Author Topic: Soul Bow and making it a cool archer  (Read 5831 times)

Offline DrStrangeDoctor

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Soul Bow and making it a cool archer
« on: August 14, 2017, 07:06:13 PM »
I personally enjoy any character that can create weponry from thin air and Soul Bows really caught my eye.

I have a question about its mechanics.

To my understanding, they only require one hand to fire his arrows, so could he shoot with both hands with Dual Wield Feats?

There is a possibility open alredy with Hand Crossbow and feats and with the right enhancements it could use full attack without having to reload.

The build that comes to mind is Soul Blade 2/ Fighter 3/ Soul Bow 10/ and fighter furthermore.

Offline Nanshork

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Re: Soul Bow and making it a cool archer
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2017, 08:08:12 PM »
I personally enjoy any character that can create weponry from thin air and Soul Bows really caught my eye.

I have a question about its mechanics.

To my understanding, they only require one hand to fire his arrows, so could he shoot with both hands with Dual Wield Feats?

This is correct.

Quote
There is a possibility open alredy with Hand Crossbow and feats and with the right enhancements it could use full attack without having to reload.

The build that comes to mind is Soul Blade 2/ Fighter 3/ Soul Bow 10/ and fighter furthermore.

A soulbow never reloads so I'm not sure what you're referencing there.

Shiba Protector and Monk are also good for a Soulbow build since they'll help make you Wisdom focused.  I have an optimized SoulBow build (not the best ever, but a good build) in the Build thread in my signature that you might want to grab some ideas from.

Offline DrStrangeDoctor

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Re: Soul Bow and making it a cool archer
« Reply #2 on: August 15, 2017, 07:51:01 AM »
I was referencing the Hand Crosbow reload, anyway, not important now since it works.

That seems a neat build, but usually in my table we agree not to take more than a total of 3 classes/prcs.


Offline Nanshork

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Re: Soul Bow and making it a cool archer
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2017, 10:15:46 AM »
If you're limited to a total of 3 then fighter isn't terrible depending on the optimization level of the group.

Offline Solo

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Re: Soul Bow and making it a cool archer
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2017, 01:45:29 AM »
Don't forget, you can also wield a shield, like the Soulbow in the CPsi
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Offline awaken_D_M_golem

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Re: Soul Bow and making it a cool archer
« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2017, 05:09:51 PM »
iirc the evolution of builds went something like :

Soulknife 2 / Cleric 17 / Soulbow 1 , not necessarily in that order = Quickstart Cleric Archer variant
Soulknife 2 / X ? / UrPriest 10 / Soulbow 1 / Y ?? , ToB starts looking good here
Soulknife 2 / Ardent 2 / Monk 1 or 2 / UrPriest 2 / Psychic Theurge 7 / Soulbow 1 / X ? , tash mild cheese
etc

So stuff like Carnivore's Soulbow are high Tier 4 to low Tier 3s , but a little thin out-of-combat.
And the Caster 1st Soulknife+bow 2nd are pushing high Tier 3 , violating some Caelic Commandments.
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Offline Jackinthegreen

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Re: Soul Bow and making it a cool archer
« Reply #6 on: October 26, 2017, 04:02:22 PM »
To work on more of the wisdom focus, see http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=4369 to find some things that can be helpful.  The usual way Soulbows stick with wisdom is through the Zen Archery feat.

If Swordsage catches your eye for its wisdom synergy then you'll want to look at http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=11233 to see which maneuvers work with ranged weapons.

What sorts of alternate class features are available to you?  Wizards has some online articles such as http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a that expand on certain classes.  In the case of a soulknife, they give an option to trade Psychic Strike for a feat at the levels you'd normally get PS.  Considering the move action needed to get PS going compared to the damage boosts available from the feats, it's almost universally better to get the feats.

For other ACFs that aren't found in Dragon magazine, see http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=8732.

Offline nijineko

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Re: Soul Bow and making it a cool archer
« Reply #7 on: October 26, 2017, 09:13:26 PM »
Be certain to use the official WotC material over on Athas.org (specifically the prestige compendium, volume... one iirc) for the prestige class version of the SoulBow, which is much better built than the base class.

Offline Jackinthegreen

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Re: Soul Bow and making it a cool archer
« Reply #8 on: October 26, 2017, 11:03:23 PM »
The Athas prestige compendium has the Soulknife as a PRC, but not the Soulbow.  Probably what you meant to say though, yes?

Offline nijineko

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Re: Soul Bow and making it a cool archer
« Reply #9 on: October 27, 2017, 10:51:30 AM »
The Athas prestige compendium has the Soulknife as a PRC, but not the Soulbow.  Probably what you meant to say though, yes?

ah, yes, quite correct.

I apologize for my confusion - my soulbow character uses the soulknife prestige classs in question to qualify for soulbow much more effectively than the EPH soulknife base class - hence my mistake. ^^

Offline Shadowhunter

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Re: Soul Bow and making it a cool archer
« Reply #10 on: November 02, 2017, 11:43:43 AM »
If you want something pretty straightforward, I'm sure you can mix a few levels in Monk, Paladin and Soulknife with a generous helping of Soulbow.
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Make it into a Halfling, give 'em Yondalla's Sense and Zen Archery for some Wisdom to Initiative and ranged attack rolls, some Serenity to switch the Paladin saves to Wisdom.

Flurry with mind arrows, get neat passive abilities. Not as good as spellcasting, but pretty straightforward. Oh and one last piece of advice. Figure out how to flatter/blackmail your DM into allowing you other weapon enhancements than the one listed and pick the +3 bonus of Splitting  ;)

Offline snakeman830

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Re: Soul Bow and making it a cool archer
« Reply #11 on: November 02, 2017, 06:59:16 PM »
I highly suggest that as soon as you get special weapon qualities on your mind arrows that you pick Lucky.  The normal 1/day limitation doesn't matter because each arrow is a new weapon.  This means you get to re-roll every missed attack once.
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