Playing Against Expectations - The Archer Fighter

[Tony Vargas]

There is a STR-based archery option for the Warlord, and something like that for the Fighter could be done. There was a thread here not to long ago about it, in fact.

A simple option would be to return the 'Strength Bows' of yore, with heavy pulls that use STR instead of DEX. How simple? Create a new bow, 'Composite Long Bow' perhaps, and give it the 'Heavy Thrown' property. Done.

 

[OnlineDM]

Here's a thought: Why not re-fluff a heavy thrown weapon as a mighty bow that requires great strength to use? The Mightbow can have identical stats to a javelin, for instance - Range 10/20, d6 damage, etc. But you can call it a bow and describe the PC as aiming a bow, pulling back the taut string and unleashing death upon bad guys. How awesome is that?

Problem solved.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Here's a thought: Why not re-fluff a heavy thrown weapon as a mighty bow that requires great strength to use? The Mightbow can have identical stats to a javelin, for instance - Range 10/20, d6 damage, etc. But you can call it a bow and describe the PC as aiming a bow, pulling back the taut string and unleashing death upon bad guys. How awesome is that?

Problem solved.

I have done exactly this before. Works fine.

 

[Zaran]

I just don't think a ranged defender would work. Your Bowmaster Fighter hits a target, marks target, target then attacks bowmaster, bowmaster's bow is now causing op attacks if used. The whole point of using a bow is to stay at range. Even if they make it so the bowmaster doesn't do op attacks in melee they would still become a melee class.

Defender would be the only role that doesn't work well at range. You can give them another mechanic like hampering people they shoot but that is more in the Controller realm.

 

[Tony Vargas]

There are two fundamental problems with the 4E design which make fighter-archers hard to achieve.

The first comes from ability scores. the difference between +9 and +1 for fighters without Dex as their secondary stat. It's just too much for even a basic ranged attack.

Nod. So fighters use 'heavy thrown' weapons which are terribly short on range and not at all archerish. Warlords got a build option that could turn them into archers (by swapping STR for DEX ranged basic) and the same could be done with Fighters.

The second problem is a legacy way of approaching it. Why can't the fighter have ranged Str attacks with bows? Other classes don't have a problem with ranged weapon attacks that don't use Dex...

Order of publication, really. In PH1, melee weapon attacks used STR (generally, even for Clerics and Palladins), and ranged DEX. MBAs used STR, so if you were going to be good at melee weapon attacks, and not use STR, you'd have the odditty of sucking at MBAs. It made some sense. Now that every stat under the sun can be used for MBAs, and every stat has been used for at least some weapon powers, that's no longer a consideration. Fighter 'ranged: weapon' powers could be added at any time with no issues. The 'Heavy Thrown' property could also be tacked onto a new 'Mighty Bow' with no great upheaval.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Nod. So fighters use 'heavy thrown' weapons which are terribly short on range and not at all archerish. Warlords got a build option that could turn them into archers (by swapping STR for DEX ranged basic) and the same could be done with Fighters.

The issue isn't whether the fighter could be given ranged powers and a ranged bow based on strength... its whether there's any reason how or why a Defender would actual want it or be effective at its job with it. So its not simply making a 'mighty bow' for fighters to use... its actually changing the mechanics of the Defender role to be able to accomplish it at range. And truth be told... that's a change that's probably just more a pain than its worth, otherwise they would have done it with one of their other Defender classes already.