3.5 Bonebow from Frostburn

[Quentinas]

Recently one of my player asked to one of my NPC to craft a bow of bone, and so i searched and i found the Bonebow from the Frostburn . Now is categorized as an exotic weapon but is written.

For purposes of feats such as Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization, a bone bow is treated as if it were a longbow; thus if you have Weapon Focus (longbow), that feat applies to bone bows as well

So if one has Martial weapon proficiency (longbow) it could be applied to the bone bow?

[Saintheart]

By RAW, yes in theory; by most sane RAI, no. If the character had the feat Martial Weapon Proficiency (longbow) he could in theory apply the bone bow to it maybe if you're prepared to read the MWP feat in the expression "such as" for the bone bow, but he's still wasting a feat one way or the other.

Remember the entry only allows feats with the longbow to be used for the bone bow. Class-granted weapon proficiencies, such as the fighter's proficiency with all martial weapons, are not feats (with the notable exception of elves, who under the SRD for some reason get these as bonus feats rather than added weapon proficiencies.)

[liquidformat]

There is also the dragonbone material presented in Draconomicon pg 117 it is a +100gp price added to any composite longbow that adds +20' increment to the bow's base range increment. If you dislike the idea of it being a dragonbone you could just rename it magical beast bone and not have any of the issues associated with making items out of the corpse of dragons... Doing this wouldn't require any special EWP feats for your player.

The main reason that the Bone Bow and Great Bow were given the stipulation of being able to benefit from Weapon Focus (longbow) is because almost all archer PRCs require that feat.

[Xervous]

There is also the dragonbone material presented in Draconomicon pg 117 it is a +100gp price added to any composite longbow that adds +20' increment to the bow's base range increment. If you dislike the idea of it being a dragonbone you could just rename it magical beast bone and not have any of the issues associated with making items out of the corpse of dragons... Doing this wouldn't require any special EWP feats for your player.

The main reason that the Bone Bow and Great Bow were given the stipulation of being able to benefit from Weapon Focus (longbow) is because almost all archer PRCs require that feat.

Or you take the Dragons can breed with anything to its logical conclusion and make mostly everything part dragon like Monster Hunter. Which given a treadmill of gear and the mention of hunting for new weapon parts isn’t a bad nod.

[liquidformat]

Or you take the Dragons can breed with anything to its logical conclusion and make mostly everything part dragon like Monster Hunter. Which given a treadmill of gear and the mention of hunting for new weapon parts isn’t a bad nod.

I know blue is for humor but this is quite reasonable and depending on the world lore could be the reason why there are magical beasts... because dragons are horndogs that will mate with anything...

[KillianHawkeye]

So if one has Martial weapon proficiency (longbow) it could be applied to the bone bow?

Then why didn't they just make it a martial weapon?

[Xervous]

I know blue is for humor but this is quite reasonable and depending on the world lore could be the reason why there are magical beasts... because dragons are horndogs that will mate with anything...

I strike it as humor because the general world assumptions seem to be that dragons have not overwhelmed a world of sword wielders with, ahem, a (family tree) writing implement. There’s something keeping them back from it psychologically. Take away that and only then do you have the world wreathed in fire and death of genetic diversity by snu snu.

My dragons aren’t the sort to owe an alligator child support a la Nodwick. Though I’m afraid the casting of such voices for dragon roles such as Connery and Cumberbatch, plus the tendencies of bards has tempted many.


Which brings me to a side note of a casual board game concept where each player is a half human heir to dear old Daddy Bard’s fortune as everyone scrambles to clear out the house of keepsakes and valuables, or prevent others from doing so, before the will is finally read (don’t forget to doctor the will too!)

[tyckspoon]

Recently one of my player asked to one of my NPC to craft a bow of bone, and so i searched and i found the Bonebow from the Frostburn . Now is categorized as an exotic weapon but is written.


So if one has Martial weapon proficiency (longbow) it could be applied to the bone bow?

I feel obligated to mention that just because the bow is made of bone doesn't mean it has to have any special mechanical significance; your player can have a neat bone bow that just uses the mechanics for a (probably composite) long bow as printed in the PHB.

While you can probably bend the rules to sort of support your hypothesis if you squint the right way (wouldn't be the first probably-unintended consequence of something a rules writer thought was clear/harmless - treating class given proficiencies as feats has come up in some other fairly notorious optimization tricks) it does rather appear to defeat the purpose of making the Frostburn Bone Bow an Exotic weapon.

[Wildstag]

Which brings me to a side note of a casual board game concept where each player is a half human heir to dear old Daddy Bard’s fortune as everyone scrambles to clear out the house of keepsakes and valuables, or prevent others from doing so, before the will is finally read (don’t forget to doctor the will too!)

Make it so!

On a side note, traditionally composite bows used horn in its construction, so a real-world basis for bone being used in the construction of a bow exists.

[Quentinas]

At the end i think i will use the bone bow from Frostburn but i will require the feat from my player , she didn't ask for anything she could use, and they have a wand of master's touch so it should not be a problem even if is an exotic weapon, thanks to everyone

[bean illus]

Recently one of my player asked to one of my NPC to craft a bow of bone, and so i searched and i found the Bonebow from the Frostburn . Now is categorized as an exotic weapon but is written.

So if one has Martial weapon proficiency (longbow) it could be applied to the bone bow?

If the character also has EWP Bone Bow, then yes.

[Saintheart]

I feel obligated to mention that just because the bow is made of bone doesn't mean it has to have any special mechanical significance; your player can have a neat bone bow that just uses the mechanics for a (probably composite) long bow as printed in the PHB.

It does have one interesting mechanical exploit in that since it's a bow made of bone, i.e. a substance that was once living, then plain old Unguent of Timelessness out of the SRD applies to it. This then becomes even more interesting if you have a broadminded DM who agrees that the Unguent affects spells which are cast on the weapon, i.e.e. spells such as Greater Magic Weapon last for days rather than rounds.