Nifft
Penguin Herder
I''m curious: Can you say a bit more about this? The bow is strung higher than can normally be drawn, but with rage we go to town?
Yep yep. Barbarian is useful for four things:More likely when you rage you forfeit the extra damage because 3E hates archers and a decent priced strength adjusting bow is rarer than starmetal. Which is why I mentioned Whirling Frenzy, so you at least get an extra attack out of the deal. Otherwise, as Nifft said, regular rage would be more of a "Plan B" if forced into melee/grappling.
1/ Longbow proficiency.
2/ +10 ft. movement (use this extra movement to run away from melee).
3/ d12 HP and a reasonable skill list.
4/ Rage (1/day panic button) -- helps cover your bases: extra HP, implicit boost to Fort saves, explicit boost to Will saves, and a bonus to melee or Str based skills.
Cheers, -- N