A ranged weapon for a Wizard Slayer/Mage

Moonheart

I have this Wizard Slayer 13 dualed into mage character I would like to play someday, and I would like him to use a ranged weapon, but have not clue which weapon proefficiency I should take.
If there is a subject I didn't studied enough this is the one of ranged weapons, but since I will not have an opportunity to raise a second grand mastery after he dualed, I need to avoid a mistake at the character creation

- This character will play solo, so I need him to have a weapon proefficiency that is balanced between what you can have as a weapon at the middle of SoA, and what you can have as a weapon at the end of the game.
- I don't need him to have a shield at all, so one-handed or two handed ranged weapon doesn't matter.
- Damage is important, but there is also the fact that more he hits, the more he stacks his spell failure debuff.

So, is there anyone around that knows enough about ranged weapons to give me some advice?

semiticgoddess

I nearly always have my Wizard Slayers, whether single- or dual-classed, use darts. Part of it is the 3 attacks per round, but mostly it's because of the Cloak of Stars, which creates several +5 darts. This allows you to bypass Improved Mantle, a common spell in SCS. The Tuigan Bow is a tad more versatile and has better range, but it can't bypass Improved Mantle at all, and would require Enchanted Weapon to strike Iron Golems and such (if you're using EE, though, Enchanted Weapon doesn't work that way).

However, if you're a solo character, your Wizard Slayer won't be able to use the Cloak of Stars, and no one else in the party can create them for him or her. In that case, I'd recommend slings, because the Sling of Everard also strikes as a +5 weapon. If you don't have SCS installed, then Firetooth will be able to bypass the vanilla game's slightly weaker Improved Mantle spell.

But if you're not using SCS, then as Minute Meteors will almost always be the superior choice, as they have 5 APR and strike as +6 weapons, in which case your proficiencies in ranged weapons won't matter after you dual-class.

magisensei

half a cent:

short bows is obviously the best missile weapon in the game when you start BG2. Begin with tuigan, exchange for tansheron and fianlly get gesen by the chapter 6. But only when you get back your fighter skills. And there is no need to get more than 1 point in it unless you really want to.

Tuigan - gives you 3 attacks per round great bow to have +1

Tansheron - has no need for ammo and fires its own ammo +3

Gesen - is an artifact bow with its own electrical ammo +4


As a mage the best weapon is probably the firetooth dagger +3 return dagger - it returns and does fire damage but you won't be able to pick it up until Ust Natha (drow city); before then you can always use the boomerang dagger +2 available in chapter 2.

Personally I like darts for mages - lots of variety with magical effects and good apr, and you get the cloak which gives you +5 darts later which is always nice although by then you probably won't need to use them. 1 point gives you 3 apr there is no need to stick another point in it.

Last but certainly not least is the sling - there are a few good ones early on - sling of seeking +2, the +5 sling with its own ammo (you have to buy this and its expensive), a +4 in the beholder lair is good as well. The good thing about slings is it adds strength damage (assuming you have 18/XX str to take advantage of it) - horrible apr but its the one hit that matters.

In order for a mage before gaining fighter skills back:

1) dagger
2) sling (if you want more damage)
3) darts (if you want more apr)

regaining fighter skills:

1) short bows
2) dagger
3) slings
4) darts

dunbar

Re. Firetooth: This is something that confused me for a long time, until I realised that there are two similarly named weapons: "Fire Tooth" being a +3 returning dagger, the other, "Firetooth" is a +4 crossbow with a cumulative thaco of +6.
Just thought I should point this out in case anyone else is as easily confused as I am.