Begging to be errata'd: Archer Ranger At-Wills

[Syrsuro]

Sounds like from what he says there that you do get the ability modifier added to damage. Is that definitely correct?

It's just that I'm planning on playing as a warlord so I can imagine a few rounds where I might just be doing a basic attack. Would be nice if my ability modifier was added to the damage as well

Thanks again.

Just for clarity's sake (since it is a frequently asked question): You add your ability modifier to the damage of a basic attack. You do not add 1/2 your level to the damage. Just the unmodified ability modifier.

Carl

 

[Nifft]

Is it any different to using, say, Righteous Brand to grant someone a +3 to their next attack against the monster you just killed with Righteous Brand?

No, but that's a special case, because Righteous Brand is so good it's within drooling distance of "broken".

Cheers, -- N

 

[Lojaan]

How about changing twin strike to make it that you only roll to-hit once?

It would keep the high damage effect of twin strike, and leave the high accuracy effect for sure strike

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

How about changing twin strike to make it that you only roll to-hit once?

It would keep the high damage effect of twin strike, and leave the high accuracy effect for sure strike

High damage and high accuracy are two sides of the same coin: they both contribute to the expected damage of the attack. Your suggestion does nothing to differentiate those powers. See this thread for an indepth discussion of this point.

 

[Lojaan]

Hmm. I see your point.

How about changing it so it attacks Ref instead of AC?

 

[eamon]

Nah, even then it sucks.

Twin Strike will give you two hits (rather than three) per twenty rounds, but both hits will be crits.

So you just need a weapon with the property that one crit > two regular hits. Those aren't rare -- consider how much damage the +xd6 works out to, and then consider Vicious and/or High Crit.

Cheers, -- N

However, things like weapon focus, power attack and weapon enhancement bonus aren't multiplied, so it's not always a given that a crit > two regular hits. I generally think of one crit as being comparable to two regular hits, though in specific cases (like high crit + vicious, say) one may be slightly better than the other.

 

[eamon]

Please read this thread to see why boosting the attack bonus of Careful Attack/Sure Strike is a bad idea.

That thread is a bit misleading. It's certainly possible to make Careful attack competitive just by boosting to-hit, though if you do so, it will be extremely useful in any combos which merely require hitting.

 

[Nifft]

However, things like weapon focus, power attack and weapon enhancement bonus aren't multiplied, so it's not always a given that a crit > two regular hits. I generally think of one crit as being comparable to two regular hits, though in specific cases (like high crit + vicious, say) one may be slightly better than the other.

Nah.

See, the whole case for Careful Attack was this: "If you need exactly a natural 20 to hit, Careful Attack is better than Twin Strike." So, by demonstrating that Twin Strike was better than Careful Attack even then (by using those "specific case" weapons against the "specific case" of natural 19 misses), I was showing that Careful Attack had nowhere at all to hide.

The fact that you can find some weapons which are not Vorpal, High Crit, Berserking, Vicious, or whatever else gives better than +xd6 damage is largely irrelevant, because once we rule out "special cases", I get to hit on any of the numbers from 2 through 19 -- and for any point in that range, Twin Strike is so much better than Careful Attack that it's not even a contest. Hell, a basic attack is better than Careful Attack within that range.

- - -

My point, condensed:
- Careful Attack sucks in general (hit on < 19).
- Careful Attack is inferior to Twin Strike in that one special case (hit on exactly 20), if you're allowed to choose your weapon to complement Twin Strike.

Cheers, -- N