Ranger w Composite Longbow

[Crexis]

I'm helping a friend create a dwarf ranger with a composite longbow.

Should I make his Str or Dex to 18 ? (and the other 14) or make them both 16?

Does Str give the composite longbow a +4 to dmg AND +4 to attack rolls?
Or does it use dmg rolls for STR and dex for attack rolls?

With wisdom coming in as 3rd highest stat.

Any recommendations stat wise or otherwise?

[Shadowfoot]

Bows attach using Dex.
Composite bows are propulsive. They add half strength mod to damage

Str 18, Dex 14 -> +2 to hit, +2 damage
Str 16, Dex 16 -> +3 to hit, +1 to damage.

[Crexis]

Damn, half str rounded down is pretty brutal.

[Rek Rollington]

You do have one option to get 18 Str / 16 Dex or 18 Dex / 16 Str.

Take two extra flaws at ancestry creation to get one more boost.

You already have a flaw in Cha so you can't do that again. Int would be the first obvious choice. Then choose Con or Wis to put the flaw in (which cancels out the boost).
Let's say you choose to drop con since you want Wis as the 3rd highest stat.

Dwarf now gives you:
12 Str 12 Dex 10 Con 8 Int 12 Wis 8 Cha
Pick a Dex/Str background to get:
14 Str 14 Dex 10 Con 8 Int 12 Wis 8 Cha
4 free boosts into the 3 chosen stats & CON
16 Str 16 Dex 12 Con 8 Int 14 Wis 8 Cha

Then pick between Str or Dex for your class boost and you get to 18. If you are focusing entirely on ranged combat I would take 18 Dex and let your str boost to 18 at lvl 5 and maybe even leave it there. It would take 4 more boosts to get it to 22 for the extra +1 damage per shot which means you wouldn't get it until lvl20 if you used your single item boost to get +2 str.

If you are switching between ranged/melee then obviously that's a different discussion.

+1 to hit is also +1 to crit so I would take that any day of the week over +1 damage.

If you don't take the two flaws and leave your Str at 14 you can have it to 18 by level 10.

[Deadmanwalking]

The correct stat spread is Str 14, Dex 18. +2 to hit will get you way more damage than a +1 to damage.

[Crexis]

Thanks for the responses.

I kind of like Str/Dex at 16 cause at level 5 i'll be able to pump it up to 18 for +2 dmg and +4 attack.

[Deadmanwalking]

Crexis wrote:

Thanks for the responses.

I kind of like Str/Dex at 16 cause at level 5 i'll be able to pump it up to 18 for +2 dmg and +4 attack.

This stat spread will be better only at 5-9 (where you will get +1 damage).

See it results in the following stat layouts:

1-4: +3 to-hit, +1 damage.
5-9: +4 to hit, +2 damage.
10-14: +4 to hit, +2 damage.
15-19: +5 to hit, +2 damage.
20: +5 to hit, +2 damage.

Str 14/Dex 18 will be equal or better at every other level. It results in the following:

1-4: +4 to hit, +1 damage.
5-9: +4 to hit, +1 damage.
10-14: +5 to hit, +2 damage.
15-19: +5 to hit, +2 damage.
20: +6 to hit, +2 damage.

That makes 14/18 much better.

[Crexis]

Great, you've convinced me!