Class 3 and Bow Breaking

[Elebrim]

Subject: arrow hitting a bow

3.8. Missile Weapon Conventions
3.8.1. If a bow is struck by a Class 1 or 2 Weapon, it is considered broken and cannot be used.

I am curious as to why Class 3 weapons would not also break a bow. Any ideas as to why that is?

[Cyric]

Probably a realism thing, as an arrow hit to a bow probably wouldn't break it. Granted, a spear to a bow would probably break it, but oh well. I don't think it's that big of an issue.

[Oisin]

I guarantee you that a direct hit from an arrow (a real life arrow, that is, fired from a bow that's assumed to be powerful enough to punch through plate steel) to another bow will break it. Bows, especially period bows made of natural materials, are very fragile creatures. At the least, you'd have to take it down and straighten/repair it a bit, which is well outside the time frame of a Belegarth battle, ergo effectively broken.

My guess as to why arrows don't break bows, though, is that since weapons don't block arrows, the arrow is generally presumed to have passed through the bow to hit whatever's behind it. If the arrow broke the bow, then since a single attack can only cause a single hit, the bow would effectively have blocked the arrow from hitting the person.

I think green melee weapons should break bows . . . but I also think that any archer who actually blocks with his bow is an idiot. It's dangerous, and quite likely to damage your bow.

[Big King Jimmy]

I always assume that, unlike historical spears, our spear have fat fat tips on them. And the chance of a real spear tip meeting that 1.5" wide surface was a lot less likely than the 6" or so diameter fatty head on one of our spears. Same with javalins, and not as bad but the same with arrows.