Item Clarification Questions

Artur Hawkwing · Apr 9, 2012

Hey, all...

Being forever paranoid about doing wrong when buying equipment, I have 2 questions:

My Ranger is looking at a bow upgrade. Being a bit put-out with his inability to hit a rather large, unmoving target (well armored, but he isn't thinking about that), I would like to see about nabbing him a Composite Longbow +2 (which is also his STR bonus). I am not sure, though these are listed as normal weapons, if I would need to roll in the Pearl for it, since it is a superior quality of craftsmanship and might or might not be readily available (grant he can always commission it).

Secondly, I'm wanting to check to see if the "traveling" size version of the Wizard's Spellbook (From AA) is allowed.

Muchas gracias!

jkason · Apr 9, 2012

Artur Hawkwing said:
I would like to see about nabbing him a Composite Longbow +2 (which is also his STR bonus). I am not sure, though these are listed as normal weapons, if I would need to roll in the Pearl for it, since it is a superior quality of craftsmanship and might or might not be readily available (grant he can always commission it).

I find composite longbows a bit confusing to list because they have what feels like double bonuses involved: You can buy a relatively cheap upgrade to the STR bonus, which does nothing to help you hit, but lets you apply str bonus to the damage roll. Then, like other equipment, you can get normal enchantment bonuses which help with hits and damage together.

Unless you have a whole lot of gold, I'm assuming you're talking about the latter (+100 per point), in which case I think those are readily available. They don't even require an item be masterwork. But, as I noted above, getting the str bonus only actually affects the damage, not his chance to hit with the weapon.

Artur Hawkwing · Apr 9, 2012

Thanks, JK...

Yeah, I am aware that it doesn't apply to the ability to hit. In his mind, though, he believes that it would.

Indeed, I refer to the normal, if you can call it that, composite bow (+2). I haven't even looked to see what putting any kind of mod on it to effect his ability to hit would cost. I found with Audra doing such things at this low of a level is nothing but frustrating, because you just don't have the cash supply yet to do what you want/they want to do.

So yeah, just the damage enhancement for now for him. Hoping someday he might stumble across a bow that takes advantage of his designed future of becoming an Arcane Archer. Which is also, btw, why I ask about the "journal"/travel size spellbook.

Anyway, they're sort of a grey area, so that's why I wanted to ask. Glad I'm not the only one that finds them a bit confusing.

GlassEye · Apr 9, 2012

Artur Hawkwing said:
Secondly, I'm wanting to check to see if the "traveling" size version of the Wizard's Spellbook (From AA) is allowed.

I agree with jkason's assessment of the strength composite bow; it should be available without a roll.

AA is an approved source but items duplicated in the APG use APG stats. In this case, those stats are identical so it doesn't matter. Go ahead and buy your traveling spellbook.