I certainly haven't seen any, and bows what I have seen, are kind of underpowered.

As it is, i havn't seen, and dont think I am likely to see, any bows with mighty +x. I Doubt mighty +x will go higher than 1, or 2, if the property is on any bow at all. This presents a problem for us bowers, since the only way for us to damage things with DR, is to take AA levels, or use a melee weapon.

I think, that with the lack of weapon additives, (cannot use flame weapon, bless weapon, magic weapon) There should be some sort of boost to bows in general, or some sort of additive to 'sharpen your arrows' or some such.

Foraging. It makes sense a ranger would be able to take cuttings from mushrooms, use plants and stuff to heal themsleves, etc. What i'm suggesting is a skill, sort of like tracking.

/c Forage ( or something) If the PC is near a set of mushrooms or plants it will make a check based on what kind of mushrooms/plants they are, and possibly gain some, which can be used to heal hp, cure poison, etc. (there could also be negative effects, poision, paralysis disease, etc. This skill would mainly be for rangers, who do not necesarily spend their time in town, so cannot gain gold, to buy supplies. After all, rangers are supposed to be able to live off the wilds. and such, yeah?

I can't quote anything specific, but I think I've seen some pretty good bows out there. But I haven't really played many marksmen, so I can't comment on that.

Foraging though, that sounds like a good idea.

There certainly are very good bows available. I suspect your impression is due to there being only five types of ranged wepons (discounting throwing weapons) as opposed to a whole lot of melee weapons. This ratio puts melee characters at an advantage.

On foraging, a herbal system has been in the works for some time now, so I'm guessing something like it is already planned. There probably hasn't been much reason to implement this yet.

Bows arent meant to be kept in every situation...

There are plenty of arrows that have super-powers such as vorpal, poison, ability drain or casting spells on hit as well.

There are bows, maybe not longbows, but there are bows that have Mighty +5 here. There are other things they can do also. I even saw a Forever bow given as special Treasure.

In my humble opinion, it's known that ranged weapons such as bow are "unbalanced" in D&D.

In EFU if you are a ranger and uses bow you better have at least one lvl of rogue, that would add 1d6 damage.

I don't know if there is or not many "good bows" in EFU, perhaps I didn't find it yet. 8)

But it is tough to fight or keep your character concept when you always have to change quickly to sword and shield.

Or in my case, use daggerS and small axeS, which doesn't really change that much the damage amount.

The ranged weapons let you attack without getting attacked back. Isn't that good enough? It doesn't seem right to bring them into balance with melee weapons.

I don't know about the foraging thing.

I know I have a character concept that I made and now sits on the shelf due to the lack of mighty bows on the server. I would like to see a greater availability of mighty bows so high strength archers can be played.

If the mighty ability is seen as too powerful then give the bows some downside to counter it like many of the other weapons on EFU.

ie. Mighty +2, AC -1 as it takes time to properly pull the bow back and aim.

As the Mighty increase the AC penalty could increase.

This is just one idea....the downside could be something else, but right now I agree with the OP, we at least need a greater availability of mighty short and long bows.

Bows are pretty nice without the heavy damage. My only wish is that specialized arrows came in greater quantities, or could be somehow crafted in-game.

Arrows and bolts have the most magical ammunition, biggest variety of ammunition, and even the most merchant bought magical/special ammunition.

You can buy arrows that are +1, poisoned, +1 damage, and much much more.

And at extremely reasonable prices.

When it comes to bows, their power comes from the ammunition. The truly good magical bows comes from plots and stuff. I mean we are in the underdark! Bows aren't as common.

Try using darts as your primary weapon =(

Darts are actually pretty good. Buy the .1 lb weighed ones with -1 damage from lower and you can use them just as good, if not better, than a bow.

Also there are some magical darts out there, just look hard.

Relinquish Darts are actually pretty good. Buy the .1 lb weighed ones with -1 damage from lower and you can use them just as good, if not better, than a bow.

Also there are some magical darts out there, just look hard.

I've had like three dart specialists, due to an unhealthy obsession with gimpy characters. I know all about the -1 damage darts, which are no 'upgrade' for darts, when all bolts and arrows weigh nothing by default, and do more damage with a larger variety of ammunition to use.

But this thread isn't about darts. It's about how much bows and crossbows pwn.

But the point is for high strength characters darts do "pwn" over bows.

A character with 18 strength does 1d8 damage with a bow. With darts he does 1d4+4 damage. The darts are way better than the bow.

Yes there are magical arrows out there that add damage, but that doesn't help the character concept of the high strength bowman (which remember will result in a lower dex, which balances out the high damage a bit).

If the weightlessness of arrows is the issue, perhaps mighty arrows could be added to the module that actually weigh something to balance things out.

I would even be happy with normal bows and mighty arrows that have to be purchased (although I am not sure if you can add mighty to arrows)

I played a marksmen concept in the Watch once, quite successfully. There are bows on the server, mighty and otherwise, that will add to your concept, though they will not appear magically in the trash barrels..you have to do things(try finding as many quests as you can, the server is chok full of them, most never get done.. to find them, or earn them ig.

