Demoquin said:
How the hell is that possible? Can you post the stats if you have the chance?
Well, I would normally provide a link to the WotC boards, but as I said, I can't get there from my comp. Look that thread up sometime, because it has been ammended and updated in the intervening months to reflect new products and provide more aid to those playing soley 3.5. I do, however, have the original write-up saved on my hard drive. So, here it is:
Just to make an easily referred-to post (since the other was locked down and in an odd place to begin with), and to clean up the presentation and corrections a little, I’m going to repost my Sniper Archer build. I’m also going to include my Combat Archer build (since it’s my favorite
). Just for the reader’s information, all my posts and builds are 3.0 unless otherwise noted.
The prestige classes used in this post, and their locations, are thus:
Deepwood Sniper (Masters of the Wild)
Order of the Bow Initiate (Sword and Fist) – note,
not the OotBI from 3.5’s Complete Warrior
Peerless Archer (Silver Marches – a Forgotten Realms campaign accessory)
First, the Combat Archer:
Code:
Human
Level Class Feats Class Abilities
1 Ranger PBShot, Precise Shot Fav En (?), TWF*, Ambidex*, Track
2 Fighter Rapid Shot BF
3 Fighter Far Shot, WF BF
4 Fighter
5 Fighter Weap Spec BF/WS
6 OotBI Quick Draw RSA +1d6
7 OotBI Close Combat Shot
8 Peer Arch Expert Bowyer, RSA +2d6
9 Peer Arch Imp. Crit. Sharp Shooting 1, Fletching +1
10 Peer Arch Power Shot
11 Peer Arch RSA +3d6, Fletching +2
12 Peer Arch Manyshot Sharp Shooting 2
13 Peer Arch Fletching +3
14 Peer Arch RSA +4d6
15 Peer Arch Combat Reflexes Threaten, Fletching +4
16 OotBI RSA +5d6
17 OotBI Sup. Weap Foc
18 OotBI Zen Archery RSA +6d6
19 OotBI Free Attack, Zen Archery
20 OotBI Sup. Weap Spec
Base Saves Fort +14 Ref +8 Will +8
To use this exact progression, you must be either Human or Strongheart Halfling, because the early levels are very feat intensive to meet the prerequisites of OotBI and Peer Arch by 5th and 7th levels, respectively. A similar build can be played by other races, but you must remove either Zen Archery, Manyshot, or Improved Crit, and move the first level of Peerless Archer back to 10th level, shifting levels 3 and 4 of OotBI up to character levels 8 and 9. Improved Crit is probably the best option for a 3.5 player, as they could stick a level of DWS into the build somewhere, only losing the Superior Weapon Specialization from the 7th level of OotBI.
This build provides some great combat abilities to an archer. By 7th level he no longer suffers AoO’s from firing his bow in melee. At 10th character level, he is able to make Power Attacks with his bow, helping him deal damage and break through lower degrees of DR. By the 5th level of Peer Arch (12th character lvl) he no longer suffers any chance of striking his friends in combat due to them providing cover to the enemies (not otherwise able to be achieved without an epic feat in 3.0). This also replicates a large portion of the 3.5 feat Improved Precise Shot. At 15th level this combat archer gains a large measure of his power. The threaten ability of the Peer Arch allows him to threaten at 10 feet as if he were wielding a melee reach weapon. This, in combination with Combat Reflexes, allows him to be just as effective at melee range as a fighter with a pole-arm; better, actually, since he’ll have a much higher dexterity, allowing him numerous AoO’s within each round. At 19th level, the addition of the Free Attack and stacking Zen Archery abilities of the OotBI makes this archer a combat god, especially if you have another party member who wields a reach weapon.
By 19th level, with a Dex score of 24 (easily obtainable by the higher levels), and under the effects of
Haste, this archer is able to fire up 18 arrows a round; 11 of them at one target. Here’s the breakdown: 4 arrows from iterative attacks, 1 arrow from Rapid Shot, 4 arrows from Manyshot (during your
hasted action), 1 arrow from an AoO, and 1 arrow from Free Attack. You also have the possibility of 7 more AoO’s due to Combat Reflexes.
Now, the Sniper Archer:
Code:
Human
Level Class Feats Class Abilities
1 Ranger PBShot, Precise Shot Fav En (?), TWF*, Ambidex*, Track
2 Fighter Rapid Shot BF
3 Fighter Far Shot, WF BF
4 Fighter
5 Fighter Weap Spec BF/WS
6 DWS Quickdraw Keen Arrows, Range Inc Bonus +10ft/lvl
7 DWS Conc Reduc 10%, Magic Weap, Proj Imp Crit +1
8 Peer Arch Expert Bowyer, RSA +1d6
9 Peer Arch Manyshot Sharp Shooting 1, Fletching +1
10 Peer Arch Power Shot
11 DWS Safe Poison Use
12 DWS Imp. Crit. Take Aim +2
13 DWS Consistent Aim 1/day
14 DWS Conceal Reduc 20%
15 DWS ? Imp Init ? Consistent Aim 2/day, Proj Imp Crit +2
16 OotBI RSA +2d6
17 OotBI Close Combat Shot
18 OotBI ? RSA +3d6
19 OotBI Sup Weap Foc
20 OotBI RSA +4d6
This is the be-all and end-all of snipers. The following analyses are dependant upon a few different things.
