Interesting. I've found that I usually die when I try using bows.

Just for reference, I'm in the Act I Battlefield. I have the Hero as a melee tank and the Deathknight as a mage.

Because the Giant Spiders poison has a habit of taking all of my Deathknight's health with one bite, I've given him a bow so I can keep him on Agressive mode and not get hurt. This works fine with the Hero running around melee style.

I tried giving the Hero a bow as well. Dead in seconds. The bows just didn't do enough damage fast enough and I was shikababed by the Ranged Skeletons. Perhaps if I'd designed an archer character from the start they might work better.