Short Bow vs Sling

[Erosthenes]

Looking for wisdom on this choice. I know Short Bow has longer range, but the Sling does more damage, (Strength Bonus). Opinions? Discuss......

[rangerjeff]

Short bow is 60, sling is 50, not going to make a difference except very rarely.

But, this is a very odd question. If you're looking for a cheap missile weapon, why not light crossbow? Only 5gp more, 1d8 damage, 80 foot range.

If you aren't just looking cheap, why not composite longbow with your strength mod? Saves the move action that light crossbow wastes.

So supposing you're looking cheap, and you have 14+ strength, sure a sling will be fine and do a little extra damage. At 12 strength sling and shortbow are even on damage, but sling is cheaper, so it's your decision whether to save a few gp or get the extra 10 feet of range.

The other consideration I guess is are you a cleric or druid? Would you like to memorize Magic Stone? This makes sling a much better option. 3 stones per casting which last 30 minutes, each is +1 to hit and does 1d6+1 base damage (plus strength) or 2d6+2 base damage vs undead.

[Adamantine Dragon]

There are way, way too many options for this to be a simple comparison.

The shortbow gives you the chance to exploit the archery feat tree without a feat tax to load as a free action.

You can get str adjusted bows to add your str modifier to them (or adaptive magic property), so that difference is a difference only for a very short time at very low levels.

I am having exactly this conversation with myself for my halfling detective bard. Right now I'm more or less at the point of deciding based on if I want to pursue the archery feat tree or go to a more spell casting bard option.