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Subject: Advice on Archer builds

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Wayne
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03/21/2006 9:11 AM  
quote:
Originally posted by Feathers
My plan is to build up to getting greater manyshot so I can move 10+ ft and still fire off multiple arrows and get skirmish dmg on all of them.
Technically, this doesn't work. (Please don't argue with me; I'm not telling you how I think it should be, but only how it is, per the D&D FAQ and errata, which you can look up.)

Skirmish damage is "precision" damage (like Sneak Attack), and precision damage can only apply on the first attack in a "volley." (A volley is anytime you're making several attack rolls, even though you're only really making one attack. Another example is scorching ray, which again would only give Sneak Attack on the first ray.)

Also, while I don't think it matters in this case, be careful with what you combine with Manyshot. Manyshot requires a standard action, so it doesn't work with, for example, Shot on the Run, which requires an attack action. Supposedly this is deliberate, and never mind that an attack action is just one type of standard action. (Again, this is in the FAQ.) Depending on how the Skirmish ability is worded, this might be an issue, but I don't think so.

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Feathers
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03/22/2006 3:36 AM  
quote:
Originally posted by Wayne

quote:
Originally posted by Feathers
My plan is to build up to getting greater manyshot so I can move 10+ ft and still fire off multiple arrows and get skirmish dmg on all of them.
Technically, this doesn't work. (Please don't argue with me; I'm not telling you how I think it should be, but only how it is, per the D&D FAQ and errata, which you can look up.)

Skirmish damage is "precision" damage (like Sneak Attack), and precision damage can only apply on the first attack in a "volley." (A volley is anytime you're making several attack rolls, even though you're only really making one attack. Another example is scorching ray, which again would only give Sneak Attack on the first ray.)

Also, while I don't think it matters in this case, be careful with what you combine with Manyshot. Manyshot requires a standard action, so it doesn't work with, for example, Shot on the Run, which requires an attack action. Supposedly this is deliberate, and never mind that an attack action is just one type of standard action. (Again, this is in the FAQ.) Depending on how the Skirmish ability is worded, this might be an issue, but I don't think so.



Actually, Wayne, you are only correct in regards to manyshot. [)] If you reread my post, you'll see I mention greater manyshot, which is from the Exp Psionics Handbook and explicitly states that you deal precision damage with all shots from your volley. And also, all shots that crit can indeed deal crit dmg.

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Wayne
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03/22/2006 4:46 AM  
quote:
Originally posted by Feathers
Actually, Wayne, you are only correct in regards to manyshot. [)] If you reread my post, you'll see I mention greater manyshot, which is from the Exp Psionics Handbook
Oh, my bad. I don't have the Expanded Psionics Handbook. (I despise psionics, so those books are the only D&D books I don't buy.) I should have given you the benefit of the doubt.

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Sir Bozak The Damned
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Québec

03/28/2006 12:08 PM  
The best PrC I found so far is the "Peerless Archer" in Silver Marches. You get Power
Shot as a feat, which is Power Attack, but with bows and it grants you ranged sneak attacks, so no need to take a Rogue level.

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IanB
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03/28/2006 3:14 PM  
Note that it is a good thing Feathers decided on archery, since he can't roll hit points to save his life.

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Feathers
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03/29/2006 12:41 AM  
quote:
Originally posted by IanB

Note that it is a good thing Feathers decided on archery, since he can't roll hit points to save his life.



Quoted for truth!

The bard has the same number of hp as me! And I have a con bonus and he doesn't! How shameful is that?!?!

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Wayne
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03/29/2006 1:25 AM  
No house rule for hit points? I only have three house rules now, and hit points are so important that they're one of them.

I've tried probably a dozen, and the one I like best is "roll, and minimum is half the die."

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Feathers
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03/29/2006 2:12 AM  
quote:
Originally posted by Wayne

No house rule for hit points? I only have three house rules now, and hit points are so important that they're one of them.

I've tried probably a dozen, and the one I like best is "roll, and minimum is half the die."



Unfortunately not. The "1" I rolled at 2nd lvl will stay with me forever...

