Bows and Arrows

[Eltern]

Quick question: A +1 arrow and a +1 bow don't stack, correct?

If so, doesn't this make the Arcane Archer's main ability a little silly? Yes, you can pick up any bow and have this bonus, but you know you're going to buy the +1 frost burst orc-bane thing, anyway.


Maybe this is so you never need to buy a bow with great than +1 enhancement, and instead can get "fun" stuff?

 

[Crothian]

they don't stack, that is correct

 

[Shadeus]

Yeah, that about sums it up. But keep in mind you don't get the +5 arrows until character level 16 (7 levels to qualify + 9 AA levels) and you can easily afford a +5 weapon long before level 16. So it's a +5 bow is a poor investment for the long term, but probably not a bad call for levels 12-15.

 

[Whimsical]

Since the bonus stacking rules changed, the Arcane Archer could use a minor power up. Discuss with your DM.

BTW, I played an elven bard 8/arcane archer x in 3.0 and he was lots of fun.

 

[dcollins]

Maybe this is so you never need to buy a bow with great than +1 enhancement, and instead can get "fun" stuff?

Just to elaborate on the prevous poster: in 3.5 they don't stack, but in all prior rulesets they did. Therefore the "reason" for this ability is that it significantly helped in 3.0, and only looks cracked after the 3.5 changes.

 

[Eltern]

Interesting that they didn't do something about it in the change to 3.5 Is it more likely that they just didn't notice, or thought it was overpowered before? Because, it definitely looks underpowered :-D Now there doesn't seem like a "good" reason to take AA past two levels, since everything other than Imbue arrow only happens once a day, which is hardly worth it, in my opinion.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Now there doesn't seem like a "good" reason to take AA past two levels, since everything other than Imbue arrow only happens once a day, which is hardly worth it, in my opinion.

Well, what an Arcane Archer does, then, is get a +1 Holy, Shocking, Flaming longbow.

Then, he makes his arrows +X. The +X arrows don't stack with the +1 from the bow, but they sure as heck stack with the Holy, Shocking, Flaming part.

So, you end up with:

1d8 + 2d6 (vs. Evil) + 1d6 (Electricity) + 1d6 (Fire) + X

A non-arcane archer would need to either improve his bow to +X, or get +X arrows.

+X arrows are deucedly expensive for their actual combat value. And, if the non-AA improves his bow, the AA could take those extra plusses (X - 1) and make them into Icy Bursts, etc., putting himself even farther ahead.

In other words, if a non-AA wants to fire +5 arrows, it's going to cost him a great deal of money or 1/2 of his bow's total effective bonus (+5 out of +10 allowed). That leaves him with +5 for fancy abilities.

If an AA wants to fire +5 arrows, it costs him nothing but a few BAB points. He can leave his bow at +1, leaving him with +9 for fancy abilities.