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<blockquote data-quote="Caliban" data-source="post: 6989182" data-attributes="member: 284">Eh, in general a bonus to hit is going to net you more overall damage than a similar bonus to damage.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; I look at this way:&nbsp; The base assumption of the game is fighting in dungeons, so archers will be shooting past cover (the front line PC's) most of the time, so their targets will have a +2 bonus to AC.&nbsp;&nbsp; The Archery style offsets this with a +2 bonus to attack.&nbsp;&nbsp; Allowing feats give them access to Sharpshooter.&nbsp; Now they can ignore the AC bonuses from cover and have a +2 bonus on top of that.&nbsp; &nbsp; Against an opponent with cover they have the equivalent of +4 to&nbsp; +7 attack bonus over someone without Archery style or Sharpshooter, meaning the -5 penalty to do +10 damage with Sharpshooter is effectively canceled out. My changes bring the attack bonus situation back down to normal - they can shoot past half cover with no penalty, and still have a tangible benefit from choosing Archery style.&nbsp;&nbsp; What it does is make the -5/+10 feature of Sharpshooter less reliable - on par with the choice GWM has to make about using it.&nbsp; I want to see if my assumptions work out in actual play, rather than second guessing myself and making even more changes before testing it out.I'm not sure how good a test it's going to be, I'm not sure if any of the characters are going to be archery focused.Personally, I've seen ranger-archers blowing things up with Archery Style+Sharpshooter, but haven't really seen the fighter-archer with Archery style+Crossbow expert+Sharpshooter&nbsp; (except when the DM threw 4 of them against us in a lvl 12 game.&nbsp; Disarming them and playing keep away with their crossbows became the best tactic, although two of them kept trading one crossbow back and forth on their turn until we finally took them out.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Caliban, post: 6989182, member: 284"] Eh, in general a bonus to hit is going to net you more overall damage than a similar bonus to damage. I look at this way: The base assumption of the game is fighting in dungeons, so archers will be shooting past cover (the front line PC's) most of the time, so their targets will have a +2 bonus to AC. The Archery style offsets this with a +2 bonus to attack. Allowing feats give them access to Sharpshooter. Now they can ignore the AC bonuses from cover and have a +2 bonus on top of that. Against an opponent with cover they have the equivalent of +4 to +7 attack bonus over someone without Archery style or Sharpshooter, meaning the -5 penalty to do +10 damage with Sharpshooter is effectively canceled out. My changes bring the attack bonus situation back down to normal - they can shoot past half cover with no penalty, and still have a tangible benefit from choosing Archery style. What it does is make the -5/+10 feature of Sharpshooter less reliable - on par with the choice GWM has to make about using it. I want to see if my assumptions work out in actual play, rather than second guessing myself and making even more changes before testing it out. I'm not sure how good a test it's going to be, I'm not sure if any of the characters are going to be archery focused. Personally, I've seen ranger-archers blowing things up with Archery Style+Sharpshooter, but haven't really seen the fighter-archer with Archery style+Crossbow expert+Sharpshooter (except when the DM threw 4 of them against us in a lvl 12 game. Disarming them and playing keep away with their crossbows became the best tactic, although two of them kept trading one crossbow back and forth on their turn until we finally took them out.) [/QUOTE]

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