Slings appreciation thread

One weapon type that often gets overlooked is slings. It's a kids toy used by halflings, how's that supposed to threaten anyone? Slings are actually quite badass if you invest in them.

First off it's the only ranged weapon accessible by both arcane & divine casters. Mages don't do much with them, but Fighter/Clerics are devastating with 'em. In EE slings get extra dmg from STR and nobody does STR buffing better than Clerics. Getting up to +14 dmg from STR ain't nothing to scoff at, and Righteous Magic maxes out all the damage rolls.

Sure, throwing axes & daggers & warhammers work similarly but they have shorter range and F/C dwarves get to use just the warhammer with ** wpn pips. Human F/C could theoretically get up to unbuffed 3 APR via pips and 13 Fighter levels, but Anomen makes a perfectly fine slingshot dude (despite his garbage DEX, Holy Power takes care if THAC0 issues) if you wanna play him as a backrow caster.

Sling if Everard is available super early in SoA and it's usable through entire game if you feel like it. Throw in some rocks in ammo slots for added 1d4 dmg (and more with enchanted bullets). With buffs on, you can expect to see 25+ dmg per hit. You get to be a full-time Cleric on top of having high ranged damage, how cool is that?

If you really wanna crank things to eleven, try dualing from Cleric of Lathander to a Fighter after Cleric 11 (or later). Now you have a slingshooter who can self-buff to 4 APR, high STR and gets Fighter HLAs. So not only do you get even more ranged damage, you can also do frontline tanking with AoF + Def. of Easthaven + Hardiness almost as well as F/C multiclass. Or pop GWW and pretend you're a baseball pitching machine gone berserk as you deal 250+ dmg for one round.

Let's hear some more praises for slings, eh?