Artifact Bows

[amblingalong]

Why, oh why, does Bethesda hate archers? There are artifact shields. Artifact swords. Axes, hammers, helmets, rings, amulets. No bows. Ever.

 

Sigh.

 

The annoying thing is that what makes artifacts cool in Skyrim is their unique effects, as opposed to previous games where artifacts just had good stats. It's very cool that that Spellbreaker actually does something no other shield does, as does the Ebony Mail, the Wabbajack, etc. etc. As a result, you can't just enchant a super-powerful bow and pretend.

 

So, why no bows?

 

Anyways, I am going to try to remedy this when the CK comes out, but man, Bethesda, let us shoot people with arrows in style!

 

Couple ideas I'll be trying out:

 

• A bow which magically generates its own arrows upon drawing/firing (I'll probably use a Bound Arrow with an edited animation which only shows the last part of the draw)
  
• A bow which uses the player.autoaim function to home in on enemies (this may require more scripting than is possible, we'll see)
  
• A bow which, when it strikes the enemy, calls down a lightning strike (copied off the Storm Call shout)
  
• A bow which makes everything within a set radius attack the NPC hit by an arrow
  
• A bow which creates a shockwave where it hits (is it possible to set Unrelenting Force to travel in all directions simultaneously from a given spot? we'll see)
  
• A bow which disarms those it hits
  

 

Still, though; not cool, Bethesda.

[chanchan05]

Because archers can easily get ridiculously overpowered?

 

Not using any artifact, I could kill an entire room of enemies without getting noticed.

[Halororor]

What chanchan05 said. Archery was powerful enough that it didn't really need any boosts.

[amblingalong]

...in a game where my sword does just over 2,000 damage? Come on. If you're concerned about balance, there are WAY bigger offenders. Anyways, it's not like Bethesda created, say, Volundrung out of a fear two-handed hammers were too weak, right?

 

Anyways, what do you think about those ideas for artifacts? Any other ideas?

[Halororor]

It would be fun to have some various effects, but I probably won't use it as a main weapon, only when I feel like having some fun from time to time.

 

I mostly use bows for stealth, so I'm not going to use a bow that attracts the attention of a whole horde of enemies. If the bow doesn't supplement my stealth abilities, I probably won't use it.

[faifh]

Since "artifact" means "made by human" every bow is an artefact.

 

I know you refering to game use, where they got some twisted usage of "artifact", just wanting to be a smart a** here :)

[AnzacTNF]

Good ideas so far. From Baldur's Gate and Diablo I remember bows with a very high fire rate. That would always make a good artifact. I like the idea of giving positive and negative effects to certain items. That would balance the whole situation and prevent overpowering.

[Stormcrown]

I'd be interested in getting these.

 

You could do the same thing as Deadly Dragons, and perhaps make them craftable.

[Halororor]

Good ideas so far. From Baldur's Gate and Diablo I remember bows with a very high fire rate. That would always make a good artifact. I like the idea of giving positive and negative effects to certain items. That would balance the whole situation and prevent overpowering.

 

That would actually prove very useful. It's happened on many occasions in Skyrim that I get discovered by an enemy because I couldn't draw my second arrow fast enough. :P

[chanchan05]

Actually there is one artifact bow in the game you can get from Hircine's altar, the Bow of the Hunt. You can find it in the same cave where you go for Hircine's Daedric Artifact.