A quick summary:

Item Cost (gp) Damage Weight Range

Short Bow 25 1d6 2 lb. 16/320

Longbow 50 1d8 2 lb. 160/600

Strength Bow 1* 160 1d8 3 lb. 160/600

Strength Bow 2** 300 1d10 4 lb. 200/800

Strength Bow 3*** 1000 2d6 5 lb. 300/1000

* Dmg adds STR Mod, not DEX Mod / Requires STR 14 to use.

** Dmg adds STR Mod, not DEX Mod / Requires STR 18 to use. *** Dmg add STR Mod, not DEX Mod / STR Mod, not DEX Mod / Needs Workshop / Requires STR 22 to use.

I really need a better name for each level of Strength bow. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

This idea came from a question and discussion about bows with one of my students/ players. We were talking about the fallacy that the bow was a Dexterity (DEX) weapon. Shad Brooks, of the Shadiversity YouTube channel, refers to this in video “Best medieval weapons for WOMEN”. I found myself referring to the Welsh Longbowmen and their impact in the Hundred Years War, as well as the story of Odysseus and Penelope’s suitors.

In the Hundred Years War (1337-1453), at battles like Crecy (1346), Poitiers (1356) and Agincourt (1415), the British decimated the French primarily because of the power of the Welsh Longbowmen. It is said that the Welsh Longbowmen could shoot 6 times faster than the crossbow. Whilst not as accurate, they also had a similar range, and their power meant that they could pierce armor too. Because of the strength required to pull back the bow, which were about the height of a fully grown man, up to 6’6”, the Welsh bowmen were trained from childhood to draw them. It’s also the origin of the two-fingered swear sign used primarily in Britain (see below). If the French caught a longbowman, they would cut off those two fingers so that he could never draw a bow again. Before battles, the British bowmen would make the gesture as an obscenity to the French to show that they still had the their fingers. Soon it became an obscene gesture and remains so in Britain today.