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View Full Version : Longbow vs. Composite vs. Short bow (Crit kills)


DaCapn
02-20-2010, 05:59 PM
You don't really need to crunch numbers to know that longbows will grant the crit-kill easier. My ranged user is a halfling so my ability to mitigate RT is a big deal (it takes 100 STR, 5 ranks of surge, and a rub of a white crystal active to minimize composite bow RT, 4 seconds aimed).

I did a little crit endroll analysis for maul/claidhmore/lance (http://forum.gsplayers.com/showpost.php?p=1060493&postcount=19) and it got me thinking about the bows. So for people in my boat who have a bit more cost-benefit analysis to do when it comes to selecting their bow, here's some help.

In my opinion the difference between longbow and composite is the most noteworthy. No real difference until you're talking about plate. For the rank 7 crit (pre-randomization), longbow has an endroll advantage of 12, -2, -1, 20, and 76 for the various armor groups. So composite bows actually have the advantage for soft and rigid leather.

EDITS: Copy/pasted DFs incorrectly, fixed.

Longbow vs. Eye


Kill Crit Endroll vs. AG
Chance Rank 1 2 3 4 5
100.00% 9 213 267 280 370 666
100.00% 8 200 248 260 340 603
100.00% 7 188 230 240 310 540
75.00% 6 175 211 220 280 478
66.66% 5 163 193 200 250 415
33.33% 4 150 174 180 220 352

DF 0.400 0.325 0.350 0.300 0.175
Divisor 5 6 7 9 11


Composite Bow vs. Eye


Kill Crit Endroll vs. AG
Chance Rank 1 2 3 4 5
100.00% 9 229 267 280 395 760
100.00% 8 215 248 260 362 687
100.00% 7 200 230 240 330 614
75.00% 6 186 211 220 297 540
66.66% 5 172 193 200 264 467
33.33% 4 158 174 180 231 394

DF 0.350 0.325 0.350 0.275 0.150
Divisor 5 6 7 9 11


Shortbow vs. Eye


Kill Crit Endroll vs. AG
Chance Rank 1 2 3 4 5
100.00% 9 239 340 330 424 1090
100.00% 8 224 314 304 388 980
100.00% 7 208 287 279 352 870
75.00% 6 193 260 253 316 760
66.66% 5 177 234 228 280 650
33.33% 4 162 207 202 244 540

DF 0.325 0.225 0.275 0.250 0.100
Divisor 5 6 7 9 11


AvD Relative to Longbow


Armor Group
Bow 1 2 3 4 5
Long 0 0 0 0 0
Comp. 0 2 1 0 -2
Short -5 -6 -9 -11 -11

(i.e. For the same attack roll vs. a foe in plate armor, a longbow will have an endroll that is 11 greater than a shortbow)
BriarFox
02-20-2010, 07:30 PM
It looks like you used the same DF for all three bows.
DaCapn
02-20-2010, 10:08 PM
It looks like you used the same DF for all three bows.

Whoops... That's a copy/paste mistake. Endroll calculations are accurate. Thanks for catching that.
dacatchman
02-21-2010, 12:51 AM
Nice research, thanks for posting.

My dark elf uses a composite mainly, but I might keep a long bow handy for plate wearers.

Virtually nothing he hunts has plate though and he's still pretty young, so I'm not too worried about it now... but it's nice to have the information.
BriarFox
02-21-2010, 01:55 AM
Useful to have the numbers easily accessible. Nice job.
DaCapn
02-21-2010, 08:18 AM
Nice research, thanks for posting.

I appreciate the nod but I want to point out that it shouldn't be called research. This was just 15 minutes or so of crunching numbers (formatting the data took longer than anything else). The real research some people do takes a lot of time and care to isolate variables and draw real conclusions. I've never really done anything worth any merit in that department.

So thanks and, as BriarFox said, just making the numbers easily accessible.
m444w
02-22-2010, 11:02 AM
I, having the benefit of being able to choose OHE(TWC) or ranged, have found a shortbow to be by far the best bow to use. The faster aimed shots rock (it's faster than 7 for an ambush dagger, or 5/4 for an open aimed shortsword/rapier). If I run into anything hard to take down I can just use a sword on it.
neimanz1
08-20-2012, 10:06 PM
I am surprise composite bow isn't more popular. Its like the maul of range weapons. People prefer the maul over the claidhmore even though the claidhore comes with fantastic weighting. Difference between long and composite is like comparing maul and mattock but then composite is -1 for speed.
Arconita11
09-05-2012, 11:06 AM
Anybody but a druid, monk, or wizard is proficient with all simple weapons. ... it's a specially built composite shortbow, specially built composite longbow, or sling. .... When your character scores a critical hit, roll the damage two, three, or four.
DrZaius
09-05-2012, 12:05 PM
Anybody but a druid, monk, or wizard is proficient with all simple weapons. ... it's a specially built composite shortbow, specially built composite longbow, or sling. .... When your character scores a critical hit, roll the damage two, three, or four.

The spambots are getting smarter... They're actually using words from the game instead of just talking about random TV shows.