Xbow vs. Longbow

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I know everyone here thinks short bows are the best, due to the supremely powerful examples to be found within the game. So my question is:

If you have a party with only 3 archers, and give two specialization or better with the short bow, should you specialize the third with a long bow, or a crossbow?

 

There are some great crossbows in the game (Giant Hair Crossbow and the heavy crossbow of accuracy) and some less godo long-bows in my opinion (Heartseeker is a good one for the multiple-shots) but I would advice Crossbow.

 

It's down to personal preference again. Most people seem to favour bows as you say. In defence of crossbows though I found them very useful. They tend to do more damage per hit (no strenght damage bonus for bows in BG2) and there are some very accurate ones (+5 thaco) available early and easily in the game. I had Keldorn using crossbows throughout the game and Mazzy even used them in the Underdark (her missle thaco was so good by then that it didn't matter that she had any proficiency with the things).

The downside is of course their lack of speed, lack of ammunition variety (compared to bows) and having to carry more ammo around (arrows + bolts compared to just a party pool of arrows or even bows that need no ammo). It was also easier for me last time through as I had no magic users in the party so everyone could use a bow or a crossbow. And there are only so many good bows.

Finally, two other benefits that are overlooked for crossbows. There is the crossbow of speed available relatively cheaply and early on and the Underdark is an absolute haven for Crossbow users. The Drow crossbows are excellent and those stun bolts can be exremely useful in a fight (especially against Flayers). There are also tons of these available from defeated foes.

Anyway, I thought I put a different perspective to the inevitable 'short bows are the only way' type post that is likely to appear.

 

Well as an Elf I would advice to use Long Bow, for Elves are masters with that and it's almost as logical as a dwarf with an axe.

When you're a thief, of course go for the Short Bow, however, the light crossbow you gain in the Underdark from Adalon is also great an you have that one earlier in the game.

For anyone else indeed go for the Heavy Crossbows, they do a lot of damage and the Adventurer Mart has some great ones.

 

I don't think that all the good bows are short bows. There are three really good long bows in the game, one that can be obtained fairly early. They are Manna Bow +4, Elven Court Bow +3 (located in the D'arnise Keep), And Heartseeker +3. I think it is best to have at least one party member who can use each of the bow types (ie. one for x-bows, one for short bows, and one for long bows).

 

Variety is always best, I agree. Here's the missile type weapons my party uses at the moment (Chapter 2)

--Herr'Don (me, level 13, Human Fighter)
Sling of Seeking (because it's one-handed.)

--Minsc (level 12, Human Ranger/Berserker)
Heartseeker Lonbow

--Keldorn (level 11, Human Paladin/Inqisitor)
Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy

--Anomen (level 7/13, Human Fighter/Cleric)
Sling of Everad +5

--Nalia (level 4/13, Human Thief/Mage)
Thaseron's Shortbow +3

--Jan (level 11/11, Gnome Theif/Illusionist)
Flasher Launcher

IMHO this is a very powerful combination, though that's just my opinion as I haven't tried the others, but there you go. Anyway, variety always counts,

Herr'Don

 

Headbanger:
In what way do you think elves are better at long bows in BG2?
It says that elves are "...very skilled in the use of the bow and long sword..." in the manual but that's all. In fact they get no bonus to any kind of weapons.

 

Rather than either longbow or crossbow, have you considered the benefits of a really nice sling? Blunt trauma damage can be a good thing and I think you get your strength bonus w/ the sling.

 

Trunculo:

Yes, for my cleric and my mage, I will use slings, because for ranged weapons they have no other choice. But I always assumed that slings were inferior to bows. Is that not so?

 

Follow-up question:

If you can only give two characters mastery or higher in bows, which bows should you choose?

I think that my six member party will have four characters handy with the bow: one Inquisitor, one straight fighter, one fighter/thief, and one fighter mage.

The fighter thief is multiclass, so he can't do better than two points in any weapon (at least not yet at the levels I've achieved). The Inquisitor, of course, has the same limitation. But the other two . . . I thought I'd give the fighter mage extra points in the short bow, to take advantage of those ammo-less magic bows I've been hearing about. The thief would also get a short bow, because he's a halfling thief.

