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Harpbow

This incredibly versatile and inspired weapon functions as both a bow and a Musical instrument.

Ultimate Equipment Guide II

Author Greg Lynch, J. C. Alvarez
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2005

It consists of a bow shaft with four strings, each of which can be sounded or used to fire an arrow separately. When no arrows are used, a harpbow works as a perfectly acceptable (if not masterwork) four-string harp, counting as a musical string instrument for all purposes. When used to fire arrows, the harpbow allows a competent archer to fire an incredible amount of arrows each round. A harpbow is as light and manoeuvrable as a shortbow, though the strength and versatility of its strings allow it to be fired with the strength, range and precision of a composite longbow.

Harpbows were created by the elven ranger Alecto when he was attacked by a furious, hungry dire tiger. At the moment, Alecto was carrying no weapons except for his favourite bow, from which he never separated. Daring not to engage a dire tiger with his bare hands, Alecto opted to run back so as to shoot the beast from a safe distance; at this moment he realised he had run out of arrows. Faced with such dire straits, unarmed and about to be eaten by a dire tiger, Alecto resorted to desperate measures as the monster slowly closed in for the kill, he pulled out his arrowless bow and started twanging it. It was then that Alecto discovered three things.

The first was that music indeed does soothe a wild beast, when properly played; the second was the harpbow, which he designed and built a few days later; the third was his long repressed bardic vocation, to which he has devoted himself ever since. Armed with an enchanted harpbow, there are very few beasts that can resist Alecto’s talent, whether for archery or music.

A character wielding a harpbow may choose which of the four strings to use each round; he cannot fire more arrows than allowed by his base attack bonus. There are two exceptions to this rule:

If the wielder of a harpbow has the Rapid Shot feat, he counts as having the Manyshot feat instead. The character may choose not to receive this benefit, using his Rapid Shot feat as normal.

If the wielder of a harpbow has the Manyshot feat, he may always fire four arrows per round at only a –4 penalty, regardless of his base attack bonus.

Every time a harpbow is twanged, its strings sound as those of a harp; this makes it impossible to fire a harpbow silently.

As a free action, a bard wielding a harpbow may use one of his bardic music abilities, or maintain a bardic music effect requiring Concentration, at the same time he makes an attack with a harpbow. The ability used still counts towards the character’s daily limit of bardic music uses. The bard is still limited to one use of bardic music per round.

A character with five or more ranks in Perform (string instruments) gains a +1 synergy bonus on attack rolls made with a harpbow. A masterwork harpbow grants the wielder a +2 bonus on all Perform (string instruments) checks in addition to the usual +1 bonus on attack rolls.

A harpbow can never be made with a Strength rating as a composite bow can.

Notes: To gain the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (harpbow) feat, a character must have at least one rank in Perform (Musical instruments) as an additional prerequisite; otherwise, he cannot select to be proficient with a harpbow.

Harpbow: Two-handed Exotic Weapon; 500 gp; Dmg 1d6(S)/1d8(M); Critical x3; Range 110 ft.; 2 lb.; Piercing

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