powergaming an archer: which bow?

[krunchyfrogg]

I'm inclined to go with shortbow.

Also, when baddies get close, what melee weapon should I choose? Or would I be better off just firing my bow anyway in melee?

PS: I know I need the boots of speed, then I'll never need a melee weapon, unless I'm fighting clay golems.

[IronDragon]

I would go with short bow for one reason: Tuigan Bow

It is available from almost the start of the game and the initial 3 shots per round is devastating to most critters and bad guys. With even a few proficiently points in short bow the number goes up and if you add improved haste it turns into a machine gun. The real trouble you will have is keeping a supply of arrows.

It is always good to have a melee weapon handy. The penalties for fighting melee with a ranged weapon are real and can be hurtful. As for what kind…well that would depend on your party and what you plan for them to use. Don’t take a great weapon away from your tank just so your archer can use it a half dozen times. Since your archer won’t be using a shield a two handed weapon would be a good choice. Halberds and spears have a good potential… few NPC’s specialize in these and the are some good ones out there.

[krunchyfrogg]

Oh, did I forget to mention I'm going solo? Ooopsie!

I think I'll go with Staff at first, because I'll get a magical one at the beginning, it's blunt, and there's a +4 one once you have the cash, which will hit a certain bad guy hanging out in Athkatla.

[Kyrvias]

Go with shortbow first, the tuigan bow is unforgiving with spellcasters, and then put points in long bow for a couple nice ones later on; like Transheron's bow, Heartseeker, or the Mana Bow.

For melee weapons, I would go with either halberds or spears. Few if any NPC's have that proficiency, so you get the best, without hindering your group.

as for weapon styles, either choose two weapon style, or single weapon. Usually I go with single weapon, the 2 point armour class bonus is very helpful.

[TinyMage]

Throw all your points into short bow and go with Tansherons bow, its +3 enchantment and does not need ammo and you can get it at trademeet ( pretty early ).

For a secondary weapon I would go with something with crushing damage and good secondary abilities.

For instance: crom faeyr, mace of disruption, defender of easthaven, flail of ages.

I would not go with staves since they don't do any more damage then 1 handed weapons and with 1 handed weapons you can get +2 AC with single weapon style. Also the best staves are reserved for other classes.

[Zink Whistlefly]

It really depends if you have the grandmastery match installed or not.

If not, then the Tuigan bow is definately the best way to maximise yout archer bonuses.

If you do have the grandmastery patch installed, and since you are powergaming, I would suggest dumping all your points into longbow and taking the extra +2 damage per shot that Longarm offers over Tuigan. This would be more beneficial that the extra +0.5 attacks per round that Tuigan offers once you pass level 13. Of course, you'd need the belt of Hill Giant Strength to pull that one off so it is quite an expensive route to take.

As for your melee weapon choice - definately take the 2 handed weapon route. You could give dual wielding a go but it is a royal pain in the butt constantly swapping your equipment around when a critter gets close to you (if only the quick slots from NWN existed in BG2... [img]smile.gif[/img] ). Single weapon would grant you +2 AC bonus, but your AC is likely to blow hard anyway, so a more effective route would be the 2 handed weapon style. Better damage (from both the weapon and the proficiency), quicker hitting and improved critical make this a worthwhile archer choice.

If you have ToB installed, you could haul yourself over to Watchers Keep and find a couple of nice little Archer items on the first level without having to engage anything too tricky [img]smile.gif[/img] .

Tasherons bow will only then have the advantage of hitting as +3, with the rather massive disadvantage of potentially 13-14 less damage per round

[ 07-29-2005, 05:34 AM: Message edited by: Zink Whistlefly ]

[Cam_H]

Another vote for Short Bow for reasons already covered, but at some point you might consider putting a point or two into Cross Bows. The Kuo Toa bolts and Paralytic Bolts that you pick up in the Sahuagin city and the Underdark Western Tunnels can be super helpful at times.

Don't forget that the Fletcher in Waukeen's Promenade has 80 Arrows of Dispelling and 200(?) Arrows of Biting for sale. You'll probably not have lots of problems with cash with all of the scrolls you'll collect, and I'd say that 40 each of these as a minimum would be worthy investments.

Summons can be helpful for this kit to keep enemies distracted. Ras, and the Staves of Air, Earth, and Fire will be handy pick ups, as well as buying Vhailor's Helm.

