What ranged weapon would you use...

[Jeff Wilder]

Assuming money is no object, then no, there's no better ranged weapon than a mighty composite longbow.

Personally, I'd go for the mighty composite shortbow. I dunno who on 3.5's design staff thinks it's feasible to use a longbow from the saddle, but he's on crack. (I know from experience.) The shortbow also just makes a better "picture."

 

[Darklone]

Mongols: classical composite "longbow". Actually, the distinction between long- and short-bow with the composite things seems a wee bit silly to me in D&D. Same for the strength bonus only to composite bows. That's been my first houserule to D&D ever and will probably be the last one I will keep.

 

[Ottergame]

Get a composite longbow as soon as you can, worry about a mighty one when you can afford it.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Mongols: classical composite "longbow".

Historical Mongol bows were short bows. (That is, the ones used from horseback. A Mongol warrior actually often owned two bows ... one short composite, and one long composite, the latter for fighting on foot. They used different arrowheads for the two purposes, as well.)

 

[Christian]

Recurved long composite bows can be used from horseback for two reasons. 1) They have a shorter staff length for the same draw length compared to a self bow, and 2) the grip can be placed off-center (by designing the bow with different curvature above and below the grip). This bow would be specifically designed for use on horseback (eg. the Japanese daikyu) ... I imagine the distinction between foot and mounted composite longbows was left out of the equipment descriptions for simplicity.