[SixOfSpades]

Double-post, Dalamar. Light Crossbows do not have any ApR advantage over Heavy ones, they simply have a faster Speed Factor, and can be used by Thieves. They do less damage, though.

As for which weapon I personally would prefer, I'd say you can't go wrong. Gesen + Arrows of Ice, Fire, or Acid to get 2 kinds of Elemental damage with each hit, and Firetooth + Bolts of Lightning or Biting for the same effect. Gesen or Sling of Everard to hit any creature in the game at range. Sling of Everard + good Bullets for some very damaging hits. Mana Bow if you already have very high resistance to Magic Damage. Any very good Shortbow or Longbow for that added ApR, any very good Sling or Crossbow for that added damage per hit.

I'm not a big fan of thrown weapons, as you only get the THAC0/Damage bonuses from one item, rather than two (launcher + ammunition). Then again, they commonly add the user's STR damage to each hit, and one can't deny that Azuredge, Kl'glorath, and the Dwarven Thrower have some very useful properties. I HATE the Firetooth Dagger. I think it's great that it's +3 and does Fire damage with each hit, but does it really need to add an extra ApR, do double damage with each hit, and somehow factor in STR damage on a weapon that only weighs a couple of ounces? The only people I would allow to use this weapon are pure-class Wizards or Druids, since they're not likely to hit anything anyway, so the cheese factor is lower.

Darts are okay, but don't put points into them: They grant a base ApR of 3, so a single proficiency point in them will grant any Level 13 Warrior 4 ApR. I tend not to use Darts because only the really good ones (Wounding & Stunning) do much damage worth talking about. They're fine for your non-Warriors, but your Archer should be using something more meaty.