Bow has been Ryu's best friend for the past ten years, and Ryu's influenced is probably what kept him from being jailed or hanged by now.  You'll get Bow shortly after you start, and then you'll lose access to him until you triumph at Sima Fort.  Bow is one of the two healers who will join you.

Fighting/Defense -- Neither are particularly good.  Two of his weapons make him a bit more dangerous than normal, but you'll have to make several batches of the appropriate PAR's (PwrFood especially) before he can make a difference in pure fighting.   At least his speed is pretty decent.  He uses bows as his weapon, and has access to most armor.

Special -- Shot.  Bow either does either 1 point of damage to the target, or he does an amount of damage equal to its remaining HP.  This either requires a critical hit check or a luck check; I don't know which one, but it fails regularly.  Doesn't work on bosses.

Magic -- This is Bow's strong point.  He is much better at healing than Rand is, with more AP and a wider selection of spells (which he'll gain earlier).  However, giving him one of the bonus spells (preferably missile) is the only way for him to gain attack magic.  Only Bow can learn RenewX and CureX.

Shamans -- When combined with the Holy and Devil Shamans, he will become the Rocket Dog -- a big robot.  Attack, defense, vigor, wisdom, and AP all go up.  His Special changes to Spray, which allows him to inflict his normal attack damage to all enemies on screen.  He can't make a critical hit with this attack, though.

Field -- Bow can hunt.  If you see a spot of grass that's blowing in the wind while wandering the world, you can "talk" to it to enter a hunting ground.  Put Bow in the in the lead and press Y to shoot rather spherical arrows.  Bow's shamanized form fires the arrows faster and for more distance.  Boars and Deer drop Roast when shot twice, and flee when hit once.  Bears drop Spare Ribs when hit 8 times, and will charge when damaged.  Birds drop Egg when hit.  They'll appear after something is killed, so be be watching.  Beaks die after 6 hits, and drop nothing -- though they can "steal" (eat, really) stuff that's you haven't picked up yet.  They charge whenever they have a straight line to you.  If you kill a Beak, expect another one to appear eventually.  Trying to occupy the same space as a Beak or Bear results in a fight.  You can't hunt again until a new spot appears.

By level 40 -- Bow will have ALL of the healing spells.  He's a better healer than Rand, though he lacks Rand's staying power.  You'll have to dump a lot power food into him before he'll make a good fighter, though.  One of the problems with his shamanized form is that it prevents Nina, Katt, and Jean from having access to their shamanized forms.  Once you reach this point, you'll have to decide whether you'd rather use him or Rand yourself.  I myself prefer Rand.