So I've hit the damage roadblock on an Archer

[Pinotage]

Magic arrows may not be the most financially efficient method of getting damage, but they are effective. If your DM will let you split up a 50-pack, getting 5 sets of 10 +1 bane arrows against various creature types isn't a bad deal at all.

-Stuart

That's true. Except at a rate of 3 arrows per round, those aren't going to last long. That's one of the other problems with archers apart from the damage. In order to circumvent the problem with damage with special arrows, you inevitable end up having less arrows to use, and you use them all in one combat.

Pinotage

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The rules are fuzzy when it comes to wrong-sized projecctile weapons.<snip>

Not Monkey Grip- it specifically states it applies only to Melee weapons, and Powerful build doesn't give a penalty.

That's true. Except at a rate of 3 arrows per round, those aren't going to last long.

Which is why I mentioned the Soulbow and Kineticist PrCls- neither runs out of ammo, and both benefit from the various Archery feats (the Kineticist slightly less so).

 

[sukael]

There is also the Greatbow 1d10/x3-20 which IIRC does not require an exotic weapon proficiency. However it is too big to use while mounted (mounted combat works really well with archery BTW).

The greatbow's an exotic weapon, in Complete Warrior.

 

[Slaved]

Greater Bracers of Archery perhaps?

 

[Rackhir]

Greater Bracers of Archery perhaps?

Except that in 3.5 they're 25k gold, which is horribly overpriced IMHO and they only give a +1 to damage. Given that a bow with a total of +4 enchantments (Say +1, Acid, Holy) is only 32k gold. It just simply isn't worth it.

 

[Slaved]

They also give a +2 bonus to attack rolls. That means the character can afford to put more +'s into things other than to hit bonuses without having to worry as much.

 

[Rackhir]

They also give a +2 bonus to attack rolls. That means the character can afford to put more +'s into things other than to hit bonuses without having to worry as much.

Hitting is not usually the problem for archers. The original Post and the title discusses the problems he has inflicting enough damage (especially to bypass DR). So you are talking about blowing 25k out of the total wealth for a 10th lv character, which is a considerable chunk of the character's available wealth (don't have my books on me, but IIRC it's in the ballpark of 25-33% Edit- Actually it's over 50% as it's 49k), to solve what's largely a non-issue.

IF you were talking about a 20th level character with millions of gp to spend, it's a somewhat different issue (even then there's still probably something better you can use the item slot for).

There's a whole lot of other options that are a better choice given the expense. If they were still 5k or whatever they were back in 3.0, they'd be worth it. But given their 3.5 cost they just aren't worth it.

 

[Slaved]

And there was also talk about future options. The Bracers mentioned above are definitely an option and they had not been mentioned yet. +2 to attack and +1 to damage that should stack with nearly all other options is going to be a good option eventually.

If the choice was between either a +5 bow or a +4 bow and the bracers it might be a harder choice.

 

[Veril]

Archers need 2 things to do damage with:

a bow
many arrows.

Each of those two things can be enchanted seperatly - and should be in order to stack things for maximum effect. Get some permenant enchantments on the bow that aren't straight up plusses.

Now ask your DM for a custom wonderous item: An item with Greater Magic Weapon 1/day at 8th level of effect. That's a +2 bonus, at a notional cost of 9600gp. A quiver would be about the right item.
Cost: 3 (level spell) * 8 (caster level) * 2000 (use activated 5 times a day) / 5 (for 1 per day)

That's about 1/5 of the character wealth, but provides 50 +2 magic arrows per day (that last 8 hours).

 

[szilard]

That's true. Except at a rate of 3 arrows per round, those aren't going to last long. That's one of the other problems with archers apart from the damage. In order to circumvent the problem with damage with special arrows, you inevitable end up having less arrows to use, and you use them all in one combat.

Yeah. I said it wasn't financially efficient...

-Stuart