And I'll laugh when he casts PfMW and takes it all away... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Nope. The reason relates to how GWW and Improved Haste work. There is a hard limit of 5 attacks per round, so in order to get 10 (GWW) or to double (IH), they cut the character's round length in half. In GWW's case, it also sets the ApR to 5, in IH's case, it just keeps them the same. Since the round is shorter, the arrows travel more quickly.

We can go +1 better on the THAC0.

Elves get +1 to hit with any bow, shortswords and longswords in true AD&D. Implemented in BG2?

Yay!?

And although the *rock bottom* Dexterity is 25 with DUHM, we can get a permanent 21 in Dexterity as an Elf (+4 THAC0 with ranged weapons... instead of the +5 offered by Dexterity 25).

Not too shoddy eh.

/me ponders... ...

SoA-ToB Spoilers
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
19 base
-1 DEX in Hell
+1 from Lum's Machine
+1 from BG1?
The Ioun Stone that +1 DEX?

what good bows are there for the different stages of the game then?

For Powergamers.

Chap2: Tuigan Bow
Chap3: Tuigan Bow, purchase Tansheron's Bow to deal with pesky Iron/Adamantite Golems.
Chap4: Tuigan Bow, Tansheron's Bow
Chap5: Tuigan Bow, Tansheron's Bow
Chap6: Tuigan Bow, use The Short Bow of Gesen to deal with Demi-Liches and Mages, keep the Tansheron Bow for Iron/Adamantite Golems, because it will deal more damage.
Chap7 and the whole of ToB: Same as Chap6

Roleplayers might want to use Strongarm, Heartseeker, Elven Court Bow, Mana Bow or even the plain Composite Longbow. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Actually, the Tuigan Bow loses some of its spark after the Archer using hits Level 13. Assuming Grandmastery in Short Bow, using the Tuigan Bow will grant you an ApR of 5.5--but since that's impossible, you're essentially "wasting" half an attack per round. I would prefer 4.5 ApR with Gesen or Tansheron (or Firetooth or the Mana Bow) to 5 ApR with Tuigan.

Archers can also use the GoES, right? That would bring your permanent ApR up to the maximum of 5, using any short bow you like.

Depends on whether you have the Grandmastery Patch or not.

Without,

Tuigan Bow:
----
Base: 3
Lvl 7/13: 4
GoES: 4.5
5*: 5

Other Shortbows, Longbows and the Light Crossbow of Speed will have 4 ApR.

The remaining Crossbows will have 3 ApR.
____

With the GM Patch, all bows and the LCoSpeed will have 5 ApR, while the remaining Crossbows will have 4 ApR.

With the GM Patch, the Short Bow of Gesen will be the most damaging, followed by the Strongarm Longbow.

Without the GM Patch, it will be the Tuigan Bow.

Isn't the GM patch faulty in that it gives a whole ApR for GM? IIRC, it's supposed to only give half an attack.