20 ft.  A creature struck by a flaming arrow takes an additional 1 point of fire damage.  On a critical hit, they must make a DC 15 Reflex save or catch fire.  Additionally, a flaming arrow can set fire to unattended flammable objects (like the straw thatching of a house) or particularly flammable creatures (such as the target of a grease spell).  

Flight Arrows

Flight arrows are made with a long, narrow head and special fletching that lets them fly farther.  Flight arrows do damage as if they were one size category smaller, but add 40 ft. to the range increment of the bow.  

Flask Arrows and Bolts

These arrows and bolts are tipped with a thin ceramic pot filled with alchemical substances.  Common substances include alchemist's fire, acid, and holy water.  The weight of the flask on the end of the missile imposes a -4 penalty on attack rolls and greatly decreases the range increment (though it will still be longer than the 10 ft. range increment of a normal thrown splash weapon).  Attacks made with flask arrows or bolts are ranged touch attacks, and any enhancements to the bow or the archer apply.  It functions in all other respects as the splash weapon indicated, including splash damage.  Treat a miss like a miss with a splash weapon, determining randomly which square the missile lands in.  A flask arrow weighs half a pound, and costs 10 gp more than the alchemical item it contains.  

Sunrod Arrows and Bolts

These are the only ahistorical missiles I have included here.  They are based on the alchemical light-producing sunrod, and I think their usefulness to adventures and the simplicity of their design make them an easy inclusion in a fantasy world.  

These arrows (or bolts) are actually specially-crafted sunrods that can be fired from a bow (or crossbow) to illuminate distant areas or act as battlefield signals.  The sunrod flies as a normal missile, but does no damage.  Instead, when the tip strikes a hard surface, the alchemical reaction is triggered and the missile begins to glow, shedding light as a sunrod for one hour.  An archer can instead opt to strike the head as a standard action before firing it, so the missile illuminates its flight path as well.  

Whistle Arrows

Chinese whistling arrows.  Royal Armouries, Leeds.

This arrow is tipped with a round, specially perforated wooden head.  as the arrow flies, air passes through the holes in the head and creates an eerie whistling sound.  These uncommon arrows are used for battlefield signalling or to startle, confuse, or demoralize the enemy.  

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-your fletched d20 despot