Still, a rating for an arrow? That's a bit much, "Shadowrun." I've played over a dozen different rpgs, of all genres, and outside of different arrow heads the only system I've seen to break arrows down into ratings was D&D 2 ed (and that was flight vs sheaf)! No thank you, SR4A, I will be ignoring that rule, and arrows will remain simply arrows.

*shrug* all it results in is your archer actually paying for the fact he's pretty much firing assault cannon rounds. No hassle beyond when you're buying gear.

Yeah, not all that expensive... 5xRating... not too bad...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't RAW mean you basically won't be able to use more than 6 STR effectively straight out of chargen? I mean standard chargen rules state "Cannot have any item with rating higher than 6"
...

correct. I already pointed that out on page 2 actually
Restricted Gear (Rating 8 Bow) ofc...

Uncouth Physad. Done.

So have a rating 6 bow (unmodded for the cheap) out of chargen, then poke a contact to get you a tricked out rating 8 one. You can't get other 8 base DV, SA-capable weapons out of chargen either if I'm not mistaken. Either too high availability, or forbidden.
I don't see the problem.

You're missing my point. You can't even buy the ARROWS at chargen. Since they're priced at "Rating x 5 nuyen" doesn't that mean arrows also have a rating? And that it can't exceed 6? So you'd have to Restricted gear your arrows too...

No you wouldn't, because your arrows are also at rating 6... which is legal... at a cost of 30

Yes sir. Hence buying them after chargen, and just keeping to rating 6 arrows at chargen.
Even if you take restricted gear to get a rating 8 bow, it can still work with any rating arrow. Just base DV will be less. The maximum damage you can inflict stays the same though, if I'm not mistaken.

Again, I don't see the problem. Would you rather see it capped at 6? Have assault cannons scrapped from the book while we're at it? Those have exactly the same problem. Except you can't get those to work with legal ammo.

There's no problem... not sure why you'd ask that.
I just wanted to clarify if the bow AND arrows were limited by the rating. Though on a side note I do think that having damage based on arrow rating in addition to bow rating is silly, and stinks of balance fu.

I apologise. I was reading too much into your elipses. Long day, and bad experiences with elipses-heavy naysayers.

So for your answer: yes. Yes they are.
Balance fu? *shrug* Ex-Ex rounds cost more to do more damage as well. Plus doing comparable ammounts of damage with an arrow thinner than a pencil, as with a .50 cal round smells like a little too much suspension of disbelief. Though I can definitely see your point.

I know what you mean. Periods are not pack animals!

Yeah, it does seem a bit weird. But meh, how often do arrows even get used anyway? No big.

I have been reading this thread and was inspired to make a cyber-archer build. He is not a troll. I was wondering if anybody would like me to post him?

everybody wants to build an archer at least once in his SR career . but I'm always interested in others' ideas...

i miss playing my Robin Blood . . even if he was cut down to barely half of what i had started with in developement <.<

Troll archers are fairly lame anyway, ever since max bow rating was dropped to 8. An elf would do better, nowadays. Or an ork if you don't have the luxury to go for a pair of beefed up cyberarms.
But yeah, sure. Seeing other people's ideas is always good.

A mate of mine is working on a Tiger shifter archer, might give him some inspiration too.

Well, i'm still playing SR3, if i get to play at all . .
Meaning yes, i CAN do 22M Damage with a single Arrow.
Over a Distance of 1000m. Silently. With a single success.
On a target number of 3 for the most part.
2 if i can spend time for aiming.
This means, yes, i CAN get that up to 22D damage mostly.
And NOBODY resists 22D Damage even after 10 points of armor!
Well, at least not usually. The GM can get good rolls too. Sometimes ^^

"The Dark Knight Strikes Again" Style Green Arrow?

Complete with argument with The Question?

Regarding the SR4+ rules for Bows and such. WHY was it capped. WHY derives it as only weapon it's power from Strength and not Strength/2 + bonus? I haven't seen any logical reason for both, and find the normal rules should work as well (well.. as well as they do for anything, i guess)

Make bows do Str/2+2 damage, these MAY be capped to traditional strength and slightly higher.
Make modern combat bows do str/2+3 damage. These shouldn't be capped at ALL. I mean, i am not a professional bowyer nor an archer. But i can easily imagine "bows" build like a damn scorpion or massive winched crossbow or but with modern materials, nanotube-strings, multiple interacting composite-parts, and transmissions making use of and needing GIGANTIC strengths.

Just because a gun is normaly the best choice doesn't mean it is so in Shadowrun. We have beings with insane strength and precision, reasons to deliver higher payloads in combat, maybe even missiles/equipment which can be launched by bows and such. Bows might have make a comback for the young, strong troll/spirit etc. on a battlefield to deliver damage like a sniper rifle for less expenses (and if lost to the enemy only is of limited or no use to him).

So with that, yeah the "Behold my mighty strength - 24"- possessed-ghoul-giant might dish out 15 DV (with some armor piercing for special arrows), but is that so much worse than other things out there? But he is carrying a DAMN 3,50m high high-tech bow with him.

Well back to the original question: I think all has been said. Gadgets (War... Yesyes, i know- mentioned shot sensorpackages - those in arrows might even be re-usable easier) Having a character with B/R-skills and armorer build customized arrows would be a cool concept; and the nano-tech AND the magical applications are nearly endless.

I'd also like to point out that the German Arsenal 2072 has Payload Tips, which are arrowheads that contain toxins. (and some other clothes and crap).

When you consider all the nasty chemicals, drugs, and nanotech you COULD use to deliver with arrows, suddenly long range arrows become rather nasty.
High rating Acid, for example, is particularly effective.

A HEAT Arrow into the hood of a car would incapacitate it quite well.

Sorry, but it does not work that way. Restricted Gear only raises the maximum Availablity. It does not change the maximum Rating by RAW.

If you really need a rating 8 bow, just buy it with your starting money.

Its only 800 nuyen.

Availability 16 is a little more problematic, but it should be pretty easy to start with it if you tell your gm 'i buy hits to get this in the two weeks before the game starts'.

Thats basically how missions work - you're supposed to have a campaign calendar.

I think most of that post is going in my houserule document.

Here is my cyber-archer build.

Name: Jeff Porter
Alias: Arsenal
Metatype: Ork
Concept: Green Arrow homage


Design Notes: My concept for this character is a young man from a wealthy racist human family. He was basically given a trust fund and told to go away. He turned his love of comic books into a career. His runs the shadows for the thrills and as a jab at his family.

"Roy Harper", eh?

Why not?

I'd have suggested "Roy Bean" as another option.