Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder Archers

[Salasis]

I may be posting this in the wrong place if so please let me know and i will take care of it.

I'm wondering if anyone else has experience with pathfinder archers (fighter class who specializes in bow)? My friend has made one for a session we are playing and not only is he doing incredible amounts of damage but he also has quite a bit more flexibility than other fighters in the party. Meaning he can do a full round attack this round turn 180 degrees full round attack in the other direction and effectively attack people 65 ft apart in 2 rounds where a fighter would take several rounds to achieve the same effect.

I'm wondering if the class is just more powerful or if it is in-fact broken. A two weapon fighter with similar stats does in five rounds against the same ac around 200 dmg less than this archer class (tested at level 13). Should i nerf this? Should i congratulate him on building a powerful character?

Granted their are several countermeasures i could put in place, twisty hallways with limited line of sight, strong winds, ect. But doing this repeatedly would be pretty obvious. Looking to pick some experienced Dm's minds

 

[Salasis]

I realized almost immediately after this post that it obviously belongs in the pathfinder section not legacy if an admin could move it for me i would appreciate it.

 

[billd91]

I'm wondering if the class is just more powerful or if it is in-fact broken. A two weapon fighter with similar stats does in five rounds against the same ac around 200 dmg less than this archer class (tested at level 13). Should i nerf this? Should i congratulate him on building a powerful character?

Don't compare a two-weapon fighter build with an archer. The two-weapon fighter build is often thought of as being a bit light on the damage considering one of the two weapons is usually light, the heavy investment in Dexterity may limit investment in Strength, the attack penalties draw down the expected damage per round values a little, and you don't traditionally get the same value out of power attack as a fighter with a two-handed weapon.

That said, archers do have some nice advantages to them, including usually having the luxury to pick any target on the battlefield or multiple targets without having to move to them. But it's not worth nerfing, if you ask me. Instead, make sure you include challenging stuff for him - not just situations that limit him. Include some foes capable of striking back at him or capable of getting to him so he has to rely on some of his other combat abilities once in a while. And make him account for his ammunition - particularly any special ammunition.

 

[Salasis]

I just made him start counting his ammo as an excericise to see how realistic it was. The book states that 50% of arrows that miss are recoverable and that all of them break on impact. Would you agree with that? i would assume more in the other direction 50% break on hit and 100% break on a miss. Hitting a brick wall is more likely to break an arrow than a meat sack...

And i think i might have to toss in more ranged monsters that is an excelent idea. thank you. it just seemed wrong to me that he was doing more damage with more flexability without any kind of drawback or penalty.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Quite a few Pathfinder questions get asked here, no worries.

I'm not one who can really answer, since I don't play pathfinder, but I figured I'd reassure you.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Archers aren't broken. They can always full attack, but they do less damage than a melee character with a 2H weapon would, don't have nearly the combat combat maneuver options (yes, even with the Archer archetype) a melee character does, and rely more heavily on dex while still needing strength, making them more multiple ability dependent (I suppose they can afford 2 less in con, though). Ultimately, it comes down to whether the party more needs a damage dealer, or someone that can actually protect the mages and so on. A mele fighter can...to varying degrees depending on build... an archer can't.