Archers are Cowards

Many medieval-themed maps and mods suffer from what can be called 'crossbow fever' — every fortress is packed with dozens of archers unleashing endless volleys of arrows at you. Typically, you have only four strategies to handle the situation:

You can try to charge through the arrow storm to reach enemies at close range, but you'll take massive damage, and constant knockback will significantly slow your progress. This approach isn't much fun.

You can take up a bow yourself and methodically pick off each archer from a distance. You barely interact with the defenders' mechanics—just reduce the enemy count to zero. It's boring.

You can use 'cheesing' tactics: hit an enemy and immediately retreat. This only works due to flaws in enemy AI and turns combat into monotonous routine. Not engaging.

You can... just run away. But why build a fortress that can't be taken down? Again—not really an option.

In many hardcore modpacks, archers become a serious problem—especially when damage immunity is disabled, regeneration is nerfed, and armor provides little protection. A real arrow, even the so-called 'armor-piercing' bodkin type, couldn't penetrate Gothic plate armor under combat conditions. Bodkins were used mainly because of their low cost or on the off chance—a standard arrow would shatter against steel without causing serious wounds.

Our mod completely overhauls ranged combat mechanics. Bows are substantially weakened—by default, arrow damage is halved, knockback is removed altogether—but all secondary effects like poison or fire remain fully active (shooting poison arrows was always effective). Fine-tuned configuration is possible: specify which projectile types or even attacks by particular creatures will retain full damage. For instance, projectiles from bosses like special mob spawners are often whitelisted as exceptions, ensuring they deal appropriate damage.