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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Willie the Duck" data-source="post: 9502732" data-attributes="member: 6799660">Depends on the mage. You shoot first (before they can take cover or get into a melee scrum where you roll to see who you hit), but you only get one shot. See DMG:"Whatever the ROF, multiple missile shots are handled the same way as other multiple attacks for the purposes of determining initiative.""When the attacks are true multiples--using the same weapon more than once--as in the case of a highly skilled fighter, the attacks are staggered. Everyone involved in the combat completes one action before the second (or subsequent) attack roll is made."Probably half and half. It was pretty good, but it also had some serious limitations. Most all fighter-types I remember had bows, but specializing in one was another level of commitment. Notably it was a heck of an investment for intermittent benefit.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I suspect more people tracked encumbrance bitd (and the guidance on bulk as well as weight might have made more DMs nix carrying 150 arrows around even if it was in the weight limit). So you probably had an ammo limit you could realistically burn through in a dungeon (to say nothing of wilderness travel and random encounters).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There was not an equivalent to 5e's Crossbow Expert feat. The rulebook didn't specifically say you couldn't shoot a bow if the enemy was right up next to you, but it implied it (with bow specialization point blank range being 6-30'), and Sage advice in Dragon #s 149&253 saying that missile weapons do not work in melee (the later even delineating it a 'missing rule' -- that era's closest thing to errata).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The shooting first thing, as you mention, only worked if you did not have reason to have other things at hand. It also had intermittent utility -- if you took out one orc in a group of 4 or disrupted the enemy mage's casting, it was highly beneficial; if it was just an arrow into the ogre's hide before anyone else, well then maybe it would mean the rest of the party could whittle its hp down before it could act and save the party from a round of aggro.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Investing in bows means gambling on getting magic bows and arrows. If the DM uses the DMG charts, only 5.3% of magic weapons are bows or arrows. Even if they pick and choose but limit themselves to what's in the book, you still only get bows up to +1. Assuming that being the guy who calls dibs on the magic archery kit puts you in back of the line in your party for cool magic sword (which by the time you got a +1 bow might be +3 or flaming or able to beet you at chess), that again is quite an investment.</li> </ul>Overall, I think the magic item bit (and how your DM populated treasure piles) would be the lynchpin. Same as your katana wielder. If X% of your enemies are going to be completely immune to your oh-so-cool or otherwise-rule-benefiting weapon choice -- and there's no (or statistically no) way you are going to treasure-drop your way out of it --  there's a practical limit in how much you will build around that weapon choice. You might get proficiency to support it, but specialization (and supporting fighting styles)? Probably not.It was that way in 1E Unearthed Arcana, where bows got the point blank shot and shoot-first abilities of 2E bow specialization, plus extra attacks per round as you level. Perhaps it was thought that was three benefits to a melee weapon's two (if you count +1 hit, +2 damage as a single bonus) or the like.Or possibly because of how long it takes to become an expert archer IRL -- one of those randomly interspersed nods to realism that A/D&D haphazardly did.I recall a lot of what we now call whiteroom theorizing on the matter. When Complete Fighter came out and there were no competing kits that looked more optimal, a lot of my circle advocated taking a Myrmidon Fighter, taking bow specialization, and putting their highest stats in Dex and then Con.<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Myrmidon gives you a free specialization, regardless of bow or otherwise, so it's just plain efficient.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">You can specialize in other weapons with your native weapon proficiency slots (or now your extra languages if you have a moderately good Int).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Since you "weren't going to" get an 18/00 if you rolled on 18 Str (and if you did, how often would people assume you had cheated/gotten DM collusion/etc.?), you may as well bank on coming across Gauntlets of Ogre Power or a Girdle of Giant Strength (apparently 0.2% of magic item rolls, but man did they seem to be more common, I think they got specifically placed a lot).</li> </ol>Again, how well this worked out probably depended a lot on DMs cultivating loot to the party makeup. Probably also how well (ex.) a Dex 18&Str 15 fighter survives to second level compared to a Str 18/62&Dex 15 fighter does.</blockquote>

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