# Bows, Crossbows and Their Balance

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bows-crossbows-and-their-balance/17067>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [October 19, 2018, 3:37am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bows-crossbows-and-their-balance/17067 "2018-10-19T03:37:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 194

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**Author:** ![darktoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@darktoes](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/darktoes)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 9:37am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/bows-crossbows-and-their-balance/17067/194 "2019-05-16T09:37:44Z")

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Bows are different to guns in the sense that they provide a constant energy, while the projectile provides the terminal ballistics.  
Attaching AP to the bow is the same as attaching damage to the bow, that’s the expected AP from a mid-range arrow with the energy the bow can provide, and it will only be multiplied with different kinds of arrow/bolt, except in special cases.

Having it as a function of damage wouldn’t be terrible, but makes some things more difficult and is less obvious to the player. I.E I pick up a bow, and there’s no way for me to actually tell its AP directly, I have to do the math and might not know the equation, since AP isn’t the same equation as damage. Taking E.G 10% of damage and adding it as AP wouldn’t actually be correct.

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