More Tools for 5e: Fletcher's Kit
Oooh, a new tool! Since we are done with all the official tools in 5e, I’m going to (sporadically) introduce a few more tools to be used. So far I’ve already added the Spellscriber’s Supplies, Gunsmith’s Kit, and the Wandmaker’s Tools and I have plans for a few more, but I’m not willing to share what those are just yet in case I end up scrapping them. I’m an enigma like that.
Today, we are looking at my newest tool, Fletcher’s Kit! Now, you might be wondering what exactly a fletcher is, and I’m here to inform you - the fletcher is the guy who adds the feathers to an arrow shaft. That’s all. They don’t whittle the wood, forge the arrowhead, they are just focused on feathers. If the idea of creating special arrows out of different feathers… well keep on reading!
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Fletcher’s Kit
These tools are meant for those who want to do a bit of monster scavenging or craft the perfect arrow to destroy your foes. It is focused around on the fletching part of an arrow, meaning that you aren’t going to learn the magical mysteries of mithril arrowheads or the arcane secrets of different woods in the arrow - just feathers. I’m a simple man.
Arrows can provide a lot of customization and come in a few different flavors.
Mundane Arrows
The bog-standard arrow. I’ve tried to have my players think about their resources, but ultimately - it’s just not fun for them so I end up not enforcing it. For me, though - I love counting arrows and rations, and anything else! When I was a player, it was something I got enjoyment out of but I suppose I’m a bit weird…
Anyway, mundane arrows are simply arrows you rapid-fire out of your bow, lose about 50 of them, and never think to refill your quiver of 20 arrows. Now you can just claim you make extra arrows every day and your GM can get off your case!
Specialty Arrows - Extraordinary
Our next type of arrow are part of the Specialty Arrows and are exceptional in their own way. They have no magical innateness to them and thus rely on the raw skill of the fletcher to produce. Each arrow has a few required materials as well as a GP cost (so you don’t have an unlimited number of +1 arrows) and helps balance out the fact you are breaking the bounded accuracy of 5e.
But it isn’t all +1s and +2s, but there are a few other arrows that can be useful while retaining their mundane nature. You can shoot further away with an arrow, ignore half-cover, or even knock a creature back a few feet. They have some value in there, and the fact that they work even in an anti-magic field (which probably doesn’t happen too often unless your GM really likes our Deep Dive on the Beholder), gives them some small distinctions. I only put in a few, but players and GMs should definitely think about what they might want out of their arrows and how to improve them.
Specialty Arrows - Magical
The real cream of the crop, and probably the most expensive thing you’ll ever shoot out of your bow. These arrows are meant to be harvested from the creatures you kill, though I add in a gold cost just in case a DM wants to allow certain feathers to be sold in their cities. Each of these arrows are unique thanks to the fletching, nothing else - this ultimately means that I only provided magical arrows based on the monsters found in the Monster Manual and, in fact, I went through every monster in there and presented them all in this kit! … There aren’t a lot of monsters with feathers in the Monster Manual, but if I had someone wanting to fletch, I’d definitely come up with a few horrible monsters to kill and maim my party with! Maybe a Roc on steroids… or on fire… or wielding a massive ballista as a crossbow…
Anyways, these arrows are expensive but they have some pretty good short term effects that can make a fletcher feel quite special. Gain a small fly speed, charm their targets, and more! This can create a bit more versatility for an archer when trying to decide what type of arrow to fire during combat, and while some might be fairly strong, like the Celestial Arrow, it provides some cool moments for the archer who gets to fire off radiant arrows of death from a Deva they killed and stole the feathers from.
Harvesting Arrows
Speaking of stealing feathers, I also provide a rather handy chart for determining how many feathers each creature has on them that you can harvest. The numbers are slightly low, but that has to do more with the fact you are often hunting/fighting/murdering these poor defenseless creatures and you are going to break a few feathers, and not every feather is good for being used for fletching.
It does mean that if you take down a Roc, you have a lot of Roc feathers to turn into a bow as the larger a creature, the more feathers it has on it to be used. Of course, to properly harvest the feathers, it requires a Wisdom (Survival) check based on a DC of 10 + the creature’s CR.
Fletcher’s Kit
There isn’t much else about this kit. It’s a pretty straightforward tool that can provide a bit of a boost to an archer wanting to make their arrows and hunt down specific monsters! I hope your table can put it to some good use and maybe find some massive creatures to hunt down and turn their feathers into arrows!
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