Fletchery#

A bow is only as good as the worst arrow in the quiver. Make the worst one good.

Wen Harlow, guildmaster of fletchery

The trade of wood that flies: felling trees, shaving arrows, carving arrowheads and making bows, staves and the other wooden weapons. Fletchers are the first stop for anyone who fights from a distance.

KindTimber HallTharsis GuildmasterWen Harlow Skills11

Ranks and quests#

The guild’s hall sets each rank’s quest. Six ranks has what every rank makes, and making something how the craft roll works.

Level0
Rank 1: Inquirer
Trash to Shoddy · ×1 worth · 1d6 craft roll
Shave a hundred arrow shafts straight enough to pass the hall's eye.
Level20
Rank 2: Hobbyist
Crude to Inferior · ×1.25 worth · 2d6 craft roll
Fell, split and season a tree you picked yourself.
Level40
Rank 3: Apprentice
Shoddy to Acceptable · ×1.5 worth · 2+3d6 craft roll
Fill a scout's quiver and hear back how many arrows flew true.
Level60
Rank 4: Journeyman
Poor to Fine · ×1.75 worth · 4+4d6 craft roll
Make a bow for someone who will hunt with it to feed their family.
Level80
Rank 5: Master
Inferior to Flawless · ×2 worth · 5+5d6 craft roll
Shoot a bow you made at the hall's longest mark, and hit it.
Level100
Rank 6: Artisan
Adequate to Masterwork · ×3 worth · 6+6d6 craft roll
Make a bow from a tree the hall says can't be cut, and bring back the tree's story with it.

The work#

A fletcher’s wood comes from salvaging old wooden gear or from cut tree. A tree gives lumber, planks and woodblocks by its size: one of size 72 gives 3 lumber, 2 planks and 2 woodblocks. Arrows come first, because a bow needs a great many of them.

Making arrows#

Shave arrow turns wood into a straight shaft, carve arrowhead shapes a head from wood or stone, and tie arrowhead binds it on.

Making arrows

Making bows and the rest#

With chisels, a fletcher’s hammer and a brush, carve pattern shapes the piece, etch details finishes the carving, stain wood lacquers it and polish wood seals it.

Making bows and the rest

Skills and tools#

ReconditionInquirer: Recondition is used to fix minor problems in wooden arms and armor, turning fair or excellent condition items into mint condition.Tools: sanding cloth
RepairHobbyist: Repair is used to fix major problems in wooden arms and armor, turning damaged or mediocre condition items into fair condition items so they can then be reconditioned to mint.Tools: sanding cloth, workbench
RebuildApprentice: Rebuild is used to completely overhaul broken or ruined condition wooden arms and armor into damaged condition items so they can be repaired and reconditioned back into pristine shape.Tools: fletchers knife, workbench
Cut Tree: Use a hatchet, wood axe or felling saw to convert a tree into lumber, planks and woodblocks depending on tree size.
Shave Arrow: Uses 1 material of wood and a fletchers knife to create an arrow shaft
Carve Arrowhead: Use 1 material of stone and a tooth chisel to create an arrowhead
Tie Arrowhead: Ties finished arrowhead type to shaved arrow using twine
Carve Pattern: Carves a fletchery pattern using said wood block type with a flat chisel and fletcher hammer
Etch Details: Etch small details into the product not particularly found within the pattern itselfTools: point chisel
Stain Wood: Stains item increasing its value. Uses wood lacquer.Tools: brush
Polish Wood: Polishes item increasing its value. Uses wood polish.Tools: brush

Tool	What it is for
Fletcher Hammer	A fletcher hammer is a small and soft mallet, made such so it doesn’t destroy sensitive wood. A fletcher hammer is mostly used to balance arrows by tapping feathers into flight slits. There are a variety of other uses, but the hammer remains an integral and sensitive part in assisting the fletcher in assembling his weaponry.
Fletchers Knife	A fletchers knife is used to curve bows and arrows, weeding wood flash and in advanced cases kneeding knots in wood grain to ensure tactile strength is amenable to the prevention of grain snapping.
Hatchet	A small axe for trimming shafts and splitting kindling
Tooth Chisel	A tooth chisel is applied with the fletchers hammer to chisel an arrowhead.
Flat Chisel	A flat chisel is applied with the fletchers hammer to chisel the curvature of bows. Though recurve is set technically by the slow bending of wood over years of stretching, a flat chisel can speed the process and strength if used properly and in the correct locations of the bow.
Point Chisel	A point chisel is used to etch details into a wooden product. It is used in conjunction with a fletchers hammer.
Wood Lacquer	Wood lacquer darkens the wood slightly and makes the wood slightly resistant to water damage and weathering, most predominately over-drying. Lacquering is usually followed by polishing.
Wood Polish	Wood polish is applied on top of lacquered wood and is used as a sealant as well as protectant against small brushing against surfaces that might ordinarily cause scratches, as well as sand and a small resistance to water. Wood polish is applied with a brush.
Wood Axe	A tool typically used for chopping wood, usually a steel blade attached at a right angle to a wooden handle.
Felling Saw	A hand tool for cutting wood or other materials, typically with a long, thin serrated steel blade and operated using a backward and forward movement.
Brush	An implement with a handle, consisting of bristles set into a block used for cleaning or scrubbing a surface.
Sanding Cloth	A sanding cloth is a square of heavy cloth glued with grit. Fletchers and carpenters rub dings and blemishes out of bows, staves and shields with it, and work it over a workbench to repair deeper damage.

