The bow and arrow is one of humanity's most fundamental weapon systems.
Such weapons exploit the elastic properties of certain materials to store potential energy. When the string is released, the potential energy propels an aerodynamic missile at speeds far greater than might be reached by simply throwing the missile. Obviously.
A bow is not a rugged weapon and does not stand up well to abuse. A bow is more like a instrument for transducing one form of energy into another. In terms of care and maintenance it is more like a guitar than a club.
The origin of the bow is utterly prehistoric.
The Holmegaard bow is the oldest known extant bow; dating to approximately 8000 BCE. Here is a plan for reproducing such a weapon: The odd shape; with the limbs wide near the grip then abruptly tapering towards the end demonstrates that a good deal of thought, experimentation and refinement had already been invested to reach this design.
from primitivearcher.com
The bow offered an improvement over the atlatl in both missile-speed, range and the ability to aim precisely. Atlatls are better for volley-firing into a mammoth than nailing a rabbit. Also, the motion of drawing and firing a bow is much subtler and more quiet than launching an atlatl. This is advantageous when stalking wild game.
Atlatl in use. A deer is probably going to see you doing all that. Same goes for displacer-beasts.
Bows have served as weapons for hunting and warfare for millennia and are the go-to ranged weapon for a fantasy adventurer.
A bow with a draw weight of 40 to 50 pounds is considered sufficient for hunting. Bows for penetrating armor and killing humans tended to be heavier. heavier bows are more powerful and cast arrows with longer, flatter trajectories. The range for a bow truly depends on the proficiency of the user. But Miyamoto Musashi (Musashi Miyamoto?) wrote that bows are ineffective beyond 40 yards.
Arrow Anatomy
Arrows consist mainly of a shaft-which could be any material from cane to carbon fiber. The arrow is stabilized in flight by the "fletchings" attached to the read end. Most arrows have 3 fletchings, with one of an odd color to indicate how to orient the arrow. The odd fletching faces away from the bow and is aligned at a right-angle to the nock. Often, fletchings will have a slight twist to them. This causes the arrow to spin as it flies; stabilizing it and making it more accurate. The same principle is used in modern rifles. The "nock" is a notch at the tail of the bow which fitss the arrow onto the bowstring.
The business end is called a head, and the designs of these heads can vary widely. Bullet-like "field points" are mostly used for target practice. The traditional arrow-shaped head is called a broadhead. The flaring blade of a broadhead is meant to cut organs and bloodvessels as it strikes. They are commonly used in hunting and combat. Armor-piercing heads, sometimes called bodkin-points, had a strong point and a square or triangular cross-section. With a good, straight-on hit, such points could pierce plate armor or wedge through chainmail.
Some Japanese arrowheads. The Japanese developed arrowheads into a thing of art-like they tend to do with every little thing. I believe the large Y-shaped ones are meant for slicing the rigging of enemy ships.
An arrow must be very finely tuned in order to shoot well. It must be well balanced, and its "spline" must matched to the bow which fires it. This is because of a thing called The Archer's paradox. If an arrow is too stiff for the bow, it will veer off away from the bow-stave. If it is too flexible, it will veer towards the bowstave. In order to fire where it is aimed, the arrow must have the correct amount of flex. Many modern bows circumvent this by arranging the arrow-rest so that it is in line with the string and the target, rather than being off to the side.
Arrow wounds are very nasty
In the 1800s, when firearms and bows were being used concurrently, it became clear that while a gun was more likely to kill you right off, an arrow would take its time. Arrow wounds were extremely difficult to treat. An arrow has to be extracted. Imagine an arrow with broad head snipped and filed from a piece of tin, and it becomes easy to imagine how it can do more damage coming out than going in. The most notable work on the subject is "Notes on Arrow Wounds," an essay by Dr. Joseph Howland Bill.
Arrows also make great vectors for infection or poison. Though I have yet to meet a DM willing to allow character-death by gangrene.
Types of Bows
Most bows can be placed into one of three categories.
The simplest of these is the longbow-aka the stick-bow or the self-bow. When unstrung, these bows have a straight profile. They are the easiest type of bow to manufacture. The Holmegaard and the famous English long-bow fall in this category.
More complex is the Recurve.- The name refers to how the limbs flex towards the holder, then away. When unstrung, the bow limbs point forward. This shaping makes the bow store and release energy more efficiently. A recurve bow will have a greater range and missile-speed than a long-bow of the same draw weight. A recurve is more complex to make and requires the ability to steam the wood- or materials and glues strong enough to make the bow of multiple pieces.
Compound bows are a modern invention. They more or less require modern materials to work. A compound bow uses a system of pulleys and cams which allows the user to draw a much heavier bow. The cams also flip back as the string is drawn , making it easier to hold the bow in a drawn position for an extended time. A compound bow is frequently more like an arrow-launching machine than a bow. They are often fitted with sights, silencers, counterweights and special arrow rests to ensure consistent firing.
Use in Combat
Naturally, an archer is at risk when enemy melee combatants are near at hand. You are vulnerable when holding a bow because an enemy combatant can easily run up on you. However, when backed up by allies with shields and melee weapons, an archer can exercise lots of control over the fighting nearby. An archer may not wish to waste arrows on shield-bearers who can cover themselves effectively. But opponents with spears or two-handed weapons are easy pickings. An archer has the option of sniping unaware targets. But he can also use his bow to threaten and manipulate enemies. Consider two opposing lines of shield and spear. One side has the aid of a combat archer. By threatening enemy spear-men, a single archer can easily weaken the enemy line so that it may be pushed back.
