LokiDR said:
Many are not. Demons, dragons, giants and devils to name a few. NPCs definate are not. As I said, if MOST are in these catagories, you have a scewed fights.
You will have ACs running through a reasonably wide range. Even most 10th level NPC opponents are usually going to fall into the 20-25 AC range.
If you can reliably drop the rogue in one round of attacks, he wasn't a challenge in the first place.
Most 10th level fighters can reasonably expect to drop a 10th level rogue in one rounds worth of attacks, maybe two. (Average hit points for a 10th level rogue are 35, up to 45 if he has a 12-13 Constitution, up to 55 if he has a 14-15). Most melee fighters can easily dish out that level of damage in a round. Almost all can guarantee to dish that out in a round and a half.
Free action: drop the shield. Animated tower shield. Using the guy in front of you for cover, preventing AoOs. Archer firing from farther away than you can reach. No, your reach weapon just isn't as broken as you thought it was.
So you've dropped your shield. Leaving aside the fact that it is a
move equivalent action to loose a shield (check the SRD, under Combat Actions, the action is "Loose a Shield"), you've run up to me, dropped your primary defense, and are now wielding a one handed weapon without a shield while facing me. Yeah, you've done yourself a great service there.
Animated tower shields? Do all of your opponents have access to +3 equivalent magical shields on a regular basis? Even at 10th level, a 9,000 gold piece investment in a piece of equipment like that is quite a hefty amount. If your opponents are using that, then they are not going to be using magical weapons, expensive armor, or any of the other things that make them dangerous to
you.
If the Archer is firing from further away than you can reach, then they aren't getting the much of the benefits of the Bracers, Point Blank Shot, or Weapon Specialization, nullifying most of their benefits. At that point, the melee fighter is almost as good as the ranged fighter at ranged combat.
If you use the guy in front of you for cover, then
he is subject to AoOs, either that, or he had to approach in such a way as to expose himself to an extra round of attacks.
Still further investment of resources. You've used up another feat, and probably invested in a cross-class skill (unless you took a level of rogue or bard, in which case you diluted your offensive capabilities). You are restricted to light encumbrance, meaning you can't carry very much, and you
still have to make the Tumble skill check (which isn't all that easy if you are buying your Tumble as a cross-class skill). If you fail, you are going to be hit. Manyshot reduces your potential damage by a significant amount, since the BAB penalty is so high. Basically, you can risk getting an AoO to do less damage than you could in melee. Yipee.
Ya, the archer is in front and doesn't drop his bow after taking his full attack.
If he drops his bow, he's not going to be getting much benefit from being a twinked out archer now, is he?
Unusable if you are wielding a bow. Your hands are occupied with the bow. If you decide to use the gauntlets to attack, you cannot use the bow, and vice versa.
If you shoot and run, you are getting one shot. Or maybe more than one at a sever BAB penalty if you use Manyshot. And if you shoot and run, you once again are not getting much benefit from your "within 30 feet" feats and equipment.
Face it, your combat reflexes just aren't going to be winning you the AoOs like you think they are.
Oh, they will, from experience, they will.
5x4x2 = 40. The difference between your damage 40 times and 42 times is, what, 5%? Also, the is Hunter's Mercy: auto hit, roll to confirm the automatic threat of critical. Bows have a high crit multiplier.
To use Hunter's Mercy, you have to have at least 4 levels of Ranger, maybe 6 (if you don't put a good score in Wisdom). That dilutes the number of feats you get by quite a bit, since you are not taking Fighter levels. And Hunters Mercy is only available in Faerun, so if you are in Greyhawk, it isn't an option.
Precise shot does not negate the AC bonus from cover, not even cover provided by your own allies. It only negates the -4 penalty from firing into melee, which is different.
As an adventurer you are able to set up sniping nests on a regular basis?
Delay action until you can target again.
Ceding the intiative and control of the situation to your enemies. Smart move.
If the enemy is at all in control of the situation, it is a lot easier to make the situation favorable to archers than melee. Arrow slits are a great example.
Arrow slits are not normally available to adventurers as a regular option.
Cleave does not come up unless you are facing a horde.
Cleave comes up anytime you are facing more than one opponent. That you are unable to figure this out is surprising, but given your lack of grasp on other rules, maybe it should not be.
We are not talking about melee vs archer. We are talking about who pumps out more damage as part of a team.
We are talking about who is more effective as [art of a team, and it isn't the twinked out archer.
Melee are subject to every nasty ability of monsters. Archers can loose their bows. Being away from danger is often better than having a single weaknes.
Without his bow, an archer is completely useless. Instead of being a damage causing machine, he is a liability, the qeuivalent of an NPC Warrior class cohort along for the ride.
One more point on breaking bows. It follows the rules for striking an object in hand, not sunder.
And those rules are
even more disadvantageous for the archer. Gosh, that makes your case seem so much better. Not only can you break the archer's bow, but you can do it using rules that make it
easier to do than when trying to break other weapons.
And, considering money is power in D&D, why would you want to waste a valuable item such as the bow? Only if you were desperate.
Considering your rull of the mill opponent is running around with +3 equivalent magical shields, I don't think money is a problem.
Besides, if you want to relieve an archer of his bow without breaking it, just disarm him. The opposed roll will be almost trivially easy for your typical melee combatant, given the fact that the archer is nonproficient with the bow as a melee weapon, can't use any of his ranged feats to bump his AB, and is otherwise at a huge disadvantage.
Cleave increases number of attacks, and not that often.
As often as you drop enemies, you will be likely to Cleave. Most fighters will get an extra atack out of Cleave every second or third round at least, more in some cases.
What are all these other feats you keep thinking of that add more attacks? TWF is weaker than two handed. Feats do not make melee more dangerous than archers, and archers still have range.
Combat Reflexes for one. Range is not that useful in most encounters, since range is closed quite quickly in most D&D combats. I think you need to brush up on the rules nuances (like what sort of action loosing a shield is) and actually engage in some combat involving well designed melee fighters for a while.
