Glass Arrows (3.5e Equipment)
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Glass Arrows
Simple One-Handed Ammunition
| Cost: | 10 for 100 gp |
|---|---|
| Damage (Small): | 1d3 |
| Damage (Medium)1: | 1d4 |
| Critical: | 18-20/x2 |
| Range Increment: | -20%' |
| Weight2: | 1 lbs |
| Type3: | Slashing plus stored substance |
| HP4: | 2 |
| Hardness: | 1 |
1. See Damage Increases by Size to calculate the damage for a weapon larger than Medium or smaller than Small.
2. Weight figures are for Medium weapons. A Small weapon weighs half as much, and a Large weapon weighs twice as much.
3. When two types are given, the weapon is both types if the entry specifies "and", either type (player's choice at time of attack) if the entry specifies "or", or each end of the double weapon is a different type if the entry specifies "/".
4. The hp value given is for Medium armor, weapons, and shields. Divide by 2 for each size category of the item smaller than Medium, or multiply it by 2 for each size category larger than Medium.
Commonly employed by assassins or hunters of strange beasts, these arrows are outfitted with enlarged glass heads. These arrowheads make them more cumbersome in flight, imposing a -2 penalty on attack rolls and reducing the range increment of the weapon they are fired from by 20% (rounded down). These heads are designed to screw off of the shafts, and are able to hold a small dose of an alchemical substance. Filling the heads of glass arrows requires 1 minute per arrow, 1 dose of the substance per 10 arrows, and a Craft (fletching) check of 15. Failure means the arrow is not filled correctly, and failure by 5 or more means the arrow is destroyed and you are exposed to the substance in question.
Glass arrows may be filled with a variety of substances. Troll hunters commonly use acid or alchemist's fire, whereas werewolf hunters use powdered silver. Those of the church prefer liquid sunlight, or holy or unholy water. However, any alchemical substance that can be thrown as a grenade-like weapon may be loaded into the arrows. Additionally, contact and injury poisons can be loaded into the arrows using the rules detailed above, but every arrow incurs the same chance of poisoning one's self as if applying poison to a weapon. (Characters with poison use or a similar ability do not suffer this chance).
When a loaded glass arrow strikes a surface, the arrowhead shatters, driving broken glass into the target and exposing it to the substance inside. If the substance deals damage, this damage is not multiplied on a critical hit. Once fired, glass arrows cannot be recovered (the arrowheads are destroyed by the impact, and most substances destroy the shafts as well). Resolve a missed attack with a glass arrow as a missed attack with a grenade-like weapon. Creatures adjacent to a creature or square struck by a loaded glass arrow do not take splash damage, regardless of the substance loaded. A substance that would coat a surface coats only a 5-foot square, regardless of the substance.
Glass arrows are difficult to craft. Creating the shaft requires only a DC 10 Craft (fletching) check, but because of the complex processes used to warp glass into the proper shape creating the heads requires a DC 25 Craft (glassblowing) check. Glass arrows may also be created with ceramic heads, requiring only a DC 15 Craft (pottery) check, but such arrowheads are opaque, making it impossible to tell what kind of substance is inside without uncapping the head or firing the arrow. Such arrows also do not deal any damage on their own and must rely on the substance inside.
