GameBanshee Forums

Yup, we all know that the easiest way to get through BG 1 was to equip all your chars with bows/slings/whatever and then just mass-range the enemies down. But does it work with BGII?

I'm thinking of making a char, Archer, equipped with Firetooth. Now, I'm interested in knowing if, when deciding what I can hit, if it is the +5 on the bow or the +2 on the bolts that counts? If it isn't the bow, range is ricidulously underpowered, but I think I tried it way back and it was the bolts.

And well, has anyone actually tried to get a highlevel Archer, like at the end of ToB when you're counting experience by the millions, does it work? And do anyone has any other views on going range in BGII + ToB?

For firetooth both the bow and it's missiles count for bonus. As for how good a high level archer would be in ToB I'm not sure. In a party he'll be unstopable, but a a solo? Couldn't say but I'd bet it'd be a good cahllenge though

What I was fishing for is whether you can hit liches (they are immune to a certain level of non- or low-magical weapon, like +2 or less, I'm not sure) with the bow or not. I know that the THAC0 bonus works for both, though. And it's not for soloing purpose. I just wanted to know whether an Archer can keep up with normal warriors in damage output.

I see, dunno about fire tooth but there are some (not many) +3 bolts (for liches) and +4 bolts (for demiliches) in ToB. As for damage with all of their bonuses the archer is more than a match for any fighter excepting only the kensai.

Any fighter? I think I can come up with some expectations, but I get the message. Thanks for the answer, then one archer we have. Perfect.

Firetooth is a +5 weapon (if upgraded), that shoot +2 enchanted missile that add fire dmg. So the Thac0 bonus is +7, but you can't hit creature immune to +2 or more.

That's what I was afraid of. Well, guess I'll just have to get some nasty 2h weapon to use in case they're immune... I'm thinking Halebard, as in Dragon's Breath to Ravager.

Come to think of it, archers do get greater whirlwind later on... That's gonna be nice. ^^

If you start your game in SoA definetly choose short bows!
You can get Gesen that shoots +4 electrical arrows (elemental dmg) and Tuigan bow, that grants an extra attack/rnd: that combo is deadly in the hand of an archer.
As for the secondary weapon any two handed is going to be good, but also going single handed style can be an option.

Gesen really shoots +4 electrical? I thought it was just like +2 or something. Thanks for that info, definately something I must check out, although I think I'll be going for Firetooth anyway. I've *never* played a char with crossbow before.

Here is a slight spoiler for another crossbow
Using the pantaloons, you are given a special crossbow as well as special bolts. Not sure what the enchantment is, but to get it you must have all the pantaloons.

Don't think there's something special with it, since it (as far as I remember) only fires speciall missiles. It's helluva fun to have it though, but that I did in my last run, and it's more like a "Heavy Metal Rod" (the actual name of it).

Naw, I'm thinking Firetooth/Ravager. Definately.

Wow, I had just gotten out from Irenicus dungeon and done some small quests like rescuing Aeris and Hendak and was just going to Watcher's Keep to see how much Firetooth was, and was I surprised that I could have it for 12000? By selling off some stuff, I could acquire it right away, thus giving my lvl9 archer an THAC0 of -1 and some really nice damage ^^. I'm guessing de'Arnise Keep will be a breeze now ^^

The number of attacks makes Bows a better choice, as you will deal out more damage per round than with a X-Bow.

I'm not getting any bow this good this fast in the game though, and I'm bored of bows. As I said, I've never tried a crossbowarcher before, so Firetooth it is.

[QUOTE=Thrifalas]I'm not getting any bow this good this fast in the game though, and I'm bored of bows. As I said, I've never tried a crossbowarcher before, so Firetooth it is. [/QUOTE]

Yes, you can. Get Tuigan bow ASAP, just leave Irenicus dungeon and run through the quest. You'll have it in... say, three, five minutes?

Tunigan bow is what, +1 with an extra attack per round? Don't think it really beats +4 that automatically fires +2 fire arrows, plus it's awesomely nice not having to worry to run out of arrows.

But well, with the bonuses, Tunigan might be better for an archer, but still...

With a helluva lot of arrows, its easier to disrupt spells, thats one of the better points of the tuigan. With an average archer you deal a good pack of damage, retrieve mirror image, breach stoneskin, and disrupt priest spells even easier. And if you have a bunch of venom arrows or fire arrows its even easier versus mages.

I wont say the xbow is not cool - he is, its the most powerfull xbow in the game, but hey, Tuigan is there too.

[QUOTE=Thrifalas]Tunigan bow is what, +1 with an extra attack per round? Don't think it really beats +4 that automatically fires +2 fire arrows, plus it's awesomely nice not having to worry to run out of arrows.

But well, with the bonuses, Tunigan might be better for an archer, but still...[/QUOTE]

You have forgotten that Bows, being faster than X-Bows, in themselves give you an extra attack. Then you have the additional attack of the Tuigan Bow...

As for Bows in general, see this thread.

I also think crossbows is not that way to go with ranged weapons.
My opinion is that crossbows are the worst ranged weapons.
Even a sling is better since Ernie Sling is a +5 that makes +4 bullets which gives an additional +4 which gives you a grandtotal of +9 Thac0 and you even get the additional bonus of a shield's AC. Firetooth is only +7 with very weak fire bolts and no AC bonuses. You should definently go with bows or slings.

Not that this really matters but even when you try to upgrade the case of bolts - cespanar says their sucky and that all he can do is make them suck less

Also remember that using slings you add to the dmg of the weapon the extra dmg from your str., thus making it the most damaging ranged weapon with a single shot.
The drawbacks are that bullets for slings aren't good as those for bows/xbows and that with slings you can't go over specialization (no mastery I thimnk), and you have few attack/rnd (no extra attack weapons), so they are better for clerics/druids (single/dualled/multi).
Definetly for an archer your best choice is short bow (if you start in SoA) and use Tuigan/Gesen combo.