Arcane Archers and the arrows they create
- Thread starter Kai Lord
- Start date
Crothian
First Post
melkoriii said:
Not everyone thinks it's overpowered. In fact, the time I saw it played it was actually a little under powered.
But, giving a prestige class a little more flavor and versatility is rarely a bad idea. It's up to the DM to police the balance issue. And ya, this is House Rules material all the way.
I haven't playtested this, but it strikes me the real problem is in the mid-levels. Take, for example a Arcane Archer 5/Other Classes X, for a total of 12 levels. Normally his arrows would be +3, which is quite nice (gets around just about every case of natural DR in the game). Using this system, every arrow could be bane, which is strictly better in every case (by quite a bit). I'm all for adding more flavor to the class (my oldest PC was converted to this class when 3e came out), but I think this would put them over the top. Sure by the time you get to epics things might balance out, but at that point everyone is over the top, so it's less of an issue.
I have to agree on this one. I do think that, as written, it's underpowered, at least when compared to the prestige classes published outside the DMG.
I think that when they first thought of prestige classes and published them in the DMG the power level was fairly reasonable and balanced. I do think that the tsunami of prestige classes that has come out since then, especially the extremely overpowered ones has made the "balanced" ones obsolete.
I think that when they first thought of prestige classes and published them in the DMG the power level was fairly reasonable and balanced. I do think that the tsunami of prestige classes that has come out since then, especially the extremely overpowered ones has made the "balanced" ones obsolete.
Kae'Yoss
First Post
Great Idea!
My proposition: Everytime you get enchant arrow (except Enchant arrow +1, of course), you choose another type of arrow you can cast, beside the normal +x arrow. Maybe the old ones even upgrade with additional +1 enhancement bonuses (but nothing else).
En example:
AA1: You have +1 arrows
AA2: You have +2 arrows. You also can choose another type of arrow, like +1 flaming.
AA3: You have +3 arrows. You also can choose another type of arrow, like +1 dragon bane (or a +2 frost arrow). Your +1 flaming arrows become +2 flaming arrows (you can NOT turn them into, say, +1 flame frost arrows, but you could choose +1 flame frost as your special arrow instead of the dragon bane arrow)
AA4: You have +4 arrows. You choose a new type of arrow, like +2 flaming burst arrows. Your other arrows improve (+3 flaming arrows and +2 giant bane arrows)
AA5: You have +5 arrows. You choose a ney type of arrow, like +1 giant bane icy burst arrows. Your other arrows improve (+4 flaming, +3 giant bane, +3 flaming burst).
Of course, you cannot have flaming arrows at AA 1, or giant bane arrows at AA2, because an arrow has to be +1 to have any other magical ability.
My proposition: Everytime you get enchant arrow (except Enchant arrow +1, of course), you choose another type of arrow you can cast, beside the normal +x arrow. Maybe the old ones even upgrade with additional +1 enhancement bonuses (but nothing else).
En example:
AA1: You have +1 arrows
AA2: You have +2 arrows. You also can choose another type of arrow, like +1 flaming.
AA3: You have +3 arrows. You also can choose another type of arrow, like +1 dragon bane (or a +2 frost arrow). Your +1 flaming arrows become +2 flaming arrows (you can NOT turn them into, say, +1 flame frost arrows, but you could choose +1 flame frost as your special arrow instead of the dragon bane arrow)
AA4: You have +4 arrows. You choose a new type of arrow, like +2 flaming burst arrows. Your other arrows improve (+3 flaming arrows and +2 giant bane arrows)
AA5: You have +5 arrows. You choose a ney type of arrow, like +1 giant bane icy burst arrows. Your other arrows improve (+4 flaming, +3 giant bane, +3 flaming burst).
Of course, you cannot have flaming arrows at AA 1, or giant bane arrows at AA2, because an arrow has to be +1 to have any other magical ability.
Chun-tzu
First Post
KaeYoss said:
I still don't like the idea of free class powers, but if you think the Arcane Archer is underpowered, then by all means. As for the above, I'd suggest you stagger it more. Remember, the Arcane Archer gets Enchant Arrow every odd level, so add the new arrow-types at every even level.
Kae'Yoss
First Post
Chun-tzu said:
The whole idea is based on the fact that a +2 arrow costs the same as a +1 flaming arrow (and so on), so you don't get something stronger, you only get something a little more versatile (although you can gain stronger arrows if you put all the bonuses from the enchant arrow ability into special powers and use greater magic weapon to get, e.g., +5 flaming burst icy burst arrows). Also, you already get other things at even levels.
Jondor_Battlehammer
First Post
Versatility IS power. If you had to choose the powers you gain like a sorccerer, then no problem. If you can switch round to round in any combo, then it could get way over powered, especially in Epic. That's why I suggested requiring the ability to make the item before you can spontaneously use that power.
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