I stumbled upon a topic today that made me realize I haven't ported over this little resource I wrote a while ago. So I figure I should post it here so that I have it for the next time I need it, whenever that occurs. After all, the BG boards are soon gone. For most of the regular people, these things are not new, but once in a while there's someone who doesn't know these things so I figure it might be helpful.
There might be some formatting issues, I might fix that later. I might not.
For whom is this topic?
Well, if you're doing a character that relies upon precision in different forms for damage, I'll probably have something worth mentioning to you.
Now, first things first:
I love the rogue archetype. I adore the thrower archetype. I am under no illusion that they don't have any issues. They do. But I'm not going to get into that, there's other threads for those kinds of things.
Unfortunately, there's a few things that are dependent upon you
asking your DM if it's alright to change things in this thread. But I'll be clear to point out what that would be and what you'll get even if your DM doesn't want to change anything.
Of Dexeterity and Dastardly Daggers:
[/b]
Swordsage from Tome of Battle have access to the Shadow Hand school. There is a feat in the same book called Shadow Blade.
As long you are in a Shadow Hand stance, you add your Dexterity modifier to Melee damage as long as you attack with Shadow Hand weapons.
Dagger, shortsword, sai, singham, unarmed strike and spiked spiked chain are the Shadow Hand weapons.
If you are dipping Swordsage, the usual recommendation is to have 1 level at any level close to where you gain a feat (1,3,6) and another level after you have achieved initiator level 4, thus the new swordsage level gives you initiator level 5 and access to 3rd level stances.
Normally, this looks like the following:
Swordsage 1/Any combinations of classes or prc's 6/swordsage +1.
The IL would be 1+(6/2)+1= IL 5
You do this to get Assassin's Stance, giving you 2d6 sneak damage.
You pick the first level close to a feat level just so that you can get ahold of Shadow Blade as fast as possible.
There is a fighter alternative class feature in Drows of the Underdark, page 58.
Unlike the Drow Substitution Levels, these ACF does NOT require Drow to take.
It is called Hit-and-Run.
You have to give up heavy armor and tower shield proficiencies to take it.
You gain a +2 to intiative and your Dexterity modifier as a competence bonus to damage against flat-flooted targets within 30 feet.
Remember, Invisibility negates your opponents Dex to AC but does not technically make him flat-footed.
But attacking from Hiding does.
As per Rules Compendium, page 92, you can Hide at a -20 penalty whilst attacking.
Invisibility grants you a +20 bonus to hide when someone attempts to spot you.
By maximizing your Hide then this becomes a contest between your Hide and his Spot.
In Dragon Magazine 310, there are alternative fighters. They work as normal fighters and count as fighters for all intents and purposes, but they have a limited number of fighter feats to choose from, different skills, different starting weapon- and armor proficiencies and 3 special abilities. These abilities can be selected at any level that would grant a fighter bonus feat, instead of taking a fighter bonus feat.
At page 39 there is the alternative fighter called Targetteer which have an ability called Vital Aim.
It states:
The targetteer may add his Dexterity modifier to his damage rolls with a ranged-weapon attack instead of his Strength bonus. The targetteer cannot replace a Strength penalty to damage rolls with his Dexterity modifier unless his Dexterity modifier is also a penalty. The targetteer cannot use his Dexterity modifier to replace his Strength modifier when attacking creatures immune to critical hits.
What does this mean?
Well, obviously it works great with thrown weapons as they normally add Str to damage.
Whether or not it would work with bows or similar, is another matter. A composite bow adds Str usually, so that would be swaped. But if you haven't enough Str to use the bow, it will penalize you. Thus you can't dump it. By RAW it doesn't help regular archers or crossbowmen at all, so
talk to your DM.
For dagger throwers or other throwers, it will work wonders as long as you have a Str score of 10.
Since it cannot be used against opponents immune to critical hits, it classifies as Precision Damage.
Precision Damage only applies to attacks which roll to hit.
NOTE:
Targetteer does NOT gain any shield proficiencies except for the Buckler. So the Hit-and-Run ACF CANNOT be combined with Targetteer.
The only way to combine them would be if your DM allowed you to take Shield Proficiencies enough so that you can swap Tower Shield Proficiency for HaR.
Even then, that's a hefty investment.
Also note that you cannot have different types of fighter in the same character build. Once you choose one of the alternatives, all others are unavailable.
So no HaR Fighter 2/Targetteer 2.
In Dragon Compendium, there is a feat on page 95.