So, between Inquisitor and straight fighter, who gets the longbow, and who gets the crossbow?

 

i've always prefered x-bows cause i think they look better but i use bows...

 

I think crossbow ammo has as much varaity as bow ammo. Bows have fire,acid,cold,biting,
piercing +2 and +1. Crossbows have quota bolts,biting,lightning,flashers,+2 and +1. I did not include the ammo taht you can only get 1 or 2 of. There seems to be the same no. but croosbow ammo deals more damage and some of them can stun. Bows only have +1 and +2 damage bonus except for the biting which both have.

 

Not considering magic, the composite longbow is the best missile weapon in the game. A high level fighter will hit just about any creature that is not protected against missile weapons at anytime. A comp. long bow does d6+1 per arrow, for an average of 4.5 points per shot. So an average of 9 pts per rnd. A x-bow does no more than d10 damage as I recall, and with one shot, that averages to 5.5 points per rnd. The long bow also has twice as many chances to crit.

If you are taking one shot and then engaging in melee most of the time, a heavy x-bow might be better.

If you give mastery in a missile weapon to a fighter, I assume you would want them to use that weapon a lot, so I would give you crossbow to the inquisitor, and put him in the front (to take shots at the charging enemy) and let your fighter with mastery in longbow take lots of shots from the second rank.

 

Cathon:

Thank you. That is very helpful.

 

For me I always had a good purpose for crossbows since Kheldorn (specialised in crossbows) becomes a good missile weapon fighter after getting the gaunts of dex. And since Minsc is specialised in longbows I always had good use for longbows either.

-Crossbows: There are some formidable crossbows available in BG-2, just like some excellent bolts. The disadvantage of the crossbow is that good bolts are a wee bit rare in the early game and the lower speed factor of the excellent heavy crossbows (comparable to two handed weapons). The big advantage is that the crosbow bolt deals 1d8 damage and that some cool bolts are available in the underdark, where arrows are rare.

So in my eyes a ranger archer with grandmastery in the crossbow is a formidable fighter (better than if he would use a longbow). Also, in the underdark where you find bolts frequently, there also is the the excellent drow crossbow +3. I like the sniper´s crossbow and the giant hair crossbow quite much.


-Longbows: I especially like two longbows - the strong arm and the heartseeker. Also nice are the elven court bow +3 and the manabow +4.
The strong arm is excellent, I however rarely use longbows for my main char so the only nps that could use it are minsc and valygar. Since Minsc already has str-18/93 I think it would be foolish to give him the girdle of hill giant strength (adds +2 damage/+1 THACO - but for melee only) only to enable him to use this bow ... so I always chose the heartseeker for him since the strength enhancers are of better use elsewhere.
However, if you have a str-19 char in your party the strong arm is an excellent weapon for him. I also like the feature on the heartseeker to give +7 on THACO for a short time each day. The other prime longbows in the game are also excellent. The manabow is excellent for a wizardslayer - just add the bow if inertial barrier and an amulett of magic resistance (if he can use both, I never tried it) ... and he will be about immune to magical damage.

As for my missile weapons preferences: I take what I can get In my actual party I have spread my missile weapon abilities widely (though there is no crossbow user in my party this time for I have a second PC). That´s what I use:

Main char - halfling cavalier Sir Donaldus II - no missile weapon
Minsc - heartseeker
Jahiera - sling of everard and sling of arvoreen (better for it features +4 THACO & +4 on damage - slings are excellent btw)
Imoen - usually the bow of the tuigan though recently I prefer to give her the firetooth dagger and a bucker +1 (effective and nice looking)
Mazzy - tansheron´s bow
Bragomil - gesen´s bow

Though I think the two certrain shortbows are great I would give a full sized char a bigger weapon like a longbow or crossbow

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited June 23, 2001).]

 

longbows are better in my opinion coz...

1) they shoot twice as much as crossbows... easier to disrupt spellcasters

2) arrows are easier to find on dead ppl than bolts

but there is one reason why i'd use crossbows...

the Kuo-Toan bolts are really good... but u can only carry them in 10 bolt packs which really spoils it..