"Step Back" feat?

[TanisFrey]

One of the d20 books had a feat that let you attack with a bow without provoking AoOs, if you took a penalty to your attack roll (-2 IIRC). I want to say it was from one of Fantasy Flight's Legends & Lairs books, but I really don't remember for sure.

I believe that you are thinking of a ranger spell called Arrowmind from the spell compendium.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I believe that you are thinking of a ranger spell called Arrowmind from the spell compendium.

No, no attack penalty for Arrowmind, and it let you do a lot more htan just shoot without provoking. It let you threaten your adjacent squares with arrow shots, too.

There were several methods of attacking with a bow and not provoking in 3E (Order of the Bow Initiate just let you do it; Exotic Weapon Master did with a concentration check, etc...), I don't think any of the methods in WotC books involved an attack penalty.

 

[concerro]

Why can't the archer tumble out of range, then tag the melee guy with vital strike. The archer could also have a potion of haste to keep the fighter away.

 

[coyote6]

No, no attack penalty for Arrowmind, and it let you do a lot more htan just shoot without provoking. It let you threaten your adjacent squares with arrow shots, too.

There were several methods of attacking with a bow and not provoking in 3E (Order of the Bow Initiate just let you do it; Exotic Weapon Master did with a concentration check, etc...), I don't think any of the methods in WotC books involved an attack penalty.

Yeah, it wasn't arrowmind, and wasn't from WotC at all. I believe the feat was called Close Quarters Archery (I texted the player, and that's what he had on the PC's sheet), but I still don't remember which book. I think it was an FFG book, but that's very possibly wrong.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Why can't the archer tumble out of range, then tag the melee guy with vital strike. The archer could also have a potion of haste to keep the fighter away.

Tumble is not a class skill for Fighter and Ranger archers. And in PF, it is far from guaranteed to work. So you're taking ranks in a skill to maybe at best trade one attack per round with a guy who does more damage on one hit than you. Of course ,that's if you win the Acrobatics check every turn. If you fail even some of the time (and thus get the joy of giving him TWO attacks per round on you while only getting one yourself), unless the enemy has Combat Reflexes, you're absolutely better off 100% of the time not tumbling at all and using the full attack that's the basis of most of your power, in the hopes of actually killing him.

And again, simple question. Why is there no feat to let an archer simply negate Step Up? Did this seriously never come up in playtesting?

 

[Shazman]

It might not have come up. I really haven't seen a lot of archers in play since 3.0 came on the scene. I have seen two that were pretty effective in the open. Archery can be pretty powerful, and with the right feats and equipment can do as much or more damage than melee characters. The main advantage of archery is hitting enemies far away, especially flying ones.
If you really want to play an archer, than I suggest lobbying your DM fro a step back feat. You could even go to the Paizo boards and lobby for it there. If you do that you can probably get Jason to consider it for a future supplement or an explanation of why it wasn't/isn't considered a good option for a feat.