Composite Longbow of Empowerment

[motub]

OK, so I just managed to win this thing in Battle Squares (yay, me !).

The thing is, I'm playing BS to get some expensive stuff to sell so I can buy some incredibly expensive stuff from Nym in the Wandering Village before he leaves.

This bow is looking like a very likely candidate, since I just don't get what it's supposed to do.

Special: Random +4 bonus to Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma when struck in melee combat. (Emphasis mine.) Effect lasts for 5 combat rounds. User is immune to further bonuses until 1st bonus expires.

What does this mean, I get a bonus when the bow is struck in melee combat...??? I tried using the bow, and nothing seemed to happen when the arrow struck the enemy (but I wasn't paying close attention, maybe I didn't hit), so I can only think that this means I have to equip the bow and then let an enemy hit me (with their sword or whatever) to get this random bonus in a stat that may not even help me (a CHA bonus is not going to do much to help any character stay alive, in general).

Does this bow actually do anything useful other than provide cash for something I can really use? It doesn't even have an enchantment bonus.

Please enlighten me, before I sell something that I might want to keep. Thanks.

[The Hierophant]

"When struck in melee combat" means when an enemy strikes YOU in melee combat. So basically, you have to have the bow equipped and an enemy has to go right up to you and hit you from melee distance. The catch with this is that if an enemy gets close enough to use melee weapons on you you do not want to be caught using a ranged weapon (thus incurring all the ranged-weapon-in-melee penalties). The bow doesn't sound all that useful really. Bulls's Strength, Cat's Grace and Eagle's Splendour spells will give you just as many bonuses as the bow, and will last longer too.

Verdict: Sell it man.

[Magness]

I agree. Sell it. I've never bothered keeping it. I like weapons with consistent effects that I can depend on. This bow is just plain silly.

There are plenty of good weapons in IWD2. This one is not one of them.

Sell it.

[motub]

Thanks, both of you, for confirming that this bow really is as silly as I suspected. I think I was having a hard time believing that something given as a reward for fighting 200 battles (not counting reloads) could acutally be so... unrewarding. Oh, well, the money is good, and you guys are just the best.

Thanks!

[ZFR]

The strange thing is the bow gives you LOTS of money when sold compared to other much more useful weapons...

[motub]

Yes, I noticed that too--- I think it's a kindness-slash-joke. After all, by the time that you get through rank 8 of Battle Squares, you have fought some 200 battles (not counting reloads if your character, like mine, has no fire resistance to speak of, and kept getting those blasted rehmorazes).

The experience is not hefty and while some of the gems are worth a bit, really, you've spent a lot of time for very little reward in terms of cash and XP, and you have spent a lot of money, using up your healing potions between levels and whatnot.

But it wouldn't make sense for Battle Squares to give you a load of cash-- this is still Oria's little playground, and why would she reward herself with money? So I think that this is the designer's workaround-- a normal-appearing prize (a special weapon) that is easily seen to be pretty useless due to its contradictory nature, so most anyone will probably sell it-- for what turns out to be a hoopload of cash, which you have surely earned by that time.

I just got caught off-guard since I wasn't expecting a truly useless weapon, rather than a really good weapon that I simply couldn't use (like the Ice Spear +4, for example).