Arcane Archer: Imbue Arrow

[GullyFoyle]

So is it fair to say this:

The advantages of Imbue (such as they are):

Added range (but not overly useful depending on the spell and casters lvl)

Added damage (damage from spell and arrow) - disadvantage that you lose any additional attacks you might get

Maybe some accuracy (not to beat a dead horse, but from what Hypersmurf said, a spell typically needs a 1 foot square hole (in total area) in a barrier to pass through, and I can think of much smaller areas that an arrow might get through - with a good shot - a cracked open door, a knot hole in a wall, peep hole in a door (if open), etc. Sure it would be a difficult shot, but thats what archers are for - of course thier are very limited uses for this so I'm willing to concede that it is not all that useful, but does sound very cool.)

My last thought is how it might be useful in combination with magic arrows. This would depend on the DM of course, but for example could you take a Message Arrow (form Ghostwalk, web ed. on WotC site) and add a fireball to it (not very nice, and it would have to be under the time limit). I know this is pretty specific and it I don't mean to sound like I'm grasping at straws for sake of aurgument, but there is something about the concept (and I think the implementation) of Imbue that makes you want to be creative with it. Maybe that is the only reason to have it. Lame power but interesting roleplaying?

Thoughts?

 

[Zad]

I think:

a) that Bloodstone summed it up nicely

b) that I did a survey of all area spells and found very few that would be appropriate, and fewer still where the range thing was ever likely to be an issue

c) that combat over such massively open ranges rarely occurse, in part because it's a pain to deal with maps and miniatures

d) that I've been an Arcane Archer for 10 levels, and my DM altered the class so I did gain some spellcasting power and am not a completely inept caster, and that I still almost never have a reason to imbue an arrow

e) that once in a blue moon it does come in handy, such as when you are crossing a big open field to some ruined barracks, and the hill giants inside wake up and start lobbing rocks, and you imbue a spell that lays down a massive fog bank and the giants bumble around while you close in

f) that imbue arrow is nowhere near as good as most people think it is upon reading it

g) that the fireball-in-the-window discussion is fairly moot, since most AA's won't be able to even cast a fireball

h) that there is only a trivial advantage in hitting someone with the arrow you imbued with a spell

i) that it's probably gotten more play here than it deserves

 

[GullyFoyle]

i) that it's probably gotten more play here than it deserves

What could you mean, whats more useful than discussing the minutia of a rarely used power over a couple of days?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Maybe some accuracy (not to beat a dead horse, but from what Hypersmurf said, a spell typically needs a 1 foot square hole (in total area) in a barrier to pass through, and I can think of much smaller areas that an arrow might get through - with a good shot - a cracked open door, a knot hole in a wall, peep hole in a door (if open), etc. Sure it would be a difficult shot, but thats what archers are for - of course thier are very limited uses for this so I'm willing to concede that it is not all that useful, but does sound very cool.)

There's a good chance you'd get a spell through a cracked open door anyway - if your typical dungeon door is 6 feet tall, it only needs to be open 2 inches to give you a one square foot gap.

So yeah, on the occasions that you need to fit a Web through a peephole, Imbue Arrow could be useful.

-Hyp.

 

[Centaur]

Nice Hijack Zad...

Me thinks this thread went down the wrong track....not that the content of the discusion isn't useful information.

So does all this mean that a wizard could provide the area spell for imbuing or not. If the wizard stood beside the AA and touched the arrow during the imbue, could he provide the spell?

I see from the first couple of posts that the answer is probably yes!

 

[Hypersmurf]

Re: Nice Hijack Zad...

I see from the first couple of posts that the answer is probably yes!

I'd read them again.

You asked "Would it be too much...?" and Lord Pendragon said "Yes, I think it would".

I certainly ouldn't let you imbue a charge from a wand, so my reading of Nifft's answer is also "No", although you could disagree on that one.

-Hyp.

 

[Centaur]

I'd read them again.

You asked "Would it be too much...?" and Lord Pendragon said "Yes, I think it would".

I certainly ouldn't let you imbue a charge from a wand, so my reading of Nifft's answer is also "No", although you could disagree on that one.

-Hyp.

hmmmm....... misinterpretation is one of my halmarks.....

I would seem to me that either of these could be taken either way........

that said, assuming then that their answers are in fact no, and considering that the general concensus is that the AA ability of Imbue Arrow is nearly useless as writen, would this be a resonable "House Rule" to allow someone else to provide the spell for imbuing...?

It would take a standard action on both the AA and the provider (likely a sorcerer or wizard) part and they would need to be in ajacent squares on the etc. etc. It doesn't seem that unreasonalble to me, perhapse someone can point out why it would be un reasonable...

 

[Zad]

You're right - I hate going off topic. My apologies.

Would it be too much? (i.e. would it be an unbalancing house rule, since we know it's not allowable under book rules.)

My impulse is to say "yes it would be too much." Some spells have a short range for a balancing factor, and lengthening it could be a problem. I think it's one of those things that would probably work fine 95% of the time - it requires tying up time of both the AA and the arcane caster so there's a balance there, and for most spells it wouldn't be a big deal. But I'm betting that someone sooner or later would hit on a combination that would just make things very messy.

If you wanted to allow that, I would suggest putting a limit on the number of times the AA can do that per day. Either 3/day, or if you're generous, their AA levels per day. (For externally imbued spells only - still unlimited for their own.)