Gatling Bow (Migration)

[Eldariel]

We probably cannot beat a straight Fighter completely focusing on ranged damage without maneuvers. Then again, we don't need to (also, I assume we won't be using Targetteer Fighter from Dragon, 'cause that thing would require rebuilding the whole character to fit Vital Aim [Dex to damage] and Hail of Arrows [two extra attacks with all at -5]), 'cause that Fighter is gonna suck at everything else. Still, the Thug Fighter I saw built to just deal damage went a long way to show that Fighters can deal damage if they want to. They just aren't very good at anything else (although a properly multiclassed Fighter Archer could probably kick royal butt).

Anyways, here's a build I was using in the arena fight:


F) Knowledge Devotion
F) Precise Shot
1) Point Blank Shot
R) Rapid Shot
T) Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Greatbow, Harpoon (Vital Aim as ability)
3) Weapon Focus: Greatbow
T) Hail of Arrows
6) Mage Slayer
W) Blind-Fight
9) Pierce Magical Concealment
12) Power Attack
15) Woodland Archer
18) Martial Stance: Stance of Alacrity

Taking the anti-mage stuff, Dragon-stuff and Flaws away leaves us with:


Ranger 2/Fighter 2/Warblade 6/Eternal Blade 10 (exact order is probably taking first Fighter level on 3 and second on 8 to pick WS ASAP) [Not touching Crusader with a 10ft. pole as it stands]

1) Point Blank Shot
R) Rapid Shot
F) Precise Shot
3) Knowledge Devotion
6) Weapon Focus: Longbow
W) Improved Initiative/Quick Draw/Blind-Fight/Diehard
F) Weapon Specialization: Longbow
9) Ranged Weapon Mastery
12) Martial Study: Dancing Mongoose? If we want to, we can pick it up, but is the extra attack really that good?
15) Woodland Archer
18) Power Attack or something


Alternatively Knowledge Devotion could be taken later (at 15 the latest), knocking Power Attack down to 3 and Woodland Archer to 18 in order to make the melee side better earlier on (and to break obstacles!). That would mean you don't really get to choose the Knowledge you want to focus on though (you'll have to max one Knowledge yourself, or at least take ~10 ranks in one as Eternal Knowledge only covers 5).


Stances:
Blood in the Water (or Punishing Stance if we wanna be better in early melee; alternatively Leading the Charge or Bolstering Voice over Douse the Flames)
Absolute Steel Stance
Hearing the Air

Maneuvers:
Sudden Leap (trade the prereq for BiTW to this at 4)
Moment of Perfect Mind
Iron Heart Surge (trading prereq away at 6)
Mind over Body
Douse the Flames
White Raven Tactics
Order Forged from Chaos
Quicksilver Motion
Diamond Defense
Time Stands Still

With Dancing Mongoose from a feat. You could also fit White Raven Hammer there if you really wanted to, and overall more. We could alternatively drop some White Raven to have Mountain Hammer as a general problem solver around. I personally happen to love White Raven Commander-abilities though, so I probably would lean towards keeping them.


EDIT: If we want, it could use Dragonborn Fire Elf or a similar race and thus gain Fly speed to abuse with Plunging Shot et co. That seems excessive though; generally the opponents you can activate Plunging Shot against can't threaten you in the first place and thus the extra damage is wasted. Amusingly enough Dragonborn adds Favored Class: Fighter to whatever it's applied. Therefore a Dragonborn Wood Elf would have Fighter and Ranger as Favored Classes and therefore be able to take Ranger 2/Fighter 2/Warblade 6/Eternal Blade 10 without Exp Penalties in games using the strict rules for those.

EDIT#2: Oh yeah, then there's the option of going Half-Drow or Lesser Drow to pick up the Fighter ACF that gives Dex to damage vs. flat-footed within 30' and +2 Init. Heck, by strict reading, those are available to everyone. Either way, it would give a nice damage boost, and Initiative Bonus as a boon; with Improved Initiative, the +2 and highish Dex, you'd actually be game for Initiative even on higher levels.

[Alastar]

alright, I modified a few things.

