Shooting with your Int and not your Dex..

[Three_Haligonians]

Hey folks, looking for a little help in that wide world of nearly endless material.

Anyone know a way a character can use their Int score for ranged attacks instead of the Dex? or possibly adding their Int score as well? Anyway it's possible would be grand, though feats would be best.

Just in case your curious, one of my players wants to be a dwarven, ranged-based, scout and a "high-dex dwarf" doesn't really fit the character concept as much as "high-int" does.

So, can anybody think of something or should I move this over to House Rules?

Thanks a bunch,

J from Three Haligonians

 

[Corsair]

Hey folks, looking for a little help in that wide world of nearly endless material.

Anyone know a way a character can use their Int score for ranged attacks instead of the Dex? or possibly adding their Int score as well? Anyway it's possible would be grand, though feats would be best.

Just in case your curious, one of my players wants to be a dwarven, ranged-based, scout and a "high-dex dwarf" doesn't really fit the character concept as much as "high-int" does.

So, can anybody think of something or should I move this over to House Rules?

Thanks a bunch,

J from Three Haligonians

Zen archery will get you Wisdom to archer, but I don't think that'll help you.

 

[nittanytbone]

A level of wizard (divination) and liberal use of "true strike" could help -- int 12 required for optimal efficiency there.

Good wisdom lets you make Profession: Siege Engineer checks to reload siege weapons; dwarf with a ballista on a cart that he has a mule pulling around could be fun. To fire most siege weapons you use BAB + Int, which could be what you're looking for.

 

[beverson]

You can look on the WotC web site - they just posted a compiled index of all the Feats from all WotC official sources. There might be something in there.

Also, depending on what your GM has planned for the campaign, Iron Heroes from Malhavoc has something they call Traits which give characters bonuses and such, and one of them called Weapon Bond allows you to pick any other stat besides Strength for modifying your attack and damage with a weapon.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Not sure I've seen anything in print.

But I'd just house rule in an Int based equivalent to Zen archery... Call it Clever Archery or something.

Can't see that it's going to cause any balance problems? It'll mean the guy gets more skill points - but I don't see that as 'more powerful' than having a high dex or wis to shoot with. YMMV. If they wanted Con based archery it'd be a different matter.

 

[Infiniti2000]

But I'd just house rule in an Int based equivalent to Zen archery... Call it Clever Archery or something.

Can't see that it's going to cause any balance problems?

The problem is that there are significantly more arcane spells requiring ranged attack rolls than divine. Therefore, having Clever Archery (Int) or even Presence Archery (Cha) could become unbalanced in the right hands, so to speak. It is generally a very dangerous houserule to make a particular stat irrelevant or to put all of a character's dependence onto a single stat. Use with caution. In this particular case, even if the dwarf is not a caster, I can guarantee that any wizard will want that feat.

 

[Bagpuss]

Covert "Tactics of the Mind" from Iron Heroes into Feats for D&D or better yet just play Iron Heroes

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

The problem is that there are significantly more arcane spells requiring ranged attack rolls than divine. Therefore, having Clever Archery (Int) or even Presence Archery (Cha) could become unbalanced in the right hands, so to speak. It is generally a very dangerous houserule to make a particular stat irrelevant or to put all of a character's dependence onto a single stat. Use with caution. In this particular case, even if the dwarf is not a caster, I can guarantee that any wizard will want that feat.

Heh, hadn't even considered touch attacks. Was soley considering it from an archery POV. Despite playing an arcane caster at the moment. That'll teach me not to think things through properly.

Although I supose it makes zen archery a potentially very nasty feat for clerics.

Having said that, IME my casters tend to be 2 stat dependant... Casting stat + Con. Those D4 hit dice aren't very robust.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Although I supose it makes zen archery a potentially very nasty feat for clerics.

Like I said, clerics don't get very many ranged attack spells at all. There's searing light, of course, and you could also include any Range Spell (metamagic feat), but there really aren't that many. I currently play a cleric 12 with Zen Archery, so from my experience it is not broken for a cleric (but admittedly I don't have Range Spell). We use all WotC books and have not seen a broken combo possible. I'd be interesting in hearing about it, though, if anyone has feedback.

 

[Hammerhead]

Heh, hadn't even considered touch attacks. Was soley considering it from an archery POV. Despite playing an arcane caster at the moment. That'll teach me not to think things through properly.

Although I supose it makes zen archery a potentially very nasty feat for clerics.

Having said that, IME my casters tend to be 2 stat dependant... Casting stat + Con. Those D4 hit dice aren't very robust.

Maybe, but then all characters have at least two stat dependencies now. Most people refuse to touch a character with a Con of less than 14.