"Ideas are great arrows, but there has to be a bow.
And politics is the bow of idealism."
– Bill Moyers
Bowcraft and fletching is the skill required to make bolts, arrows, bows, crossbows and heavy crossbows. It is also necessary to adapt the virtue bows so they can be used by players. It is not a very hard skill to gm, just requires lots and lots and lots of boards. So stock up on boards (on average 7k per one hour training sessions), have lots of empty bags handy (about 15), and at least 15-20 fletching tools as you will be breaking them a lot. Keep your weight and item count in your bag as low as possible so you don't have to empty it as often.
Put an empty pouch or container in your backpack. Put as many boards as you can carry inside that pouch. Double-click your fletching tool and select the item to make. It will automatically be created inside that pouch. That way, when you get too heavy or your backpack cannot hold anymore items, it will take a lot less time emptying it.
| Skill |
What to make |
Resources |
| 0% |
Buy skills from NPC Bowyer |
--- |
| 30% |
Bows |
6 wood |
| 60% |
Crossbows |
7 wood |
| 70% |
Composite Bows |
7 wood |
| 80% |
Heavy Crossbows |
10 wood |
| 90% |
Repeating Crossbows |
10 wood |
You can gain a lot from making arrows and bolts in the 30 skill range. Also note that NPC Bowyers will buy back most if not all the bows you can make during your training. I strongly suggest you take the time to sell them back, especially if you're a little tight financially. I bought my boards from NPC carpenters and tinkers at 3gp each. So it would cost me on average 21-28k in boards before I would start a 1 hour training session. But then I would sell back my bows and make between 17-24k.
Once you achieve grandmaster level, will be able to put your maker's mark. Note that even at only 30-35 bowcraft, you will be able to often make exceptional bows and never fail fletching.
Special Items
GM Bowyers will be able to transform virtue bows into compound bows. It requires one gear. Once transformed, the bows will be hued the same shadow color as orcish bows and will then be usable by PC archers. Note that archers need 80 archery and 80 dex in order to use virtue bows.
As far as I know, Virtue bows no longer spawn but originally could be found on Juka Lords. In the old lands, the Jukas dwell in Dungeon Wrong. Otherwise, they can be found in Ilshenar near Exodus' castle and in Mistas.