Despite wishing to play the ranged attack all the time, I found in practice that a solo Archer does have to come to grips with melee quite often. Most of the magic protections are found in swords (Arbane's, Dragonslayer, Adjatha) so while not as cool as the Flail of Ages or Celestial Fury, long swords and short swords are not the worst choice. Ilbratha is another that should be sought at an early stage - you'll use that Mirror Image throughout the game.

On blunts, there's also The Mace that comes in handy if Daystar hasn't done its job.

(Some slimes and oytugh are also effectively immune to arrows).

[ 07-29-2005, 07:52 AM: Message edited by: Cam_H ]

[SixOfSpades]

All launchers are not created equal. First let's go into the question of damage: A plain Short Bow grants -0 to THAC0 and +0 to damage. A Shortbow+1 grants -1 to THAC0 and +0 to damage. A Shortbow+2 grants -2 to THAC0 and +0 to damage. A Shortbow+3 grants -3 to THAC0 and +0 to damage. Seeing a pattern here? Shortbows do not add damage corresponding with their weapon enchantment. Neither do Longbows. (They do, however, all have an innate +1 to ApR, so that's fair, I suppose.) The only Bows that grant Damage bonuses are the Tugian Bow and all Composite Longbows (which add +1), the Ripper+2 (which adds +2), and the Strongarm+2 (which adds +3).
Slings and Crossbows, however, do add damage with their enchantment: A Light Crossbow+1 adds +1 bonuses to THAC0 and damage, a Light Crossbow+3 adds +3 bonuses to THAC0 and damage.

Not all ammunition is created equal, either: Magical Arrows and Bolts do not add damage corresponding with their weapon enchantment--Bullets do. A mundane Bullet does 1D4+1 damage, a Bullet+3 does 1D4+4.
There is also the cheesy exploit of abusing the fact that ALL Slings, not just the Sling of Seeking, add the user's Strength modifier to the damage of the weapon, provided the Bullets in use are of at least +1 enchantment.

If what I just said has you sold as far as Slings are concerned, consider that for some reason, Sahuagin and Kou-Toa really really know how to make Bolts be a lot more damaging than anyone else. Regular Bolts do 1D8 damage. Paralytic Bolts, however, do 1D10 (the same as a Two-Handed Sword), and Kou-Toa a whopping 2D6. And that's not counting their very nice additional enchantments, too.

In addition to Arrows of Biting and Dispelling, the Fletcher (Perter) in Waukeen's Promenade also stocks a large number of Arrows of Detonation. Although I do have some mods installed, so that might not be in the original game.

[Assassin]

Arrows of Detonation, AFAIK, are not available in the original game except as a lucky drop, so I suspect it's a matter of your mods, SoS. BTW, does it and GDB (ToB HLA) work the same way as Fireseeds?

Which leads into melee weapons. #1: Boots of Speed. #2: Staff of Air. #3: Ring of Regeneration. As soon as you have those weapons, you're set. Boots of Speed gives you a boost to allow for some hit-and-runs. Staff of Air gives you a minion (something very useful and not exactly common, unless you want to use [Improved] Kitthix) and a decent +2 weapon. Ring of Regeneration and Boots of Speed combine to make you unkillable in a large area, as you can indefinately run away from the enemy while you regain health. Of course, it's very tedious, but sometimes, when the battle's really hard and you have one ranged enemy left and only 2 HP, you just don't want to have to do it all over again.

However, I would really suggest that you take Short Bows (Bow of Gesen and Tuigan Bow both being quite nice). Staves and Long/Short sword wouldn't be bad either. There's a nice Short Sword that gives +1 to ApR, which would be useful if you want to dual-wield in the face of many enemies. In fact, with that Sword (or Belm), Gloves of Extraodinary Specilization, and level 13 as an Archer, if I don't miss my guess, you'll hit 4.5(!) ApR. Even without the Gloves, which aren't exactly a walk-in-the-park for a solo Archer, 4 ApR isn't bad at all. Add in a strength-enhancing Belt, and you won't mind being in melee nearly so much.

[ 07-29-2005, 03:20 PM: Message edited by: Assassin ]

[krunchyfrogg]

So, six, which bow (or other missile weapon) do you recommend then?