Rolling a level 1 PFS Halfling Hunter and have a question regarding his Small size and bows. Can he use a longbow, or is he doomed to the shortbow? I thought I read somewhere he could not wield a longbow but I cant find it anywhere.
You're thinking of an older edition. Back in 1e and 2e (maybe even 3.0?), a small sized character was resigned to the short bow.
In pathfinder, all weapons are classified by size. So your halting can certainly use a longbow, it just has to be a small longbow. You may notice that each weapon entry has a list for damage (s) and damage (m). This refers to the damage a smal and medium weapon of that type will do. Just look up longbow and use the damage for a smal longbow and you're set to go!
Excellent! I was playing D&D back when they had the Basic set, and then the Expert set.
Remember that as a hunter, you can cast gravity bow starting at 1st level, allowing your small-sized longbow to cause damage equal to a medium-sized one.
If you want to ride your animal companion though, the shortbow is still your go-to.
Just use a composite longbow then, since they are explicitly allowed ;)
I would suggest if you want to do archery to look at ranger instead of hunter.
I would suggest if you want to do archery to look at ranger instead of hunter.
Why? Hunter's can do archery very well. Raw PC damage, sure the ranger does it better, but the Hunter has his AC (which is the whole point of the Hunter...). You can do some really awesome synergy as an archery ranger, especially with a large cat + pounce.
Was just an opinion. I feel that not focusing on incorporating the pet into your build lowers the potential for the hunter. Ranger has to spend less to get more for archery while still having an independent pet. I feel the hunter loses a lot when not taking the teamwork feats to support him and his pet, and making it harder to activate said teamwork you do get from the bonus feats.