DEAD EYE [GENERAL]
Your precision with ranged weapons translates into more telling strikes than you could normally make.
Prerequisites: Dex 17, Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus (any ranged weapon), base attack bonus +14.
Benefit: You may add your Dexterity bonus on damage rolls made with ranged weapons for which
you have the Weapon Focus feat, so long as the target is within 30 feet.
Special: Dead Eye does not increase the damage dealt to creatures immune to critical hits.
A fighter may select Dead Eye as one of his fighter bonus feats.
NOTE: As per
the errata, the BAB requirement drops from a staggering +14 to a minimal +1.
Dead Eye can be combined with either HaR or Vital Aim.
As with Vital Aim, it is Precision Damage.
In Complete Warrior, page 58, there is the Master Thrower PrC.
They learn 3 Thrown Weapon Tricks, most notably Palm Throw and Weak Spot.
The first one allows you to toss 2 daggers per attack, doubling your attack output.
The second one, only available at PrC level 5, allows you to make Touch Attacks instead or regular ones with thrown attacks, provided the target is your size or larger.
Both these abilities are really good, but both aren't fully compatible with everything stated earlier.
Palm Throw only roll 1 die for both daggers. As per the Complete Warrior errata, precision damage apply only to 1 of those daggers.
So Dead Eye and Vital Aim only provides bonus damage to 1 of those 2 daggers.
Sneak Attack also counts as Precision Damage. Skirmish as well.
Hit-and-Run adds to both, courtesy of not being Precision Damage.
Vital Aim and Weak Spot doesn't work well together and here's why:
1. Weak Spot won't allow you to apply your Str mod to damage.
Now add:
2. Vital Aim let's you apply your Dex instead of your Str mod.
Which would lead to:
3. Weak Spot won't allow you to apply your Dex mod to damage.
Ergo, Weak Spot, RAW, wouldn't allow you to make use of Vital Aim.
Not in any meaningful way, at least.
So with all of this, where does it leave us?
Melee:
Shadow Blade applies to all attacks, as long as you're in a Shadow Hand stance.
Ranged:
Dead Eye can be combined with Vital Aim.
Dead Eye can be combined with Hit-and-Run.
Vital Aim and Hit-and-Run cannot be present on the same character.
Both:
Hit-and-Run will trigger if you attack a flat-footed enemy.
So we can achieve 2x Dexterity modifier to either melee or ranged under optimal circumstances, but not 3x Dexterity.
Honourable Mention for dagger users, and another way to reliably get people flat-footed:
Swashbuckler from Complete Warrior, page 11.
At first level, you gain Weapon Finesse as a bonus feat.
At third level, you gain Insightful Strike.
This allows you to add your Intelligence modifier to all weapon damage made with light weapons or weapons that you can use with Weapon Finesse.
Daggers are light weapons, so by RAW you should be able to add your Intelligence Modifier to both thrown and melee attacks with daggers.
Insightful Strike also counts as Precision Damage.
Another way to get people flat-footed is the good old Feint combat action. Usually, it's not a very good method since it drains actions.
But there is a way. If you're comfortable with using Daggers, Punching Daggers or Kurkris, the Invisible Blade Prestige Class (Complete Warrior page 45) have this very, very neat capstone ability that let's you feint as a free action. Bring on the full attacks I hear you say!
Unfortunately, the Errata limited this to once per turn. Damn you Complete Warrior errata, first you take my Palm Throw and now this!.
Thankfully, all is not lost my brethren. Pick up Drow of the Underdark again. Look to page 52 and this little gem of a feat:
SURPRISING RIPOSTE
Through deft maneuvering, you unravel your opponent’s defenses.
Prerequisite: Int 13, Combat Expertise, Improved Feint.
Benefit: If you deal damage to an opponent in the same round that you successfully feinted against it, it becomes flatfooted.
This effect lasts 1 round or until the opponent’s next turn, whichever comes first. Opponents that can’t be caught flat-footed,
such as characters who have uncanny dodge, cannot be affected by Surprising Riposte.
Special: A fighter can select Surprising Riposte as a fighter bonus feat.
It might seem a bit expensive to use two feats for almost no benefit, since Improved Feint does the same thing as an earlier version of the Invisible Blades capstone, but it's something to consider. You might be able to convince your DM to be able to qualify for Surprising Riposte courtesy of your Invisible Blade ability Uncanny Feint. So by all means,
talk to your DM.So, what you do is this:
Free action feint. Stab for normal damage + any sneak or other damage that activates upon striking a flat-footed target (see Hit-and-Run fighter or Iaijutsu Focus (Oriental Adventures, see
here for more tips and tricks)) damage. Stab more times, for even more damage.
