Smaller Parties

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No decent returning hammers, I'm afraid. You can find a returning one with +2 enhancement from several places (including random drops), but that's about it.

You're better off with thrown axes (especially Big Death) or even.. drumroll.. DARTS! There's several interesting ones with +1 and +2 enhancements during the early normal mode, and you'll ultimately get a returning +5 one during HOF.

 

The biggest problem I have with most throwing axes (not that there are really all that many) is that they usually have a rather short range.... often so short that a character in the rear of your own formation can probably only hit an enemy engaging your own tanks. The advantageous thing about bows, xbows, and slings is that you can hit enemies well behind their own melee line... particularly spell casters. Now admittedly, bows and xbows may not be able to do as much damage as throwing axes thrown by a high STR character, but they will usually be able to reach targets that the thrown weapon won't. And that has value since there are bound to be times when you're going to want to hit a target that's out of range of a thrown weapon but within range of a bow, xbow, or sling.

 

Yea, that's pretty much why my pure bard uses bows, she kinda needs to stay outside of the fight and heal/sing etc and attacking takes a backseat sometimes. If he starts getting hit, I have to pull my cleric off of whatever she's attacking and tend to my bard, which just makes things difficult.

I made sure my bard had a decent amount of dex/str but not enough that I would consider changing her role in the party. She works great doing what she does already.

 

In my last party (of 6), I only used my bard in melee in the most dire of circumstances... after the 2 primary tanks were engaged in melee and the two secondary tanks were also engaged in melee.

My bard started with a STR/DEX of 14/14. (I also did this because in the LoS mod, different types of bows have different STR requirements, and I wanted my bard to be able to use most composite long bows, which have a STR req of 14.) 14/14 on STR and DEX was enough for my bard to be moderately competent in both melee and ranged combat. (And don't forget the bard instrument, the Lyre of something-or-other, that gives a +3 STR bonus when placed in the "shield" slot.)

 

I don't know if it was just luck, but my recent playthrough of normal mode (after rediscovering the game recently) netted 2 Throwing Hammers of Thunder +2. There were miscellaneous other returning throwing items (Lamia's Tongue, a bunch of frost darts, returning throwing axe of thunder with Sure Striking, a returning throwing axe +2) but the throwing hammers and Big Death had the best combination of range and magic.

There's certainly no shortage of returning throwing items in the game, and in fact there's little reason to ever use a bow/crossbow unless you have low STR.

-Max

 

yay, throwing range sucks, thats why i used it only as a secondary weapon. Also projectile speed isnt the greatest. Shooting at someone who is casting something BAD at the moment i'd prefer a bow tbh! Actually rather a crossbow. They are cool insofar that with capped attacks i can use those expensive bolts w/o wasting them.