Are Range class-build bow/xbow that bad ?

Darkblazer

I tried several builds but somehow any kit of Range build(bow/xbow) is doing very little damage in comparison to any other class-build i tried .
Not only that but even sling build is way better than any build of bow/xbow since the it gets benefit from the buffs ~ Str.
My 14 lvl archer with The Black Bow +3 is having 11-16 dmg . I made another archer (Is lvl 14 with Sling mastery ) equipped with Sling+1 and with str pot-buff and is having 23-26 dmg .

I can say that until now in my second gameplay the Sling build is going to be 2x better than the box-xbow .

The difference are insane , so is some bug or the the range-kits with box-xbow are just that bad ?

atcDave

The advantage to a bow, apart from being able to hold back from melee (!) is that it gets two attacks per round. Also, dexterity adds “to hit” bonuses; so if a character has a better dexterity than strength they may do better with a bow. Obviously with unlimited point shifting you can build your character however you want, and a strong melee warrior will most often be more effective than an archer. Although it is always useful to have a single archer who can target enemy casters even when they’re a ways off.
Crossbow is generally lesser, as it should be. IRL its advantage is in being idiot proof. It’s for levies and militia, non-professional soldiers. Literally it became popular in the Middle Ages for requiring less training and physical fitness than a bow. In D&D there are magic crossbows that close the gap, but right out of Easthaven a bow will be better.

deadinside

Damage wise, unless you are running a high level Archer kit, a high Strength warrior with thrown weapons will do more in a single hit. Even before the nerf this was always the case since Strength was always rather trivial to increase to high levels. The main perk of bows is their increased APR and better THAC0 bonuses, so while individual hits may not do much, if you take into consideration all the hits during the round the total output will be similar. Also take into consideration that the higher APR means it's easier to disrupt spells and special abilities. Crossbows are the ones that lose out due to their 1 APR cap, which gets offset a bit by the fact that there are some really damaging bolts in the game (BG2) and the existence of Firetooth (BG2).

Darkblazer

Thanks guys , i enjoy playing Archer in majority of games and just felt a bit off with the dmg in few gameplay i tried .( I had some crits with slings doing 40 dmg and i was like wtf

Can't say i looked at attack per round so if bow is getting a bonus attack is pretty nice. ( i don't know if it would work with some bow i found that have some , set - attack per round 2 or 3 )

deadinside

Bows give +1 APR over your base. A Thief with 1 APR base would have 2 APR when using a bow. A Warrior with 1.5 APR as base wold do 2.5 APR with a bow.

DinoDin

Bow are generally worse from a DPS standpoint than thrown weapons or melee weapons.

However, it's almost always good to have one bow character. This is true in IWD, BG and BG2. It's generally a good idea to try to shoot for one character on your party to have the lowest thaco you can possibly reach and for that character to be ranged. As @atcDave says above, this is helpful for targeting spellcasters. The key is to try and score interrupts.

So, I think from a strategy standpoint, it's always good to sacrifice some damage output for guaranteed hits. And in IWD, generally longbows are the best for this. Random drops can change this, but given that the composite long bow is a sure thing in the early game, these are the best. You're likely to stick with that base weapon for quite a bit of levels. They also don't require 18 strength in IWD. Bows also have a small hidden advantage here over thrown weapons as they travel faster, and the projectile has to arrive to interrupt, even if the hit roll has already happened. Lastly, the increased attack per round and the fact that bows have a weapon speed of zero (the item description is wrong) also help with this caster-interrupt plan.

Ranger, fighter/thief, or fighter/mage are the ideal choices for this. Even barbarian and paladin can work as well, just not as optimal. It's not a "must have" character type, but it is helpful.