I have breezed through a few of the previous post about this and not found the answer i'm looking for so i'll ask and see what help I get.
I have a character idea for my friends up coming game.
1/2 Orc barbarian that wields an over sized long bow set for his strength. Now the rules seem to work understandably for melee weapons, I'm just not sure how they work for a bow. See the bow is already a two handed weapon by design, so does that mean I wouldn't be able to use it by those rules?
Any help would be great.
I don't know if ranged weapons ever get a 1 or 2-handed designation. Still, I don't think many GMs would allow it.
There is an FAQ stating you are unable to use inappropriately sized firearms, I would imagine the same goes for bows/crossbows. The only reason the FAQ existed was the handedness statement in firearms about size not changing how many hands were needed to use them. The FAQ does state that intent was the same for non-firearms as well so... It would indicate the same judgement should be made with other weapons despite it not being specifically stated and won't come up if you search for ranged, banded, etc.
End result, I don't have a line stating specifically you can't, but all outliers point to "no" and we have no rules stating it can be done. Or even that there are special circumstances in which it could be allowed to happen. I'd go with it can't be done.
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A Longbow sized for you already takes two hands to use. A medium-sized character could not wield a large-sized Longbow any more than they could wield a large-sized Greatsword.
Instead, grab an Efficient Quiver and fill it with large-sized Arrows. Drink a potion of Enlarge Person (the extradimensional space keeps your Arrows large-sized). Cast Gravity Bow. Now your shots do 3d6 each.
The handedness rules only ever reference melee weapons. They simply do not apply to ranged weapons.
But it's assumed that you have to use ranged weapons of your size, and can't use smaller/larger ones besides crossbows. Things like the Goblin Gunslinger feat and the ballista penalties point towards this.
What's really puzzling is that the weapon range doesn't change as you shrink/grow. A colossal longbow shoots just as far as a diminutive longbow.
Is it assumed or is it the only option?
In an exception based game the rules say what you can do. Other rules might modify that later, but the base rules state you can use appropriately sized ranged weapons.
That is the only thing you can do without another explicitly stated rule to make an exception.
So yes, of course you are "assumed" to be using an appropriate ranged weapon, as it is the only option.
It isn't puzzling or strange if you understand that the game wasn't meant to be "real" or simulationist. It was created with certain base line expectations (such as the size and race you play being humaniod and medium+/- the vast majority of the time) and evolved from that point. It is "centric" in its design.