Zad said:
Now let's add in what we know about 3.5:
DR: Hard to say what effect these changes will have since we don't know the exact nature. A special purpose weapon will be easier to come by than special arrows of course. Also since the archer does lower damage per shot, the DR will hurt the archer more without the means to bypass it. But it's all guesswork.
This is all guesswork of course, but I would guess that, with GMW or Arcane Archer levels, it's much easier to have a dozen different types of +x arrows (silver, cold iron, adamantium, steel) than it is to have a +5 silver greatsword, a +5 cold iron greatsword, and a normal +5 greatsword. Since it's likely to be arrows that beat the DR, and GMW is the normal way of getting magic arrows (and also can effect all of the different types of arrows with one casting) but can only effect one melee weapon with one casting (and is not as close to being the exclusive way to get magic melee weapons as it is for arrows), I would think that archers will have a much much much easier time penetrating designer DR than melee characters. They have no need to spend significantly more money than they currently do for their arrows. (At mid to high levels, 10gp for ten silver arrows isn't significantly more than 1gp for ten normal arrows--any non GMW enhancements (Holy, Shock, etc) will be on the bow which is equally effective against all kinds of DR. OTOH, having a +1 Holy Shock Silvered Greatsword and a +1 Holy Shock adamantium Greatsword is prohibitively expensive). Nor do archers need to use a feat for quickdraw in order to be effective against multiple types of DR all the time.
Haste: this can go a lot of ways depending what kind of tricks you use. Too varied to fold in here.
I don't really see how this will go any way except in the archer's favor. Absent the extra partial action of the 3.0 haste or the extra move equivalent action of the D20 Modern Haste, archers will probably get twice as many full attacks as melee characters. And, since the rumored 3.5e Haste only grants an extra attack on the full attack action, that will skew the balance even more in favor of archers who will benefit from haste vis a vis melee characters who often won't. 3.0e Haste narrows the gap (unless manyshot is on the table in which case it favors archers). 3.5e Haste unambiguously favors archers.
GMW: A big change. By slowing down the rate at which the arrows go up in their bonus, you tune down the archer's damage. I generally assumed that the swordsman and archer had the same level of GMW available to them (cast by a spellcaster of their level) but since the arrow/bow bonus stacks, this would be more of a cut for the archer. Also in practice, most fighters have magic weapons but archers use a lot of GMW for arrows.
This is the only change which favors the melee character. And going from +1/3 levels to +1/4 levels will be significant but not dramatic--at any rate not nearly as dramatic as the changes in Haste and DR.
The other change that you left out is the inclusion of Manyshot in the core rules of 3.5e. This ensures that a competent archer will always get multiple attacks whether or not they moved. Consequently the difference in the amount of full or partial attacks that is present without magic and is diminished by 3.0e Haste but exacerbated by 3.5e Haste will be made complete by Manyshot. Melee characters will make multiple attacks only when they start out within five feet of threatening a foe AND don't drop him with the first attack. Archers with manyshot will ALWAYS make multiple attacks either with Full Attacks or Manyshot.
So the 3.5 changes, what little we know, would seem to close the gap further.
Actually, I would say that nearly all of the 3.5e changes seem like they dramatically favor archers in the damage/round department.
Also significantly, they also dramatically favor archers by removing the defensive utility of Haste. Part of the balance of archery is this:
Pro: Archers aren't next to monsters who will usually take devastating full attack actions against them.
Con: Archers are easily shut down by eliminating LOS and don't threaten an area.
The elimination of Haste's defensive aspects (which were usually the tipping point between having a an AC that was hard to hit if the bad guy power attacked and having an AC that was hard to hit whether or not he power attacked WRT defensive melee builds) increases the threat of full attack actions from monsters and thus increases the value of the Pro side of the equation. (Changes to Haste and the inclusion of Manyshot also mean that, if an archer does find himself next to such a monster, he can move out of its threatened area (taking the AoO) and still make multiple attacks; the melee fighter can't do that).
