Order of the Bow Initiate is INCREDIBLY broken.

[Felon]

Sure I'd let you take this in my game. BTW: Roll a natural 1 with a bow in my game and you just broke the string. Doesnt' matter what kind of bow it is either. IMC Critical failure always results in a broken weapon, just like critical hit always results in a broken opponent.

So in your campaign, you're lucky to get 19 uses out of a weapon before it breaks? Geez, and we complain about American craftsmanship.

 

[Darrin Drader]

Ah how I love powergamers. They never last in my games. If something works for a PC, it also works just as well for an NPC. That's oneof the reasons I love 3E actually. So you let them have their fun, kill a few monsters, they start to relax a bit, and then boom! You either send them up against someone who is using the same unlikely combination of factors, or you pull one out of the file you should be keeping of other stupid-powergamer-tricks, and squash them like a little bug.

If the intent of the game is to have fun, then using unfair advantages is the first best way to strip a game of its fun.

 

[Lousifer]

BTW: Roll a natural 1 with a bow in my game and you just broke the string. Doesnt' matter what kind of bow it is either. IMC Critical failure always results in a broken weapon, just like critical hit always results in a broken opponent.

Lame. Do all your PCs carry a weapon golf-bag while adventuring to replace all their broken weapons during a session?

I'm not really into critical failures. D&D isn't really set up for it. The worst I do is on a 1, they have to roll another attack to confirm the fumble (like confirming a critical). If they fumble, they drop their weapon, lose their balance, whatever. Breaking weapons once in every 20 hits is just annoying.

 

[Felon]

the intent of the game is to have fun, then using unfair advantages is the first best way to strip a game of its fun.

OK, a few questions spring to mind: if you're the DM, and you've allowed some guy to adopt a given PrC, then how exactly is he using an "unfair advantage"? Do you think a DM that singles out players whose style of play he doesn't approve and then "squashes them like bugs" is doing a good job? Do you lead a powergamer on and let him think you've got no problems with his character, rather than clear the air up front and tell him you think powergaming strips the game of its fun?

 

[ColonelHardisson]

So what else can the ubercharacter above do? I guess in campaigns where combat is the sole focus, such a character could well be incredibly powerful, likely to the point of dominating the game. So, what happens if the DM starts running a campaign less focused on straight-up combat? How useful is that character then? I guess my point is that the game isn't only combat. At least it isn't in my experience, except way back when I first started playing. And I was 13 then.

 

[Felon]

Lame. Do all your PCs carry a weapon golf-bag while adventuring to replace all their broken weapons during a session?

Imagine the poor monk!

Monk: "OH @&$#!!! I rolled a 1!"

DM: "Yep, so which body part do you want to have snap off?"

Monk: "ummm..."

DM: "Nah, never mind picking! I like this stuff to be all random-like! Roll for each appendage!"

(Monk grimaces as he picks up a d4)

DM: "What are you doing? You've got FIVE appendages! Don't forget headbutts!"

Monk: "uh, what happens if my head breaks?"

DM: "Whaddya think, dummy? Now roll, dammit! You've still got three more attacks this round!"

Monk (mumbling to himself): "I really gotta stop doing those flurry of blows!"

 

[7thlvlDM]

Why do you even need high Wis and Zen Archery? Doesn't Zen Archery work like Weapon Finesse, i.e., it replaces your Dex bonus with the Wis bonus so you're not gaining anything if you already have high Dex.

-7th

 

[Darrin Drader]

OK, a few questions spring to mind: if you're the DM, and you've allowed some guy to adopt a given PrC, then how exactly is he using an "unfair advantage"? Do you think a DM that singles out players whose style of play he doesn't approve and then "squashes them like bugs" is doing a good job? Do you lead a powergamer on and let him think you've got no problems with his character, rather than clear the air up front and tell him you think powergaming strips the game of its fun?

I generally don't try to go out and recruit powergamers into my group. If I happen to end up with one then I tell them that's not how we play. If they still try to pull a powergamer maneuver, then they end up bug squash. Very simple, very fair.

I should mention that I consider powergaming a statement like this: "I can [blow up the world or do something else ridiculously unrealistic] because I have [insert game mechanic] and [insert game mechanic], so [insert incredibly complex mathematical equation] and [insert a case of stretching the rules], and that's why you (the DM who is running the game) has to give me what I want or I'm going to throw a caniption fit and carry on like a toddler.

 

[Felon]

Why do you even need high Wis and Zen Archery? Doesn't Zen Archery work like Weapon Finesse, i.e., it replaces your Dex bonus with the Wis bonus so you're not gaining anything if you already have high Dex.-7th

[edit] See Dash's post, he's got it right!

Still, pretty swanky!

 

[Dash Dannigan]

don't be daft! read the feat mate! Zen Archery allows the wis bonus instead od dex w/in 30ft. the special OoIB abilty allows the dex and wis to stack, w/in 30 ft of course. lol