A high strength is needed to cock the weapon, which notches the bowstring and loads a quarrel from the ammo cartridge. This primitive arming system limits the bowcaster's rate of fire. Some Wookiees have modified their bowcasters by adding multiple bowstrings, dual bows, or, in the case of Chewbacca's bowcaster, an automatic recocking system.
The bowcasters are designed for effective use in Kashyyyk's dense jungles, with amazing stopping power, needed for taking out the most dangerous predators. The bowcasters have an optium range of thirty meters and a maxium range of only fifty meters. The weapon can be disassembled and carried in a utility pouch; it can be put back together in less than a minute. Wookiees use bandoilers to carry power packs, canisters of blaster gas, and spare ammunition cartridges that hold six quarrels each.
A bowcaster can be fired manually by moving the reserve spring into position and fashioning a bowstring from a meter-long length of kthysh vine. Used in this fashion, the bowcaster's range is cut to a mere thirty meters, but it can fire standard explosive quarrels or simple crossbow bolts carved from wood.
Hand-built by the master weapon crafters of Kashyyyk, bowcasters are bestowed to young Wookiees as they are completing adulthood rites of passage. This tradition has endured for thousands of years, and a warrior's bowcaster is considered a visible symbol of his or her courage and honor. These highly prized possessions are often engraved with clan markings and pictographs depicting a warrior's greatest accomplishments.
