Mundane ranged weapons and alchemical grenades are an integral part of most of my high-Dex PCs- especially Monks- to soften up foes and control the battlefield.
Among other things, a wizard with more kills to his name than the fighter (at second and third level) - not because of spells, but because he was a dab hand with a light crossbow.Haaaah, I stand corrected.
I always forget about those darn humans.
And [MENTION=6957]TheAuldGrump[/MENTION], how so? I'm curious.
Heh, now I am picturing a Pathfinder alchemist - in my head he is nicknamed Morty the Mortar....For me, I had a halfling ray/orb focused spellcaster...meaning he had several of the feats required to make for a decent D&D archer, so he carried a sling big enough for grenade-like weapons.
The "problem" is that D&D doesn't handle crossbows particularly well either, if your goal is to have missile weapons that can kill a man or a deer with one shot (or not with five or six).
We should probably be more precise. I can easily see a skilled fighter dodging a thrown axe or a long-distance arrow-shot -- especially if he has a large shield to put in the way -- but I can't see him dodging a bullet or a short-range crossbow bolt from an unseen attacker. More importantly, a skilled fighter would either get hit or not; he wouldn't get ground down by blocking and dodging the first five shots from a six-shooter, and he certainly couldn't charge a gunner knowing he'd be able to close the gap with zero chance of being stopped, even by a hit.It is easy to see why a skilled fighter could avoid lethal hits from a sword due to pure skill. It is not so easy to see why a skilled fighter could avoid lethal hits from a missile weapon due to pure skill.