Ranger damage not adding up?

[nroug7]

Hello guys, I'm a relatively new player to this game who started playing 4 weeks ago, during that time I've spent alot of time reading through rules on magic items, feats, skills, etc

In my current party there is a ranger who is doing much more damage than any party member against ALL enemies. We had a DM for a while who pretty much told us what our characters did based on our alignments (He viewed them as rules rather than guidelines) and pretty much scaled his party to our ranger who was doing ridiculous amounts of damage - That meant everyone else in the party was pretty much fodder.

The ranger in particular was 7th level - I'm curious as to how he got his damage, as he claims he was firing 7 arrows at 6d6 each per turn - 2d6 for his bow, 2d6 for the range and 2d6 for his frost arrows

The only way I could imagine him firing so many arrows is with manyshot and rapidshot used in the same turn with a splitting enchantment. (Which shouldn't be possible in 3.5 as Rapidshot uses a standard action and manyshot requires a full-action turn to my understanding)

Something just doesn't click with me, am I just overreacting and looking into it too much or is there really something that doesn't add up here?

 

[Dandu]

The ranger in particular was 7th level - I'm curious as to how he got his damage, as he claims he was firing 7 arrows at 6d6 each per turn - 2d6 for his bow, 2d6 for the range and 2d6 for his frost arrows

He's cheating.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Hello guys, I'm a relatively new player to this game who started playing 4 weeks ago, during that time I've spent alot of time reading through rules on magic items, feats, skills, etc

In my current party there is a ranger who is doing much more damage than any party member against ALL enemies. We had a DM for a while who pretty much told us what our characters did based on our alignments (He viewed them as rules rather than guidelines) and pretty much scaled his party to our ranger who was doing ridiculous amounts of damage - That meant everyone else in the party was pretty much fodder.

The ranger in particular was 7th level - I'm curious as to how he got his damage, as he claims he was firing 7 arrows at 6d6 each per turn - 2d6 for his bow, 2d6 for the range and 2d6 for his frost arrows

A 3rd Edition bow deals 1d8 damage. Point Blank Shot lets you deal +1 damage at close range (within 30 feet). Frost arrows deal +1d6 damage and must be at least +1. Given his level, it's doubtful he can afford anything more expensive than +1 frost arrows. His damage should be 1d8+2 +1d6 within 30 feet, for an average of 10 damage per shot.

The only way I could imagine him firing so many arrows is with manyshot and rapidshot used in the same turn with a splitting enchantment. (Which shouldn't be possible in 3.5 as Rapidshot uses a standard action and manyshot requires a full-action turn to my understanding)

That's my understanding as well. As a 7th-level ranger, he can shoot twice, whether he's using Manyshot or Rapid Shot. That would be an average of 20 damage per round, not the 147 damage he was dealing per round. That's at least 6 times the damage he should be dealing.

Is the DM new? A sheet audit is in order.

 

[delericho]

The only way I could imagine him firing so many arrows is with manyshot and rapidshot used in the same turn with a splitting enchantment. (Which shouldn't be possible in 3.5 as Rapidshot uses a standard action and manyshot requires a full-action turn to my understanding)

It's actually the other way around - Manyshot requires a standard action, while Rapid Shot can only be used as part of a full attack (which requires a full-round action).

As for the Ranger: without seeing the exact build it's hard to tell, but it does definitely sound like something is awry.

 

[Grogg of the North]

The ranger in particular was 7th level - I'm curious as to how he got his damage, as he claims he was firing 7 arrows at 6d6 each per turn - 2d6 for his bow, 2d6 for the range and 2d6 for his frost arrows

A longbow deals 1d8 for a medium creature. If the other player's character is large, or wielding a large bow, then it gets bumped to 2d6. I'm going to assume that his character is medium for the rest of this. If his bow is dealing frost damage then it's at least +1. And the bow is probably a composite bow, allowing him to add his strength modifier to the damage roll.

Point Blank Shot (PBS) deals an extra +1 within 30'.

Favored Enemy deals, at most, +4.

So each shot deals 1d8 + str modifier +1 (magical bow) + 1d6 cold (frost) and may also deal (+4/+2 favored enemy + 1 PBS)

Rapid shot lets him fire three times in the round. Many shot lets him fire two arrows at once.

Dealing 6d6 per arrow is essentially a single target fireball. And being able to fire seven arrows in a round doesn't sound right. If you can give us more information on the build, race, items used the boards can provide more feedback.

 

[nroug7]

[MENTION=22424]delericho[/MENTION] - My bad, I knew both required different actions but it's hard to keep all this stuff in my head - especially when I haven't played an archer yet
[MENTION=6682960]Grogg of the North[/MENTION] He's not exactly co-operative when it comes to sharing details of his character, and the DM we had for the last 4 weeks just up and left and the new one doesn't seem to care much about preserving balance. So essentially, there's a chance he shouldn't be rolling 2d6 for range and only 1d6 for the frost damage?

 

[deadjedi]

He's cheating.

Yea, This.

 

[Grogg of the North]

The only thing I can think of that "2d6 range" damage is would be something like skirmish damage (see the Scout class in Complete Adventurer). But again, it doesn't account for his seven attacks. The fact that he won't let anyone see his character sheet is a bad sign, too.

The fact that your last DM left (Do you have any reason why? Is (s)he still with the group?), a new DM that is apathetic, and that this other player is being fast and loose with the rules are major warning signs. I know you're new to the hobby and I don't want to scare you away from it but ... run. Find another group or see if that other DM wants to start another campaign. From what you've told us there are a lot of red flags about this group.

 

[delericho]

[MENTION=22424]delericho[/MENTION] - My bad, I knew both required different actions but it's hard to keep all this stuff in my head - especially when I haven't played an archer yet

Heh. Don't worry about it - I had to look it up to confirm.

 

[nroug7]

The only thing I can think of that "2d6 range" damage is would be something like skirmish damage (see the Scout class in Complete Adventurer). But again, it doesn't account for his seven attacks. The fact that he won't let anyone see his character sheet is a bad sign, too.

The fact that your last DM left (Do you have any reason why? Is (s)he still with the group?), a new DM that is apathetic, and that this other player is being fast and loose with the rules are major warning signs. I know you're new to the hobby and I don't want to scare you away from it but ... run. Find another group or see if that other DM wants to start another campaign. From what you've told us there are a lot of red flags about this group.

While I think I would enjoy D&D more if I did that, it's a group of friends and there's not many other places for it here anyways.
Every indication points to the fact that he is a 7th-level ranger, the previous DM even referred to him as the ranger (What are character names anyways) And he doesn't move the 10ft requirement for Skirmish before rolling for 6d6 (Unless I'm misreading it)

I guess my main frustration is about the fact that the character is so overwhelmingly strong that other party members don't get to contribute much to the campaign.


Not sure as to why the previous DM left, the last week he played DM he split the party into two groups (Good and evil) to have them fight each other to the death. A few people may have been unhappy about this decision, and I found it weird because we had no reason to kill the good players at the time - we weren't really presented a strong motivation for this other than "This fight decides whether good or evil leads the world" - As if my character was interested in such a thing.