comrade raoul
Explorer
There's an interesting feat called Deadeye Shot in the PHB2 that lets you deny a target's Dexterity bonus against your ranged attack if you ready the attack until an ally hits the target. Combined with Manyshot and its Greater cousin, it can result in a flavorful and effective archer.
Consider a human rogue 11/fighter 1 (you'll need to add in the fighter level when your BAB would reach +5 or higher, since you'll need three feats which have +6 BAB requirements) with Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (longbow), Precise Shot, Manyshot, Deadeye Shot, and Greater Manyshot. By drawing on a helpful ally, you'll be able to ready a double-arrow shot each round that gets +12d6 sneak attack damage if it hits.
(There's probably a way to make this even more effective if you use lots of psionic feats, actually: if you took Psionic Shot, Psionic Meditation, and either Greater Psionic Shot or Deep Impact, you could make all of the attacks as touch attacks, too, or do an extra 4d6 damage. You could do this by trading two levels of rogue for two levels of psychic warrior, and dropping Weapon Focus for one of the other psionic feats. Here is the really munchinky version:
Human rogue 9/psychic warrior 2/fighter 1
1st: rog 1 -- Point Blank Shot (character), Rapid Shot
2nd: rog 2
3rd: rog 3 -- Precise Shot
4th: rog 4
5th: rog 5
6th: rog 5/psw 1 -- Psionic Shot, Psionic Meditation
7th: rog 6/psw 1
8th: rog 6/psw 2 -- Fell Shot
9th: rog 6/psw 2/ftr 1 -- Manyshot, Deadeye Shot
10th: rog 7/psw 2/ftr 1
11th: rog 8/psw 2/ftr 1
12th: rog 9/psw 2/ftr 1 -- Greater Manyshot
For psionic powers, take offensive prescience, for a handy +2 insight bonus to damage rolls, and anything else you want: empty mind (+2 on a Will save as an immediate action) is probably not a bad choice, for this kind of character.
Given a magically-enhanced Strength of 18, a Dex of, say, 22, and a +2 holy longbow, you can make a (readied) ranged touch attack each round at +13, for a total of 2d8+14d6+18 points of damage against an evil opponent (counting Strength, enhancement, point blank shot, and offensive prescience, and ignoring the possibility of a critical). Because you are making a touch attack against an opponent who also happens to be denied his Dexterity bonus, you will probably not miss (although your shot depends on an ally hitting the target).
(Add in bane arrows and you're even deadlier.)
Consider a human rogue 11/fighter 1 (you'll need to add in the fighter level when your BAB would reach +5 or higher, since you'll need three feats which have +6 BAB requirements) with Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (longbow), Precise Shot, Manyshot, Deadeye Shot, and Greater Manyshot. By drawing on a helpful ally, you'll be able to ready a double-arrow shot each round that gets +12d6 sneak attack damage if it hits.
(There's probably a way to make this even more effective if you use lots of psionic feats, actually: if you took Psionic Shot, Psionic Meditation, and either Greater Psionic Shot or Deep Impact, you could make all of the attacks as touch attacks, too, or do an extra 4d6 damage. You could do this by trading two levels of rogue for two levels of psychic warrior, and dropping Weapon Focus for one of the other psionic feats. Here is the really munchinky version:
Human rogue 9/psychic warrior 2/fighter 1
1st: rog 1 -- Point Blank Shot (character), Rapid Shot
2nd: rog 2
3rd: rog 3 -- Precise Shot
4th: rog 4
5th: rog 5
6th: rog 5/psw 1 -- Psionic Shot, Psionic Meditation
7th: rog 6/psw 1
8th: rog 6/psw 2 -- Fell Shot
9th: rog 6/psw 2/ftr 1 -- Manyshot, Deadeye Shot
10th: rog 7/psw 2/ftr 1
11th: rog 8/psw 2/ftr 1
12th: rog 9/psw 2/ftr 1 -- Greater Manyshot
For psionic powers, take offensive prescience, for a handy +2 insight bonus to damage rolls, and anything else you want: empty mind (+2 on a Will save as an immediate action) is probably not a bad choice, for this kind of character.
Given a magically-enhanced Strength of 18, a Dex of, say, 22, and a +2 holy longbow, you can make a (readied) ranged touch attack each round at +13, for a total of 2d8+14d6+18 points of damage against an evil opponent (counting Strength, enhancement, point blank shot, and offensive prescience, and ignoring the possibility of a critical). Because you are making a touch attack against an opponent who also happens to be denied his Dexterity bonus, you will probably not miss (although your shot depends on an ally hitting the target).
(Add in bane arrows and you're even deadlier.)
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