First, a character with a single level of ranger is able to use wands of ranger spells. You do
not have to be a 4th level ranger before you can use wands. I will post the quoted rule at the bottom of this thread, so as to not clutter this section.
Secondly,
Hunter’s Mercy (found in Magic of Faerun) causes your next bow shot to automatically hit and threaten a critical. Also note that HM affects you, not your weapon.
Thirdly,
Bless Weapon causes your next critical threat to automatically confirm as a critical hit. Apparently, BW is not a valid spell to be made into an oil (potion) under 3.0 rules; however, it is listed as a randomly generated oil in the 3.5 DMG. For 3.0, you can obtain a wand of BW and have either the party Paladin or Rogue (through use of Use Magic Device) cast it for you.
Fourthly, it is debatable whether a weapon with the burst enhancement can produce damage higher than +3d10 (on a x4 critical), since it does not list it as going higher than that in the DMG; however, at the time the DMG was printed there was no way to get a critical multiplier of higher than x4. I am of the opinion that it is obviously linear, and would increase to +4d10 at a x5 critical and +5d10 at a x6 critical. As such, that is what is represented in this build.
Lastly, it is unlikely that BW can be used on an arrow fired from an Oathbow, so I will show at each level the values without using an Oathbow, but will also show the use of an advanced Oathbow at 20th level, along with the to-hit modifiers (assuming a Dex of 20). In that advancement of the Oathbow, I am treating the Oathbow property as a +3 modifier, as it is similar to Bane (a +2 modifier), but perhaps a little better.
The last 5 levels of the build can really be composed of any +1 BAB class; however, I chose OotBI because of it’s sneak attack progression. Here is an analysis of this build’s damage potential at character levels 10, 15, and 20. If there are any mistakes that anyone notices, please point them out so that I may fix them.
The items used for this analysis are:
A wand of
Hunter’s Mercy
A wand or oil of
Bless Weapon
Bracers of Archery
Magic arrows obtainable at that level from a straight classed wizard or cleric of equal level
A Mighty Composite Longbow (+4 str mod) of magical enhancement relatively appropriate for the level (+2 shocking burst @ 10th, +5 Shocking Burst @ 15th, +5 Shocking Burst, Icy Burst or advanced +5 Shocking Burst Oathbow).
The tactics employed by this sniper are composed of him being made invisible (either through the help of party spell-casters, Wondrous Items, or a Ring of Invisibility at higher levels), placing
Bless Weapon upon an arrow (either with an oil or wand), sneaking to within 30 feet of the target, and casting
Hunter’s Mercy from a wand. He then uses Manyshot to fire the maximum number of arrows at the target.
10th level:
+2 Mighty Comp (+4) Shocking Burst Longbow (19-20/ x4 crit)
Damage: 4d8(primary arrow) +8(+2 magical bow) +12(+3 magic arrow) +40(power shot) +8(Weap. Spec.) +16 (strength) +4 (PBS) +4(Bracers) + 1d6(sneak attack) + 1d6(shocking) + 3d10(burst) +1d8(2nd arrow) +2(2nd magical bow) +3(2nd magic arrow) +10(power shot) +2(Weap. Spec.) +4(strength) +1d6(shocking)
Total: 5d8 + 3d6 + 3d10 + 113
Avg Dmg: 162.5
Max Dmg: 201
Min Dmg: 124
15th level:
+5 Mighty Comp (+4) Shocking Burst Longbow (18-20/ x5 crit)
Damage: 5d8(primary arrow) +25(+5 magical bow) +25(+5 magic arrow) +75(power shot) +10(Weap. Spec.) +20 (strength) +5 (PBS) +5(Bracers) + 1d6(sneak attack) + 1d6(shocking) + 4d10(burst) +2d8(2nd&3rd arrows) +10(2&3 magical bow) +10(2&3 magic arrow) +30(2&3 power shot) +4(2&3 Weap. Spec.) +8(2&3 strength) +2d6(2&3 shocking)
Total: 7d8 + 4d6 + 4d10 + 227
Avg Dmg: 294.5
Max Dmg: 347
Min Dmg: 242
20th level:
+5 Mighty Comp (+4) Shocking Burst, Icy Burst Longbow (18-20/ x5 crit)