I do reccomend takeing a rogue level if it does not violate your concept/rp. In the end, after many deaths, my archer was almost pure rogue, and worked quite well (ranged plus 3d6 at level 7 was verrry effective!!) Seems like a natural fit that a marksmen would know where to hit an enemy for the full effect. Once you get two attacks a round, and if you pay attention to your build as you go, a marksman can devestate an enemy force before they ever reach you, using normal ammo. I must admit, it does take some playtime to work out how best to use one in combat effectively ..but you will find it is well worth your time if you do.

An archer with strength can benefit from strength as much as anyone else, once they find the right equipment. +2 mighty bows are not that uncommon. And as you said, to use darts effectively longterm, you have to use the -1 damage darts, which reduces you damage down to 1d4+3, even with 18 strength(w

Overall, they are both about even, but bows definitely have the edge in the longterm, if only because you use a launcher, which can have passive effects that you can't get with a dart on your weapon.

Darts get shields though, but usually when your chucking darts, you won't be getting hit, so it's a toss up.

Overall, with the weightless metal shards that get -1 damage, strength based ammunition vs bows is about even. Which makes me think their all about balanced as is!

I just wish there was a bigger variety of cool ammunition coming from quests.

I guess it comes down to how well you know the server then, which is not necessarily a good thing for new players. I have been here about a year or more now, played different characters and still have never seen more than a +1 mighty bow, and I played in a merchant faction.

I understand they are out there, but they are not as easy to find as experienced players seem to think is my point I guess.

I will also show my noob status by admitting I have no idea what you mean about the -1 darts, but for my 18 strength characters carrying the normal darts around in large quantities isn't a problem, so he is getting 1d4+4 per dart.

I am not complaining, please don't take this as complaining, just discussing.

By -1 darts we mean the -1 damage darts that they sell in lower.

My guess is that this is because there are very few PCs who use ranged weapons. I recall one gnome that Haquin played who was a fighter that specialized in crossbows. For his awesomeness as a character he scored himself a crossbow that did some really wicked stuff, including sneak attack.

I know I've made some really pumped up ranged weapons. The matter is that otherwise nobody claims them at fight nights or that I cannot find a PC who is both awesome and uses ranged weaponry.

I remember I saw a dwarf with a sick heavy xbow.

This new update NWN is having is supposed to fix rapid shot so xbows can fire same as other bows, making them the most powerful ranged weapon in the game damage wise.

Relinquish I remember I saw a dwarf with a sick heavy xbow.

This new update NWN is having is supposed to fix rapid shot so xbows can fire same as other bows, making them the most powerful ranged weapon in the game damage wise.

Crossbows never get mighty, making that not entirely true.

Where do you get this idea? On Efu they might never/rarely get mighty, but they are a d10 damage weapon, and by far have the best ammunition on the server. On other servers xbows get mighty and they sure do a bunch of damage with them.

I didn't say they were crappy, I just that they can't be blanketed as 'omg best damage evah!!!!"

Besides, this isn't the place for DPS comparisons.

Apologies.

Vlaid Besides, this isn't the place for DPS comparisons.

The residential archer is weighing in... ;)

I can understand the frustration over a certain lack of bows, but truth be told I think it isn't that far different with melee weapons. When you start out a character you obviously have a mundane bow or sword. Shortly after, if you are lucky, you get your hands on a Fine Bow or Fine Longsword -- or some other basic variaton of such. Regardless, they are better then the mundane, but you aren't writing back to your relatives on the surface about them.

As someone had said, I believe you have to take a look at the rarely done quests out there to find that bow (or melee weapon) you are looking for. There is at least one bow, that is fairly common, that gives Mighty +1. The others seem to require more work, or are special loot - but they do exist. Once again...much like powerful melee weapons.

As far as arrows come and go, I would agree there is a wide array of various abilities on them. I would debate the usefullness vs cost issue - but I won't get into that. :)

Ok, everyone said many things and my arguments have now changed a bit.

I still think "good bows/xbows" are not that easy to find. I'll keep my eyes open ... :wink:

I see no point in lower AC and add might bonus ... try to follow me on this ... because if you reach a lvl that would give you let's say a 2 or 3 attacks/round, firing your ranged weapon (I'm not talking about darts I'll get there) if you get might and buffs, perhaps you have (as I intend to) one or more lvls of rogue so sneak attack etc... you probably are going to hit and kill the opponent before he gets near you, and near is where AC really, really counts so it's when you have "contact".

So I would like to see better ranged weapons indeed, but perhaps the argument that good arrows and bolts can be easily found it's relevant. Although they are never found in quantity and they cost, and I can remember you have to polish your blade or axe to make them keep the damage they cause.

About darts, ok I'm relative newbie on EFU didn't know you could buy this in my opinion amazing types in lower as someone mentioned before :oops: , ... but even -1 dmg darts with 0.1 of weight sounds crazy to me.

Imagine a STR, DEX boosted char fighter and/or rogue with x attacks/round, plus buffs, carrying a bunch of darts (.1) he'll fire an incredible amount of nasty darts ... ( I didn't math all the possibilities yet...)

Now then someone will say but arrows and bows aren't a burden too ... and I would reply I think special ones should, and please don't forget that bows and xbows weigh, and darts on this don't.

Finally now I'm looking forward to test the idea of savage STR/DX focused barb/rogue Orkish throwing nasty darts. :D

Remainds me Ian the pinky ork and his darts ... I'm not sure they were 0.1 ...