there should be a skill or some ability that lets you fire an arrow at the target you want, not just the monster in the front. Like arc an arrow in the air so it hits the target in the back (but for animation it could just go through the monsters in the front) This would make bolt of mass destruction actually worth using on zoos. Also squid shots would be that much better.
Having recently played a character who took nothing but rogue skills (killed by an invisible trap and user error), I have to say that archery isn't that great a skill currently. The extra damage is useful, at least early on, and the ammo recovery is a nice perk, but they're nothing you can base a build around. Some selection of skills is needed to make archery more interesting, if not more powerful. If you take archery, it's because you plan to spend a lot of time shooting enemies, so the skill should be based around that. I suspect the reason why archery doesn't have skills currently is because it needs to use up arrows, but arrows and skills are mutually exclusive. That, and procs don't work on archery. That in mind, here's my recommendations: Tier 1: Lucky Arrow. "Your favorite arrow, it's never let you down. Or been washed." Activatable skill, 6-turn cooldown. Basically a free arrow that does +5 piercing damage. Tier 2: Trick Shot. "A series of implausible ricochets lets you hit anything. ANYTHING." Activatable skill, 12-turn cooldown. Another free arrow, hits target regardless of what's in the way (c.f. old Obvious Fireball). Tier 3: Overdrive. "Really crank that crossbow!" Buff, lasts 6 (10?) turns, cooldown 40 turns. +10 piercing damage on ranged attacks, +5 critical chance. What I really would like to have but can't justify is some way to hit multiple targets. The best approach I can think of is to clone Thibault's Trompement from the swords line, but having a cloned skill seems lame (nevermind Axenado vs. Gray Heron vs. Ki Cascade).
Derakon, quite interested in your ideas for changes to archery, I like them... and on a multi-hit arrow, I can justify it for you, don't you worry. And for further amusement it allows a great way how to sneak in yet more movie references. Flux shot - By precisely tuning your crossbow, you can fire a bolt that will travel at exactly 880 fps. We are not sure what this does, but when it happens you are going to see some serious shit. For those not initiated into higher mathemagics, this allows the next shot to pierce all targets on the way to whatever you are aiming at. Mechanics - Upon using long cooldown ability, you are given the buff Flux-Tuned Crossbow, which allows 1 Ranged shot, 6 turn timer to fire, or the shot is wasted. Upon firing, all targets that are in the firing line between you and your chosen impact point are considered attacked. The chosen bolt fired is not recoverable. Flux-Tuned Crossbow - This bow is ready to rip a hole into the time-space continuum! For people that think it'd be funny to abuse this mechanic with spell based arrows, it'd only cast the spell on the arrow on the impact point, so no abusing it to make everything be afflicted by squid.
Yeah, see, my ideas were limited to what's possible with the current engine. Yours would all require code changes, which means more work for the devs...which is fine, if they have the time.
I've previously argued that even without any archery skill, that bolts are overpowered. I do think that Archery (and Thrown, for that matter) does need to be buffed. But at the same time, I also think that bolts and crossbows need to be nerfed a little for people who don't have the Archery skill. Right now they are so good even without any skill that it hardly makes taking the skill (let alone maxing it) desirable. How about this for a non-skilled nerf: Without the skill, your chances of hitting should decline greatly with range, and you can only (possibly) hit the first target. With the skill, make it so that you can aim at targets further in, but you must 'roll to miss' every target in the way. As your skill increases, make it easier to miss targets in the way. Also, of course, increase the damage and accuracy bonus from skill.
