Fran with a crossbow keeps missing a good 70% of the time

[-_-]

She is level 41. I have her first as a white mage and second as a time battle mage. She is equipped with a recurve crossbow and she's missing a good portion of the time.

I have read that weather affects accuracy with bows and crossbows, but the weather here at the Phon Coast is perfect. She does only around 700 when she does hit, which isn't much compared to Vaan and Ashe who I also have in my party. But she can finish off foes usually after the other two have a go at them - when she does hit that is. I really want to keep my white mage ranged if i can.

I have no teleport stones, and it's be a doable - but long - trek back to Rananastre to swich up her job board to something else. I've also considered switching Balthier to a WMage/Machinist, as I've also heard guns or more accurate (and Balthier is a more interesting character imo).

So does anyone have any ideas?

[Augustus Caesar]

Fran, for me, has always been my most useless character and I don't know why that is... that said White Mage/Machinist on her works much better than archer/time battlemage on her imo.

Balthier works better with a class that can combo hit such as bushi/knight with some white magic after using the atreus esper on him.

[Casurin]

Are you sure it is not just windy?

[Arkhne]

Originally posted by King of the Dwights:

Fran, for me, has always been my most useless character and I don't know why that is... that said White Mage/Machinist on her works much better than archer/time battlemage on her imo.

Balthier works better with a class that can combo hit such as bushi/knight with some white magic after using the atreus esper on him.

This. Although the actual differences are minute, Fran is SLIGHTLY worse off in almost every way for most things, and Balthier is SLIGHTLY better at melee than most characters. It's not really needed to build around this miniscule differences, but they do exist.

I honestly avoid Bows and Crossbows, they're almost never the best weapons available (Burning Bow being a standout except for almost the entire game, because of hidden mechanics unique to that weapon), and there's that miss chance. I rarely use Guns, either, but there's some very good guns at some very good points in the game, so if you're going ranged, go guns.

You can always just use another character until you pick up a teleport stone, or you can switch on 4x speed and go jogging back to Rabanastre, the speed boost in this game makes travelling less painful, at least.

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by -_-:

I have read that weather affects accuracy with bows and crossbows, but the weather here at the Phon Coast is perfect.

Windy weather in particular can be hard to tell. Rain etc. are very visible, but wind can be subtle in its effects.

Since there isn't really a stat for hit rate, weather is really the only thing that causes actual misses (aside from Blind status, of course). Crossbows can be parried/blocked like melee weapons as well, but actual misses are weather contingent.

Originally posted by -_-:

She does only around 700 when she does hit, which isn't much compared to Vaan and Ashe who I also have in my party.

Crossbows scale with STR. Their damage formula is actually identical to that of regular 1h/2h swords and spears (and it's not the same as bows). That means lower STR will result in lower damage, which may explain the disparities.

Originally posted by -_-:

I really want to keep my white mage ranged if i can.

One option to do that could be Machinist/White Mage. Guns are not subject to weather, and their damage is stat-independent - they always deal the same damage, regardless of your stats or enemy defenses (barring certain enemy types specifically resistant to guns like flans, ghosts, or elementals). In terms of objective power, Balthier and Penelo are the two characters LEAST suited for guns, as they have a slower gun attack animation than all the other characters. But the differences aren't huge, so if you enjoy Balthier more, by all means go for him.

Originally posted by -_-:

I have no teleport stones, and it's be a doable - but long - trek back to Rananastre to swich up her job board to something else.

If you can get to a major city, you can take an airship there. The onboard shops on some airships also carry Teleport Stones for purchase, so you can restock.