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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Petrosian" data-source="post: 287963" data-attributes="member: 1149">[/B]</blockquote>Missed?  no. ignored deliberately? yes. Well, i know the rogues in my game and in the game i have run with used ranged sneak attacks fairly often. Whether it was from the initial round flatfooted or from hiding or from invisible, it is far from "rarely." In case you missed it, you don't get all those nifty extra attacks unless you have a full attack action. in those partial actions, from the surprise round where most of the flatfooted occurs, you only get one shot. In case you missed it, rogue BABs are not the highest in the world, making their -5 cum iterative attacks a lot more likely to be misses than not, especially against very armored folk (which are PRECISELY the ones you want to use th touch attack against.)10th level rogue with 20 dex, expertise and the various twf feats... attacks at basically +7 for bab +5 for expertise and say +2 for weapons (assumes two +2 shortswords worth ~16700 gold) for a net +14. Figuring in multiple attacks and twf he gets +12/+12/+7. His damage on a sneak hit is 6d6+2 or 23 points.(numbers run almost identical with rapid shot.)Against an AC 27 enemy (+2 full plate for +10 +1 large shield for +3, +4 from haste potion worth ~8000 gold, less than half the rogues swords alone) he has 14.95 expected damage per round.Against the same enemy with a wand of ray of frost (costs 375 gold open market.) working against the touch AC of 14 (+4 for haste) he has an expected damage of 18.525. The rogue still has a move available too. Even if i add in the 15% or so UMD failure chance, the numbers are still better... 15.74Your statement "clearly an option with less damage potential" is laughably meaningless. The "potential" for the multiple shots with low chance of hitting is really only there when he rolls REALLY well. At expected numbers, the ray of frost is superior AGAINST HIGHLY ARMORED foes.Now we get to the secret whammy... HE CAN DO BOTH. For a measly 375 gold, mr roguely with his two shortswords and twf or his bow can also have a wand of ray of frost.See the ray of frost is for HIGH ARMOR guys, those guys make the rogue feel his lower BAB and make every -2 for another shot a serious detriment. its not "either/or" since there is nothing stopping him.Again, look at the numbers. Against a highly armored foe, the numbers do not bear this theory out. The rogues bab combined with the "highly armored foe" makes the -5 iteratives and overall -2s for rapid fire/twf much more painful. His chances to hit are simply not that good.The differences in chances to-hit against those people you want to use the ray of frost against are significant enough to make it work out.An interesting observation. i did the math and provided numbers. It does not seem to support your unnumbered claim.[/QUOTE]

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