I have some open feats, as well as an open stance and some added damage.  Check it out, I,m also looking for a spot to place those 20 k or so last gp.

Maybe more oils.

Told you I'd do it.... one day :roll:

[BowenSilverclaw]

Mmh, I'd like to try out this guy with Otherworldy and a Wand of Polymorph or Scepter of Draconic Polymorph for Arrow Demon goodness 

[Eldariel]

alright, I modified a few things.

I have some open feats, as well as an open stance and some added damage.  Check it out, I,m also looking for a spot to place those 20 k or so last gp.

Maybe more oils.

Told you I'd do it.... one day :roll:

Meh, while you're at it, you might as well move the one Ranger-level to the start. 6+Int skills (including Spot and Hide - 8+Int if using Elf Ranger Sub, although D6 only) and D8 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 2+Int skills and D10. Also, I prefer taking the second Fighter-level at 8-9 to take Weapon Specialization and Ranged Weapon Mastery ASAP (at 8 and 9, respectively) to bring the build to fruition as early as possible. This pushes Woodland Archer further ahead to 12, but it isn't really that useful until you get a huge number of attacks in the first place, so that should be rather trivial.

Also, I suggest at least considering Quick Draw over Improved Initiative, since you could draw Wands as free action and some of them have Swift Action-uses - you've got the ability to use all Ranger-wands, so this could be very useful (doesn't work with Ranger 4-build obv since it needs to give up spellcasting to work). Further, it means you never need to walk around armed. It's a tough call, but I feel Quick Draw has an incredible utility here. Also, I suppose Unnerving Calm could be used to potentially get bit more extra damage - only works within 30' though (same with the DoTU Fighter ACF), and opponent can ignore challenge for only To Hit-bonuses.

As far as items go, Martial Scripts can be used to access Time Stands Still much earlier. I suggest the character could pick a few up around level 13-14 for really tough sitiuations. Likewise, Tiger Claw Bracers (Adept and Master, respectively) could allow access to Dancing Mongoose and Raging Mongoose (as long as you've got 2 Tiger Claw-maneuvers for Dancing and 3 for Raging Mongoose - Blood in the Water and Sudden Leap do for Dancing Mongoose, and adding Hunter's Sense, Wolverine Stance or whatever is enough for Raging) for a rather cheap price. It seems like the present consensus is that Raging Mongoose and Time Stands Still work "the right way" together, making the Time Stands Still-turns more brutal even before Island in Time (and give the character more longetivity).


And if you feel like it, you could use those open feats for Targetteer's (Dragon 310) abilities (Swarm of Arrows, Vital Aim). Using Targetteer also frees up the Greatbow proficiency as it gets free Exotic Ranged Weapon Prof. That would leave one more feat open and a bunch of extra attacks and damage, if truly going for the biggest numbers.


EDIT: Few fun stacks one can do with Island in Time:
*Your turn > Island in Time. Now, you arguably have either two interlayered turns or one big turn, depending on the exact interpretion. Either way, you can argue that your turn doesn't end until you end your original turn even though you've got another turn inside it, or that since you spend the Swift Action for that turn, you can take the Full-Round before passing the turn. This allows you to:
-Use the Swift Action on Island in Time-turn (remember, you took Island in Time on your own turn meaning the Swift Action of Island in Time-turn isn't spent paying for the normally Immediate Action) to initiate Raging Mongoose.
-Time Stands Still on Island in Time-turn with a total of 4 extra attacks.
-Time Stands Still on your own turn for 4 more extra attacks.

Yes, the rules are a bit blurry about how you take two turns at once and it could easily be argued that you have to end the Island in Time-turn before continuing the turn you took it on, but the opposite interpretion isn't impossible either.

*Time Stands Still-attack the opponent. Hit at least once. You could use...say Clarity of Vision to notice him through any sort of invisibility. Preferably do this only after the opponent has acted for that turn - you can lower your initiative for that (hopefully remaining alive). In the beginning of the next turn, you can use Island in Time to take the turn as a swift action and Time Stands Still with Pierce the Foliage straight through whatever Invisibility or Glamers he's got on with no miss chance. I suppose you could use this earlier with Moment of Alacrity. Of course, Pierce the Foliage works even if the opponent moves, so it's not really a problem if opponent takes an action inbetween your actions as long as you can somehow find the correct square.



