Oriental Adventures: Naga Steel Bow

[Keolander]

Okay,

some of you saw my thread about the fact I'm planning an Oriental Adventures campaign. I've got alot of resources I'm calling upon so now its filling in the cracks and such. One thing I think that could potentially be added to my game is the Gupta Steel Bow (yes, it was a real weapon used by the some archers of the Gupta Empire in the 4th Century CE). Since I'm blending Rokugan with Avatar: The Last Airbender and Kara-Tur it stands to reason that there would be SOME Hindu influences somewhere. The Naga (from Rokugan) have a semi-Hindu feel so I thought that a Naga Steel Bow would make sense. At the moment, the information on how powerful the bow actually was in history is slim so I'm basing it on the stuff in the game already. From what little I have gathered is that they were slightly less in range than a standard longbow. However, they SHOULD be able to do far more penetration with an arrow than even a composite bow.

Warning, I'm planning on using nothing but D6s for everything, so the damage may look a little funky. The weight is a guess, but it is highly unlikely it weighed more than light crossbow.

Naga Steel Bow
Strength Requirement: 16 (basic version)
Cost: 500 ch'ien or 100 koku
Damage (minus STR bonus): 1d6+4 (standard arrow/frog crotch)
(minus STR bonus): 1d6+5 (armor piercer)
(minus STR bonus): 1d6+6 (leaf head)
Range: 90 ft.
Weight: 6lbs

They should be somewhat rare. I would imagine that like other strong bows they can be made to require far more strength to pull, ensuring even greater damage.

[mediapig]

Heeeyyyy, that just got me thinking...

Castles & Crusades Oriental Adventures book? I'd hit that!

[Keolander]

Heeeyyyy, that just got me thinking...

Castles & Crusades Oriental Adventures book? I'd hit that!

I definitely would too. I'm personally going with this lineup since I think it pretty well gives the players enough options for adventure. I'm also in the process of hunting down AD&D/d20 compatible OA modules so as to save me grief. Problem seems to be a lack of 1-3 lvl adventures which means I might have to convert a few others to be more Asian-themed.

Races
Human: Rokugani
Human: Yobanjin (the original human settlers; think ethnic Ainu)
Spirit Folk: Sea, River, Bamboo, Mountain
Korobokuru
Henegeyokai
Reformed Oni (yea, I cribbed this idea from Palladium's Mystic China...Eric Wujick was just so damned awesome!)
Nezumi
Vanara
Yuan-Ti Pureblood (the Yuan-Ti are supposed to be the first human servants of the Naga)
Naga
Hanyo (yep, another cribbed idea from anime; basically an Aasamir/Tiefling)
Panderan (yea, I'm shameless)
Ryujin (Draconians for all intents and purposes)

Classes
Ashigaru (Bushi)
Kensai
Yamabushi (specialized hermit Warrior-Monks)
Scout
Berserker
Archer/Mounted Archer
Piao Shih (from old Dragon Magazine)
Bounty Hunter (from Hackmaster)
Marshall (Miniatures Handbook)
Samaurai
Noble
Shugenja
Wu-Jen
Shaman
Healer
Geisya (from old Dragon Magazine)
Genin Ninja (from old Dragon Magazine)
Chunin Ninja
Thief (Acrobat split class possible)
Acrobat
Bandit (Hackmaster Bandit)
Monk
Tattooed Monk
Sohei
Elemental Bender
Merchant
Craftsman (from DragonLance)
Mariner (from DragonLance)

Now I just gotta sit down and convert a bunch of stuff. Its always the job that's never started that takes the longest.....