Something worth mentioning:
If you're doing a hybrid build, the printed entry requirement feats for the Invisible Blade aren't that harsh.
But if you're doing only the stabbing route and not the throwing, it's not so fun.
Luckily, there's a word from the creator of the PrC halfway into
this topic, were he mentions that if you're using the 5-level PrC you should change the feat requirements to Weapon Finesse and Weapon Focus (dagger, punching dagger or kukri).
To be more precise, here's a quote:
Sonofapreacherman, at 12-01-03, 01:07 PM
I just posted this explanation in another thread, but I thought it might be better served here, as per the title of this thread.
The 5-level invisible blade that first appeared in Dragon (and then recently in The Complete Warrior) was edited down from my original 10-level progression. The abilities and text are the same, but there were some additional dagger throwing abilities built into the prestige class (to round it out).
The editors at Dragon had asked me to change the invisible blade prerequisites to reflect their ranged-based abilities, but when they later changed the invisible blade into a 5-level prestige class (and removed the dagger throwing abilities), they likely forgot to change the prerequisites as well.
To use the printed version of the invisible blade as is, simply change the prerequisites feats to:
Weapon Focus (dagger, kukri, or punching dagger) and Weapon Finesse.
I hope that helps.
This is not an official errata, but it's pretty heavy regardless, coming from the author himself. It's RAI, but not RAW, so
talk to your DM.
You can pick up Weapon Finesse with 1 level of Swashbuckler and Weapon Focus (dagger) with 1 level of Swordsage by choosing the Shadow Hand school for your Discipline Focus. You know, the same Shadow Hand we discussed earlier?
Also, note that the required Int for Combat Expertise isn't that hard, since most of the time you're going to be a skill-monkey and a decent Int-score is then required. Also, note the level 3 ability that Swashbucklers gain.
Compulsory Mention for Throwers:
Tome of Battle have the Bloodstorm Blade PrC at page 100.
You need 1 Iron Heart maneuver and 1 Iron Heart stance to enter.
At level 1, we gain Returning Attacks, conferring the Returning enhancement propriety to our attacks. This, however, expends one of our Iron Heart strikes.
For a normal warblade dip to qualify for this PrC, you only have 3 of these as a maximum. It's somewhat useful, but not overly exiting.
However, this evolves into the much more superior Lightning Ricochet at PrC level 4.
This ability allows us to full attack with the same weapon, since it bounces back instantly to us after the attack has been resolved.
Much better than Returning weapons. This does not expend any strikes and works 24/7.
Now you need only as many thrown weapons as you can throw as a standard attack. This saves cash.
Bloodstorm Blade also have the ability called Thunderous Throw, which they gain at level 2.
This allows them to, as a swift action, count their ranged attack as a melee attack, conferring all bonuses and abilities thereof.
So if you have things like Power Attack, you can apply it to your attacks. Also note that by RAW you can apply Cleave.
Now using PA on light weapons aren't a good idea. You retain the penalty, but gain no bonus to damage.
Then why is it worth noticing?
Because upon entry into Bloodstorm Blade, we gain the Throw Anything feat.
So we can throw a finesseable weapon (to take advantage of the various ways to add damage to these kinds of weapons) in two hands, dealing 1½ Str + other modifiers.
Note that Thunderous Throw is somewhat more for the Str-based thrower than the Dex-based one.
By RAW, your attack is now a melee attack. Which means, that by RAW, you can't apply any bonus that would apply to ranged attacks.
So no Vital Aim/Dead Eye for example.
The Magic Item Compendium have 2 items worthy of notice.
They are the Gauntlet of Infinite Blades and the Gloves of Endless Javelins.
Neither item is the exact thing we are looking for.
Both produce limitless amount of thrown ammunition long enough for us to throw it.
But the gauntlets need a swift action to produce them, making it impossible to full attack with it.
The gloves create as a free action, but they create javelins.
The ideal would be to have a DM kind enough so that you can have Gloves of Endless Daggers. So I advice you to talk to your DM.
Honorable Mention for Dexterity-based ranged attackers:
Drow of the Underdark have, at page 50, the Hand Crossbow Focus fighter feat.
Prerequisite: Proficiency with hand crossbow, base attack
bonus +1.
Benefit: You can reload a hand crossbow as a free action. You also gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls with a hand crossbow.