Damage: 5d8(primary arrow) +25(+5 magical bow) +25(+5 magic arrow) +100(power shot) +10(Weap. Spec.) +20 (strength) +5 (PBS) +5(Bracers) +4d6(sneak attack) +1d6(shocking) +4d10(burst) +1d6(icy) +4d10(burst) +3d8(2nd, 3rd, &4th arrows) +15(2nd, 3rd, &4th magical bow) +15(2nd, 3rd, &4th magic arrow) +60(2nd, 3rd, &4th power shot) +6(2nd, 3rd, &4th Weap. Spec.) +12(2nd, 3rd, &4th strength) +3d6(2nd, 3rd, &4th shocking) +3d6(2nd, 3rd, &4th icy)
Total: 8d8 + 12d6 + 8d10 + 298
Avg Dmg: 420
Max Dmg: 514
Min Dmg: 326
[NEW]
You could, at great expense (approximately 16,000 gp), obtain and use four +10 equivalent arrows in the above attack. Actually, you could make that four +6 equivalent arrows that are +1 with +5-worth of abilities, and then subject them to a
Greater Magic Weapon spell, so the four arrows would cost less than 6000 gp. For example, you could obtain four +5 Holy, Acidic Burst, Screaming arrows (Acidic Burst and Screaming are found in MoF). Using these would add 8d6 (Holy), 4d6 (Sonic), 4d6 (acid), and 4d10 (burst) damage to the above analysis. This would increase the Average, Maximum, and Minimum damage from 420, 514, and 326 respectively, to:
Avg Dmg: 498
Max Dmg: 650
Min Dmg: 346
Although this is talking in extreme hypotheticals, it is also possible that you could obtain four arrows with the
bane property against your target. For example, four +5 Holy, Bane, Screaming arrows. Against the
Bane target the arrows would function as +7 arrows. This would add 16 (magical) + 8d6 (Bane) +8d6 (Holy) + 4d6 (sonic) damage, and would increase the 420, 514, and 326 values to:
Avg Dmg: 506
Max Dmg: 650
Min Dmg: 362
[/NEW]
20th level:
+5 Mighty Comp (+4) Shocking Burst Oathbow (18-20/ x5 crit)
(+7 Mighty Comp (+4) Shocking Burst Oathbow (18-20/ x6 crit) [versus a sworn enemy]
Bonuses to confirm the Critical Hit:
+19 = +7(bow) +5(arrows) +1(Weap Foc) +1(PBS) +2(bracers) +5(Dex) – 2(manyshot [I don’t remember the errata – is it –2/extra arrow?])
Damage: 6d8(primary arrow) +42(+7 magical bow) +30(+5 magic arrow) +120(power shot) +12(Weap. Spec.) +24 (strength) +6 (PBS) +6(Bracers) +4d6(sneak attack) +1d6(shocking) +5d10(burst) +3d8(2nd, 3rd, &4th arrows) +21(2nd, 3rd, &4th magical bow) +21(2nd, 3rd, &4th magic arrow) +60(2nd, 3rd, &4th power shot) +6(2nd, 3rd, &4th Weap. Spec.) +12(2nd, 3rd, &4th strength) +3d6(2nd, 3rd, &4th shocking)
Total: 9d8 + 8d6 + 5d10 + 360
Avg Dmg: 456
Max Dmg: 530
Min Dmg: 382
Oh yes, that rule about wand use. Wands use the spell trigger activation method, and looking up spell trigger in the 3.5 SRD (or page 175 of the 3.0 DMG) we find that:
Spell Trigger: Spell trigger activation is similar to spell completion, but it’s even simpler. No gestures or spell finishing is needed, just a special knowledge of spellcasting that an appropriate character would know, and a single word that must be spoken. Anyone with a spell on his or her spell list knows how to use a spell trigger item that stores that spell. (This is the case even for a character who can’t actually cast spells, such as a 3rd-level paladin.) The user must still determine what spell is stored in the item before she can activate it. Activating a spell trigger item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Emphases mine.
Here are the acronyms and abbreviations that are used throughout this post:
Ambidex: Ambidexterity
AoO: Attack of Opportunity
BF: Bonus Feat
BW:
Bless Weapon
Conc Reduc: Concealment Reduction
DR: Damage Reduction
DWS: Deepwood Sniper
Fav En: Favored Enemy
HM:
Hunter’s Mercy
Imp. Crit: Improved Critical
Imp. Init: Improved Initiative
Inc: Increment
OotBI: Order of the Bow Initiate
PBS / PBShot: Point Blank Shot
Peer Arch: Peerless Archer
Proj Imp Crit: Projectile Improved Critical
RSA: Ranged Sneak Attack
Sup. Weap Foc: Superior Weapon Focus
Sup. Weap Spec: Superior Weapon Specialization
TWF: Two Weapon Fighting
WF: Weapon Focus
WS / Weap Spec: Weapon Specialization
