[Aerich]

Not quite right, ZFR. Throwing axes/daggers get thaco bonuses from Str AND Dex.

Dex affects the thaco of every ranged attack. Slings and throwing axes/daggers get a Str bonus.

In the Severed Hand, I rest once/level or once/tower. At heart, I'm still a spell-conserver.

On the F/T v. M/T comparison, as Dundee pointed out, the difference is in the ApR. A M/T sits at a base 2 ApR and never advances. A high level F/T gets up to 3.5 ApR, I believe. A second difference is in the bows - you cannot assume that they will be using the same bow. A thief, and therefore a M/T, can only use short bows. There might be two magical short bows in the game. The vast majority of good bows are at least longbows; that includes Messenger of Sseth.

To expand on the differences in the slings v. bows comparison, as Dundee alluded to... the base ApR of slings is 1. The base ApR of bows is 2. Assuming each weapon is used by some sort of warrior class, the bow-wielder will attack once/round more. In terms of ammo, you will struggle to find sling bullets with secondary effects (fire is the only one, I think). Acid arrows and Arrows of Piercing are more effective to generic +2 bullets, and are hands-down superior for caster disruption. Even crossbows match up quite favourably with slings, especially if you find the Crossbow of Speed or the Repeating Heavy Crossbow. Bolts of Lightning and Bolts of Biting are fantastic, especially if your casters have been casting spells to lower enemy saving throws.

Overall, I'd say that bows/slings/crossbows are about equal if the user can use them at their full potential (e.g. at least 2 PP and all the equipment/ammo). However, a point in favour of bows is that you get good bows early (Messenger), non-magical bows are better in the early game, and the best bows are non-random (assuming that the Hammer Longbow has been taken out). That is not to say that slings are terrible. You can get unlimited +2 bullets for slings in the Hand, there are plenty of good slings around so you can equip several slingers, and a lower ApR and higher per/bullet damage output means you don't have to reload your ammo quite so often. Slingers are also the best prospects for Str-buffing; a warrior class with clerical abilities (P, F/C, R/C) is a boffo slinger with the aid of Draw Upon Holy Might, and you can get 18/00 Str very early on (if you start out with 18/xx) by using the Strength spell.

[ 04-20-2006, 03:12 PM: Message edited by: Aerich ]