Archery Damage

[Whitewings]

Something's been puzzling me: When I shoot at a bishop, using my composite longbow (the one with iron ore added), assuming I hit at all, I'll do one or two health to him, perhaps four if I'm lucky. But when the bishops hit me (and I have 14 Armour against ranged attacks), I typically take 12 to 15, and roughly half the time, Mantri is dead in one shot. Are bishops normally this deadly, or am I just having lousy luck?

[AliquisDeus]

Firstly, as Xaa stated in the readme, Mantri is only a pawn. He may be wise and old, but he's basically sword-fodder. So a bishop being able to kill him with a single arrow is not unrealistic I think. However, I don't think he should be dying to a single shot very often, not in my experience anyways, and I don't even equip him (I play solo, as a rule..dragging along quest-required npc's, but not using them for anything).

As for your character..what are your precision/dexterity values? Likely the bishop has higher stats than you do in both areas. Also, what speed setting are you using? As best I am able to figure, your attack damage is increased by roughly 25-35% on power, and decreased by the same on the speed setting. As well, if you haven't noticed, large weapons do less damage when your strength is below a certain amount, I've noted. I'm not sure how much less, but it should be noticeable. Depending on your stats (I don't have enough information), I would recommend more training/raising your dex, and trying different strategies..try firing at an enemy from different angles for example, and maybe even try raising your strength and firing to see if your damage goes up.. If it helps, my Pooka often does 20 or more damage with the same bow (dependent on which bishops you're shooting at..the weakest or strongest?)..but she has months of training in precision and very high dexterity.

Also, keep in mind that as you approach the highest ranks of melee/ranged combatants, they become extremeley powerful. The key is to avoid getting hit..by whatever means you prefer.

[Xaa]

Whitewings said:

Something's been puzzling me: When I shoot at a bishop, using my composite longbow (the one with iron ore added), assuming I hit at all, I'll do one or two health to him, perhaps four if I'm lucky. But when the bishops hit me (and I have 14 Armour against ranged attacks), I typically take 12 to 15, and roughly half the time, Mantri is dead in one shot. Are bishops normally this deadly, or am I just having lousy luck?

Bishops really are that deadly, and Mantri is, in the end, just a pawn. What's limiting your damage is likely low dexterity and/or precision. Note also, however, that if your strength is only barely enough to pull that bow, this will dramatically reduce your accuracy, damage, and the speed at which you reload.