Cragtop archer questions (what am i missing?)

[Veven1290]

So the horizon shot ability seems pretty awesome. Combine that with arcing shot and a good ole' long bow and you can shoot things out to 1,500 feet with no penalty. However, even with the cragtop archer's farsight ability you would be taking a -75 on your spot check to see that person. 1,500 feet is a pretty conservative distance, it doesn't seem difficult to get an archer shooting at ranges of close to a mile but i don't understand the point of doing so if the spot checks are at -200 or something like that. Can someone explain any situation where shooting at such distances would ever be plausible?

 

[Dandu]

If you're trying to hit an army...

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

The Spot rules are for when creatures are actually trying to use the Hide skill. You don't need to make Spot 100 just to see people 1000 ft away, that's insane and not what the rules were intended to do.

If you have a DM that's unreasonable about this, I'd say either play a Cragtop Archer in a different game, or get some caster levels for divination abilities. Really though, while the class SHOULD be awesome at picking enemies off from extreme ranges, it's usefullness in the game is very much limited by how your DM handles things.

 

[IronWolf]

The Spot rules are for when creatures are actually trying to use the Hide skill. You don't need to make Spot 100 just to see people 1000 ft away, that's insane and not what the rules were intended to do.

Definitely agreed. Depending on terrain it is quite possible to see someone at 1500', especially if they aren't taking active steps to hide.

 

[Jhaelen]

Can someone explain any situation where shooting at such distances would ever be plausible?

Nope. In a typical D&D campaign the ability will usually be completely useless.