Tips on Archery ? (ranged fighting in general)

"Theif" elven Rogue(rogue level2 fighter lev.1) is a +3 dexterity with weapon prof. and weapon focus on the Longbow.

"Boradoor" the dwarven Cleric level 3 is a +3dex also with weapon focus and proficiency of Longbow. Using a 14STR composite longbow.

Any tips on being a little more effective in combat?
Is it just a matter of obtaining some better longbows and arrows?

They seem to miss the mark quite a bit. When they do hit damage is minimal. (Fair enough for as the tradeoff for mobility and range in combat)


any tips ?

 

Ranged weapons are not all that effective in ToEE unless you really max out the feat selection for them. As an absolute minimum, you need to invest in Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot. PBS is neccesary to get the other archery feats, and the +1 to hit and +1 damage are nice bonuses. Precise Shot is the real "must have" feat for archers, IMHO. It takes away the -8 you suffer for firing into melee. That negative modifier is the main reason archers have trouble hitting targets in melee with your frontliners.

Beyond Precise Shot, you can experiment with Many Shot or some of the other archery feats, they seem to be a matter of personal preference from what I see. In my games, I never use dedicated archers, but I give my backliners (spellcasters) PBS and PS so they have a realistic chance to hit things when they run out of spells.

 

I agree with Erkper. I ALWAYS give my casters Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot. Precise Shot is a must for ranged combat. The penalty for shooting into melee Sucks. Also, if you are using a Crossbow, Rapid Reload is good. Your character won't get multiple attacks at higher levels unless you have that feat. But you don't need it if you are using a Long- or Shortbow.

 

Thank you

Looks like they have some feats to learn

 

My only archery character was a ranger, and he ultimately used a mighty composite +2 bow with a Str +2 strength bonus to damage. I think I added cold damage later, maybe Holy. Anyway, ranged weapons can have their uses, since you can fire at anything from anywhere. Unless Co8's work makes this easier (I have yet to play through the full Co8 conversion), you need to loot EVERY bugbear you kill and load up on arrows if you plan to use a bow a lot.

 

Or, if you want to use a crossbow, you can take the exotic weapon feat for repeating crossbows and use the one you can get from Jinerth, then use Iolo's Joy if you run into that random encounter. I don't think you need rapid reload for repeaters.

 

If you use the shop map, you can buy up to 200 arrows/bolts/stones for not too much.
You can get quite a few crossbow bolts from the moathouse crowd.

 

Also you won't be able to use a shield while using a bow or crossbow, so make sure to equip your archers with bucklers instead. The +1 to AC they provide is equivalent to a small shield. In your case both your characters have shield proficiency so even a ordinary buckler won't decrease your attack roll.

 

My experience is that a character has to have multiple bow feats over the course of several levels for that character to be effective with a bow. When possible, plus bonus arrows and bows crafted with magic are needed at some point for this kind of character. At higher levels, this kind of character along with magic gear can be a boss slayer.

 

is there any point in having that feat in this game anyway - I can't think of anytime when I would've needed it.

"Oh look that enemy is miles away lets shoot him before he kills us all with that mase - is that a mase, no no I'm sure its not a morningstar, well fine, anyway as I was saying, before he umm, oh damn you now I forgot what I was saying"

 

I have a side game starting with 4 human Fighter-archers , a Fighter1/BarbarianX giant that I consoled to like 40HP /24STR / 22 CON , a weak but skilled thief, and a brown bear(recruited by a cleric who has since left the party for other adventure).

The archery feats I am trying so far are PBS, Precise Shot, and Rapid Shot(2 shots per turn with a small penalty)

They handle the early encounters, but a test battle with the Hill Giant on level 2 proved futile.
Without a caster in the team, it is going to get very challenging. :yikes:

 

Where does Iolo's Joy drop?