Self Sufficient Archer Character

[Torval]

Good Morning everyone. I am contemplating the skills needed to be taken by a character to be completely self sufficient while living in the remote wilderness. In this mental exercise, I am thinking about a ranger. Obviously many skills will be necessary such as being able to prepare food, treat wounds, etc. In specific, I am thinking about weaponry right now. It seems to be that a natural selection for this type of character would be archery. This would allow the character to both hunt and defend itself from range.

That being said, what skills would you all rule are necessary to be able to completely create and maintain a bow as well as crafting your own arrows?

For example, do you think carpentry is needed or would Sculpting and Whittling be sufficient to cover the creation and the bow and arrow shafts? What skill for creating arrow heads in the wilderness? Should this character make use of the stone and bone tools skill from Rifter 40 or would you suggest something else for arrow heads? If making metal arrows heads, would general repair cover it or would field armorer be needed? How about actually binding the arrow heads and the fletchings to the shaft?

You get where I am going with this. I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

Edited to include archer in the title to be more specific.

[Lukterran]

For Fletching useful skills areas follows: Carpentry, Sculpting and Whittling, Rope Works, General Repair, (Fashion Tools), and Blacksmithing/Metalworking. See Fletcher O.C.C. page 170 in Northern Hinterlands.

Other useful skills for a Ranger:
Hunting - (See Yin-Sloth Book)
Area Knowledge
Leather Working
Preserve Food
Cook
Camouflage
Fishing
Swim

For weapon go with Long Bow and Targeting and possibly Sniping.
First Aid
Holistic Medicine
Prowl
Lore: Faerie Folk

[Torval]

I suppose let me phrase this a different way. To achieve the above idea of being self sufficient, using a ranger class, I am thinking of selecting the following skills for my primary and secondary selections.

Primary
Cook
Fishing
Sew
Use & Recognize Poison
General Repair
Rope Works
Holistic Medicine
Create Stone Tools & Weapons (Rifter 40)

Secondary
Field Armorer
Surveillance
Climb/Scale Walls
Swimming

Specifically with the skills Field Armorer and General Repair, do you believe the character would be able to make bows? They would definitely be able to make arrows, arrow heads and fletchings(per the skill descriptions). It does not explicitly state bows though. I think that through a combination of the two skills, one could craft a simple short bow. Would anyone disagree? If so, what skill do you think is necessary?

[Veknironth]

Well, if you're making a Ranger and not taking advantage of the ability to take a longbow, for shame! I think making a simple, crummy bow is maybe feasible, but I don't know how difficult it is to make a bow.

-Vek
"I can't even wrap a present much less make a bow."

[Torval]

Well, if you're making a Ranger and not taking advantage of the ability to take a longbow, for shame! I think making a simple, crummy bow is maybe feasible, but I don't know how difficult it is to make a bow.

-Vek
"I can't even wrap a present much less make a bow."

Thinking of a short bow because the ranger in mind will be a dwarf and I find the thought of a dwarf with a longbow funny but not exactly feasible.

I also realized that dwarves come with the equivalent of Field Armorer so that skill has been switched out to have a single literacy.

[The Dark Elf]

I'd use the Fletchers OCC skills as the basis which includes more on making arrows/arrowheads

[say652]

I make bows and fashion arrows, whenever bored and outdoors.

The bow is actually easy to make, arrows are actually extremely difficult to make and harder top make fly true.

[Hotrod]

Yeah, a Fletcher OCC would be the way to go, with a short bow, if you're looking for total self sufficiency. However, you'll need other skills. You'll need to be able to make your own clothes, probably from animal hides, so you'll need to skin/prepare/preserve hides, leather working, and sewing/tailoring. You'll need to make and preserve your own food (cook and preserve food skills, identify plants/fruits, as well as those needed for hunting/fishing/farming), you'll need your own shelter (carpentry/construction), and you'll need to not stay lost and stay alive (Wilderness survival, land navigation).

[Tor]

I think in Rifts Spirit West (world book 15) it mentioned Carpentry allowed you to construct bow/arrow.

