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Hi guys!

I love these infinity games, especially BG2, and I've played em all. Still, I never seem to get the hang of D&D rules. My newb rp party are three half-orc fighters with amazing strength, an elven ranger with a bow and two drow - sorcerer/MC and cleric.

Now my elven ranger is ****ed up. The cleric and fighters all do like 20-30 damage (there are all lvl 8-ish) but my ranger does 2-7 damage. His dexterity is 20, and I thought dex gave bonuses to bows and other missile weapons. As things are now, he is pretty much useless. Is there any way to make him more Legolas-arrow-massive-slaughter-ish?

Oh and also, which rare 2h weapons should I plan to give my three orc brothers? Sometimes I find I give characters specialisation in some weapon style, only to find no usable weapons later in the game...

Thanks!

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missile weapons get the DEX boni to AB but not to damage!

what btw. seems to be right somehow...

....as the only ranged weapon the sling is a STR based - and therefore also gets a STR damage boni...

...and some/all(?) throwing axes are also STR based but due their short range I wouldn't consider tham as ranged weapons!


...and as most missile ammunition causes piercing damage and the "average IWD2 monster" has a quite high piercing damage resistance and some are even immune - you should buy all the rare arrows and bolts causing bludgeoning damage!



...good 2-handed weapons for 3(!) orcs - OMG! - you need much luck as most of the good items in IWD2 are randomand best "sure loot" are 1-handed!

for weapon spec. I would go 1-2x for axes and 1x for 2-handed swords and/or 1x for spears!


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Ok, thanks for your reply! Yeah I know 3 orcs are a bit overkill on the tank department... but they look so nice, all green and stuff.

Darts, throwing hammers, and throwing axes all get STR bonuses. Slings do as well, IIRC, in IWD2.

The thing about Th. Axes is that they almost all have wretchedly short ranges. Darts have more range than Th. Axes, but not nearly as much as any sling, bow, or Xbow.

Given the IWD2 design of darts, I NEVER give darts to a mage because if you try to have your party open up on a charging enemy at long range, a dart-equipped mage might have to run out in front of the rest of your party to get in dart range, thus exposing himself to melee.

No, surprising as it may seem, darts in IWD2 are best given to a very strong tank for shorter range ranged combat, partiicularly when the enemy is imobilized or otherwise unable to get into melee (stunned, greased, webbed, etc.).

The generally best of the throwing weapons are Th Hammers. However, ThHammers are VERY heavy and not generally worth their weight until you get a returning Th hammer, particularly the +2 ThHammer.



I don't know about a lot of monsters having lots of piercing resistance. Oh sure, skellies of all sizes will certainly have some. And certain boss level monsters will have bucketloads of resistances. However, in general, do not look at archery as a big time killer in IWD2. Even with all of the archery related Feats, archery is best seen as a suppliment to melee and magic damage.


Here are a few of my thoughts about how to get the most out of archery and archers in general.

1. Use them to try to disrupt spellcasters.

Always a good thing!


2. Use them to get the last few points of damage to finish of severely wounded enemies.

One arrow hit will rarely kill any unhurt monster. But one or 2 arrows might just finish off a nearly dead one. And as well all know a nearly but not yet dead monster can deal as much damage as a completely unhurt one. So targetting the nearly dead ones is a very good use of archery. Reach out and "touch" those nearly dead monsters!!!



I always like to have one dedicated archer in my best parties. And not mage with a bow or xbow, but a warrior class or perhaps a priest (cleric or druid). But I have to admit that my favorite "dedicated archer" is a ranger. I like to refine them as lightly armored, max DEX, stealthy archers to team up with my rogue so that I can have a potent hit and run scout team. And while a light-armored ranger doesn't seem to be quite as great in melee as a straight up heavy armored tank, they are still full blooded warriors with a warrior's BAB and with a decent STR and good weapons, a ranger will also be a solid backup in melee as well as great archer.

You could take the feat Rapid Shot to increase your attacks per round - you will take a -2 penalty to your chance to hit, but your high Dex will offset that penalty (+3 bonus to hit, instead of +5 bonus). Also take Improved Critical, a feat that increases your chance to cause a critical hit on every attack.

As said above, you aren't going to kill many enemies with a single arrow. That ogre won't die from an arrow shot through its eye, because that ain't the way these games work.

For maximum effect, use the bow with the highest damage modifier (it tells you in the description what the + to damage is) and arrows with the same. Also use arrows with secondary effects (acid, fire, extra damage) or keen arrows (increased chance to critical hit).

As with all archers, your archer gains in effectiveness if he/she can shoot longer. Use Web, Entangle, Slow, Spike Growth, Hold Person, Chromatic Orb and other movement-inhibiting spells to give your archer(s) longer to fire away. You hit automatically on held opponents, so if you use a spell to hold those enemy archers or casters, hammer away with your archer and don't forget to use the Rapid Shot feat here. It is also useful to summon creatures ahead of your tanks or charm onrushing enemies to give your archer another few rounds of damage dealing.