Archers don't you love 'em?

[Tuor]

I've just decided to start a new game with 4 PC generated characters.

A monk
A thief dual-classed to mage at 11th level
An Undead hunter-always have one for those pesky vamps
and as my main character an Archer (has to be elven) GM in long bow.

I have to say that while it's still early days-still in Nalia's keep, it's the most fun game I've had yet. I haven't got a tank yet (the undead hunter will be eventually) and my NPCs are Jaheira and Nalia (it was Aerie but I needed a thief after my PC dual classed so I changed her to Nalia) but Archers are great and really make a big difference.

And because I'm no playing with five or six dual classed fighters like I normally do I have to use more subtle tactics than walk in, spot monster hack it to death with Sword/Axe/Hammer, loot corpse then desecrate remains as I normally do.

I don't know how I'll get on in the harder dungeons but my plan is to use bottle necks and slowing spells like web, slow, stinking cloud and hold monster/person to disabled opponents and keep them at a distance while I wipe them out.....

[Robin, Thief of Hearts]

Archers are truly grand. They give immense firepower to any team. If you have a Summonner, you can tie up the monsters while he handles them.

[samoza]

Played my first game with an archer , bloody brilliant

[ScottG]

Prob. one of the best classes right at the beg. of the game. Unfortunetly virtually worthless on the really tough creatures as they seem to be immune regardless of the + of the bow.

That's because a lot of the tougher ones take +3 or even +4 weapons to hit, and, with very few exceptions, it's the arrows that count here, not the bows. That's why the archer needs to carry a really decent backup melee weapon or two - or plan never to get into a close up fight!