[3.5] Are archers really worth it?

[Bauglir]

What about a ToB build with aptitude crossbows? If you go into bloodstorm blade you may be able to use your crossbows instead of thrown weaponry.

And if you run out of ammo, you can throw the crossbows.

[Lycanthromancer]

What about a ToB build with aptitude crossbows? If you go into bloodstorm blade you may be able to use your crossbows instead of thrown weaponry.

And if you run out of ammo, you can throw the crossbows.

They come back to you immediately, if I recall correctly.

[Tonymitsu]

hey .... that looks very familiar ..... i think thats my build  

 

>_<  Whoops, my bad.  I can never seem to keep track of where the awesome builds come from.

[PlzBreakMyCampaign]

Aha!  Now I don't even have to post.  My work is complete.

lol. If I thought I could do the pimping better, I would pimp my stuff like this. congratz

[carnivore]

Hey, archery is one of the things that fighter can do decently, just because there's an unending supply of archery feats to consider, and the ranger's the only other full BAB "ranged" class.

Here's a very quick fighter build for ranged using just core and the Complete Warrior:


Wild Elf Fighter 6/Exotic Weapon Master 2/Fighter +12
32 PB: Str 16, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 6, Wis 8, Cha 8.

1: Point Blank Shot
1: Precise Shot
2: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Greatbow) (C. Warr)
3: Rapid Shot
4:  Weapon focus (Greatbow)
6: Manyshot
6: Improved Rapid Shot (C. Warr)
9: Improved Critical (Greatbow)
10: Ranged Pin (C. Warr)
12: Improved Precise Shot
12: Ranged Sunder (C. Warr)
14: Improved Toughness (C. Warr)
15: Weapon specialization (Greatbow)
16: Greater weapon focus (Greatbow)
18: Greater weapon specialization (Greatbow)
18: Iron Will
20: Improved Initiative

Exotic stunts: Ranged disarm and close quarters shot

What the build can do: basically, you want to stand still and make a full attack each round, using Rapid Shot for an extra attack with no penalty.  With no magical items whatsoever, at 20th your attack will look like this: +22/+22/+17/+12/+7, 1d10+7 19-20x3.  For any or all of the attacks, instead of going for damage you can pin an opponent to a nearby object, or sunder the opponent's equipment (generally not a great idea), or disarm him with an arrow.  You can also move and shoot multiple arrows at a high penalty with Multishot, and can shoot opponents in the face without provoking attacks.

meant to coment on this..... awesome build ... good job

 

[JaronK]

What about a ToB build with aptitude crossbows? If you go into bloodstorm blade you may be able to use your crossbows instead of thrown weaponry.

Aptitude Crossbows will actually lead to infinite damage.  Lightning Mace + Roundabout Kick + Aptitude Splitting Great Crossbow + Improved Critical means for 30% of your attacks you get at least two more attacks, 95% of the time it's actually 4 more attacks.  With Blood in the Water each time you trigger more attacks you also get +1 to hit and damage stacking with itself.  Dual wield these crossbows for more shots.  Hand Crossbow Mastery means you reload as a free action.  You'll need more than two arms for this, but that's quite doable.  Go go warblade machine gun!

JaronK

[carnivore]

nice .... but remember .... the OP is looking for "PHB, DMG, and Complete Warrior" based Builds

 

[PhaedrusXY]

Mounted Archery is a feat worth considering, IMO. You can get a fast mount and run full speed on it while making full attacks and only get a -4 penalty to your attack rolls. There isn't much in the game that could actually keep up with you and put up any kind of offensive threat while you're doing that. Of course, you need a wide open space to take full advantage of this, but I'd say fully 80% of the encounters I've been in during my 20+ years of playing have been outdoors. The groups I've been in just don't like dungeon crawls much, and so they are at best occasional. So a flying mount would let you get the maximum benefit out of this all the time, unless you had to fight indoors or underground.

Even if you don't take the feat, a mount can provide you with a huge amount of mobility at little cost. Even if the mount only single moves every round, that's still the ability to move and full attack, which is something that many builds go out of their way to get, for very little cost. And you only take a -4 penalty if your mount double moves, even without the feat.

[ksbsnowowl]

It does go outside the scope of merely Core + Comp Warrior, but check out the Archer Build Thread linked in my sig.