Anyways, quick list of things I'd change/mention in the OP:
-Level order: Ranger first, Fighter around 8-9
-Feat order: Pick up RWM ASAP. Woodland Archer isn't in a hurry and Knowledge Devotion could bear being picked earlier for the "gain a Knowledge-skill in class for the rest of your career"-thing, as well as the fact that you have access to Dungeoneering, Nature and Local early on to cover many major (especially early) creature groups.
-Racial modifiers: 3.5 Wood Elf is +2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Int, -2 Con (which is actually better - 2 points from Wis and Cha into Con and Int leaves you with otherwise the same stats, except 12 base Int)
-Maneuvers: You no longer need the Stone Dragon to qualify - I suggest picking up White Raven-stuff, which while doesn't really make the character itself that much more powerful, makes him more efficient party player and thus better for actual gameplay. Also, one more Tiger Claw for Raging Mongoose. Also, I think the character wants to know Moment of Alacrity (although Adept Ring of Diamond Mind would do it too).
-ACFs: Mention Targetteer, DoTU Hit and Run Fighter and perhaps Resolute to fix up Will-save without maxing Concentration.
-Items: I suggest mentioning, and perhaps factoring in, Martial items, especially for Tiger Claw (since Belt of Battle is per day). May be worth looking into Ranger Wands too (Arrow Mind? Hunter's Eye?).
-Builds: Ranger/Warblade-build could be handy to have around. Likewise for Flawless (mostly involves dropping Greatbow for Longbow).
-Some level-by-level analysis: The character's breakpoints compared to Fighter/Ranger Archers (4-5 for level 1 Ranger Wand or so, 6-7 for White Raven Tactics and Int on Crit Confirmation, 9 for Ranged Weapon Mastery, 11 for Dancing Mongoose & Int to damage and to hit, 12 for ignore DR, 13-14 for Time Stands Still Scripts, 15 for Knowledge Devotion, 17 for Raging Mongoose, 19 for Time Stands Still, 20 for Island in Time) - it's not just a level 20 wonder and that should be made known.
-Notes: A Warblade Archer is more than just an archer. You can also be competent in melee (especially if you pick up a maneuver or two, and Power Attack), you can make for a solid "leader" with White Raven, and you've got a decent number of skillpoints to boot. Seems worth stating there.

[Alastar]

Very valid suggestions, I'll mow them in.

Care to site sources and not use diminutives, as well as tell me a bit as to what some of these things do?

It's still brewing in my head and the dish isn't served.

[Eldariel]

I'm assuming all the Tome of Battle-related stuff needs no clarifications, so I'll just list things I mentioned, the effect and the source:

Fighter Substitutions

Hit-and-Run Tactics Fighter Alternative Class Feature
From: Drow of the Underdark. Listed as "Drow Options", but not with "prerequisite: Drow", so it could reasonably be picked up. Definitely works with Lesser Drow/Half-Drow in any case (both are Forgotten Realms-specific if I recall correctly though).
Effect: Lose Heavy Armor Proficiency and Tower Shield Proficiency for good (unless using a feat to pick them up). Gain +2 to Initiative Checks and Dexterity as Competence Bonus to damage within 30' against flat-footed targets (in other words, Dexterity as non-precision Sudden Strike).

Targetteer Fighter Substitutions
From: Dragon Magazine 310. Available at http://www.crystalkeep.com
Effect: Lose Martial Weapon Proficiency. Gain proficiency in one ranged Martial Weapon and two ranged Exotic Weapons. Lose Jump, Swim, Handle Animal and Intimidate in class. Gain Hide, Move Silently and Profession. Gain ability to pick Targetteer abilities as Fighter feats if desired. Targetteer abilities are:

Vital Aim: When shooting at a target vulnerable to critical hits, you may add Dexterity to damage. It's worded in a funny fashion that would imply you'd lose Str to damage, but since bows don't even add Str to damage by default, I'm assuming that's with regards to thrown weapons.