This bonus does not stack with the bonus from Weapon Focus, but it is the equivalent of Weapon Focus for the purpose
of qualifying for feats, prestige classes, and anything else that requires the feat.
Just for fun, compare that to
this epic feat. Amusing, is it not?
In PHB II, page 77, there is the Crossbow Sniper feat.
It requires proficiency, Weapon Focus and BAB +1.
It lets you add half your Dexterity modifier to damage to your attacks made with the weapon you have Weapon Focus in. Also, with the same kind of weapon, it extends the range of any Skirmish or Sneak damage to 60 feet instead of 30.
Talk with your DM and see if you can then extend the range of Dead Eye or Hit-and-Run to 60 feet, since that would not be too far of a stretch.
As per RAW though, it doesn't do much.
Compulsory Mention for Ranged Characters:
[/b]
Splitting is a +3 weapon enhancement found in the Forgotten Realms book Champions of Ruin, page 42.
It makes every arrow fired from the weapon with this enchantment split into two arrows, doubling your attacks.
Unlike the earlier mentioned Palm Throw, Splitting produce two arrows which you both have to roll for.
So that is 2 dice.
So you apply Precision Based Damage to both of them.
Compulsory Mention for all Sneak Attackers:
[/b]
Champions of Ruin also have the feat Craven on page 17.
You can't be immune to fear if you want to take it.
You take a -2 penalty to Fear effects, but you add 1 point of damage per character level to all your sneak attacks.
At level 20, that means +20 damage to every attack you achieve sneak with.
In the spirit of full disclosure:
Races of the Wild have the Champion of Corellon Larethian on page 113.
The good stuff is it's level 2 ability:
Elegant Strike (Ex): Upon reaching 2nd level, you become able to place your attacks where they deal greater damage. You
apply your Dexterity bonus as a bonus on damage rolls (in addition to any Strength bonus you may have) with any of the following
weapons: longsword, rapier, elven thinblade, elven lightblade, elven court sword, or scimitar.
Targets immune to sneak attacks or extra damage from critical hits are immune to your elegant strike.
AFAIK, this was the first thing printed in 3.5 that added DEX to damage, so if nothing else this PrC deserves a mention for being first.
That said, it is restrictive. From a roleplaying perspective, you are forced into a very specific role in how to act and think.
But even worse, the entry requirements are harsh.
Elf or half-elf, any nonevil.
BAB +7.
Diplomacy 4 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 2 ranks.
Proficient with all martial weapons and heavy armor,
Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mounted Combat, either WF (longsword) or EWP (e. thinblade/courtblade).
Must worship Corellon Larethian, obviously.
Mounted Combat very rarely gets stage time. And trust me when I say that all characters taking advice from this guide are going to be feat-strapped.
Combat Expertise isn't uncommon, and if we already have taken 3 levels in Swashbuckler, INT is a "primary secondary attribute".
Dodge isn't particularly good, it does however show up from time to time because there's an enormous amount of things that have it as a prerequisite.
WF/EWP... well the former is often seen but the latter takes up a feat slot.
If you somehow achieve to fulfil all these prereq's and wish to play the compassionate, calm and just elf then go ahead.
I find it too restrictive, but that's just a personal opinion.
Halflings does it Better:
If you want to make a thrower, being a Halfling is a very good choice.
They gain +2 Dex, +1 size bonus to attack rolls and a +1 racial bonus to thrown weapons.
In the Forgotten Realms, there's even the Strongheart Halfling (FRCS page 18) which gets a bonus feat at first level.
Now you are better than the already very good Human, unless you really want to have plenty of skill points.
But this is not all that is good with Halflings. No, they have made a pretty good invention.
Races of the Wild includes Halfling Skiprocks.
These are Exotic Weapons which are thrown weapons with a range increment of 15 feet and damage d4 (or d6 if you are using Medium sized ones).
The bad part is that the have relatively short range, costs 3 gp each and are Exotic Weapons.
The good part is that for each attack you make, you can "bounce" the rock to an adjacent target from the original one, making a new attack at -2.
This is a new roll, so Precision Damage apply if the other criteria are met.
How to deal with the disadvantages:
Targetteers gains two EWP, as long as those are ranged weapons.
Far Shot can be picked up with an item from Magic Item Compendium (Helm of the Hunter, 9,000).
3 gp each is a bit expensive considering that skiprocks counts as ammunition.
That means that there is a 50% chance that each rock disappear or break.
