Is there any advantage to using shortbows?

[Liebsmaschine]

Apart from the fact they're smaller and lighter. I'm just wondering if there's a reason to use them instead of longbows, or are they just there so smaller characters can wield bows?

[Sticky Wicket]

I'm fairly sure the rate of fire is slightly faster.

[Liebsmaschine]

Originally posted by Sticky Wicket:

I'm fairly sure the rate of fire is slightly faster.

I can find nothing in the manual, nor the game, that indicates rate of fire for bows. If someone can point me to this info would be appreciated. Better still can anyone clarify with certainty that they fire faster and whether this equates to more damage overall per round or turn?

I've used crossbows (with rapid reload & haste) and longbows (with rapid shot & haste) and longbows clearly fire faster. I've never used shortbows so I'm in the dark about this, I'd use them for my next character for variety's sake but not if longbows are better.

[Ettanin]

Weight and size, but no quicker RoF because RoF is dependent on the amount of attacks per round you have.
The apparently quicker RoF is due to the animation, but you don't have more attacks per round with a shortbow.

[Liebsmaschine]

Originally posted by Ettanin:

Weight and size, but no quicker RoF because RoF is dependent on the amount of attacks you have.

Ok thanks, so as I suspected then, I'll stick to longbows.

[Tesseract]

Rogues get proficiency in shortbows but not longbows, so there's that. But yeah, mostly just for small characters.

[Liebsmaschine]

Originally posted by Tesseract:

Rogues get proficiency in shortbows but not longbows, so there's that. But yeah, mostly just for small characters.

That's a decent perk for rogues, wish sorcerers or wizards had it, you could do some sort of half-elf rogue / arcane archer thing with that. I'm going for elf for this character so will have longbows off the bat.

[Profile Name]

You can do a rogue/wiz/bard/sorc/aa

[Liebsmaschine]

Originally posted by Zoomer:

You can do a rogue/wiz/bard/sorc/aa

There's a three class limit so I'm assuming you were counting wiz/bard/sorc as the three possible arcane choices to get arcane archer? Could be an interesting build.

[Selphea]

Now that Beamdog's added better custom spellbook support i wonder if Assassin will finally get a spellbook and count as an arcane caster...

[Liebsmaschine]

Originally posted by Selphea:

Now that Beamdog's added better custom spellbook support i wonder if Assassin will finally get a spellbook and count as an arcane caster...

A two prestige class would certainly be interesting, is that even allowed? Never tried to do one myself. Could be an interesting play style, moving in for sneak attacks then moving out to a ranged position. Not sure how effective it would be but might be worth a try someday.

[Selphea]

Midrange shooting to paralyze then use the paralyzed enemies as target practice! No need to do archer kiting anymore.

Double prestige class is doable. RDD Blackguard is a common one, as is Dwarven Defender + Weapon Master and Shadowdancer + Assassin. In FR lore, Szass Tam is a Red Wizard/Archmage.

Most prestige classes are either underpowered or one-dimensional and gimmicky compared to their vanilla counterparts anyway. It's not like a Harper Scout/Purple Dragon Knight will break the game for example.

[Shia Luck]

2 prestige classes are certainly doable, and have the advantage of no XP penalty no matter what race you use. Wiz/Assassin/PM and Bard/PM15/RDD are other possibilities and as Selphea implied, playing Assassin without being SD is to miss the joy of Death Attack paralysis.

Originally posted by Selphea:

Now that Beamdog's added better custom spellbook support i wonder if Assassin will finally get a spellbook and count as an arcane caster...

I am really looking forward to seeing what people do with Assassin (and PM, RDD, new classes etc.)

Have fun :)

[Liebsmaschine]

Originally posted by Selphea:

Midrange shooting to paralyze then use the paralyzed enemies as target practice! No need to do archer kiting anymore.

Double prestige class is doable. RDD Blackguard is a common one, as is Dwarven Defender + Weapon Master and Shadowdancer + Assassin. In FR lore, Szass Tam is a Red Wizard/Archmage.

Most prestige classes are either underpowered or one-dimensional and gimmicky compared to their vanilla counterparts anyway. It's not like a Harper Scout/Purple Dragon Knight will break the game for example.

Sounds like a good tactic, although enemies with paralysis immunity must be an issue. That's the problem with crowd control, fine until it stops working. As a ranged fighter my "crowd control" tends to be just using henchman and summons to pin down enemies and keep them off my back. Can't speak for most of them but you're probably right about the prestiges, though Arcane Archer is very powerful.

[Liebsmaschine]

Originally posted by Shia Luck:

I am really looking forward to seeing what people do with Assassin (and PM, RDD, new classes etc.)

I'd try an AA / WIZ/ PM combo if that were possible, might be really effective considering the summon tactic I described above. No Assassin for me though, too evil.

[Shia Luck]

PMs tend to be strongest in some sort of melee build, but immunity to crit hits is useful in any case I guess. That's assuming you play on Hardcore difficulty. I think on normal difficulty the PC is immune to crit hits anyway. I have played a dual kama wielding M/W/PM30 and having a lesser demilich as a summon is certainly fun.

Have fun :)