Sniper: Targetteer can sacrifice attacks in a Full Attack Action to increase threat range. Every lost attack increases the threat range of the bow by 1. A Targetteer can't sacrifice all his attacks this way. Sacrificed attacks only enhance the next attack made.

Arrow Swarm (!!) [Prerequisite: Rapid Shot]: By taking -5 on all attacks for a round, the Targetteer may make two additional attacks at the highest base attack bonus when making a full attack. Note how this doesn't disclose using Rapid Shot in the same volley! So you can get a total of 5 full BAB attacks (in addition to iteratives) with base one, Arrow Swarm, Rapid Shot and Haste.

Resolute Alternate Class Feature
From: Complete Champion, replaces an even-leveled Fighter bonus feat.
Effect: As an immediate action, you may add half your BAB to Will-saves. Seems useful to me, especially if not using the maneuver all the time.


Ranger Substitution Levels (make Ranger 4/Warblade 6 work)

Champion of the Wilds Alternate Class Feature
From: Complete Champion, level 4, replaces spellcasting
Effect: Get bonus feat level 4 and every 4 levels after in exchange for spellcasting. The list for Archery-type contains enough useful feats to pick it up.

Distracting Attack Alternate Class Feature
From: Player's Handbook II, level 4, replaces animal companion
Effect: Every opponent you hit with an attack is considered flanked by your allies until either they're hit or until your next turn, whichever comes first.

Solitary Hunter Alternate Class Feature
From: Dragon Magazine 347, level 1, replaces animal companion
Effect: Add Favored Enemy bonuses to To Hit in addition to damage. Awesome since it can be taken even if you'll never take enough Ranger-levels to get the animal companion it's replacing.

Complete Champion also has one, which gives up Wild Empathy for three castings of any mix of Speak with Plants and Speak with Animals. I always take it since I never have enough Ranger-levels for relevant Wild Empathy-checks anyways, while being able to speak with things allows e.g. making Diplomacy-checks which can actually succeed (and since my Ranger-levels only determine the duration of the effects and have no bearing on the result, having very few Ranger-levels is much less of a problem with this).


Spells

Arrow Mind
From: Spell Compendium, Ranger 1, Swift Action, 1 round duration
Effect: You don't provoke AoOs for using a bow in melee and threaten your natural reach.

Hunter's Mercy
From: Spell Compendium, Ranger 1, Standard Action, 1 round duration
Effect: If you hit on a ranged attack before the end of your next turn, it's an automatic Critical Hit.

Hunter's Eye
From: Player's Handbook II, Ranger 2, Swift Action, 1 round duration
Effect: Gain 1d6 Sneak Attack for every 3 caster levels. Standard caster level is 8 for 2d6, although it shouldn't be hard to find a CL9 version for 3d6 (and in a world with Archivists, CL 3 version should be fairly standard - Mystic Ranger easily allows for CL 4-6).


The rest I listed is from Tome of Battle - the Tiger Claw Bracers and Diamond Mind Ring, the Martial Scripts, the maneuvers, etc.

[Alastar]

Wow, targeteer is madness, as in sparta madness.

the rapid shot/arrow storm combo reasonably gives me 20 more attacks

If I manage to get raging Mongoose in there, this moves to an additional 20 attacks, so i would reach 100 APR

APR means arrows per round, it should be used as the new speed ration for archers.

Let me think about how to do this a bit.

Thanks a lot.

[Eldariel]

I actually used a Targetteer-version in a level 20 PbP Arena Fight. Even with Murky-Eyed (poor choice of flaw on my part, I admit), I was easily able to nail targets through Total Concealment with a second Full-Round Action leftover. The problem is running out of Swift Actions (ain't it always?) - both, Belt of Battle and Raging Mongoose need one (I hadn't thought of Maneuver-granting items then anyways), and Stance of Alacrity only works with Counters.

EDIT: Couldn't we read a Time Stands Still-script before the encounter, then use the Script TSS followed by native TSS followed by Eternal Training TSS? I couldn't find a line in Martial Scripts that stated for it to be impossible to get a maneuver you already know as your "script maneuver" too. That would get us 6 full attacks with 8 base attacks (with Arrow Swarm) doubled by splitting for a total of 96 attacks.

