One shot, one kill?

[JChung2003]

Never underestimate the possibility of... death due to massive damage!

Rogues

As far as "one shot, one kill" goes, archer rogues have a chance to force deaths due to massive damage with sneak attack damage added to their ranged attacks.

A 9th level rogue with 14 Strength could fire an arrow from his mighty composite shortbow +2 (1d6+2/x3), doing a maximum of 24 damage with a critical hit. Add +5d6 sneak attack damage for a maximum additional damage of 30. You've done enough damage to force your enemy to make a Fortitude save (DC 15) against death.

Granted, this particular scenario requires an extraordinary amount of luck and fortuitous circumstances, but it gets easier as you rise in level with better archery equipment, more sneak attack damage dice, etc., making it easier for you to get the magic damage number (50). Your enemies will have an easier time making their Fortitude checks, but the possibility to roll a 1 is always there.

1d6+mighty Str bonus+bow and arrow enhancement bonuses/x3 plus sneak attack damage (from +1d6 to +10d6). The sneak attack damage alone can cause death due to massive damage once you are very high level.

As a rogue or assassin, you could also poison arrows to do ability score damage in addition to regular archery damage. A well-chosen poison can incapacitate its target easily.

Rangers

Rangers could use bane arrows for fighting his favored enemies and do enough damage to force death due to massive damage.

A mighty composite longbow (+4 Str) normally does up to 1d8+4/x3 damage on a critical hit. Add the enhancement bonuses from the magic bow and arrows plus the favored enemy bonus (+1 to +5) to each critical hit damage die. Add +2d6 damage on top of that for the bane damage.

1d8+mighty Str bonus+bow and arrow enhancement bonus+favored enemy bonus/x3 critical hits with an additional +2d6 if you are using bane arrows against their target type.

Paladins

High-level paladins could cast holy sword on his bow and cast greater magic weapon on his arrows or use holy arrows against evil creatures and do enough damage to force death due to massive damage. Holy sword adds a +5 enhancement bonus and does double damage against evil enemies.

1d8+mighty Str bonus+5+arrow enhancement bonus/x3 critical hits doubled, with an additional +2d6 if you are using holy arrows against evil creatures.

Fighters

High-level fighters with enchanted bows and arrows can take advantage of the Weapon Specialization (longbow) and Improved Critical (longbow) feats to increase the damage he does with a mighty composite longbow and improve the chances of scoring a critical hit. With bane or elementally enhanced bows and arrows, he can do enough damage to force death due to massive damage.

1d8+mighty Str bonus+bow and arrow enhancement bonuses+2 for weapon specialization bonus/x3, plus bane or elemental damage.

 

[daTim]

Here's a Manyshot question... if you're firing three arrows, and one is a +5 arrow, one is +3, and one is +1... do you calculate individual total attack rolls for each arrow? You use the same die roll, the same feats, the same bonuses for everything else... but the arrows themselves are different... could one hit and the other two miss?

-Hyp.

I could be completley insane, but I though I read that in 3.5e they were changing it so that you use the bow enchantment for the attack roll, and arrow enchantment for damage. If so then that solves that problem, but I am not certain about that change... I could also still be insane even if im right.

 

[thegreatbuddha]

Don't know if it has been posted already, but look at the Deepwood Sniper PrC. IIRC, it has all sorts of fun stuff, like threatening an area with your bow, Increased Critical multipliers, and an extension on the range you can sneak attack at. All of that is IIRC, so consider yourself warned. Other than that, there is a feat that is a ranged version of power attack. Use it in conjuntion with a use-activated Bow of Hunter's Mercy & True Strike.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Other than that, there is a feat that is a ranged version of power attack.

That's not a feat, is it? I thought it was a Peerless Archer class ability...?

Does it count as Precision Damage, btw? Or would Power Shot damage be applied to each arrow in a Manyshot?

-Hyp.

 

[hong]

Re: Re: One shot, one kill?

The mid-level feat Perfect Shot gives up iterative attacks for one, more powerful one. You can later take a high-level feat Killing Shot, which further enhances your shot.

Also in the book you'll find the Master of Intuitive Archery, a Zen Archer PrC based around the one-shot, one-kill concept designed by our very own infamous Hong.

I prefer the term "a well-known EN World identity".

Also, I'm playing one of these now, and it's very nifty indeed. Even more so, now that we're in the RttToH and fighting things with Epic DR. Not that I'm actually killing these things with one shot -- more like annoying them and drawing attention to myself -- but it's still better than the fighters without Power Attack are doing.

The book tones it down a bit from the original, which is on my D&D site. Another one-shot-kill PrC on there is the shadow sniper, which is aimed more at rogues: basically do sneak attack damage from a long way out, instead of 30 feet. I'll probably be rejigging all these classes once 3.5E is released.

 

[Darklone]

Quint fighter has an archer fighting style which allows you to shoot only one arrow per round with your level as damage bonus.

 

[0-hr]

That's not a feat, is it? I thought it was a Peerless Archer class ability...?

Does it count as Precision Damage, btw? Or would Power Shot damage be applied to each arrow in a Manyshot?

That's the 3rd level ability of the Peerless Archer and it is not precision based (it's good at any range).

The way I've been playing manyshot is as a single die roll, and it's posible for the first arrow to hit but the rest to miss (because only the first get's precision bonuses).

 

[0-hr]

Though I guess this is wandering into house rules, what do you think would be a balanced feat as far as giving up iterative attacks for a better crititcal chance? Would a 1 or 1 be fair? Looking at the numbers, I think maybe losing one iterative for a two increase in the threat range would be more fair.


At 15th level, my archer can attack with rapid shot like this:
+34 +34 +29 +24 for d8+15 damage & crit 19-20x4

Using this proposed feat, this would become one shot:
+36 for d8+15 damage & crit 15-20x4


And next level, it would turn this:
+35 +35 +30 +25 +20 for d8+15 & crit 19-20x4
into
+37 for d8+15 & crit 13-20x4


Even using the ranged-power attack, and possibly a burst energy weapon, that seems reasonably balanced doesn't it?

 

[isoChron]

A problem with the "1 arrow with 4 times damage" instead of "4 arrows with single damage" is, besides the Massive Damage, the better penetration of DR !
DR 5/+1
with normal arrows:
4*(1D8+5-5) = avg 4*4.5=18 Damage
1*(4D8+20-5) = avg 33 Damage. a huge difference.
That is without any magic !
Seems a bit rough to me.
Just my 2cents!

BYE

 

[hong]

A problem with the "1 arrow with 4 times damage" instead of "4 arrows with single damage" is, besides the Massive Damage, the better penetration of DR !
DR 5/+1
with normal arrows:
4*(1D8+5-5) = avg 4*4.5=18 Damage
1*(4D8+20-5) = avg 33 Damage. a huge difference.
That is without any magic !
Seems a bit rough to me.
Just my 2cents!

BYE

Nothing wrong with that.