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I find it quite odd that sometimes my +3bow (eleven court bow) won't hit a creature (weapon ineffective) who can be hit by a +3 melee weapons. I tried all my arrows (+1, +2, piercing, fire and acid) and they seem useless. Any ideas?

The bow does not confer it's enchantments to the arrows used. It only gives a bonus to hit and to damage. Since there are no +3 arrows in the game only the bow of gesen and the bow of tansheron can wound the more magical enemies you face. Thus shortbows are more powerful in BG2 than expected.

Makes sense to me. You are not bashing the creature with your bow. You use it to shoot arrows, thus an arrow shot from a magical bow, does not become magical itself. It can, however, do more damage(the bow packs a bigger punch) and hit more often (the bow is more accurate.

As far as I know, the best magical arrow is a +2. However, if you use a shortbow like Gesen (or the one purchased in trademeet) that doesn't use arrows, your attacks will count as +3 attacks.

edit: argh... beaten to it
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"Beyond the grave they will find nothing but death. But we shall keep the secret, and for their happiness we shall allure them with the reward of heaven and eternity." -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

[This message has been edited by rumagent (edited 12-13-2000).]

That's too bad... No wonder I don't see much archers in this forum. He's very powerful and most people overlook this class.

I use an archer. My imported ranger from BG1 actually. I had all slots in great bows but simply had her not attack creatures that she could not wound with her bow. Instead she used the Celestial fury and the Sword of Roses to make short work of those. Remember that even if you're an archer you are still a ranger and quite able to use close combat weapons if needs to be. ;-)

Against less magically protected foes she was like a scythe against the grass. She alone killed the Shadowdragon when all the others had to run for cover. ;-)

I found bows to be ineffective in BG2, and one of the main reasons is what you are talking about. There is a +5 sling that requires no ammo and can almost always hurt anyone. If only it were a bow

Bows are not underpowered in the game. I agree that shortbows are the most powerful bow type in the game. If you use shortbows, you get some pretty good equipment fast. First of all you get Tuigan Bow +1 (one extra attack) in one of the first quests. Shortly after you can get the Tansheron's Bow +3 in Trademeet (which doesn't use arrows and fires +3 arrows) - In effect two great weapons in chapter 2. Finally there is also the Gesen bow.

Also consider that there is some powerful ammo available to the bow class (arrows of biting/piercing, the latter being available at almost all storekeepers). Now add, that if you are playing as an archer you get some wicked bonuses when wielding a bow (plus you get the Bracers of Archery very early in the game) - in essence you have to roll a 1 not to hit!

There are preciously few monsters that only can be hit by +4 or higher (kangaxx springs to mind) and they are going to cause grief no matter what class you play.

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"Beyond the grave they will find nothing but death. But we shall keep the secret, and for their happiness we shall allure them with the reward of heaven and eternity." -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

[This message has been edited by rumagent (edited 12-13-2000).]

I'm not saying bows are underpower, but longbow is. Since sling, shortbow and dart (a clock which produce +5 darts) all get the unlimited ammo thing, why exclude longbow and crossbow? No archer is going to spend 5 points on one ranged weapon (like longbow) and another 4 points on another ranged weapon (like shortbow), which will leave him defenseless in melee. If they're going to have ammoless weapons in the game, then all types should get a taste of it. Bioware does a great job on the new weapons in BG2. It just seems they forgot some of them.

Where did you get Bracers of Archery from?

I didn't find them.

Xandax: You can find it in the druid groove map. Don't rememebr where, but I know I got it after doing the trademeat quest.

Hmm - dosen't seem like very early in my games

Mayby I should go to Trademeet earlier then I'm use to.

Thanx for the info.

I'm using Mazzy with the Tuigan bow and actually I don't mind much that the ammo determines the + of the weapon. Arrows of Piercing seem to be +4 which is almost always good enough and when a mage casts protection from magic weapons I can flip back over to normal arrows and still hit him. (A Lich with Protection from Magic Weapons is completely invulnerable until it goes away or is breached.)

Originally posted by Xandax:
Hmm - dosen't seem like very early in my games

Mayby I should go to Trademeet earlier then I'm use to.

Well, the druide groove quest can be done almost immediately. It only gets hard if you try to get the bracers or if you enter the house with the Raksasha (not too sure about the spelling).

Afaik arrows of piercing are +4 thac0 only, but I could be wrong...



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"Beyond the grave they will find nothing but death. But we shall keep the secret, and for their happiness we shall allure them with the reward of heaven and eternity." -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

I guess the +2 arrow is for the balance of the game. Else, an archer firing +3 or +4 arrows is way too powerful. Imagine an level 17 archer firing phantom arrows from a +4 composite longbow... Probably he'll drop everyone before they reach your party.