Weapon Focus and bows

[OldSkoolGamer]

Does WF handle all bows, whether short, long or composite and ones listed as exotic weapons?

Have a player in my game who want to prestige class and needs wep focus longbow, but is working towards Point Blank Master & uses the hornbow which also requires wep focus.

So can he take WF Hornbow and be good.

Thanks!!!

[Lelomenia]

He needs to take Weapon Focus twice, once for Longbow and once for Orcish Hornbow. If that’s what you mean, then yes, you can take Weapon Focus for any type of bow, and you can take it multiple times if you want it to apply to multiple weapons.

If you are asking ‘can the player take it once and have it count for both’, then no.

[OldSkoolGamer]

Yes he believes he can take it once for both. My ruling was its 2 different types of bows which will require it twice(once for longbow and once for hornbow).

[Derklord]

You've actually aswered your own question. If Weapon Focus would select a group of weapon, the prestige class (Hinterlander I presume) would ask for "Weapon Focus (bows)". It doesn't, it asks for "Weapon Focus (longbow)". Therefore, the "a type of weapon" Weapon Focus asks you to select must refer to an individual entry in the weapon list, not a group of weapons.

[OldSkoolGamer]

Thanks all!

[Claxon]

Weapon focus is on a specific weapon, not a weapon group/family.

To qualify for the prestige class the player would need weapon focus longbow.

It's up to the player if they want to take weapon focus horn bow.

In any event, unless your player is playing a half-orc or orc to reduce proficiency from an exotic weapon to a martial weapon (and also playing a class that get's martial weapon proficiency for free) the orc horn bow really isn't worth bothering with in my opinion.

Going from 1d8 (4.5 avg damage) to 2d6 (7 avg damage) just isn't worth the cost. There are many other ways to gain damage.

Also, if your player is indeed going for hinterlander....it's honestly a pretty weak prestige class because of how focus it is on a specific location and fighting certain specific kinds of enemies that your campaign might not focus on.

It's generally not worth it in my opinion, but if you're playing the right campaign (focused on one small village and not moving around) I guess it could be good.

[avr]

It's possible the player's misreading 'Any effect that applies to both longbows and shortbows also applies to hornbows.' that way, but that's not what that sentence does. It means if you've got some spell or feat which covers all bows, hornbows are included too. Weapon focus only covers one type of bow per feat.

Tho' a house rule allowing him to use WF (orc hornbow) rather than WF (longbow) for the prestige class prereq would be reasonable IMO the rules as they stand don't allow it.