Archer: Long-/ Short-/ Crossbow?

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There you go - all the responses you need and more
http://www.sorcerers.net/community/threads/is-there-a-perfect-weapon-for-the-archer-kit.2219/

 

For my role-playing:
light crossbows for thieves
heavy crossbows for paladins
shortbows for mage-like types (dualclass)
longbows for the real hardy fighters

 

Tuigan's short Bow is the best for the more attacks per round... Crossbows are too slow....

 

Thank you, Ragusa.

But Firetooth...

 

Short and long bows: 2 attacks per round, 3 for Tuigan
If Tansheron's and Gesen's bows are equipped with arrows, their total damage and thac0 becomes the damage and thac0 of the bow plus whatever arrows are equipped. In addition warriors that get 1/2 extra attack at 7th lvl and another 1/2 extra attack at 13th lvl will get the extra attack when those 2 bows are equipped with arrows, but will NOT get it when those bows fire their normal unlimited arrows. There is NO damage bonus received from Strength. In addition warriors will receive -2 thac0 penalty when using the bows' unlimited arrows.

Crossbows: 1 attack per round, 2 for Light Crossbow of Speed
Firetooth's damage, thac0 and # of attacks (warriors) are determined the same way as for Tansheron's and Gesen's.

Slings: 1 attack per round
ALL slings get damage bonus from Strength, not just Sling of Seeking, with an exception for Everard when using its own unlimited bullets and when any sling is using normal non enchanted bullets. Otherwise Everard's damage, thac0 and # of attacks (warriors) are determined the same way as for Firetooth, Tansheron's and Gesen's. When it is equipped with enchanted bullets it also gets damage bonus from Strength just like all other slings. Thac0 is determined from Dexterity, just like all others ranged weapons.

Throwing Daggers: 2 attacks per round
Throwing Daggers get no damage bonus from Strength.

Darts: 3 attacks per round
Darts get no damage bonus from Strength.

Throwing Axes and Hammer: 1 attack per round
They both get damage bonus from Strength. Thac0 is determined from Dexterity.

The best ranged weapons then would be Gesen's bow, Everard's sling, Erinne's sling (ToB), Fire Tooth dagger, Firetooth crossbow (ToB), Dwarven Thrower hammer and K'logarath axe (ToB).

I'll do some math below to show some useful numbers using +2 arrows, bolts and bullets. Everard's sling does practically the same damage as Erinne's sling, both having the same Thac0, but Everard's is available at the start of the game, so I'll exclude Erinne's sling from the list. The damage is also about the same for K'logarath's axe and Dwarven Thrower hammer, but K'logarath's is also not available until ToB so I'll also exclude it from the list. K'logarath's has 1 Thac0 better than Dwarven Thrower, but blunt is much better. I'll use the nonupgraded Firetooth crossbow, which is also available from the start of the game.
DPR = Damage Per Round (average)
STR = Strength

Mages:
Everard's Sling: -7 Thac0, 10 DPR (20 w/ Haste), 6-16 STR
Everard's Sling: -7 Thac0, 12 DPR (24 w/ Haste), 18 STR
Everard's Sling: -7 Thac0, 17 DPR (34 w/ Haste), 19 STR
Fire Tooth Dagger: -3 Thac0, 19 DPR (28.5 w/ Haste)

Thieves:
Slings and Daggers same as above
Firetooth Crossbow: -8 Thac0, 15 DPR (30 w/Haste)
Gesen's Bow: -6 Thac0, 20 DPR (30 w/Haste)

Clerics/Druids:
Slings as above

Warriors 13th lvl and up, Specialization or Grand Mastery, Haste:
Gesen's Bow: -6 Thac0, 45 DPR (70 w/ Improved Haste)
Firetooth Crossbow: -8 Thac0, 52.5 DPR (75 w/ Improved Haste)
Dwarven Thrower: -3 Thac0, 49 DPR (70 w/ Improved Haste), 18/00 STR
Dwarven Thrower: -3 Thac0, 52.5 DPR (75 w/ Improved Haste), 19 STR
Dwarven Thrower: -3 Thac0, 59.5 DPR (85 w/ Improved Haste), 21 STR
Everard's Sling: -7 Thac0, 56 DPR (80 w/ Improved Haste), 18/00 STR
Everard's Sling: -7 Thac0, 59.5 DPR (85 w/ Improved Haste), 19 STR
Everard's Sling: -7 Thac0, 66.5 DPR (95 w/ Improved Haste), 21 STR

GWW favors slower weapons, so bows for warriors are at a disadvantage at high levels.

When using ammunition with Gesen's, Tansheron's, Firetooth or Everard's the Thac0 of the weapon gets replaced with that of the ammunition. Certain enemies require magical weapons with +4 Thac0 or greater. In those cases it is better to use Gesen's, Firetooth and Everard's automatic ammunition. Gesen's and Firetooth's elemental damage will pierce Stoneskin with or without arrows. Otherwise when using ammunition on those weapons the Thac0 that is used to determine the hit rolls still benefits from the weapon Thac0 bonus plus that of the ammunition.

The most damage possible for ranged attacks in the game would be with an Elven Archer using Erinne's sling with +4 bullets having as much STR as possible or a Half-Orc Kensai using K'logarath's Axe also having as much STR as possible.

 

I appreciate the added info & detail.

I remember I once made a archer who focused on crossbows as I felt there were under used.

I'll have to check the game but I remember 2nd edition D&D-which this was based on-underpowered crossbows compared to how strong they should be for real life.

Yes Crossbows should take longer to reload but they should have hit harder than they did.

EDIT:

Just realized how big a thread necro it was. Still info can be nice to have.