As my party's main archer, Kivan has the composite longbow +1 and Longbow of marksmanship in his possession. I'd like people's views as to which should be his weapon of choice. Both have their advantages as I see it: a better THACO for the LB of marksmanship, but better damage for the composite LB +1.

Currently, I'm veering towards the LB of marksmanship. It has a better chance of piercing armour, which will become more necessary as the game progresses (I've just started chapter 4 and my characters are around Level 6). What do you all think though?

Do you have more than one person who can use a bow?

I usually give my best archer the weapon that does the most damage. These archer types almost never miss anyway.

<font color = lightgreen>I have a different point of view, here. Since most creatures in BG don't have lots of hit points, I prefer items that have an increased chance to hit over increased damage. They will die quickly enough, in any event, and ThacO bonus means you will be more likely to hit them.

Keep using the Longbow of Marksmanship...with the Bracers of Archery. [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img] </font>

If you want to be cute you can use the composite bow +1 when using regular arrows against garden variety enemies (you'll be hitting them all the time) and the long bow of marksmanship when using magical arrows (piercing? ice? fire?) against tougher opponents who are harder to hit. This gets you more damage with the (more or less) free arrows, but assures the best change of the extra damage with expensive arrows.

Of course the better solution is to have Kivan use the long bow and have someone else use the composite bow. Both are wonderful weapons.

Klorox: my party is Kivan, Imoen, Shar-teel, Branwen, Edwin and my PC (dwarf fighter). No real candidates for 2 longbows. I could give Shar-teel the composite +1 but I use her sword/shield style so it'd be a pain in the neck to manage. Possibly give her a 2-handed sword I guess?

Azred: I have the bracers. Lovely things, aren't they?!

Ister: Good idea - a bit of a hassle though. Isn't it a shame that Imoen can't use a longbow? That would solve the problem!

Shar-Teel is a good candidate for the second archer. Not enough hit points to be regularly used in melee, and great dex. The 2 handed sword allows her to attack from the second row.

<font color = lightgreen>Especially if you load up on darts and potions of Dexterity and Haste. 18 dexterity to get +4 to hit, +2 from the bracers, and 6 attacks per round--your foes die quickly, needled to death by darts. [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img] </font>

Oooooh, that was nice! Relies on ALOT of micro though, and I can't seem to find A) Opponents who tank my front liners without cleaving through them or B) Opponents who live long enough.

Sadly, Baldurs Gate has two types of enemies. Fodder, and Gods.

I almost always give the bracers to Imoen to make her attacks better since Kivan doesn't need them to get the job done. Why have one superb and one mediocre archer when you can have two excellent ones... ;)

There will be times when your entire party may wish to use ranged weapons for at least the opening gambit of larger battles or when charging in blades drawn may be problematic (some areas where there be spiders and ettercaps or even wyverns come immediately to mind)I would probably give the composite to Kivan (assuming he has the best thaco already)and the other to either Sharteel or yourself to use whenever its called for.