[Hijax]

exotic weapons master. you can now throw your repeater crossbows. and get some extra crit chance on them, IIRC.

also, i dont knwo if it's worth anything, but Order of the bow initiate, CW. 10 levels, can make a special ranged precision attack as a standard action, which deal 1d8 per odd level in the class extra damage out to 30 ft. requires a lot of feats. also, at level 10, it extends the range for ranged precision attacks and sneak attacks out to 60 ft.

[carnivore]

Primary Melee, Secondary Ranged, Primary Scout

Centaur 6/ Fighter 4/ Ranger 3/ Horizon Walker 7

BAB+18

Attributes (25pt buy)

32 Str(14 +8 Racial +4 lvls +6 Belt)
21 Dex(11 +4 Racial +6 Gloves)
24 Con(14 +4 Racial +6 Amulet)
13 Int(15 -2 Racial)
11 Wis(9 +2 Racial)
8 Cha(8)

Feats: Great Movement : (50'(250' Run) + Dimension Door every 1d4 rounds(Quickened 3/day)
Great Detection: Darkvision 120' + Tremorsense
Great Melee Combat: Large size + 32 Str + Imp Trip
Great Ranged Combat: Large mighty (+11 Str bonus) Composite Longbow

Combat Tactics: neat trick:
[spoiler]1)Fire Arrows (Standard Action or Full Round Action)
2)Store Bow in Glove of Storing(Free Action)
3)Draw Guisarme(Free Action)
4)now ready and Threaten 10' and adjacent with Guisarme and Natural Attacks(Hoves)[/spoiler]
Attack Bonus=

+18 BAB +11 Str +5 Enhancement =

+34 Attack with Halberd... 2d8(9 average) +5 + 11 +7(holy) = +32 per hit
+37 Attack with Longbow ... 2d6(7 average) +5 +11 +2 WS = +25 per hit


 

[PhaedrusXY]

I think a dwarf on a horse (or pegasus cohort) would be better than an actual centaur. Then he could ride around on his mount at full speed while still making full attacks. I just picked dwarf because of the racial con bonus and darkvision, and being mounted negates their 20' movement rate. The centaur loses access to his fantastic movement speed if he actually wants to make a full attack. For three rounds per day, he could use his Quickened DD SLA, but the dwarf could also take that if he wanted, and he'd have 6 more levels to play with. With only a 25 pt buy, the dwarf would be hard pressed to get both his Dex and Con as high as the centaur's without polymorph tricks, though.

Wood elf would be a nice race for an archer in core, also. They get +2 racial bonuses to Dex and Str, and -2 to Int and Con. The con is a pity, but as an archer you can probably afford the lost hit points. The int will hurt his skills, but it is tolerable, especially if you take ranger at 1st level. He'd never match the centaur's stats, but he'd be able to benefit from a mount, and with ranger as his favored class he'd make an excellent multiclassed archer without having to worry as much about XP penalties.

[carnivore]

good points .... but i already had this build ready ..... it was a theory build i did a while back .... also the Dwarf would not help his Mount if he used his DD ability, since he is not carrying the Mount.... it would stay behind 

 

[snakeman830]

How is the centaur threatening a 10ft radius with the halbred?

EDIT: Never mind, I forgot a halbred is a reach weapon.  Of course, it would be better for him to use a Lance, even if tripping can't be done with a Lance.  Centaurs wielding lances deal double damage on a charge, after all.

[PhaedrusXY]

How is the centaur threatening a 10ft radius with the halbred?

EDIT: Never mind, I forgot a halbred is a reach weapon.  Of course, it would be better for him to use a Lance, even if tripping can't be done with a Lance.  Centaurs wielding lances deal double damage on a charge, after all.

Actually the halberd isn't a reach weapon...

[snakeman830]

How is the centaur threatening a 10ft radius with the halbred?

EDIT: Never mind, I forgot a halbred is a reach weapon.  Of course, it would be better for him to use a Lance, even if tripping can't be done with a Lance.  Centaurs wielding lances deal double damage on a charge, after all.

Actually the halberd isn't a reach weapon...

Hmm, seems you're right.  In which case, my question still stands.  How is the centaur threatening a 10-ft radius?

[carnivore]

he is LARGE

 

[Agita]

he is LARGE

 

Large creatures only threaten 10 ft. if they're 'tall' rather than 'long'. A Centaur, being a quadruped, is long. Check the statblock, it says 5 ft. under reach.

[carnivore]

opps .... will adjust to Guisarme instead

 

[carnivore]

work in progress