[PrC Question] 'Deep Woods Sniper'; the good the bad or just the ugly?

[Amrynn Moonshadow]

Apparently alot of people feel this prc to be pretty formidable. when i read through master of the universe, er, master of the wild i wasn't too impressed with this one.

i'm probably wrong, or was possibly distracted by the geomancer picture.

so the only really crunch bits i remember was the ranged sneak attack extra damage dice bit, and possibly some other range related junk. big whoop. save the class levels, take the far shot feat and get some magic arrows which do extra damage dice, or a bow which magically imparts that ability to the ammo.

i'm obviously wrong here . . . humor me. what makes it such a big bad prc, better than the other two main archery prc (arcane archer / order of the bow initiate)??

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

It gets its two key abilities: keen arrows and x4 crit with a bow early in the p-class progression--that's what makes it powerful.

And it's not a matter of being better than the other archery PrCs; since archery PrCs all have pretty similar prereqs, it's child's play to qualify for all of them and be a fighter/ranger/wizard/arcane archer/deepwood sniper/order of the bow initiate/peerless archer.

 

[jgbrowning]

It gets its two key abilities: keen arrows and x4 crit with a bow early in the p-class progression--that's what makes it powerful.

And it's not a matter of being better than the other archery PrCs; since archery PrCs all have pretty similar prereqs, it's child's play to qualify for all of them and be a fighter/ranger/wizard/arcane archer/deepwood sniper/order of the bow initiate/peerless archer.

I'd always assumed a DM would kinda put a stop to that nonsense.....

joe b.

 

[Agamon]

It's not all that great. My Living Greyhawk PC is going Arcane Archer instead of Deepwoods Sniper.

 

[Agamon]

And it's not a matter of being better than the other archery PrCs; since archery PrCs all have pretty similar prereqs, it's child's play to qualify for all of them and be a fighter/ranger/wizard/arcane archer/deepwood sniper/order of the bow initiate/peerless archer.

Yeah, but what level would he be?

 

[Felix]

A 10th level DWS's range incriment on a Composite Longbow is 265 feet (110 regular, +55 for Far Shot, +100 for 10 DWS levels).

Spot checks suffer a -1 for every 10 feet of distance: those being shot at from one range incriment away have a -26 to their spot check to notice the sniper, disregarding any other modifiers or hide checks.

The DWS eventually wields a 19-20/x5 weapon.

With the use of True Strike, the DWS may shoot at a target 2,650 feet away at essentially no penalty. That's near enough to half a mile as to not make a difference.

The one thing a DWS needs desperately is some way to differentiate objects at a distance. The spyglass as written is a x2 sight, and that's mundane. I'm sure a clever player can improve upon that.

The thing to remember about the DWS is that it is a sniper! This is not a close range archer, or one that I think would play very well in an adventuring party. What this PrC is is essentially a mechanic for DM's to create archer assassins and elven border guards. The power of this PrC is its ability to not engage with the enemy, but to harry him.

When your DM says "5 arrows whistle in at your campsite, striking Bob and Frank, and critting Elliot. Everyone hit, roll a save vs. poison. Sorry, you have no idea where the arrows came from except they came from the East. You neither hear nor see anything." you'll see that the DWS can be more powerful than the AA or the OotBI, if used properly.

 

[HeavyG]

The main useful ability of that class is the improved critical range (now less useful in 3.5 though) and the higher critical modifier.

The DWS eventually wields a 19-20/x5 weapon.

Really ? I thought it was a 19-20/x4 top. At what level do you gain x5 criticals ?

 

[ShadowX]

The key is to cherry pick the good abilities from the archer PrC's. DWS's improved critical is the best ability, so you either take 2 levels or 7 levels. Peerless Archer only has power attack at level 3. Lastly OotBI is just all around good.

 

[Amrynn Moonshadow]

ok . . . that definately shows quite a level of specialization, at the expense of other stuff. AA is probably more well rounded in some respects, and OoBI is fine, with some hokey stuff (off the wall shot? if the arrow head is strong enough to pierce metal armor why wouldn't it just stick into the wall?).

Peerless Archer? Where is this from? Epic level handbook? now THAT"S one of my books I don't even know where i've kept, it seems like a fine book, but haven't looked too into it, so if the PA is in there, i haven't seen it.

I'm currently making a few prestige classes, and the archer ones seem to be completely out of whack in some respects to power level gained. Specifically hardly any archer PrC's are there which would help a ranger, ie. increase spell casting level.

Anyway, hopefully when i get more time for D&D (in like a week or so) i'll be able to finish those (and my two entries for the great character whated that i offered to do for Ashrem Bayle like 2 weeks ago)

 

[Crothian]

Peerless Archer? Where is this from?

FR: Silver Marches