[Eldariel]

This has been dead for a while, but I just noticed an incredibly simple means of crossing the 100 arrows-threshold so I figured it's worth posting about:
1-level dip in Whirling Frenzy Barbarian. Since Whirling Frenzy is in no ways limited to just melee, +4 Str (=+2 damage) and an extra attack for one-level dip (probably has to pick up Extra Rage to do it reasonably often though). As a bonus, there's the Fast Movement (or ACFs like Pounce, Improved Grab, Climb-speed, Blind-Fight, Spot-bonus or some such) and decent skills; the build has a sufficient number of feats and Fighter-levels as it stands so replacing one of the Fighter-levels (picking Arrow Swarm with that one level) with a Barbarian-level would get the longed-for extra attack pushing it into 108 attacks in a round.

[Heliomance]

I don't see Improved Rapidshot in the build. With those open feats, I'm sure you could fit it in.

[Alastar]

Updated with the dragon magazine targeteer, now reached 80 arrows per round.

@ heliomance, improved rapidshot would only reduce my to hit penalty, i could maybe see to it, true.

@ eldariel, true, a barbarian dip with whirlwind frenzy would grant me one additional attack, witch would grant me an additional 10 attacks, going to 90.  No idea where to put the barb level thought, maybe dump ranger? Vital aim is too good to pass up, so i need two fighter levels.

[Eldariel]

Yeah, I suppose. May make sense to drop Ranger entirely, although it's the only source of Spot & Hide for the build, which happen to be fairly important/handy with archery. Still... That one feat is a bit of a pain. I made some Ranger 2/Fighter 1/Barbarian 1 builds work, but obviously they can't use Targeteer to full effect.

[Alastar]

That opens up 1 more level to fill, any one class dip we can plug there, that is full BAB, and that we can use to get more attacks?

[Aldgar]

I suggest something different entirely:

A Factotum Archer with Greater Manyshot who uses a splitting bow to shoot 8 arrows per standard action, and novas via Cunning Surge.


If a Factotum has Font of Inspiration 8 times, he gets 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8=36 extra inspiration points, or 12 extra standard actions(not counting the inspiration points he gets naturally from the class itself).

12*8= 96 attacks already. 100 should be easy.

If possible, get Swiftblade in that build -or simply go with something like Factotum 11/Chameleon9, use Chameleon with Practiced Spellcaster to achieve CL(=BAB via Divine Power) 22, use inspiration points to ignore DR and shoot lots and lots and lots of arrows.

[Alastar]

hmmmm, a capital idea good friend, care to make the build of it, and I'll post it on the OP, and maybe Eldariel can put it in his archery handbook?

[Anklebite]

the problem is that greater manyshot eats 4 feats, so to also have 8 fonts.... where are you getting that many feats?

lvl 1, human bonus, 2 flaws, lvl 3+6+9+12+15+18 = 10 feats total.  4 for greater manyshot, and then you only get 6 fonts.  are you (ab)using feats via items, DCFS, or something?

[Aldgar]

Heroics can temporarily grant fighter feats, and Greater manyshot may not be necessary.


Manyshot itself has some awesome synergy with the Factotum, allowing a single Inspiration point to add Int to Damage for all four(eight if split) arrows at once.


Anyways, here's a very rough build:

Human Factotum 11/Chameleon9

Ability scores(32 pointbuy)
Int > Dex > Str > Con > Wis > Cha

28 Str [14+6 enhancement+4 inherent+4 Chameleon(6pts)]
28 Dex [14+6 enhancement+4 Inherent+4 Chameleon(6pts)]
18 Con [12+6 enhancement (4pts)]
34 Int  [18+6 enhancement+5 inherent+5 levels(16pts)]
14 Wis [8+6 enhancement(0pts)]
14 Cha [8+6 enhamcement(0pts)

Flaws: Vulnerable, Inattentive

Feat Progression:
1- Able Learner(Human), Font of Inspiration(1st), Point-Blank Shot(Flaw1), Rapid Shot(Flaw2)
2-
3- Font of Inspiration(3rd)
4-
5-
6- Font of Inspiration(6th)
7-
8-
9- Font of Inspiration(9th)
10-
11-
12- Font of Inspiration (12th)
13-
14-
15- Font of Inspiration(15th)
16-
17-
18- Font of Inspiration(18th)
19-
20-

Extra: Floating Feat is usually Font of Inspiration.

