# Bows *The Ranged Armory, Forty Launchers and a Quiver System for Exodus NDS. Source: https://exodusnds.com/sourcebooks/ranged-armory/bows* A bow stores the shot in a limb the wielder holds drawn. That single fact produces the family's whole profile: it is the fastest launcher in the book to shoot again, and the only one whose performance depends on the person holding it. **Cumbersome** is on every entry, and it is doing the most work in this chapter. It is draw weight. A bow built for a strong archer is not a lighter bow in weaker hands, it is a worse one, and that is why a war bow is a training programme rather than a purchase. **Point Blank** is on every entry too. Nothing here wants an enemy inside arm's reach. The chapter splits on material rather than mechanism, and the split is real: | | Built from | Buys | Pays in | |:--|:--|:--|:--| | **Self bows** | One stave of wood | Cheap, forgiving, **Arcing**, **Auto-Fire** | Length and draw weight | | **Composite bows** | Horn, sinew, and glue | **Accurate**, short for their power | Price and **Fragile** | A self bow is a stick that a village can make. A composite bow is a two-year build by a specialist that a wet season can destroy. **Skill:** Light Ranged, except the Heavy War Bow.

##### Short Bow Hunting Bow, Flatbow, Boy's Bow, Forester's Bow

6 3 Medium 1

Light Ranged 200 Common Thrusting Cumbersome 2, Point Blank 1

A single stave, shoulder height or less, that anybody of ordinary build can draw. It is the baseline of the whole book: no benefits, no drawbacks worth the name, and the lowest **Point Blank** of any bow. It is what a hunter owns, what a militia is issued, and what a character starts with. ##### Longbow War Bow, Yew Bow, Self Bow, Great Bow

8 3 Long 2

Light Ranged 475 Common Thrusting Arcing, Auto-Fire, Cumbersome 3, Point Blank 2

A stave as tall as the archer, drawn to the ear rather than the chest. **This is the formation weapon**, and the two qualities that say so are **Arcing** and **Auto-Fire**. Arcing drops shafts behind a shield wall. Auto-Fire is what happens when arrows fall on ranks rather than individuals: spend Boon to loose again at the cost of a wilder aim, and the shot that misses one man finds the one behind him. **Cumbersome 3** is not negotiable and it is the real cost of the weapon. A longbow in the hands of somebody who cannot draw it is worse than a short bow, which is the mechanical statement of why longbow armies were grown rather than equipped. ##### Composite Bow Laminated Bow, Horn Bow, Sinew-Backed Bow, Reflex Bow

8 3 Long 1

Light Ranged 650 Common Thrusting Accurate 1, Fragile 1, Cumbersome 3, Point Blank 2

Horn on the belly, sinew on the back, wood between, and hide glue holding all three together. It matches a longbow's reach at half the length and two thirds the encumbrance. **Fragile 1 is the glue.** Damp softens it. A composite bow left strung in the rain is not a weapon in the morning, and a campaign fought in a wet season is a campaign where this bow is the wrong purchase. ##### Horse Bow Recurve, Steppe Bow, Saddle Bow, Nomad Bow

7 3 Medium 1

Light Ranged 625 Common Thrusting Accurate 1, Fragile 1, Cumbersome 2, Point Blank 1

A short recurve, built to be drawn and loosed from a saddle on either side of the horse's neck. It gives up a range band and a point of damage to the composite bow above it, and buys back the two things a rider actually needs: the lowest **Cumbersome** and the lowest **Point Blank** of any composite weapon here. It can be shot from a moving animal by somebody who is also steering it. *This is the mobility purchase. Everything it gives up, it gives up on purpose.* ##### Heavy War Bow Steppe War Bow, Siege Bow, Manchu Bow, Thumb-Ring Bow

10 3 Long 2

Heavy Ranged 925 Rare Thrusting Accurate 1, Pierce 1, Cumbersome 4, Fragile 1, Point Blank 2

A composite bow built to a draw weight that most people cannot reach at all, shot with a thumb ring because fingers will not hold the string. **It is the most damaging personal weapon in this book**, and the only bow that carries **Pierce** on the launcher rather than borrowing it from a bodkin head. It is also **Cumbersome 4**, which means a character with Might 2 shooting it adds two Bane Dice to every shot and would do better with a two-hundred-piece short bow. The only entry in the chapter that uses **Heavy Ranged**. ##### Yumi Daikyu, Asymmetric Bow, Long Grip Bow, Hankyu

8 3 Long 2

Light Ranged 800 Rare Thrusting Accurate 1, Fragile 1, Cumbersome 3, Point Blank 1

A laminated bow of great length gripped a third of the way up rather than at the centre, so that the lower limb clears a saddle, a wall, or a kneeling archer's thigh. It is a longbow-sized weapon with a composite bow's accuracy and **half the Point Blank of either**. The asymmetry is not decoration; it is what lets something two metres tall be shot from horseback and from behind cover. Expensive, regional, and the answer when a character wants reach without giving up the ability to fight in a corridor. ##### Arrow-Guide Bow Majra, Overdraw Bow, Dart Guide, Nawak

7 3 Extreme 1

Light Ranged 450 Rare Thrusting Pierce 1, Cumbersome 3, Point Blank 2, Limited Ammo 1

A composite bow shot with a grooved channel strapped to the bow hand. The guide supports a dart much shorter than the draw length, so the archer can pull a full arm's draw behind a projectile half the size of an arrow. **It is the only personal weapon in this book that reaches Extreme range.** The short dart leaves faster, flies flatter, and arrives with more energy behind less frontal area, which is where the **Pierce 1** comes from. *It also cannot be shot back at you. A majra dart is useless to an enemy without a guide of their own, which is the tactical reason armies liked them and the practical reason they never spread.* Requires **majra darts** from Chapter 9. It cannot shoot ordinary arrows at all. ## Choosing a Bow