Archers

Izgoth · Post by **Izgoth** » Sun Jul 08, 2001 10:07 am

I have never played an archer and Id like to have some tips.

1. what kind of bow should is use? long, short or cross.

2. what attributes should I try to get? str, con and dex I supose.

3 what race is good for an archer?

thank you for all the tips (I hope Im getting some) =)

cheesemage · Post by **cheesemage** » Sun Jul 08, 2001 10:10 am

high dex strength and con probably whatever race that fits you and theres a preety powerful long bow that you get early in the game

Sabre · Post by **Sabre** » Sun Jul 08, 2001 10:18 am

1. Long or Short Bows are good; long bows gives you extra damages and further range, but there are no magical arrows above +2 (+3 for ToB).

2. Dex is important: both for your AC and it gives bonus for range weapons. By the way you need at least 13 Strenght, 13 Dexterity, 14 Constitution and 14 Wisdom.

3. You can only be Human, Half-Elf, or Elf; I would go for Elf, you get 19 Dex, but can only get max 17 Con, max of 18 for others. For Human and Half-Elf max is 18 for all stats.

MegaToerist · Post by **MegaToerist** » Sun Jul 08, 2001 11:59 am

Don't forget that Elves get a +1 bonus to hit with bows as well (don't remember if it's for both long and short, or only for long

)

TC, Geert

Mr. Sprinkles · Post by **Mr. Sprinkles** » Sun Jul 08, 2001 6:08 pm

Choose Elf for your race and put 5 proficiencies in long bow. I usually choose Mind Flayer as my racial enemy, but that's just me...

Anyway, you should pump your Str, Dex, and Con up to the highest achievable numbers. This will probably mean that you'll have to sacrifice points in other attribute slots; your Wis can only go down to 14, but I'd say that it's okay to put your Int and Cha down to 10 if need be (remember that anything below 10 gets a penalty).

[ 07-08-2001: Message edited by: Mr. Sprinkles ]

dionysus · Post by **dionysus** » Sun Jul 08, 2001 6:19 pm

I can't speak for ToB, but there is a Shortbow in SoA that IMO is one of the best weapons in the game.

Depending if you're going on to ToB, you may just want to consider choosing shortbow instead. True it takes a while to get the best bow, but there are other fun weapons while you wait.

Happy Adventuring.

Dionysus.

Mr. Sprinkles · Post by **Mr. Sprinkles** » Sun Jul 08, 2001 9:27 pm

Long bows do more damage overall. Besides, elves get bonuses to hit with long bows, not short bows.

Dimensional · Post by **Dimensional** » Mon Jul 09, 2001 3:42 am

The Archer debate

1. longbows or shortbows (archers can only get 5 *'s in long or short bows )

i always choose short bows simply because i get tired of lugging arrows around and because the only way to get +4 enchanted arrows is to use the gesen bow. (also my favorite bow of all time Tuigen bow is a short bow - an archer with tuigen bow and improved haste can pump out 10 arrows a round - it has to be seen to be believed)

stats - this has been covered but for me
dex - Max (low ac and + bonuses with bows)
Con - max as well - hp is good
Str - high is nice and if you plan on using longbows 18 is nececary (for composite longbows)
wis - no lower than 12 for druid spel casting
the rest is realy up to you.

3 race - i like elves. +1 dex is very nice for erchers (and i think the +1 is for bows not just longbows)

anyway thats just my oppinion , go for what you think you will enjoy.

PDF · Post by **PDF** » Mon Jul 09, 2001 6:51 am

I agree with Dim(ensional) on the short/long debate, but there's an additional consideration : do you plan to DUAL your archer later to Cleric or Mage ?
If yes, you can also opt to specialize in Slings, that'll give you a good spellcasting sniper

I however see no good reason to choose crossbow, the best ones (Crossbow of speed) aren't even to par with "average" magical bows...Only little advantage is that there is some special bolts that do not have arrows equivalents (Lightning, Stun,...).

Red Inquisition · Post by **Red Inquisition** » Mon Jul 09, 2001 8:02 am

Elves get bonuses to long bows and long swords. Not short bows. I would start with at least 1* in both short and long bows. You will not receive penaltys if you want to use the Tungian(sp) bow early in the game or the gensen bow for the +4 arrows later in the game.

Davion · Post by **Davion** » Mon Jul 09, 2001 8:05 am

Originally posted by Dimensional:
<STRONG>(also my favorite bow of all time Tuigen bow is a short bow - an archer with tuigen bow and improved haste can pump out 10 arrows a round - it has to be seen to be believed)
</STRONG>

To my knowledge, bow attack/round is capped at 2.5 I've played an Archer to a high level (18 or so), and he could never get more than 2.5 attacks per round (even with Tuigan bow!). Of course, his attack rate did double under Improved Haste.

Set autopause at end of round, and attack something that won't die very easily (like a Greater Wolfwere, or a PC) to see for yourself.

Davion

Laurelei · Post by **Laurelei** » Mon Jul 09, 2001 3:52 pm

It seems that with ToB installed you cannot dualclass an Archer at all. Therefore Elf becomes the best race, because they get the highest dex and dexterity is a good thing to have if you're going to try to hit monsters with launched items

As mentioned before, Elves also get extra bonuses with Long Bows, but since some of the best bows in the game are short bows, proficiency slots become a matter of personal choice.

In any case, you cannot dual class an Archer to a mage for sure, since Archer is a Ranger subclass, and Rangers can ONLY dual to clerics.

If you want to dual class a Ranger to a cleric in ToB, it seems your only kit choices are Plain Vanilla Ranger and Beastmaster.

glory · Post by **glory** » Mon Jul 09, 2001 9:26 pm

In my opinion as far as bows go...get slots in BOTH long bows and short bows. It takes a little long to master both but with TOB installed you can master both and get other weapons also...so i'd start with 2 in long..3 in short and 1 in another weapon and go from there. In TOB there are +3 arrows everywhere. I don't remember but i think there are even +4 arrows around.

fudge · Post by **fudge** » Mon Jul 09, 2001 9:53 pm

I just finished ToB with an Archer in my party. I decided to go crossbows because they do more damage (+1 for an elf longbow isnt that big imo), eventually got them a firetooth +5. Anywayz, i think i got to around level 28-29, with a thaco of -23.

Dimensional · Post by **Dimensional** » Tue Jul 10, 2001 2:38 am

@ Davion
actualy it did work (i checke with auto pause on) but scince installng TOB my archer is capped at 2.5 per round despite saying 5 attacks per round (i noticed she was not getting the attacks she aught and checked up. Major bummer sort of ruins the archer class

I think i will bring this issue up in a seperate topic see if anyone knows how to fix it.

but is still love Archers from a pure roleplayng perspective the whole sniping from the shadows thing is just great.