The above build lacks manyshot(which must be acccessed via Heroics), and has a total of 6(Factotum 11)+36(8*FoI)=42 Inspiration points.

Equipment:
760 000 gp total


Belt of Magnificence +6 (200k)
Unslotted Belt of Battle (24k)
+2 Splitting Energy Bow (64.6k)
Tome of Clear Thought +5(137.5k)
Manual of Gainful Exercise +4(110k)
Manual of Quickness of Action +4(110k)
Strongarm Bracers (6k)

652.100 gp used.

107.900 gp left.

Base Stats:

HP: 19d8+88(173.5 average)
Move Speed: 30ft
AC: 18(10 base, +9 Dex, -1 flaw)
Arrow Nova: See below
Damage per Arrow: Minimum 2d6+18(can be improved via powershot and inspiration points)
BaB: 14(18 with divine power)
Base Saves: Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +6
Initiative: +21(before magic items/spells to improve it!)


ARROW NOVA:

Preparations:
*Assume Martial Focus and something else
*Cast Heroics three times(Power Attack, Manyshot, Greater Manyshot)   <-(Eternal wands perhaps???)
*Cast Divine Power(not really necessary, only adds +4 to hit)
*Cast Greater Magic Weapon at 20 CL on your Bow(ask your caster buddy, get oils, whatever)

The details:
1. Win Initiative
2. Proceed:

Standard action: Manyshot(8 arrows at +28(18 BaB, +9 Dex modifier, +2 from bow, +4 competence from Martial Focus, +3 from GMW, -8 from Manyshot)

Swift action: Gain Full-round action from Belt of Battle

Standard action: Manyshot(see above)

Since you have 42 Inspiration points, repeat Manyshot 14 times via Cunning Surge(For a total of 16*8=128 arrows).

Move action 1&2(normal turn/Belt of Battle): Dance your victory dance.

Estimated Damage, assuming all arrows hit, and no criticals: 3.456(Damage per arrow: 2d8+2(bow)+9(str)+4(martial focus)+3(GMW)=2d8+18, or 27 average)

Power shot can increase this damage further, and I'm *SURE* that there are other ways to optimize damage output.
A dragonfire inspiration bard ally, for example, could augment this damage like crazy.

You may opt to use cunning surge less often, this allows for Cunning Breach(Ignore DR for 1 round) and Cunning Insight(Boost 1 attack or damage roll by +12(applies to 8 arrows at once).

You furthermore may opt to use Power attack with your bow at a 1:1 ratio(as described in the Energy bow's description).

If one chooses to replace the Chameleon Levels with Fighter levels instead, the acquisition of feats is easier and allows for more Fonts of Inspiration(requires other casters to buff you, though).

[Anklebite]

where are you getting precise shot? splitting requires it, and so does greater manyshot I believe.

[Eldariel]

hmmmm, a capital idea good friend, care to make the build of it, and I'll post it on the OP, and maybe Eldariel can put it in his archery handbook?

Once I get to Factotums, that is precisely the note I'm intent on posting - how Cunning Surge interacts wonderfully with Greater Manyshot. Unfortunately, I've faced some sorts of problems with arranging stuff in the book hence why I haven't been updating it as of late. But yeah, your average Font of Inspiration-spamming (Greater) Manyshot is precisely what I intend on (normal Manyshot may actually be better much of the time as it's only 1 attack roll and thus adding Int to attacks is much cheaper). But yeah, I built a gestalt Factotum//Archivist Archer (or was it Erudite?) for a competition over at GiTP that could kill a Hecatoncheires in one turn on 20.

[Aldgar]

where are you getting precise shot? splitting requires it, and so does greater manyshot I believe.

Cast Heroics one more time to solve this problem.