Weapon damage doesn't matter honestly -- the only thing the bow has going for it really is manyshot which gives him an extra shot each round.
The Zen archer has at level 20: 18/18/13/13/8/8/3
Manyshot rapid shot for a fighter at level 20: 18(x2)/18/13/8/3 which is only one less shot.
The Zen archer could get off one more shot occasionally with a point of Ki if he wants.
The fighter is going to hit more often (thanks to weapon training and duelist gloves) and probably hit harder -- they are both still evenly MAD since the wisdom bonus doesn't help with damage.
All in all it comes out right about even, while snap shot and greater snap shot allow the fighter to take AoO's with the bow as well (just as the monk can).
I believe the answer is, "your face, hard." and it is correct.What CAN they do?Yah Yah, all this crazyness about bows and arrows.
Nobody sees what a halfling with a halfling slingstaff, the warslinger trait and a simple pathfinder pouch at his belt can do.I was kind of hoping for a more detailed explanation. :P
I don't even know what a pathfinder pouch is, much less what it does.
EDIT: Did some research. Still don't know what that pouch is about, but Warslinger doesn't work with halfling sling staffs, only slings. Trying to apply it to halfling sling staffs would be like having a player trying to apply weapon focus (shortbow) to his longbow. Just because the word "bow" (or "sling" in this case) appears in its name doesn't make it a valid combination.
Well, a pathfinder pouch is a small money pouch, you can fix it to your belt and it has an extradimensional space where you can put 20lbs in if i remember right. It´s from one of the first Pathfinder Society book. Also you can hide the stuff in there. I´m sorry i couldn´t find a link just now. The clue is, you can put all the slingbullets you want in there and some other stuff too. Since it´s small, you can hide it easily on your person with sleight of hands.
The halfling slingstaff is just another sort of sling, so the warslingertrait is fine with it. You could even use a doublesling.
I´m sure you have some decent conter argument, so i conter before:
The "ammo drop" and "juggle load" feats from halflings of Golarion say that you can actually do the same if you take them, with the difference that you don´t provoke attacks of oportunity.
Then, there are severyl feats where the word bow or crossbow appears and they all count for the different subtypes of bows or crossbows, why should it be different here?
(I would daresay loading a sling is not different from loading a bow, so it should actually only require the same time to reload and feats to not provoke attacks of oportunities, but we all know this game is full of people with fixed opinions and prejudice and artifacts from its ancestors)
Why halfling slingstaff? Higher damage, higher reach (80ft), and if you got a weapon focus in it, you can even use it in melee with the same boni. That´s why.
TO answer the other stuff, just stay out of melee if you want to stay ranged. How? Take one level in Monk Zen archer and the rest in ninja. Get some sniper goggles later and the subtle weapon enhancement. You absolutley don´t need ammo drop and juggle load as a rogue type, thats for fighters or else. Better take outflank and enfilading fire and maybe gang up if you want to spend feats there.