Also so that Rangers can't MC into Rogue for the Sneak attack damage.
Drow rangers can get hand crossbows to be D8 high crit weapons that don't provoke OA's and get a free ranged basic attack when they crit with them....
And multiclass to rouge and sneak attack with it =)
But yeah, nothing stopping a rogue from using a short bow with a proficiency, ranged sneak attack is often hard to come by anyway.
The issue is less with sneak attack and more with the fact that you can't use a shortbow with any rogue powers, so you'd be stuck with basic attacks.
Its the price of making the dagger and sling rogue viable mechanically. I really like that it's possible to make a dagger-using rogue without worrying I'm gimping my character unduly.
The issue is that if a rogue can use weapons better from a min-max point of view but with less rogue flavour, many players will choose power over flavour.
I could see a shortbow feat for elven rogues, which allows sneak attack with a die subtraction, equivalent to the eladrin longsword feat in Martial Power.
I could see a shortbow feat for elven rogues, which allows sneak attack with a die subtraction, equivalent to the eladrin longsword feat in Martial Power.