Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Arcane Archer is underated due to grasping arrow
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="ECMO3" data-source="post: 8488977" data-attributes="member: 7030563"><p>Most of the consensus seems to indicate that Arcane Archer is weak and a Ranger or Battlemaster would make a better Archer.</p><p></p><p>After playing with grasping arrow I would have to disagree. This ability is far, far better than any of the battlemaster maneuvers. The big negative is it is usable twice per short rest, but it is more than 3x better than the maneuvers. It is better than HM or the spells a Ranger is going to use to boost damage too. Here is why:</p><p></p><p>No saving throw. Hit an enemy with legendary actions and he is automatically effected.</p><p></p><p>The 2d6 poision damage is automatic, no save. That is ok, not great because poison is not the best damage.</p><p></p><p>-10 movement, again ok not great.</p><p></p><p>The 2d6 Magic slashing damage can affect it every single turn if it moves, not just on its turns. If your allies hit it with thorn whip or lightning lure or crusher or swarmkeeper, it takes the 2d6 damage every single time! If your party all have force movement options this could be an extra 8d6 or so per round, with no save. - Now we are talking, this is really good</p><p></p><p>It takes an action and a contested strength check to remove it and it is an action the enemy can easily fail. So it is a minimum of one lost action and potentially 2, 3 or 4. While it is being damaged every turn. Even if you dump intelligence it is still at least 1 lost action to remove it. This scales really well because when you get incredible enemies with multiattack they still use their whole action. Also since it it an ability check and not a save, throwing something like Hex will give him disadvantage on getting out of it - Awesome</p><p></p><p>So with 1 arcane shot you get good to awesome damage with no save and at least 1 entire action lost, more if he can't easily beat your DC with a strength check.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ECMO3, post: 8488977, member: 7030563"] Most of the consensus seems to indicate that Arcane Archer is weak and a Ranger or Battlemaster would make a better Archer. After playing with grasping arrow I would have to disagree. This ability is far, far better than any of the battlemaster maneuvers. The big negative is it is usable twice per short rest, but it is more than 3x better than the maneuvers. It is better than HM or the spells a Ranger is going to use to boost damage too. Here is why: No saving throw. Hit an enemy with legendary actions and he is automatically effected. The 2d6 poision damage is automatic, no save. That is ok, not great because poison is not the best damage. -10 movement, again ok not great. The 2d6 Magic slashing damage can affect it every single turn if it moves, not just on its turns. If your allies hit it with thorn whip or lightning lure or crusher or swarmkeeper, it takes the 2d6 damage every single time! If your party all have force movement options this could be an extra 8d6 or so per round, with no save. - Now we are talking, this is really good It takes an action and a contested strength check to remove it and it is an action the enemy can easily fail. So it is a minimum of one lost action and potentially 2, 3 or 4. While it is being damaged every turn. Even if you dump intelligence it is still at least 1 lost action to remove it. This scales really well because when you get incredible enemies with multiattack they still use their whole action. Also since it it an ability check and not a save, throwing something like Hex will give him disadvantage on getting out of it - Awesome So with 1 arcane shot you get good to awesome damage with no save and at least 1 entire action lost, more if he can't easily beat your DC with a strength check. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Arcane Archer is underated due to grasping arrow
Top