Spellslinging Sellsword
Legendary Pubber
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I thought this was a well done test.
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it is, apparently. he went out of his way to have experts on this. the guy has been shooting a longbow for over a decade. he's shooting sort of funny, and I imagine it's because the draw is insane.Is that seriously a 160 lbp bow? I know people talk about tremendously high draw weights of medieval bows, but every serious minded test of them that I've seen comes in much lower, and I haven't personally seen a bow that stiff that was meant to be drawn by hand.
10 meters, modern steel arrowhead. "No, really, you're not gonna penetrate 2mm of steel plate. Even when you're so close that if you don't kill him now, he's going to gut you in about five seconds."
21-foot-rule applies MORE to bows than to firearms, not lessMany roleplaying games have ruined us on this. I've had to convince my folks of this, down to pulling out Legolas and counting seconds.
Isn’t that 5e in a nutshell.In a D&D 5e game last week a couple of us took out a house full of bandits using shortbows... it was like we had death-ray rifles.
Fun but silly... and too easy.
Ranged PCs with Sharpshooter are like Hanzo from Overwatch if the DM ignores LoS, visibility/lighting, and cover. Furthermore, enemies of human intelligence are going to take advantage of full cover, foiling sharpshooters unless they burn their action on Readying.Isn’t that 5e in a nutshell.
So were Knights/Cavalry, maybe not at the same rate as ranged fighters but imagine being 10m (30 or so feet) away and then ten of these plate armoured buggers are coming your way with big, honking two handers. You have one shot. 25m (70ish ft) you've got a couple more at most.This should surprise no one, really.
Archers, crossbowmen, and slingers were employed in mass units. There is a reason for this.
This was very interesting either way, the noise and the fact that arrows effectively explode after failing to penetrate.
"Less than three seconds" sounds more likely to me, but otherwise, you're right.10 meters, modern steel arrowhead. "No, really, you're not gonna penetrate 2mm of steel plate. Even when you're so close that if you don't kill him now, he's going to gut you in about five seconds."
I believe it was called a Gorget (throat protector) despite not being close to the head, as some other designs of the time were.The exploding arrows were really interesting, and explained a lot about why plate armour looks the way it does. The French padded surcoat & its effect was interesting too - eliminating shrapnel and making the arrowheads sneak up under the surcoat only to be deflected by that raised guard thingy.
I believe it was called a Gorget (throat protector) despite not being close to the head, as some other designs of the time were.
So were Knights/Cavalry, maybe not at the same rate as ranged fighters but imagine being 10m (30 or so feet) away and then ten of these plate armoured buggers are coming your way with big, honking two handers. You have one shot. 25m (70ish ft) you've got a couple more at most.
You want the lucky shots that find the crevices of the armour, not full on torso hits.
This was very interesting either way, the noise and the fact that arrows effectively explode after failing to penetrate.
Plackart.The V shaped deflector on the breastplate has a name, but my copy of Blair's "European Armor" is upstairs and I have a cat in my lap right now.
Be careful what you wish for. If it turns out that they deflect blows, suddenly every optimised fighter will become Kim Kardashian in plate. D&D's default setting will become the Forgotten ...Tracts of Land overnight.I’d also like to see a test with well-made boobplate to see if “common wisdom” is right and it becomes a Black Hole of Death, sucking in all glancing blows and turning them into heartseekers...or if rounded surfaces do what they do everywhere else, and deflect blows.
That's not how military archery works. It's all about volume of arrows into a specified area.So were Knights/Cavalry, maybe not at the same rate as ranged fighters but imagine being 10m (30 or so feet) away and then ten of these plate armoured buggers are coming your way with big, honking two handers. You have one shot. 25m (70ish ft) you've got a couple more at most.
You want the lucky shots that find the crevices of the armour, not full on torso hits.
This was very interesting either way, the noise and the fact that arrows effectively explode after failing to penetrate.
But survival is capable. It's a dangerous hit, I will grant that, but you can keep fighting with that wound.yes it was.
And that's why archers start shooting at 200 yards. Throw enough arrows out there, and something will find a gap. Notice the one that hit below the breasrplate? That would ruin your whole afternoon.
That's not how military archery works. It's all about volume of arrows into a specified area.
And two handers are for killing horses, not swinging from horseback. Doing that is a good way to behead your horse. Which wouldn't look good in battle.
Plackart.
At Agincourt the French knights were almost totally on foot. That's because at Crecy and Poitiers, the English longbowmen slaughtered the knights' horses. Full plate barding was not developed until considerably after Agincourt, and even then most knights' horses didn't have it.
I mean, no. It's not full plate armor. It's a Breastplate.The video confirms much of my suspicions. First of all the breastplate was not fully hardened. It gives it the elasticity to not crack under pressure. Secondly, I suspect that the volley fire targeted upwards was most effective against not so heavily armored opponents. Thirdly, this is probably not the full plate armor that most roleplaying games tend to focus on. The heyday of plate armor was much later than Agincourt. The go-to guy on state of the art plate armor there is this guy: Knyght Errant