Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="paradox42" data-source="post: 3247744" data-attributes="member: 29746">I have to weigh in on the side of archery needing a boost like this. I've been running games to high level for years now, and in fact my current games are Epic (the characters range from 27th-30th) and near-Epic (characters after level-ups gained last session are 17th-18th, with one character being equivalent to 23rd due to a template gained in game). And I've seen people try archers in many of those games.Invariably, the archer gets overshadowed in combat by a melee tank-type character who Power Attacks with a two-handed weapon, and by the "blaster magi-" spellcasters using powerful, usually metamagicked with Empower and/or Energy Admixture, and Maximized with magic items, ranged spells. DR frequently cancels out most if not all of the damage an arrow does when it hits anyway- sure there are elemental and alignment magic boosts like Flaming, but those allow immunities to come into play. The melee character has Power Attack to get past DR, but not the archer- what good are six arrow hits if none of them can deal even 1 point of damage to that Iron Golem/Mithril Golem/high-level Dragon/high-CR fiend? Nobody seriously considers an archer for the Epic party, when new characters are being discussed for bringing in.The one archer in my games right now is in the near-Epic party, and hasn't been able to do anything significant in combat in months thanks to all the other effects being used. Archery may look great at low levels, but it peters out fast in the middle range and is damn near useless after level 16 or so, in my experience. It badly needs something to boost it at upper levels, and stuff like Manyshot isn't gonna cut it because one measly arrow almost never deals enough damage to matter to a high-CR opponent. A feat like this could give that character something to do again. Since the archer in question is a Ranger, she's been finding another niche by using her spells carefully, often for cool buffs like Linked Perception, but I'd still like to give the character a chance to really do something "kewl" in combat again. Throwing an army of low-level baddies at the party does not do the trick, because the blaster-magi just open up with area-effect spells (Widened if necessary) and that, as they say, is that.If the prerequisites for this "Archery Power Attack" feat are made such that only high-level characters can get it, I think that should mitigate any concerns the lower-level gamers have in mind while still allowing the archer to shine at high levels again.</blockquote>

Verification