5th ed. Build: 31st Century Archer

[Werehawk]

Sometime ago I had met a young lady who was friend of mine's sister-in-law who was looking at my artwork at a bar we all frequented. I had mentioned that these works were for use in a Superhero RPG and I was running games at a local convention. A few days later she came back (a little more sober this time) and asked how this game was played and wanted to put a character together. She remembered that this game took place in the 31st century and since she was a big fan of "Arrow" at the time, she wanted to be an archer. I don't know of any futuristic archers apart from maybe Yondu to use as a reference.

 

How do you put together a Green Arrow/Hawkeye-like character in a Star Wars universe and make it simple enough for a player who is absolutely new to this type of game. 

 

Parameters are 450pts with 75 active slot limit 

 

I did give her character a name though; Black Cardinal 

[Lord Liaden]

Honestly, I'd say this would be pretty easy, and not require you to do much different than for this type of character in the modern day. Archery has a history of millennia, and remains a popular recreational and competitive sport today. I don't expect it would disappear in another thousand years. You also suggested this was for a Star Wars-like universe, and if that's your inspiration, high-tech analogues to archaic weaponry is an existing motif

 

Contemporary super-archers mostly use tech-gimmicked arrows, and that would be even more appropriate for a typical future-supers setting. The only other suggestion I might make is to up the tech level to make her weapon's SFX more sophisticated. Maybe her bow fires "energy arrows" in various configurations, rather than physical arrows. (Check out Hank the Ranger in the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon for inspiration.) It might generate a defensive force shield, or be made of special materials so she can deflect attacks, perhaps even rotating to do so. It could morph into a hand-to-hand weapon, like a sword or a staff. Hawkeye's bow does this in Captain America: Civil War. (I used to play an archer character wielding twin electrified fencing epees, which would join hilt-to-hilt to form a bow.) If it rotates maybe the bow even provides lift like a helicopter rotor, as with the Inquisitors from the Star Wars Rebels animated series

[archer]

Yeah, energy arrows rather than physical. You need to fit into the Star Wars universe which means you couldn't have tech to give you unlimited physical arrows. And that stormtrooper armor would probably work at least against small projectile weapons since it apparently works against nothing else.

 

Maybe alternate between rapid fire arrows (autofire), normal rate, an attack which takes a full phase but does extra damage and a charge up attack which takes an extra segment but is even more powerful...to make it seem like all the shots aren't exactly the same. 

 

Of course I guess there's nothing to say that you couldn't use physical arrows with smoke, shock, and a zip line either instead of or alongside the energy arrows. The computer-hacking arrow that Hawkeye uses seems like it'd be useful.

 

It just seems like arrows are very much against the setting of most worlds the PC is likely to be on. So even if they weren't made illegal by the Empire, it's unlikely you'd run across a bow shop and be able to restock that old physical arrow supply. Yeah, you can make your own if you keep the equipment on your ship. But how often can you get back to your ship? 

 

====

 

I remember seeing a rewrite of that Lord of the Rings scene in Rohan where they're wanting to take Gandalf's staff before he sees the king because it's a weapon. But he tells the guards that it's just his walking stick.

 

In the rewrite, they next go to take Gimli's axe from him but he tells them that it's his dwarven walking stick and hobbles a couple of steps in demonstration.

 

So they turn to Legolas who gestures with his bow and says, "This is my walking stick" then gestures to his quiver of arrows and says, "And these are all of my little walking sticks."

 

 

Maybe your PC could try something like that if stopped by stormtroopers.

[Tjack]

For inspiration you may want to check out the Comic Book version of Yondu from Guardians of the Galaxy. Unlike the movie version, that whistle controlled arrow of his would first be fired from a bow.

[Greywind]

[assault]

Why does Chewbacca use a crossbow?

[archer]

58 minutes ago, assault said:

Why does Chewbacca use a crossbow?

 

The writer wanted to give him a weapon which was unique so they gave him a bowcaster.

 

In universe, the Wookies used to use wooden crossbows which used poison darts but upgraded when more effective materials and crafting became available.

 

Bowcasters are essentially rail guns which sheathe an iron bolt in plasma as it exits the weapon.

[Tjack]

1 hour ago, assault said:

Why does Chewbacca use a crossbow?

   George Lucas originally saw the ending of his trilogy as a fight on the Wookie home world with the inhabitants defeating the Empire. It was to be an allegory for the Viet Cong defeating the U.S. That’s why Chewbacca had a weapon resembling a Montagnard crossbow.

[Tech]

L.L. I'm surprised but happy you remember Hank the Ranger from the old D&D cartoon.

Archer, gotta say I disagree with you when you said, "It just seems like arrows are very much against the setting of most worlds the PC is likely to be on. So even if they weren't made illegal by the Empire, it's unlikely you'd run across a bow shop and be able to restock that old physical arrow supply. Yeah, you can make your own if you keep the equipment on your ship. But how often can you get back to your ship? "

 

If the character is from the 31st century, I'm sure the bow can be made of nearly indestructible material, the arrows can have a tech advantage to them (now that arrow made a BIG boom), and until more arrows are available, there's always a high-tech/energy sword or blaster. The arrows being hi-tech can easily be made that once fired - and after hitting the target - they return to the bow character (but not the BIG boom arrows).  Also, the arrows can continue to track their opponent until they hit.

Since she's new, the arrows that return can be simplified to just be Blast, and so on. Don't want to put too much of a complicated build together on a beginner.

[Ninja-Bear]

Hawkeye in Marvel cartoons, his bow is compact-baton sized and unfolds as needed. Also for my son, I had his bow turn into a quarter staff.

[Greywind]

You mean like the bow/staff Hawkeye used in Civil War?

[Ninja-Bear]

On 1/29/2021 at 9:01 PM, Greywind said:

You mean like the bow/staff Hawkeye used in Civil War?

Probably. I know I’ve seen it somewhere but couldn’t tell you where from. I know I didn’t come up with it.