But there are plenty of methods to break the Wealth By Level into tiny little pieces, so this shouldn't be a problem past a certain level.
Talking with your DM might entitle you to a Gloves of Endless Skiprocks somehow, but it's probably less likely to be approved (or at least I think that there are a few DM's that wouldn't mind Daggers, but bouncing rocks that gives twice as many attacks seems too good for them. Even if all he have to do is to spread out his monsters).
If your DM allows you to do this, then note that both Mask of the Hunter and Gloves of Endless Javelins are originally part of the "Array of the Manticore" set.
That can provide more ideas.
Halflings still do it better, but Drows come in at second place:
[/b]
In Eberron, Halflings are either scribes, matrons or dinosaur-riding barbarians. Generally.
The latter, along with the Drow, have invented the boomerang.
Talenta and Xen'Drik boomerang respectively.
These are good weapons on lower levels since they return to you if you miss.
But, they become really abuseable if you add Races of Eberron into the mix.
Page 108 have this beauty:
Prerequisites: Proficiency with Talenta boomerang or Xen’drik boomerang, base attack bonus +4.
Benefit: When you attack with a Talenta boomerang or Xen’drik boomerang (see page 119 of the EBERRON
Campaign Setting), any target creature that takes damage must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 + damage
dealt) or be dazed for 1 round (until just before your next action). If you have the Boomerang Ricochet feat
(see below), you can daze both targets.
Special: A halfling fighter from the Talenta Plains or a drow fighter from Xen’drik can select Boomerang
Daze as one of his fighter bonus feats.
This feat is absurd. Usually, these kinds of feats have a DC setting of 10+½ character level + Governing Ability Mod.
This is 10+damage. It's easy to see how you can improve your damage output, partially thanks to the rest of this little guide.
A reminder: Being Dazed means that you cannot take any actions.
Yes. It is that good.
There's also:
BOOMERANG RICOCHET
You can strike up to two foes with a single boomerang
throw.
Prerequisites: Dex 13, proficiency with Talenta
boomerang or Xen’drik boomerang, base attack
bonus +4.
Benefit: You can hurl a Talenta boomerang or Xen’drik boomerang (see page 119 of the EBERRON Campaign Setting)
in such a way that it ricochets off one target to strike a second target of your choice. If your initial attack hits, you
immediately make a second attack roll at a –2 penalty against any target adjacent to the original target.
If the first target is hit by a sneak attack with a boomerang under the effect of this feat, the second target is not also
vulnerable to a sneak attack on the ricochet.
Special: A halfling fighter from the Talenta Plains or a drow fighter from Xen’drik can select Boomerang
Ricochet as one of his fighter bonus feats.
Note the prohibition of applying Precision Damage here. Normally we should be able to (see the notes on Skiprocks) but this is an exception. If you have a feat to spare, then by all means take this if your shtick is to throw curved sticks at things.
I want to apply Boomerang Daze to daggers, that would kick ass!:
Doable. Weapon Aptitude, a weapon enhancement from Tome of Battle lets you apply all feats that works with a certain weapon to the weapon with the enhancement. Page reference 148.
Note that Weapon Aptitude is somewhat abuseable. Keep it on a tight leash otherwise we'll end up seeing Fighter 4/Warblade 1/Bloodstorm Blade 10/Disciple of Dispater 5 throwing Kukris with a critrange of ABSURD with Lightning Mace abuse (another free attack each time you threaten a critical hit) and exponentially increasing damage from Blood in the Water (+1 to hit/damage per critical hit). With Cleave.
That build is somewhat... problematic.
Though I do admit that the mental image of the above if pretty awesome
Where to go from here:
In Complete Scoundrel, there are 2 feats of interest. Page 76 has Daring Outlaw and Page 81 have Swift Hunter.
Daring Outlaw stack levels in Rogue and Swashbuckler for different purposes, the best one being Sneak Attack.
So a Rogue 3/Swashbuckler 6 have 5d6 SA and BAB 8.
Swift Hunter do the same for Ranger and Scout (Complete Adventurer page 10). See Here for more information.
So, for example, by picking the appropriate feats and abilities stated above, you can have a dual-wielding hand-crossbowman that shoots 2 bolts per attack, all bolts do 2½xDEX+other damage.
Or a Dagger-thrower/stabber that does 2xDex+1xInt+other damage to each dagger. Remember that you can use Two-Weapon Fighting as well as Rapid Shot with thrown weapons.
So, I hope this will be helpful for anyone trying to make a dagger/thrower/archery/crossbow/dexterity-character