[SittingBull]

Yeah, a Fletcher OCC would be the way to go, with a short bow, if you're looking for total self sufficiency. However, you'll need other skills. You'll need to be able to make your own clothes, probably from animal hides, so you'll need to skin/prepare/preserve hides, leather working, and sewing/tailoring. You'll need to make and preserve your own food (cook and preserve food skills, identify plants/fruits, as well as those needed for hunting/fishing/farming), you'll need your own shelter (carpentry/construction), and you'll need to not stay lost and stay alive (Wilderness survival, land navigation).

Dont forget medical skills and probably holistic medicine.

To be completely self-sufficient is hard to do with a starting character. I know, I often try to do it and, usually, if it can be done then you don't have anything else going for you skill wise. Yes, your self sufficient, but in a part there may be other skills they might need that you may not have chosen. Skills that others might not be able to take or, if they could, would not have your bonuses.

[Lukterran]

I make bows and fashion arrows, whenever bored and outdoors.

The bow is actually easy to make, arrows are actually extremely difficult to make and harder top make fly true.

Most crappy bows can be made easily. However if you want a good quality bow than it is a little more difficult than just bending any random piece of scrap lumber, notching it and stringing it up.

Making a good bow involves picking the right woods, forming them (carpentry/sculpting), usually making a composite of multiple types of woods with different properties and gluing and binding them together with leather and animal sinew.

Then there is the bow string which isn't just a random piece of twine, but are multiple strings that has to be braided, tied and formed properly.

[Library Ogre]

Yeah, but a crappy bow with good arrows is probably a lot better than a good bow with crappy arrows.

[Tor]

Kind of mad that there's a Fletcher OCC in PF but no masseur or plumber OCC (or even skill) in Palladium.

[torjones]

I suppose let me phrase this a different way. To achieve the above idea of being self sufficient, using a ranger class, I am thinking of selecting the following skills for my primary and secondary selections.
Primary
Cook
Fishing
Sew
Use & Recognize Poison
General Repair
Rope Works
Holistic Medicine
Create Stone Tools & Weapons (Rifter 40)
Secondary
Field Armorer
Surveillance
Climb/Scale Walls
Swimming

Specifically with the skills Field Armorer and General Repair, do you believe the character would be able to make bows? They would definitely be able to make arrows, arrow heads and fletchings(per the skill descriptions). It does not explicitly state bows though. I think that through a combination of the two skills, one could craft a simple short bow. Would anyone disagree? If so, what skill do you think is necessary?

With this skill list, I would say you're likely good for nearly any situation a hunter/gatherer should encounter, except the crafting of bows. Field Armorer is a good fletcher, but not a boyer. Reading the skill descriptions, I would say you would need carpentry. Then again, as others have said, making good bows is easier than making good arrows. Honestly though, I don't think this is really a consideration for this question, it's a matter of know how the bow is put together, not the relative difficulty of the task. Besides, Carpentry allows the Ranger-Survivalist to build his own shelter, beyond the wilderness survival basics.

I'd also skip the create stone tools and weapons(a bit more primitive than is truly useful) (even though the bow and arrow are stone age tools), Climb/scale walls, Use & Recognize Poison, and Surveillance. Boat building is more important that climbing a cliff face. Historically speaking, canoes were the major stone age water transport. Archaeological finds show dugout canoes dating back to the last ice age. Longest dugout canoe was 24 METERS long, though the smallest was only a meter, a long dug out canoe (commonly found are 12-18 meter dugouts) could carry 5-10 tons of cargo (depending on the skills of the builders and wood chosen for the boat). They were ocean-going, allowing transit from the pacific north-west to Hawaii (one hellaciously long trip in a "little" canoe!). You could also make canoes like the famous Birch-bark Canoe, which had insane amounts of carrying capacity for their size and maneuverability. (I've seen people take pretty big canoes and turn them with zero turn radius)

Sailing would also be a good skill to have, add a sail to your canoe and you can go longer distances faster and with less effort (though you would loose maneuverability).

