Gherald

You'd think bastard swords would be even more cumbersome to dual than longswords, due to their large size... heck, they are big enough to wield as a 2H sword if you feel like it.

I don't think dual weilding swords of equal length is unrealistic, just difficult. 3E has better rules for this... you need the ambidexterity feat for your offhand to be of any use, and if your offhand weapon is 1 size category smaller than you, the penalties are further reduced.

About dual wielding swords, has anyone noticed that shorter and curved weapons work better together then 2 longsword. With bastard swords its another thing.

Uh.. could you explain further?

Bow ---> ground, sword out, sword---> ground, bow up. Unless you wield a bow staff as a club.

I don't care how it gets done, my point is that going to the inventory screen is ridiculous by comparison.

It could be an interesting item, actually a staff-bow, useable in both melee and range, depending on how close you are.

Bows have to be flexible, so they wouldn't make a very good staff. I'm sure getting wacked with one would hurt some, but it would be flimsy compared to a quarterstaff... so, say, 1d4 damage at most

I never have a problem with step back, pause,

You just killed any reasonable comparison to real life combat. If people could freeze time like that, switching weapons would be the least of everyone's worries.

[open] inventory, sword down, bow up sequence, when taking a dual-weilder out of combat to go range. I simply keep one quck slot open for bow.

Yes, pausing makes it viable. However, powerplayers like me, and folks like Tod (I make no assumptions about his style of play) find all this pausing to be rather tedious and like how it isn't necessary in games like IWD2 and NWN.

I do not like how IWD2 does it, actually with all those "quick" combinations. I find it very confusing.

Well its sort of an extra feature and if you don't like it you can go right on pausing your game and doing things the hard way.

I do not usually use it for rangers, but in Haer'Dalis case I simply give him crimson darts to throw if I want him out of melee for a while.

Uh, wouldn't your rather he sung? Anyway, crimson darts are nowhere near as effective as a good bow. And from a roleplay perspective, you have to agree rangers and bows go together.

Lightfoot looks too powerful. People already complain about the Swashbuckler's +1 AC every 5 levels, and you want a +1 every 4 ?!?

Then again, I suppose Lightfoot won't have a way out of the studded-leather-max restriction like the Swashbuckler's Use Any Item, but still...

And whats up with him being able to use halberds but not axes? Oh well, you're pretty much limiting him to Staff of the Ram, Impaler, or a good short sword.

Suggestion: Instead of lighfoot, call him Aiel, and think of the short swords as "knives" =)

As for your other stuff, Staffer looks extremely under-whelming, Edder is hardly an original idea (many have suggested archer/cleric multi + slings), and (seemingly) whole books have been written about building monks, so I couldn't care less about your Lin-Tai-whatever person.

And I don't see why you think it would make sense to make a 'true' monk that isn't lawful... a fallen one, sure, but I've allways thought of monks as lawful by definition.

When you go to your inventory moments lost indicate that you actually sheathed the swords, bent the staff and strung it. If anything, imo,  one should not allow mixing melee and bows at all in quick slots, lol

Yeah, so you want bows to be more useless than they already are?

C'mon, more advanced games like IWD2 and NWN allow you to configure "combinations" of weapons that can be switched with a few simple clicks. NWN even programs in a slight, more realistic delay.

Tod not wanting to go into his inventory is completely understandable. In real life, to switch between your bow and two swords do you have to do anything like opening your backpack and muck around inside moving stuff from your "inventory" to your "equiped slots" ?? Hell no.

Anyway, to directly answer your question Tod, it is a game engine limitation, or more accurately, a feature that was just not implemented before IWD2. Perhaps it could be changed with a mod, but I have no clue how it would be done.

IMO the best solution for rangers in 2E is to give them prof's in a good two-handed melee weapon such as a 2H sword or halberd. Besides, your ranger will be more effective with plate armor anyway.

It's only in 3E with the more realistic armor checks and max dexterity bonuses to AC that rangers dual weilding rapiers or short swords really becomes interesting. I have an elf in NWN leveled up equally in Ranger and Rogue and he's damn effective! Can't wait till I get to add a single level of shadowdancer to him... no one will stand a chance