Bow of the traveler

[Berder]

+5 artifact longbow of distortion

Distortion is forbidden on bows for obvious reasons - being able to constantly blink enemies away while shooting them with a ranged weapon (without having to use up dispersal ammo) would be OP. Why not have it on an artifact, then? Similar to the Storm Bow.

[duvessa]

Distortion is forbidden on bows for obvious reasons - being able to constantly blink enemies away while shooting them with a ranged weapon (without having to use up dispersal ammo) would be OP. Why not have it on an artifact, then?

Because distortion is forbidden on bows for obvious reasons

[Berder]

Electrocution is forbidden on bows, and yet there's the Storm Bow. Fixedarts are allowed to be powerful.

[jejorda2]

Would it be better as a -2 short bow of distortion? You could still use it to blink around and fire at something until it gets banished, but it isn't going to be the #1 choice to deal with everything from the moment you find it.

[bcadren]

Distortion and Dispersal are VERY different brands. It's more like distortion isn't implemented for ranged for a reason. I mean you can Holy Wrath a bow if you go TSO, but Lugonu won't distort your bow; there has to be a reason bow of distort was thought of as too powerful.

[Berder]

Would it be better as a -2 short bow of distortion? You could still use it to blink around and fire at something until it gets banished, but it isn't going to be the #1 choice to deal with everything from the moment you find it.

If you just need to just blink something away in a hurry you can use dispersal ammo. The purpose of this bow would be for your main damage, much like the storm bow. A low enchantment is reasonable as a way to counterbalance the brand - but I think -2 is too low.

Lugonu won't distort your bow; there has to be a reason bow of distort was thought of as too powerful.

Already addressed. There's a huge difference between being able to get a disto bow every game from Lugonu and getting it once in hundreds of games as a fixedart. Many fixedarts are extremely powerful and obvious choices - provided you have skill in the right weapon.

[Arrhythmia]

There's a subtle (but important) difference between "powerful" and "too powerful".

[bcadren]

There's a subtle (but important) difference between "powerful" and "too powerful".

Also it'd be pretty similar to Storm Bow. Electrocution is the second strongest additive brand. Distortion is the strongest additive brand + (a bunch of random crap).

[Berder]

There's a subtle (but important) difference between "powerful" and "too powerful".

You would have to playtest it before you could say whether it is too powerful. I don't think it would be.

A glaive of distortion is a similar weapon, as it has 0.7 mindelay and 15 damage, just like a longbow. It even has the same skill requirement for mindelay, and it can reach.

Consider that if you're using a glaive of distortion, there is still going to be stuff in range of the glaive most turns in difficult fights, even though you occasionally blink enemies away. Think vaults:5. That means that a disto longbow wouldn't have much of an advantage over a disto glaive in such scenarios; the glaive would hit something nearly every turn and apply a disto effect, and so would the longbow.

Also it'd be pretty similar to Storm Bow. Electrocution is the second strongest additive brand. Distortion is the strongest additive brand + (a bunch of random crap).

A longbow is a high base damage weapon, so an additive brand is not that special. I'd prefer a glaive of freezing to a glaive of electrocution or distortion - and a longbow looks a lot like a glaive.

[Sar]

Distortion is the strongest additive brand

What about pain?

I'd prefer a glaive of freezing to a glaive of electrocution

I'm pretty sure that's a wrong equipment decision to make.

Edit: just fsimmed it, freezing glaive is slightly better vs. a yak, elec glaive is slightly better vs. a stone giant. So not really wrong, more like "it doesn't really matter".

[wizzzargh]

being able to constantly blink enemies away while shooting them with a ranged weapon (without having to use up dispersal ammo) would be OP.

Yeah, I can't imagine what crawl would be like if there was some way to stay out of range of your enemies forever while hitting them from afar

that would just be crazy

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[rchandra]

Elec isn't forbidden on bows anyway, it just doesn't generate normally (brand weapon can make it).

[tasonir]

This thread reminds me of the one time I complained about a centaur with distortion arrows being really annoying and everyone was like whoa wtf dude calm down you mean dispersal they can't get distortion and I was like oh yeah you're right but I still really hate distortion and monsters shouldn't use it or dispersal because I hate when I can't just tab something.