What kinds of archery are there?
Is there a kind where you fire six arrows from a composite longbow in six seconds?
Pretty much, European archery and crossbow use. There's like one instance of a daikyu in the Jade Regent AP, suggesting Japanese-style archery, but that's about all you're gonna get.
Pretty much, European archery and crossbow use. There's like one instance of a daikyu in the Jade Regent AP, suggesting Japanese-style archery, but that's about all you're gonna get.
You're forgetting the classic Samurai flurry of blows archery
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Pretty much, European archery and crossbow use. There's like one instance of a daikyu in the Jade Regent AP, suggesting Japanese-style archery, but that's about all you're gonna get.You're forgetting the classic Samurai flurry of blows archery
Ah yes, the majestic "Punch arrows faster than a bow can fire them" archer, AKA zen archer monk. :v
Ah yes, the majestic "Punch arrows faster than a bow can fire them" archer, AKA zen archer monk. :vPretty much, European archery and crossbow use. There's like one instance of a daikyu in the Jade Regent AP, suggesting Japanese-style archery, but that's about all you're gonna get.You're forgetting the classic Samurai flurry of blows archery
I love the visual that created in my head. If I wrote animes let me tell you...
I think it's the kind where the small, pointed sticks fly towards the enemies, hopefully hitting them and causing damage, after being flung by someone pulling back on a bowstring and releasing.
Pretty much this. I have no idea why people assume Pathfinder archery automatically defaults to "European" in flavor.
Yeah, the game doesn't have any sort of granularity for "style" of archery.
Mechanically they all perform the same way in game.
Just like there aren't styles of swordsmanship in the game (except if you want to call out dex based vs strength based). Or rather they have no mechanical differences in their performance, unless specifically called out in some way.
Fictional
This is a world where the elves have come up with a way to add magic to every arrow (Arcane Archer)...
I do not know much about archery (Stick flies from string, hits and kills, used in hunting from ancient days...Hawkeye I, Hawkeye II, and Arrowette RULE) But assume there are different traditions, styles, etc...
The game does not go in that deep...You decide for your character BUT you don't get any real advantage/disadvantage over someone who just says "I am good with a bow"...There are feats, class abilities, etc...that might help to flesh out what you want...
There are now several class options for delivering spells through archery: Arcane Archer, Myrmidarch Magus, Eldritch Archer Magus, and Arrowsong Minstrel Bard.
representational.
There is not too much discussion about specific sword styles. The game largely leave it up to you to imagine how it is actually performed. Just assume 'what ever works'.
The kind of archery in Pathfinder is the kind without sheaf arrows.
(*sniff*)
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The movie bullsh*t kind...
No, no. You need to spend feats in order to Legolas it up. And I would count that as learning a different style from the normal archer.
From a composite longbow? I've seen the Lars Andersen technique, which is that fast, but seems to use a much lighter bow.
In PF it's the kind that wins!!
From a composite longbow? I've seen the Lars Andersen technique, which is that fast, but seems to use a much lighter bow.
Yeah, his technique is trick shooting that wouldn't be useful for combat.
He uses an incredibly light bow (20 lbs I think) that wouldn't really penetrate armor. It makes for really cool looking archery trick shots, but isn't really useful.
From a composite longbow? I've seen the Lars Andersen technique, which is that fast, but seems to use a much lighter bow.Yeah, his technique is trick shooting that wouldn't be useful for combat.
He uses an incredibly light bow (20 lbs I think) that wouldn't really penetrate armor. It makes for really cool looking archery trick shots, but isn't really useful.
I wouldn't say that kind of bow cannot be used for battle.
The effectiveness of a weapon depends on the tactics used and the equipment held by the other side. It varies from age to age. In eras without good armor, then that kind of bow shines due to speed, as well as the ease of training the common man to use it.
...but pathfinder is set in an era where fullplate armor, as well as various other kinds of lighter metal and leather armors, are a 'thing'. So later middle ages renaissance era would make that kind of bow ineffective. So heavy, harder to use bows are preferred.
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Yeah, in real life, you fire a longbow up in an arc, to hit people from far away (usually with a squadron of archers firing one big volley at once); with a shortbow, you usually fire it straight at someone. Longbows were all about range on open terrain, with shortbows being for tighter, shorter encounters, like hunting.
However, in PF, longbows are the "better bows", and simplicity's sake lets you fire them without penalty in 5' wide hallways. Likewise, you can keep your bow strung almost all day, and maintenence gets hand-waved.
It's a fantasy setting, and a tabletop game as well, so it doesn't have to be realistic when it needs to be simplified and balanced first.
Personally, every character of mine with a shortbow says they prefer it when dungeon-crawling, even though they don't really have an advantage over a longbow. They just don't have proficiency in it.
I have to agree that Pathfinder archery is cinematic at best. More Hawk the Slayer and Fugitive from the Empire than even Legolasland. In game, Arrow-fire on its own is not that dangerous. To be effective you need player character levels and a rack of feats, all morphing arrow-fire further from anything realistic. How they work has nothing to do with actual archery. This is deliberate. It concentrates the power towards PCs and uber-monsters. If a shield wall of spearmen screening for a company of archers were allowed to be as effective as they realistically would be, then they cut in on PC "specialness", especially at lower and middle levels. If the normals aren't utterly ineffective, how can the PCs be heroic at low levels.
You are playing Ranulf of the rapid-fire crossbow, Crow the even faster firing elf, and, of course, Legolas. You are not playing Robin Hood, or the Zen Archer who place their single arrows precisely and fatally. The skies darkened by flights of arrows are little more than an annoyance to all but the weakest parties.
On the bright side I guess, the PC archer is at its most deadly at ranges where real archers are running for cover.
I think it's the kind where the small, pointed sticks fly towards the enemies, hopefully hitting them and causing damage, after being flung by someone pulling back on a bowstring and releasing.Pretty much this. I have no idea why people assume Pathfinder archery automatically defaults to "European" in flavor.
I imagine it's because most gamers are American or European (not that those are monolithic of course) and so those are the traditions most familiar to them, and also because tabletop RPGing has it roots in medieval Europe themed wargaming and European lore/mythology, much of it filtered through Tolkien.