Botany would help as well, so you aren't spending all your time doing the gatherer part of the hunter/gatherer thing. (aka: gardening/farming) Put botany and animal husbandry together, and you've got aqua-culture [aquaponics], also from the stone age.

Glass is a Bronze Age product, so that could well be beyond the ranger's capabilities, so waxed parchment windows, or import your glass panes. (That, and I don't think that there is an actual glass-making skill). OTOH, get an alchemist to add invisibility to a good thick wooden plank, and you've got a window that's better than most glass of any era up through the industrial age. Bit expensive though... it would likely be cheaper to get Continual Glow enchanted onto a bunch of pebbles and put them inside lanterns throughout the shelter, and forget the windows...

Finally, Blacksmithing is important for anyone wanting to be self-sufficient. Shoeing your horse even if it is only a draft animal, and not a riding animal, is important. Of course, this also means things like nails, hinges, pots & pans, etc. Of course, until the industrial age, metal pots were VERY uncommon, clay pots were used by everyone, and everyone knew how to make them from roadside materials, as they did have a tendency to break easily.

This is the skill list I would suggest at first level:

OCC
Animal Husbandry
Land Navigation
Languages
Identify Plants & Fruits
Skin & Prepare Animal Hides
Track & Trap Animals
Track Humanoids
Wilderness Survival
WP Long Bow
WP Targeting
H2H: Basic
Primary
Cook
Fishing
Sew
Carpentry
General Repair
Rope Works
Holistic Medicine
Boat Building
Secondary
Field Armorer
Botany
sailing
Swimming

At level 3, I'd take:
Blacksmith [yin-sloth jungles, p45]
Fashion Tools (and Weapons) [yin-sloth jungles, p45]

Also useful (eventually), would be Camouflage, leather working, mountaineering, mining, pottery [yin-sloth jungles, p45-6], and Masonry [pfrpg p59]

[Alrik Vas]

Or just take Wilderness Survival and Outdoorsmanship. Then just say, "Hey, GM, lemme get fletching so I can make my own arrows or another bow if mine breaks."

Honestly, if you go down to Underwater Basket Weaving macro level, you're going to be a housemaid with good archery skills, not an adventurer.

[Torval]

I suppose let me phrase this a different way. To achieve the above idea of being self sufficient, using a ranger class, I am thinking of selecting the following skills for my primary and secondary selections.
Primary
Cook
Fishing
Sew
Use & Recognize Poison
General Repair
Rope Works
Holistic Medicine
Create Stone Tools & Weapons (Rifter 40)
Secondary
Field Armorer
Surveillance
Climb/Scale Walls
Swimming

Specifically with the skills Field Armorer and General Repair, do you believe the character would be able to make bows? They would definitely be able to make arrows, arrow heads and fletchings(per the skill descriptions). It does not explicitly state bows though. I think that through a combination of the two skills, one could craft a simple short bow. Would anyone disagree? If so, what skill do you think is necessary?

With this skill list, I would say you're likely good for nearly any situation a hunter/gatherer should encounter, except the crafting of bows. Field Armorer is a good fletcher, but not a boyer. Reading the skill descriptions, I would say you would need carpentry. Then again, as others have said, making good bows is easier than making good arrows. Honestly though, I don't think this is really a consideration for this question, it's a matter of know how the bow is put together, not the relative difficulty of the task. Besides, Carpentry allows the Ranger-Survivalist to build his own shelter, beyond the wilderness survival basics.

I'd also skip the create stone tools and weapons(a bit more primitive than is truly useful) (even though the bow and arrow are stone age tools), Climb/scale walls, Use & Recognize Poison, and Surveillance. Boat building is more important that climbing a cliff face. Historically speaking, canoes were the major stone age water transport. Archaeological finds show dugout canoes dating back to the last ice age. Longest dugout canoe was 24 METERS long, though the smallest was only a meter, a long dug out canoe (commonly found are 12-18 meter dugouts) could carry 5-10 tons of cargo (depending on the skills of the builders and wood chosen for the boat). They were ocean-going, allowing transit from the pacific north-west to Hawaii (one hellaciously long trip in a "little" canoe!). You could also make canoes like the famous Birch-bark Canoe, which had insane amounts of carrying capacity for their size and maneuverability. (I've seen people take pretty big canoes and turn them with zero turn radius)

Sailing would also be a good skill to have, add a sail to your canoe and you can go longer distances faster and with less effort (though you would loose maneuverability).