Bows have been found to be extremely effective when combined with a highly mobile platform. In the Bronze age, this would have been a chariot. Later on, the middle man was eliminated and the archer rode on the horse. Fighting in this manner requires a high degree of training, but was extremely effective. In order to use from horseback, bows had to be relatively short in the limbs. Take this Hungarian horsebow from three rivers archery for instance.
Even as late as the 1800s, the mounted archer was more than a match for a gunner, as was evidenced by the warriors of the Comanche nation. This only changed with the invention of the Colt revolver. The revolver had a greater rate of fire than the muzzle-loaders which had preceded it, and its size allowed it to be fired easily from horseback. For more on the Comanche nation and their history, I suggest S.C. Gwynne's "Empire of the Summer Moon." A moderately proficient archer can fire an arrow every 6 to 8 seconds; a rate of fire fare greater than that of an arquebus or Kentucky rifle.
Bows have also been found effective in massed battles when fired in a volley-not at a specific target but into a general range where the targets are. It was by this use that the famous English long-bow gained its reputation. The Longbow has a somewhat legendary status. This reputation for power comes from specimens which are true War-Bows, with draw weights of over 100 pounds. The men who wielded such weapons would have been elite professional warriors. The practice of such a heavy weapon deformed the user over time, compressing the bones of the bow-arm.
Crossbows
Crossbows are known to have been mass-produced in China as early as 500BC and probably earlier. They would appear in Greece only shortly after.
The missile which a crossbow fires is properly called a bolt or a quarrel.
A Crossbow requires less training to use than a bow. Aiming with a bow is not an exact science and takes a lot of practice and experience. A Crossbow is more point-and-click, and easier to pick up.
Also, the tension of a crossbow does not need to be physically restrained by the wielder; rather it is mechanically restrained. So a crossbow can be made much stronger than a bow. It is common for a crossbow to require a windlass or special lever just to cock the bow (the bow-part of a crossbow is called a prod.) Even a rather early Greek crossbow is designed to be cocked by the users bodyweight rather than arm strength. Such a bow is known as a gastraphete or "belly-shooter."
In general, crossbows suffer from a low rate of fire, but can be made more powerful than a hand bow. The crossbow is also more subtle to fire than a hand bow, requiring less space and a smaller motion to shoot. This gives it much the same advantage over a bow that the bow has over the atlatl.
By the way, the repeating crossbow is really a thing, not just made-up shit.
Such a weapon would be more difficult to aim precisely, and would have to be less powerful than a standard crossbow. but the rate of fire would have made up for these shortcomings in many situations.
In Modern Times
As the bow was disappearing from the battlefield, it experienced a revival as an arm of genteel sport. Archery is still used in hunting in a variety of fashions: Some people use extremely high-tech compound bows, while some are devoted to the purity of primitive archery.
Medieval re-enactment has also provided an avenue for combat archery to be re-discovered and developed. Some people out there are doing incredible things, pushing the boundaries of what can be done with a bow; notably Lars Andersen and a few others who can be found on the internet.
In Game
3E defines bows as Long or Short, and Plain or Composite. The rules allow for "mighty" bows which allow the shooter to use a strength bonus. As usual, the writers at WotC don't seem to know quite what they are talking about. But "composite" bows seem to refer to recurves. Other than that, I don't have much issue with the rules for bows and archery as written. I know, what a shock.
Unless , of course, we wanted to have a realistic playout of arrow-wounding and treatment. But I have never met a DM sado-masochistic enough for that.
Crossbows
Crossbows are known to have been mass-produced in China as early as 500BC and probably earlier. They would appear in Greece only shortly after.
The missile which a crossbow fires is properly called a bolt or a quarrel.
A Crossbow requires less training to use than a bow. Aiming with a bow is not an exact science and takes a lot of practice and experience. A Crossbow is more point-and-click, and easier to pick up.
Also, the tension of a crossbow does not need to be physically restrained by the wielder; rather it is mechanically restrained. So a crossbow can be made much stronger than a bow. It is common for a crossbow to require a windlass or special lever just to cock the bow (the bow-part of a crossbow is called a prod.) Even a rather early Greek crossbow is designed to be cocked by the users bodyweight rather than arm strength. Such a bow is known as a gastraphete or "belly-shooter."
In general, crossbows suffer from a low rate of fire, but can be made more powerful than a hand bow. The crossbow is also more subtle to fire than a hand bow, requiring less space and a smaller motion to shoot. This gives it much the same advantage over a bow that the bow has over the atlatl.
By the way, the repeating crossbow is really a thing, not just made-up shit.
In Modern Times
As the bow was disappearing from the battlefield, it experienced a revival as an arm of genteel sport. Archery is still used in hunting in a variety of fashions: Some people use extremely high-tech compound bows, while some are devoted to the purity of primitive archery.
Medieval re-enactment has also provided an avenue for combat archery to be re-discovered and developed. Some people out there are doing incredible things, pushing the boundaries of what can be done with a bow; notably Lars Andersen and a few others who can be found on the internet.
In Game
3E defines bows as Long or Short, and Plain or Composite. The rules allow for "mighty" bows which allow the shooter to use a strength bonus. As usual, the writers at WotC don't seem to know quite what they are talking about. But "composite" bows seem to refer to recurves. Other than that, I don't have much issue with the rules for bows and archery as written. I know, what a shock.
Unless , of course, we wanted to have a realistic playout of arrow-wounding and treatment. But I have never met a DM sado-masochistic enough for that.
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