the 'called shot' lasts 10 secs.
at certain lvls, certain effects begin, ie -1 str to target.
during the 10 seconds of the called shot, for example, does each successful hit from an arrow take away 1 str from target, each hit taking 1 more point of strength away, or is it just -1 str total?
hope that makes sense, thank you in advance

As far as I know, when you call a shot, the target suffers the current effect from your level, as well as other effects from previous levels e.g. at 16th level, when you call shot, the target will lost -1 THAC0, -1 to save vs spells, -1 to strength and suffer an additional 2 points of damage. These *are* accumulative, therefore an improved haste archer attacking 9 times per round with called shot would easily take -9 away from the targets THAC0, -9 save vs spells, -9 strength and suffer an additional 18HP damage, therefore making the enemy extremely vunerable to spell effects and drastically reducing their to hit and damage rolls. Great for dragons :D

I found that the archer is, in my opinion, the BEST ranger class out there! Anything else may as well pick a fighter class to level up quicker. A heavily armored berserker and a properly equipped archer in the corner can really chew 'em up quick! Not to mention the Boots of speed sniper technique. You can clear out half the level with just him!

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Vohl:
the 'called shot' lasts 10 secs.
at certain lvls, certain effects begin, ie -1 str to target.
during the 10 seconds of the called shot, for example, does each successful hit from an arrow take away 1 str from target, each hit taking 1 more point of strength away, or is it just -1 str total?
hope that makes sense, thank you in advance<hr></blockquote>

Each hit is cumulative. You do +2 damage with each hit, the target loses 1 Str. per hit, etc. The bonuses are very powerful when you hit several times per round! Archers totally rock.

-- Nifft

I would like to throw in my expert knowledge on the Archer, but I've never seriously used the called shot. Why not? I didn't need it [img]smile.gif[/img]
They are already more than good enough without it ;)

But if I'd have to guess, I'd say that it is, indeed, cumulative. I don't know about the stacking bonusses though. It seems like an either/or/or/or/or to me, just like with the chromatic orb spell.