Half-elf paragons: worth it for an archer?

[Seeten]

Well now you know why the English Longsling didn't dominate the Battle of Avignon...
-- N

The French Longsling rocked though, rumor has it they slung word of their surrender from 100 miles away.

 

[Endur]

Half-Elf Paragon 1/ Human Paragon 3/ Duskblade 2/ Fighter 4/ Arcane Archer 9/ Exotic Weapon Master 1

My suggestion: dump Duskblade, Fighter, Arcane Archer, and Exotic Weapon Master.

Be a: RANGER, with or without Paragon levels
You'll have nice casting ability
all the archery feats
and Favored Enemy bonus against certain enemies

If you want to be highly effective with bluff, diplomacy, gather information, and intimidate, go with a Fighter/Kensai.

 

[Machiavelli]

halflings > elfs

QFT. I'm a hater.

Well now you know why the English Longsling didn't dominate the Battle of Avignon...
-- N

*Ahem* Actually, it's because the longbow rocked the long-range shots, which is entirely irrelevant to my character :Þ

I'm beginning to like the cleric archer builds. Who cares if we have two clerics when one is mostly just a buff-master and healer, and the other is a self-buffing archer? My only concern is the time taken to actually CAST these buffs: combat doesn't last so very many rounds.

what exotic weapon will you be mastering?

Greatbow. Or, if my DM lets me get away with murder, http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=175986. Of course, I may play my get out of jail free card (if I get one) to make us of Nifft's impressive Arcane Archer re-work.

Otherwise, I'm feeling a bit like a ranger/fighter/OotBI with a huge set of nifty arrows in a Hewer's Handy Haversack. Thanks for pointing out Close Combat Shot, ivocaliban.

 

[Rel]

Oh wow, we never played with such a rule.

The word that is missing from your post isn't one we fling around her with abandon.

 

[Darklone]

Grandma is watching you ... to avoid a sling around your neck.

Cleric archers: Yeah buffing time. That's why all these old builds used Persistant Spell.

 

[Nifft]

Cleric archers: Yeah buffing time. That's why all these old builds used Persistant Spell.

That's why I put Quicken Spell on your limited list of feats. (Persistant relies on two kinds of cheese, one of which is that it exists at all, the other is either Divine Metamagic (gah!) or some similar trick.)

Before level 12, divine favor will get the job done. You can start Quickening it at 9th level. Starting at level 13, divine power and a variable strength composite longbow (so your +6 Str translates into damage) is technically better, but not by that much.

Actually, for a long time, bless will be your most efficient buff (for yourself and the whole party). Up to level 5, it's the same bonus to attack as divine favor, and the damage from divine favor only starts to add up when you have multiple attacks.

Greater magic weapon is your main "all-day" buff. Cast it on your bow.

Get metamagic rods (Quicken when you can afford it, until then Extend is nice & cheap).

Hope this is helpful.
Cheers, -- N

 

[two]

never never never

More specifics on the cleric halfling build
Level 4 Cleric/Level 2 Fighter

I would build stats as such.. after modifers
str 14
dex 18
con --dump
int --dump
wis 18
cha 12

feats
1 PBS *fighter
2 Rapid Shot *fighter
3 Precise Shot
4 Ranged Utility skills (pin/trip/disarm)
5 Improved Initiative

Free feats
WF: Slings
Turn undead
Tower shield(meh?)
Heavy Armor
Martial Weapons
Divine Spellcasting Love

Possibilites with a non-magical sling
Hitroll [ 17 ] +4 (dex) +2 (size/race) +2(divine favor) +1 (magic stoooones!) +1 (aid/bless) +5 (bab) +1 (PBS) +1 (WF)
Damage [ 10-16 ] 1d6+1 (magic stone) +1 (enhancement) +4 (str/bulls strength) +2 (divine favor) +1 (PBS)

Attacks: 15/15/10

Hes not too bad Could lose the Fighter levels and some of the feats, but I like 'em.

NEVER dump constitution. There are not many rules to making an effective PC... but this is one of them. Con should be 3rd best score or higher for almost all non-suicidal builds.

 

[szilard]

My suggestion: dump Duskblade, Fighter, Arcane Archer, and Exotic Weapon Master.

Be a: RANGER, with or without Paragon levels
You'll have nice casting ability
all the archery feats
and Favored Enemy bonus against certain enemies

I agree. A Ranger X/Half Elf Paragon 1/Human Paragon 3 is a nice build. If you use the Spell Compendium, rangers get some great archery-boosting spells, many of which are swift actions.

-Stuart

 

[Darklone]

Actually, for a long time, bless will be your most efficient buff (for yourself and the whole party). Up to level 5, it's the same bonus to attack as divine favor, and the damage from divine favor only starts to add up when you have multiple attacks.

A small thing often overlooked: Prayer. If you use Prayer, Divine Favor will be pretty useless if it costs you an action.

I often play in rather big groups... and we tend to have big groups of opponents. If your PC group is bigger than 4, group buff spells increase enormously in effectivity. And that's even true if you don't cast it on the opponents but only on your own group.

Might be a reason why I love bards. In a group with 10 players we had a tally sheet how often the puny +1 of the bard song made us succeed in a roll (to hit, last hp of a monster, save). First I got one beer for every point on the sheet... after the first evening they agreed not to force me to drink that much.

I agree. A Ranger X/Half Elf Paragon 1/Human Paragon 3 is a nice build. If you use the Spell Compendium, rangers get some great archery-boosting spells, many of which are swift actions.

Half elf paragon 3 would be better IMHO.

 

[two]

A small thing often overlooked: Prayer. If you use Prayer, Divine Favor will be pretty useless if it costs you an action.

I often play in rather big groups... and we tend to have big groups of opponents. If your PC group is bigger than 4, group buff spells increase enormously in effectivity. And that's even true if you don't cast it on the opponents but only on your own group.

Might be a reason why I love bards. In a group with 10 players we had a tally sheet how often the puny +1 of the bard song made us succeed in a roll (to hit, last hp of a monster, save). First I got one beer for every point on the sheet... after the first evening they agreed not to force me to drink that much.

Half elf paragon 3 would be better IMHO.

I did a similar thing when playing a bard, except I kept track of the damage my bard did each round either directly (when my bard hit the enemy) or indirectly (from the song bonuses, either the +1 or more to damage or turning a miss into a hit via the +1 or more "to hit").

You will find, perhaps to your surprise, that if you keep records like this, the bard averages the most average damage per round. It's not even close. If you make feeble attempts to min/max the inspire courage bonuses, the bard's average damage per round goes through the roof. You can get +2/+2 to hit/dam at 1st level with the help of a spell or feat; +3/+3 by level 5 is entirely reasonable (swift spell to boost song, feat to increase song, etc. )

Very effective.