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IanB
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03/29/2006 2:20 AM  
I never really liked HP house rules much. Not sure why. I like those statistical outlier characters I guess.

I have a lot of OTHER house rules, but that's one we've never really touched.

I expect 4th edition will use something like the Iron Heroes method where a d8 is instead 4+d4.

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Sir Bozak The Damned
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Québec

03/29/2006 11:17 AM  
Every DM I have played for has made us reroll 1's and 2's on Hit Points. Imagine a poor level 2 Mage or Sorceror with 5 hit points...a sling can kill him, and his AC is probably closer to 10 than a decent AC ( 18+ ).

My house rule is full HP's for everyone, monsters included. Once you learn to balance it,
it makes fights more interesting, in my opinion...I do like the idea IanB brought, as I had seen a house rule on WotC's site that was something like Fighters: d8+2 HPs, Barbarians: d10+2 HP's and so on and I like it.

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proudft
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03/29/2006 3:47 PM  
quote:
Originally posted by Feathers

quote:
Originally posted by Wayne

No house rule for hit points? I only have three house rules now, and hit points are so important that they're one of them.

I've tried probably a dozen, and the one I like best is "roll, and minimum is half the die."



Unfortunately not. The "1" I rolled at 2nd lvl will stay with me forever...



Only until you roll an 8!

My totally sweet mountebank will cover you in the meantime. Mountebanks are mammals, and they flip out ALL the time!





Feathers
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03/31/2006 3:50 AM  
quote:
Originally posted by Sir Bozak The Damned

The best PrC I found so far is the "Peerless Archer" in Silver Marches. You get Power
Shot as a feat, which is Power Attack, but with bows and it grants you ranged sneak attacks, so no need to take a Rogue level.



What is this prestige class you speak of? I have never picked up Silver Marches so I'm not familiar with it. Does it have ftr BAB? Any other abilities? What are the prereqs?

Ian, is this prestige class kosher in your Shackled City campaign? Just curious.

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proudft
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03/31/2006 12:10 PM  
I can show it to you Sunday, a character in one of my games is a Peerless Archer.

The class is rather 3.0-specific in the way it deals with concealment and Precise Shot, so I made some changes to it to try and bring it up to 3.5.

This is assuming Ian allows them, of course. :)


Sir Bozak The Damned
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Québec

03/31/2006 12:17 PM  
Feathers, yes the Peerless Archer has Fighter BAB and Fighter saves ( 7 FT 3 RFX 3 WILL )
if I remember correctly. I looks much stronger than the HoBInitiate.

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IanB
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03/31/2006 2:12 PM  
I actually don't think the class is very strong compared to, say, the order of the bow guy.

Basically the only exciting thing it gets is power shot. I think they can make magic arrows too (but they actually have to make them, as opposed to the way the arcane archer gets them.) I'm fine with you using it if you want.

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Sir Bozak The Damned
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Québec

03/31/2006 2:22 PM  
The Bow Initiate does not get the Ranged Sneak Attack the Peerless Archer does, it looks solid enough to me...And I thought many said the Arcane Archer's Imbue Arrows class feat was pretty useless ?

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IanB
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03/31/2006 3:13 PM  
I wouldn't call enhance arrows useless at all, which is the ability I was talking about (not imbue arrow, imbue arrow isn't worth much but it is only a minor part of the class, so whatever.) The arcane archer is the only class I can think of that gets to bypass epic damage reduction for free by level 21, for example.

For normal characters, it is a big money saver. You can load your bow up with up to +9 worth of special abilities and count on your free magic arrows doing the heavy lifting as far as attack and damage bonuses go.

Definitely not useless, imo.

The OOBI's ranged precision is much more useful usually, in my opinion, than ranged sneak attack. Ranged sneak attack is one of the weakest prestige abilities in the game, in my opinion. You really need access to greater invisibility or blink to pull it off, and blink is rather suboptimal in some ways since you're giving yourself a miss chance.

Ranged precision should combine well with the scout/manyshot idea, I would think (although I haven't read the details of it in a while.)

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