Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Couple bow complaints

the game is pretty good and i enjoy it, but i have the most difficult time making characters i am happy with.

here are a couple of the complaints i have about the bow users:

1) why is perception used for ranged accuracy on top of dexterity? no other class has this double stat requirement. if you make a low level bow user that only has 5 perception you will have less than 50% to hit at even 10m.

2) why is barrage 3x 60%? for the ap cost this doesnt mathematically work out very well. its only redeeming quality is the guaranteed hit due to the issues mentioned in #1.

3) why is arrow spray not based on weapon damage? you are shooting arrows from your bow, but it has fixed damage like a spell. no matter how great of a bow you get, your arrow spray damage will remain fixed.

things like this are just frustrating.

it seems like the only option to be really strong in this game is to be man-at-arms with a few points tossed into basic spells for some generic heals and buffs.

the arrows are nice, but the penalties and bad skill design of marksman makes it mediocre at best. magic damage is relatively low across the board and you have to deal with immunities. scoundrel has backstab, but everything else sucks. its a 1-trick pony.

man-at-arms on the other hand can be nearly immune to spells or death from physical, while having the highest damage in the game.

it just makes the game feel very one-dimensional when you want to make a powerful character. you can make this one type, or be a lesser.

Every class has cons and pros. Ranger is most versatile class in the game thanks to the tons of arrows he can use, can attack from any range, and don't need to care about positioning like mages, because their arrows don't harm teammates, just go through them. These are very big upsides. Double stat requirement is a downside, meant to balance this. Without that, rangers would be completely overpowered.



It's kinda funny. Every day i see topics like this on forum, and they are never telling the same thing. Some guy whining that the warriors are useless, and rogues are doing insane dmg and are overpowered. Next day second guy whining that mages sucks because ranger can do everything they can, and more. And next day after, we have a third guy, whining about rangers being useless, and warriors overpowered. And fourth guy, who claims that mages are insanely powerful, and all other classes are clearly inferior. It looks like every class in game is useless, and overpowered at the same time.

Or maybe it just the players are weak or good, and classes are pretty balanced?

Like Shaki said, the perception requirement is easily outweighed by being able to attack at a distance and using special arrows (which hit automatically).

And like you said, Barrage is a guaranteed hit, thus being balanced with lower damage. I agree that it can feel somewhat underwhelming though.

Well, Perception only comes into play at ~9.7 meters. So, it works out like this:

1 point of Dex = 10% accuracy bonus regardless of range.
1 point of Perception = 10% accuracy bonus on targets beyond 9.6 meters (plus all the non-combat bonuses of Perception).

Of course, ranges beyond 9.6 meters incur accuracy penalties. But they can be offset with either Perception or *more* Dexterity equally.

That makes Perception more of a means to add bonus accuracy beyond what Dexterity provides, without allowing it to unbalance your accuracy at ranges under 9.7 meters. If you're not interested in the non-combat benefits of Perception, it seems like it's always better to opt for more Dexterity over Perception (which is a conditional accuracy bonus).