Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Sunrider 01-27-05, 10:55 PM	Given that steel bows did exist and were very effective weapons, what stats would you give a composite longbow made out of Adamantine? Sticking to 1d8 damage + Mighty bonus: a) How many hit-points would you give it? b) How heavy? c) What price?
FreeTheSlaves 01-27-05, 11:21 PM	Adamantine is supposed to be the strongest metal around. The STR DC to string your bow would likely be about 40 and you would need to do that every time you tried to pull & fire. Hmm, you would need a +30 str modifier to pull that off half the time... So I am thinking it ain't ever going to happen.
Sunrider 01-27-05, 11:28 PM	Could always make it thinner... Anyway, adamantine might be the hardest and strongest metal around, but that doesn't mean it can't be tempered like a spring. Compared to other steels, spring steel is very hard and very strong. But you wouldn't make a bow out of any other type of steel.
Kyaran 01-28-05, 12:35 AM	Sticking to 1d8 damage + Mighty bonus... Good call. :) a) How many hit-points would you give it? A normal projectile weapon has 5 hp/5 hardness. I'd compare a bow to a one-handed blade, which has 5 hp/10 hardness. Adamantine gives items +1/3 hp/20 hardness. A composite adamantine bow... 6 hp/20 hardness. b) How heavy? I'd say that a bow would weigh 2-3x as much as normal when crafted using adamantine. This is purely an estimate. c) What price? The rules want to charge 3,000 gp extra for a weapon made from adamantine. It doesn't give the ability to penetrate DR x/adamantine, but it also isn't supposed to be usable in bow construction, so I'll leave the price alone.
Sunrider 01-28-05, 03:19 AM	I was thinking maybe doubling the hit points instead of just increasing by 1/3, since the 1/3 hit point increase is supposed to be the difference between adamantine and ordinary steel. I'd say the difference between wood and adamantine would be substantially greater...
Kyaran 01-28-05, 12:26 PM	As I noted, both a wooden bow and a one-handed steel blade have 5 hp. The difference is the hardness. A bow is somewhat comparable to a longsword for strength and flexibility. Moreso than to a mace, anyway. Besides, if you make it magical, it gets bonus hit points.
J_Riley 01-29-05, 12:00 AM	The STR DC to string your bow would likely be about 40 and you would need to do that every time you tried to pull & fire. Umm, no. It takes much more effort to string a bow then it does to draw it. Probably a magnitude of at least 2, if not more. I'm not sure, I use a stringer to allow me to use essentially my whole body weight to string it, versus basically my right arm and upper right side back muscles to draw it. Doesn't matter what the material, always harder to string than draw or the concept wouldn't really work, the whole potential energy thing...
Nork 01-29-05, 10:58 AM	According to page 166 of the PHB adamantine has four times the hp of wood. So the adamantine bow would have 20 hp/20 hardness.
murte 01-29-05, 12:27 PM	Very debatable on how effective steel bows were/are. Anyway, it is the hardest metal known, not the strongest. Strongest is too broad of a term to use. Metals tend to have very good tensile strength, that is they are very resistant to stretching, very good compression strength, and mediocare shear strength. (Take any can of beans try to open it by pulling it, crushing it, or cutting it, see which is easiest) Spring steel and iron, have very good "memory" meaning once shaped and tempered they like to stay in that shape, but are willing to have it altered in the short term. Softer metals are too malleable, and harder metals like to stay in their shape too much. Now, the harder something is, the more [i]brittle[/b] it tends to be. Take diamonds, hardest substance we know, but they are very brittle. Due to their hardness they do not "break" easily, but then again, you don't see diamonds used in anything that requires bending, twisting, stretching, or compression. By far the most effective bows are modern day graphite/fiberglass compound cam bows. But I think we'd call them crossbows in the DnD world. Vertical crossbows.