At first I thought the jester's song might help me out every now and then, but after all I found it pretty much worthless. It's effect is nice, but since I have to keep singing and can't do anything else, it just isn't worth the time.
And the range is too short to keep people confused while running from those who are not affected.
I forgot to mention that I also have Algernon's Cloak, but I try to use it as little as possible, to have a challenging game. It's handy sometimes, though.
Short bows are, imo, not superior to the crossbow of speed. With both I get 2 attacks per round, and that xbow has +1/+1 THAC0/dmg. Since bolts do 1d8 damage, and arrows only 1d6, it's a little bit stronger than a short bow +1.
Not too long ago, however, I found the Eagle Bow +2 (don't recall where and too lazy to look it up ^^), which gives me a THAC0 1 better than my xbow of speed, and equalizes the damage difference. I needed the skill point anyway for BG2, but I switched to the bow now, too. Also, this gives a better variety of ammo, which may be handy I suppose.
I am wondering if maybe in the long run the xbow skill is wasted, but then again, I can only put one in anything, so I'll have more than enough for all I need.
I've only lately started to go melee at times - after acquiring the gauntlets of ogre power. My melee skill still sucks, however, and 1 attack per round doesn't help much. It helps against slimes and the likes, though.