What it makes#

Trees#

How much wood a tree gives, how often you find one that size, and what can fell it.

Tree	Wood	Chance	Felled with
Sapling	1 to 8	35%	hatchet, wood axe, felling saw
Young Tree	9 to 21	37%	hatchet, wood axe, felling saw
Mature Tree	22 to 56	17%	wood axe, felling saw
Old Tree	57 to 78	7%	wood axe, felling saw
Ancient Tree	79 to 100	1%	felling saw

Woods (18)

Wood	DC	Description
Ash	5	Very light brown wood.
Bamboo	5	Green wood.
Basswood	5	Yellow wood.
Beech	5	Pink wood.
Chestnut	5	Beautiful dark brown wood.
Dogwood	5	Orange wood.
Ebony	5	Black wood.
Elm	5	Light brown wood.
Hickory	5	Dark brown wood.
Larch	5	Brownish red wood.
Mahogany	5	Deep beautiful red wood.
Maple	5	Dark yellow wood.
Pine	5	Reddish wood.
Poplar	5	Whitish brown wood.
Red Oak	5	Deep red wood.
Rosewood	5	White wood with dark brown lines.
Satinwood	5	Deep yellow wood.
Walnut	5	Deep dark brown wood.

Arrows#

Arrow	DC	Material	Description
Blunt Point Arrow	12	1 metal, stone and wood	Lowest value arrowhead, does 80% damage
Bodkin Point Arrow	14	1 metal, stone and wood	Low value arrowhead does 90% damage
Judo Point Arrow	14	1 metal, stone and wood	Normal value and 100% damage
Field Tip Point Arrow	14	1 metal, stone and wood	Normal value, does 110% damage
Broadhead Point Arrow	14	1 metal, stone and wood	High value, does 120% damage

What a fletcher makes#

Weapons (8)

Piece	DC	Material
Shortbow	8	29 wood
Longbow	10	48 wood
Blunt Point Arrow	12	1 metal, stone and wood
Bodkin Point Arrow	14	1 metal, stone and wood
Broadhead Point Arrow	14	1 metal, stone and wood
Field Tip Point Arrow	14	1 metal, stone and wood
Judo Point Arrow	14	1 metal, stone and wood
Composite Bow	16	31 wood

Wagon and carriage parts (6)

Piece	DC	Material
Wheel Spoke	8	3 wood
Carriage Driver Seat	10	1 wood
Carriage Shaft	10	1 wood
Carriage Spoke	10	1 wood
Carriage Tongue	10	1 wood
Carriage Wheel	10	1 wood

Tools (1)

Piece	DC	Material
Fishing Pole	10	2 wood

Everything else (5)

Piece	DC	Material
Torch	2	1 wood and 1 cloth
Timbrel	10	5 wood, 3 metal and 2 leather
Alphorn	13	30 wood and 12 metal
Harp	15	20 wood and 4 metal
Glockenspiel	16	18 metal and 10 wood

The guildmaster#

Wen Harlow cuts her own staves from Darkwood pine and has never sold a bow she hasn’t shot. She shares the trading post’s grinder’s shed for its trough and its light. The post’s cutting crews owe her more than one rescue from the wolves, and she has never let them forget a single one.

Find Wen Harlow at the axe-grinder’s shed at the Darkwood Trading Post, in Tharsis. It’s the guild’s only hall: you join there, and you come back to it for every rank’s quest, inquirer to artisan.

Wen Harlow teaches at the axe-grinder's shed at the Darkwood Trading Post.

Trades it works with#

What fletchery gives the other trades.

Carpentry Lumber, planks and woodblocks from trees only a fletcher knows how to fell. Timber

Engineering Seasoned timber, wheels, spokes and shafts for wagons, carriages and siege engines. Timber

It takes nothing from the other trades: everything it works starts in the ground or the forest.

A good pair
Carpentry: A fletcher fells the trees a carpenter needs, and both work with the same chisels, lacquer and polish.

Who takes it up#

The classes whose work fletchery fits best. Any class can join any guild.

Scout Scouts fight from range and on the move, and a fletcher never runs out of arrows a day from town. A natural fit

Plainsman Plainsmen use any weapon, and a bow they made themselves is one they can fix in a field. Works well

Woodsman A woodsman already lives among the trees a fletcher needs. Works well

The guild finder ranks every guild for a class.

How it shows#

None of this changes a roll. It’s how the people around you can tell what you do for a living.

Calluses on the fingertips of your drawing hand, and a habit of sighting down any straight stick you pick up.
You smell of pine pitch, and wood shavings turn up in your pockets.

What others say#

Harlow arrows fly true in the rain. Nobody knows how, and she won't say.

A scout of Amari

I hired a Darkwood fletcher to guard my wagon. She spent the whole trip looking at trees.

A merchant of Bartle Trading Post

The black pine
Wolves have pulled down two cutting crews in Darkwood this month, and both crews were working a stand Wen Harlow has refused to cut for thirty years. The trading post’s buyers want the timber anyway. Wen will tell the party why she leaves that stand alone, but only if they go in with her and see for themselves.