Botany would help as well, so you aren't spending all your time doing the gatherer part of the hunter/gatherer thing. (aka: gardening/farming) Put botany and animal husbandry together, and you've got aqua-culture [aquaponics], also from the stone age.

Glass is a Bronze Age product, so that could well be beyond the ranger's capabilities, so waxed parchment windows, or import your glass panes. (That, and I don't think that there is an actual glass-making skill). OTOH, get an alchemist to add invisibility to a good thick wooden plank, and you've got a window that's better than most glass of any era up through the industrial age. Bit expensive though... it would likely be cheaper to get Continual Glow enchanted onto a bunch of pebbles and put them inside lanterns throughout the shelter, and forget the windows...

Finally, Blacksmithing is important for anyone wanting to be self-sufficient. Shoeing your horse even if it is only a draft animal, and not a riding animal, is important. Of course, this also means things like nails, hinges, pots & pans, etc. Of course, until the industrial age, metal pots were VERY uncommon, clay pots were used by everyone, and everyone knew how to make them from roadside materials, as they did have a tendency to break easily.

This is the skill list I would suggest at first level:

OCC
Animal Husbandry
Land Navigation
Languages
Identify Plants & Fruits
Skin & Prepare Animal Hides
Track & Trap Animals
Track Humanoids
Wilderness Survival
WP Long Bow
WP Targeting
H2H: Basic
Primary
Cook
Fishing
Sew
Carpentry
General Repair
Rope Works
Holistic Medicine
Boat Building
Secondary
Field Armorer
Botany
sailing
Swimming

At level 3, I'd take:
Blacksmith [yin-sloth jungles, p45]
Fashion Tools (and Weapons) [yin-sloth jungles, p45]

Also useful (eventually), would be Camouflage, leather working, mountaineering, mining, pottery [yin-sloth jungles, p45-6], and Masonry [pfrpg p59]

You make some good points. Thanks for your input. I had actually thought of this character using canoes to travel along rivers and maybe close to the shorelines if taken on the ocean. At this point, I would have to purchase the canoes until the character leveled up some and could learn that skill.

[Torval]

Or just take Wilderness Survival and Outdoorsmanship. Then just say, "Hey, GM, lemme get fletching so I can make my own arrows or another bow if mine breaks."

Honestly, if you go down to Underwater Basket Weaving macro level, you're going to be a housemaid with good archery skills, not an adventurer.

I definitely see your point about getting too detailed and having it detract from the overall idea. I am definitely trying to strike some middle ground between having too much or too little attention to detail, degree of skills, etc.

[AmasCole]

Dual Class of a lvl 2 Conjurer and What ever lvl ranger. problem solved. need arrow's POOF! need bow POOF need Axe POOF.

[Hotrod]

Or just take Wilderness Survival and Outdoorsmanship. Then just say, "Hey, GM, lemme get fletching so I can make my own arrows or another bow if mine breaks."

Honestly, if you go down to Underwater Basket Weaving macro level, you're going to be a housemaid with good archery skills, not an adventurer.

I definitely see your point about getting too detailed and having it detract from the overall idea. I am definitely trying to strike some middle ground between having too much or too little attention to detail, degree of skills, etc.

If you're using these skills just as some kind of accounting/justification, then I'd go with a hand-wave approach. Details can be fun, though, especially if you combine it with some creative art; that's how I got into cartography. On the role-playing side, having a legitimate trade could be a useful way to gain acceptance and trust in many communities. Many adventurers are probably only a step up from thugs in most peoples' eyes, while a traveling artisan could bring in valuable tools, goods, and services. Additionally, many of the skills mentioned earlier might have all kinds of creative applications for a creatively-minded player who wants to create something unique, like firesand arrows, or leather armor made from a Balrog's wings, or dragon jerky.

Mmm... dragon jerky.