Apocryphae: Rule and Setting Variants

Ars Magica™ Fifth Edition is a rather good edition that has cleaned up a number of ambiguities and problems with previous editions' rules. Not everything in the official rule book is quite the way I would like it for my game, so I have created these house rules. If you like them, feel free to borrow or adapt them for your own Saga.

House Rules

Rules for Bows

Unlike other games, in Ars Magica a character's Strength adds to damage with bows just as it does with any other weapon. There is no exception limiting bows' damage. Therefore, a strong character does more damage with a bow than does a weak one. This seems perfectly reasonable.

The only problem I see is that a strong character can do more damage using the same bow as a weak character. My sense (based on general reading about medieval warfare and a couple of summers on the archery range at Boy Scout camp) is that if a strong character wants to inflict extra damage, he must use a heavier-than-normal bow. A weaker character will be unable to use the bow effectively. This leads to the following house rule:

Each bow has a rated Strength. This is both the minimum Strength needed to use the bow effectively, and the maximum Strength bonus that may be applied to its Damage Total. The Strength rating for a bow may never be less than that shown in the Missile Weapon Table on page 177, but it can be higher. Higher-Strength bows do not cost appreciably more than lighter bows, and are not any harder to make.

Characters who own bows may be assumed to have bows custom-made for their own Strength. The only real restriction this house rule imposes is that strong characters who pick up somebody else's bow won't necessarily get their full Strength bonus to damage.

Composite Bows

A composite bow is a bow that is constructed of a combination of several materials, ususally including wood, horn, and perhaps sinew, laminated together with glue. Stiff materials are used for the belly of the bow (the side facing the archer) and springy materials are used for the back of the bow. This allows the bow to be efficient and powerful, even when constructed in a compact size. They are usually built small enough to be easily used from horseback.

In Mythic Europe, composite bows are used in the Byzantine Empire and among the Saracens, Magyars, and Mongols. All of these peoples employ mounted archers armed with composite bows. Weapon statistics for the composite bow are given below

Crossbows

Rules and statistics for crossbows were intentionally omitted from the basic Ars Magica Fifth Edition rulebook. New rules were published in the Covenants supplement, but they are somewhat controversial because they list what some players consider to be unreasonably long reload times.

Historical sources tend to disagree about exactly when particular varieties of crossbows were used in Europe, their rate of fire, and what kinds of gadgets were used to span (cock) them. Questions of "historical accuracy," in my opinion, boil down not to how carefully one does research, but to which sources one chooses to believe. I've decided to go with what I think are some middle-of-the-road general points:

Proceeding from these choices (which I believe are reasonable), I don't see any real sense in drawing a distinction between a "light" and "heavy" crossbow. I already have house rules for handling self bows of different strengths and I think it's sufficient to use the same principle for crossbows. More powerful crossbows simply have a higher Strength rating.

To reload a crossbow, a character must be strong enough to span the bow. Crossbows, unlike regular (self) bows, can be spanned using mechanical devices that boost the marksman's effective Strength (and hence the final Damage Total of the weapon). The mechanical device used dictates the reload time. Recall that in ArM5, a combat round is "about six seconds" (p. 172).

Hand-Spanned
The weaker crossbows may be spanned by hand. The marksman simply braces his foot in a stirrup attached to the front of the weapon and pulls back the string with both hands. This takes two rounds (one to get the weapon into position and another to pull back the string), so the crossbow may be fired every third round (about 3 shots per minute). A character may span a crossbow by hand as long as the Strength of the weapon is less than or equal to his own Strength. Hand-spanned crossbows are suitable for use from horseback.
Belt Hook
One of the most common methods for spanning a crossbow is to use a hook attached to the marksman's belt or bandolier. The marksman holds the crossbow pointing downward so its string is hitched over the hook; then he doubles over, puts his foot in the stirrup, and stands up. This allows him to span a weapon with a Strength one point higher than his own, and takes two rounds. It's about as fast as spanning the weapon by hand, but it does require special equipment.
Two Feet
More powerful bows are equipped with a larger stirrup into which the marksman places both his feet. Sometimes, the marksman simply braces his feet against the belly of the bow instead. He then sits on the ground and heaves mightily, employing the full strength of both arms and legs. This takes four rounds (one to sit down, one to get the weapon into position, one to span it, and one to stand back up). It allows the marksman to span a weapon with a Strength up to two points higher than his own.

Windlass
Whether windlass (winch)-operated crossbows were available in 1220 is disputed, but I choose to have them in my game. They take five rounds to reload, and allow the user to span a bow with a Strength three points higher than his own.

I've made the choice that crossbows in my game have Standard cost (not Expensive as in Covenants). This is mainly because the steel crossbows with fancy mechanical spanning devices haven't been invented. Also, my historical research for my own Saga suggests that crossbows were actually quite common in certain areas of Europe.

House Additions to the Missile Weapon Table

Ability Init Atk Def Dam Range Str Load Cost
Composite Bow Bows 0 +3 0 +7 20 +1 1 Expensive
Crossbow Crossbows +4 +6 0 +6 25 0 4 Standard