Tansheron's Bow magical arrow Thac0?

FD3SA

Hello gang,

I just picked up Tansheron's bow, and have searched the forum but I can't seem to find a concrete answer as to how Tansheron's bow works.

Using discrete projectiles, it just works as a normal +3 shortbow. Thus, with a base Thac0 of 20 (assuming no dex bonus, and proficient), when using it with +2 arrows, one receives a +5 Thac0 bonus.

However, when using it without arrows, it appears that the +3 shortbow bonus is lost, and it instead works as a normal shortbow firing +3 arrows, and thus totals a +3 Thac0 bonus.

Is this working as intended? From the description, I assumed you would get a +6 Thac0 bonus when using the bow without any arrows, as the bow is itself +3 and the magical projectiles are also +3.

Any clarification here would be helpful. If the magical arrows do not apply the Thac0 bonus, I will switch back to the Tugian, as with +2 arrows you receive a total of +3 Thac0 and +1 damage.

elminster

As far as i know its working as intended.

Jarrakul

Pretty sure it's working as intended. The ammo-less launchers are weird, but they all work this way. Basically, if the weapon isn't loaded, it functions as one cohesive whole with certain bonuses, including the ability to harm creatures immune to non-magical weapons. However, if arrows (/bolts) are loaded, the listed bonuses are *all* transferred to the launcher (sometimes including the weapon's base damage, as in the case of the Shortbow of Gesen), and stack with arrows in the usual fashion, including being limited by the arrow's ability to harm certain magical creatures. Why does it work this way? I have no idea. But that's how it's always worked.

FD3SA

Thanks guys, I guess that's how the devs intended these bows to work. It gets even stranger with Gesen's bow, which doesn't even apply weapon proficiency bonuses to the magical projectiles, making it a pretty terrible bow for a grandmaster archer.

I have to confess I just beat BG2 for the first time, and was expecting archers to be as devastating as BG1. They definitely received a heavy nerf bat, and arguably for good reason. Coran in BG1 with dispelling arrows made the Sarevok fight trivial.

elminster

FD3SA said:

Thanks guys, I guess that's how the devs intended these bows to work. It gets even stranger with Gesen's bow, which doesn't even apply weapon proficiency bonuses to the magical projectiles, making it a pretty terrible bow for a grandmaster archer.

I have to confess I just beat BG2 for the first time, and was expecting archers to be as devastating as BG1. They definitely received a heavy nerf bat, and arguably for good reason. Coran in BG1 with dispelling arrows made the Sarevok fight trivial.

Without ammo Gesen does 0d6+2 piercing damage (which effectively means 2 piercing damage) along with the electric damage it does. Anyways you should be getting the extra damage bonus from having grandmastery when using the bow. It just would come in the form of piercing damage rather than electrical damage.