archer help

[weenog]

HCF explicitly doesn't stack with WF.  Aptitude works with feats, not non-feat class features, so flurry is no good unless you can find it in feat form and demanding a specific weapon.  I'm not familiar with the Exoticist or H&R fighter variants so I dunno about that... I'm using the Targetteer variant from Dragon #310 for Vital Aim, which seems questionable but the DM's okay with it, and if he wasn't that would be okay by me... most of my damage comes from Blood in the Water, not from Dexterity.

For melee purposes I felt that a two-hander was ill-advised.   I use a +5 unarmed strike (greater magic fang plus permanency) as my usual melee weapon because I don't have to put away the crossbow to wield it, it saves me actions switching modes between ranged and melee combat.  Damage comes from strikes and from whatever bonus I've built up with Blood in the Water at that point.  For situations in which the crossbow is not usable (cramped corridors and the like) I have a pair of Keen Aptitude Morphing shurikens, shaped into kukris (there's that 15-20/x2 crit again) to take further advantage of the feats I already have and of Blood in the Water, but so far I haven't run into any situations that called for them.  If for whatever reason I felt the need for a two-hander, I'd most likely pick up a falchion or something else with an 18-20 base critical threat range.

Monk could certainly be used to pick up Improved Unarmed Strike, possibly other useful feats depending on the variant chosen.  I chose to use Swordsage because the low amount of levels I had to work with left me unable to fit in any Warblade.  Swordsage access to Tiger Claw maneuvers enabled me to grab Blood in the Water with the same dip that picked up IUS, and a few handy defensive maneuvers like Moment of Perfect Mind.

[Cagemarrow]

I wasn't sure what the wording on aptitude was so had to check. Rapid shot and improved rapid shot would be a better choice anyway. Both the variants I mention are in that same section of Dragon 310. That's a neat trick with the morphing with shuriken though I think my DM would throw something at me if I tried it. Not that this build wouldn't incur that anyway. It's going to be a Greek Myth themed game so I don't think they'll be available.

Wealth is always an issue with our group so I was trying to be as economically feasible as possible, 2 +2 weapons is easier to get then 3 +4 ones, especially in a group with no spell casters. I would play one but am trying to do something different than I usually play. I'm already thinking of burning a feat for Ancestral Relic just so I can guarantee the aptitude enchantment.

Does anyone know if any the bayonets from complete scoundrel have a high crit range?

Also anyone have any ideas for how to mitigate ammunition costs for this build in E6? No haversacks/quiver's of ehlonna/ endless quivers are possible as far as I know.

[Talore]

The smaller crossbow bayonetts are treated as shortswords, so you can at least get a 19-20/x2 crit range.

[Cagemarrow]

Not bad.

Is there anything that would prevent Superior Unarmed Strike and Versatile Unarmed Strike from being useful with an Aptitude weapon? I looked at the feat and don't think there would be. It could be nice to raise the damage dice and type of the crossbow further.

[weenog]

Seems like it would be pointless to try to do it with Superior Unarmed Strike, since that feat just sets your damage to a specific value (well, range of values) within a progression, and one that's pretty crappy compared to the base damage the crossbow already has.  You might be able to get away with plugging in feats like Improved Natural Attack since that just kicks your damage up by one step regardless of what it currently is.  Hmmm... throwing in INA (bite) and Great Bite might be amusing, if it works.

Actually now I'm tempted to try to get my character killed and reincarnated as a shifter just to pick up Great Bite at 9th level.  Crit 15-20/x3 on a build like that would be nasty even staying with the 2d8 base damage.

[Cagemarrow]

Anyway to add knockback somehow? I want to star in my own Arnold movie.

[nijineko]

As long as you are starting at level six or higher, The Soulbow in this thread is another option for a good volley archer.

why are you using that soulbow when this official 3.5 one is so much better?

Because while Athas.org was given permission by WoTC, I don't see it any more official than Dragon magazine and thus don't use it.

i see. while i view permission to be official as being equal to being official, i guess we will have to agree to disagree. thanks for responding.

[Nanshork]

As long as you are starting at level six or higher, The Soulbow in this thread is another option for a good volley archer.

why are you using that soulbow when this official 3.5 one is so much better?

Because while Athas.org was given permission by WoTC, I don't see it any more official than Dragon magazine and thus don't use it.

i see. while i view permission to be official as being equal to being official, i guess we will have to agree to disagree. thanks for responding.

You're welcome.

By the way, I looked through that pdf and there isn't a Soulbow in it.  There's Soulknife as a PrC instead of a base class (which wouldn't help my build anyway), but I didn't see Soulbow anywhere even under a different name.  Did you post the wrong link or am I just blind because it's past midnight?

[Cagemarrow]

I thought Soul Bow was in Complete Psionic. . . but it was a PrC. Not that I know much about psionics in general.

[Beltendu]

I'm pretty sure you have that right.  As I understand it, it's one of the few redeeming qualities of Complete Psionic ...

[nijineko]

no, no. you are fine. i think i was blinded due to the lateness of the hour i was reading your post.... =P i must have miss-read soulbow to be soulknife. that's a prestige version of a soulknife, as i recall athas said they didn't feel the soulbow fit in with the setting, so they didn't really reference it either way; just fixed the soulknife.

the advantage of the soulknife prestige is that if you take a level or two of it, and then the practiced mindblade feat from the dragon mag mindblade article, you get twice as much benefit/increase. which stacks into bonus for the soulbow, too. also, you can qualify for soulbow with only one level of prestige instead of two of the baseclass soulknife...

[Nanshork]

Fair enough.   

[Cagemarrow]

I'm not sure if Knock back could apply now that I look over the feat. . . using one of the two bonus martial monk feats would let me ignore the prerequisets  but I think I'd have to find a way to apply power attack to the ranged attack.

Penetrating shot looks promising but so does Ranged Weapon Mastery or even Improved Precise Shot. The build only has one additional feat that ignores the normal requirements since one is already reserved for Improved Critical. Are there any others that would be even better?

[nijineko]

the best knockback effect i've seen in d&d is in book of nine swords:tome of battle, ballista throw iirc. chuck an enemy as a 60' line attack against other enemies.

[ksbsnowowl]

If you are just wanting a "typical archer" that is effective at range and up close, and depending upon what your allowed sources are, check out the archer thread linked in my sig.

[nijineko]

second that endorsement. ksbsnowowl is the archer reference.

[Cagemarrow]

That looks like a really good resource for a standard game, but they blossom too late for an E6 game. I ran into the same problem when trying to fit close combat shot into the build with exotic weapon master, bab +6 requirement makes it unattainable.