Bowing and Fletching

The bow was the first truly effective way to conduct combat at an extended distance. It revolutionized hunting, allowing men to take animals that were too fast and to alert to kill with a spear. At one point in history, Pope Innocent II witnessed the devastating potential of the crossbow and declared such an awful weapon was unfit for Christians. He later learned that the English longbow was five times as fast, had greater distance and was even more damaging at long range.

The Bowyer has long been a curious and unconventional tradesman of the Middle Ages. Their skills a strange mix of carpentry, adhesive making and archery. Unlike blacksmiths that take ore brought from the mines to work into tools, the Bowyer was known to meticulously select and harvest all of his own materials from the wild. A blacksmith smelts ore to fit his need. A Bowyer walks the woods and forests, constantly looking for just the right branch to become his next work of art. Unlike most respected tradefolk the Bowyer shuns the city and lives in the rurals where he is free to work his craft. His need for special materials and the great value of his products give him unparalleled freedoms in a feudal setting.

About Bow Production

Production of various bows is a complicated process. First a bowyer must find good starting materials. This is done primarily by a bower wandering the woods looking for limbs and branches of just the right kind of wood in shapes that will suit his needs. Yew and Hickory are best for the bows themselves. Ash or Poplar are best for arrow shafts. He also is always on the look out for feathers. Turkey and Goose feathers are best. Once he has the materials he needs, a bow is cut to shape with wood working tools. The bow is then soaked in warm water and bent into shape over a rack. This is a slow process of gradually putting more tension on the bow, often treating it with steam at the same time. Compound bows require that a bowyer fabricate primitive adhesives from plant gums, saps and resins or by rendering animal parts. With these glues, Different types of wood were bound together to make bows that were harder to draw yet still flexible. The bowstrings can be made from all manner of fibrous plants, leather strips, animal sinew or some sort of combination. After the bow is made, it needs a coat of lacquer or varnish to protect it, which the bowyer makes from pine fluids.

Tools a Bowyer Needs

The primary tools a Bowyer must be provided with are Good Carpernter's Tools. Bowyers have many specialized tools they make themselves. Special frames and racks for stretching bows, Jigs for cutting and holding fletching, Spindles for twisting and winding bowstrings and arrow Straighteners. All of these tools they can make themselves, to their own individual liking with carpentry tools.

Workshop

Because a Bowyer does a great deal of work with resins, lacquer and reshaping wood using heat and pressure over time , He requires a building to house his tools and works in progress to protect them from the elements. Each working Bowyer you have must be provided with 200 square ft of workspace in a building.

Monthly Production

The amount of bows and arrows a Bowyer can make in a month is determined by his rank. Bowyers have a number of BFUs, Bowyer Fletcher Units, per month that they can allocate to making products. This table indicates how many BFUs a Bowyer of various ranks can produce in a month.

Rank of Bowyer	BFUs per Month
New Bowyer	100
Poor Bowyer	150
Adept Bowyer	200
Master Bowyer	250
Grand Master Bowyer	300

Bowyer Product List

Product	Bower Rank Required	BFUs Required	Additional Components Needed	Description
Primitive Arrow	New	3	None	Primitive arrows are easy and cheap to make. They use chipped stone for their tips and are not as accurate or damaging.
Bolt	New	1	1 Bolt Head	Bolts are ammunition for crossbows. They are relatively simple to make aside from their metal tips compared to arrows which are longer and require more careful fletching work.
Bodkin Arrow	Poor	2	1 Bodkin Arrow Head	Bodkin arrows use a metal pike shaped Bodkin tip. The tips are cheaper to make and are thought to be better at piercing armor. Range and accuracy are average.
Hunting Arrow	Adept	3	1 Broadhead Arrow Tip	Hunting arrows are made for close range accuracy and have a metal Broadhead tips for increased damage.
War Arrow	Adept	3	1 Broadhead Arrow Tip	War arrows are made for the Long Bow. They have and have a metal Broadhead tips for increased damage. They are not as accurate, but fly very far.
Hunting Bow	Adept	50	None	Hunting bows are relatively easy to make. They are made for short range accuracy needed for taking game.
Long Bow	Adept	75	None	Long bows, often called "War Bows" focus less on accuracy but more on much harder hitting power at much greater distance. Typically they are fired en masse at groups of men rather than single targets.
Crossbow	Adept	50	1 Crossbow Mechanism	The crossbow is a rather difficult weapon to manufacture that requires a substantial amount of metal worked components. The best thing about a crossbow is that it can be easily used by people with very little training. It hits hard and pierces armor well. It however has a very slow fire rate.
Horse Bow	Adept	100	None	Horse bows are short and specially shaped so that riders can use them more easily. Their range is short, accuracy and power is fair.
Composite Bow	Master	100	None	Composite bows are masterful combinations of different woods and adhesives. They have as much hitting power as a Long bow with near the range. Their accuracy is as good as a Hunting Bow.
Composite Horse Bow	Grand Master	150	None	The composite Horse Bow uses the techniques of both a Composite and a Horse Bow, making a Horse bow with greater range, accuracy and hitting power.

Bowyer Diversification

In times of need, a Bowyer may work as a Carpenter, Adhesive Maker or Hunter at one rank lower than his Bowyer rank.