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Spiked Chain Question

Darklone said:
... didn't have enough feats to get all he "needed urgently". :D

Ooh, I know that one.

I'm lamenting a lack of feats right now... I'm looking at the Peerless Archer's Ranged Threat ability, and it immediately begs to have at least five feats thrown at it - Dodge, Mobility, Combat Reflexes, Hold the Line, Karmic Strike...

... and I don't have five spare feats! I'm already thinking about ditching Manyshot and Improved Critical. I think that would mean I could get all five by level 20, just.

The alternative is to forget the AoO route, and go Manyshot, Improved Critical, Improved Rapid Shot, Power Critical... which is probably more sensible, but nowhere near as much fun as taking six or seven AoOs on someone in a round :)

-Hyp.
 

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Hypersmurf said:
Ooh, I know that one.

The alternative is to forget the AoO route, and go Manyshot, Improved Critical, Improved Rapid Shot, Power Critical... which is probably more sensible, but nowhere near as much fun as taking six or seven AoOs on someone in a round :)

-Hyp.

Sounds similar to my level 16 occult slayer archer that can ready to interrupt with a manyshot for disgusting gobs of damage... x2.

I haven't flipped through Silver Marches in a while, but I'll have to review the later abilities of Peerless Archer... I like where you are going with ranged threat ;)
 

Korak said:
I haven't flipped through Silver Marches in a while, but I'll have to review the later abilities of Peerless Archer... I like where you are going with ranged threat ;)

Peerless Archer only really has two interesting abilities - Power Shot at 3rd level, and Ranged Threat at 8th level. It gets a few ranged sneak attack dice, some craft magic arrows ability, and some cover reduction, but those aren't exactly exciting.

Ranged Threat and Power Shot, though, make up for it :)

But with a BAB +7 requirement, it means Ranged Threat doesn't kick in until 15th level at the earliest. Pretty much all my feats up to 6th are sucked up in making feat requirements for the class... which means I need to decide pretty much on entry to the class which route I want to go, in order to have the right feats when Ranged Threat appears.

(Need to check some feat prereqs again... Mobility might not actually be needed for Hold the Line or Karmic Strike.)

-Hyp.
 

Even if it seems to be settled by now..... :)

From the Master of Chains Prestige Class (Sword and Fist):

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The master of chains is proficient with no weapons, and no type of armor or shield.
Scare (Su): By rattling his chains as a standard action, the master can induce fear in a creature as the spell of the same name, using his class level as the caster level (see the Player’s Handbook). The master can use this [deleted, see errata…] ability only once per day.
Climb Fighting: If master of chains is climbing on a rope or a chain, he suffers no penalty to attacks and foes gain no bonus to attack him, rather than the master of chains losing his Dexterity modifier while climbing and his enemy gaining a +2 on attack rolls against the master of chains. If the master of chains is hanging from a chain that has the ability to swing more than five feet, he can use that to his advantage and gain a +2 dodge AC bonus.
Superior Weapon Focus: Stacking on top of any existing Weapon Focus bonus, this ability grants a master of chains an additional +1 to attack rolls with a spiked chain.
Chain Bind: At 4th level, the master of chains can use his weapon and a quick application of a lock (the whole process requiring a full-round action) to bind a single Small, Medium, or Large creature. This should be treated as an attack with a net, except that the Escape Artist check to escape has a DC of 25. and the burst DC is 30. A chain at least 10 feet long is required to accomplish this. If it is a spiked chain, the entangled creature suffers 1 point of damage per round while entangled unless they remain mo-tionless.
Chain Armor: At 5th level, a master of chains can wrap himself in chains (as long as he has at least 20 feet of chain) to provide him with a +5 armor bonus to AC. For him, there is only a –2 maneuver [armor check?; not specified by errata] penalty, no max Dex modifier, and a 30% arcane spell failure chance. Speed is not affected.
Double Chain: At 5th level, the master of chains can choose to use a spiked chain as a double weapon instead of a weapon with reach. (Each round, he can switch how he uses it.)
Extra Lash: At 6th level, a master of chains inflicts an additional +1d6 points of damage with a spiked chain, slashing the foe with extra slack in the chain. He must use the full attack action to use this ability.
Deflect Attacks (Ex): As a move-equivalent action, a 6th-level master of chains can use a spinning chain to provide a +4 deflection AC bonus against all attacks coming in from a chosen 180-degree arc. This is extraordinary ability.
Superior Weapon Specialization: Stacking on top of any existing weapon specialization bonus, this adds an additional +2 to all damage rolls made with a chain or spiked chain.
Superior Spiked Chain: At 8th level, the master of chains can modify his spiked chain so that it leaves cruel barbs behind in the targets it strikes. Using the chain in this way causes victims to bleed 1 hit point per round until a successful Heal check is used to bind the wounds (DC15) or until magical healing is applied to them. It costs 25 gp to modify a chain in this manner, and 10 gp to add new spikes once the modified chain has been used five times. (After five uses, the modified chain can be used as a normal spiked chain.) Only 8th-level and above masters of chains can make and use these specially modified weapons properly – in any-one else’s hands they are simply spiked chains.
Swinging Attack: At 9th level, as a full-round action, the master of chains can wrap the end of his chain, around an overhead ob-ject (something that can sustain his weight) and swing at any target within 10 feet. The foe so attacked is treated as flat-footed and the master gains a +2 attack bonus and inflicts +3d6 damage with this single attack (only one attack is allowed).
Chain Mastery (Su): As a supernatural ability, the master of chains can animate a chain (as the spell animate rope, but with chains) of up to 50 feet in length for 10 rounds. The master of chains can use this ability three times per day plus a number of times equal to his Charisma bonus.

Kind Regards
 
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Hypersmurf said:
(Need to check some feat prereqs again... Mobility might not actually be needed for Hold the Line or Karmic Strike.)

-Hyp.
I think you needed Combat Reflexes for Hold the Line... not sure.

Do you have a Psywar/Ftr for maximum Feat delivery ;)?
 

Darklone said:
I think you needed Combat Reflexes for Hold the Line... not sure.

Ah, it was Combat Expertise, not Mobility, that I needed for Karmic Strike.

And yeah, I had Combat Reflexes on the list.

Do you have a Psywar/Ftr for maximum Feat delivery ;)?

I didn't want to drop the point of BAB :)

-Hyp.

Edit - Urgh, Combat Expertise. That makes the choice easy, unless I can pick up another 3 points of Int somewhere in the next ten levels.
 
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Darklone said:
Well, if you go Ftr7, then I'd add level 8 for yet another Focus point to hit :D

Yeah... I'm only going as high as Ftr4 for Specialization.

At that point I'm torn between a filler level (Ranger or Barbarian, I guess), then OotBI2 for Close Combat Shot, and into Peerless Archer at 8th... or Rgr3/Horizon Walker 1 and into Peerless Archer at 9th.

I'm a human in a party full of dwarves and half-orcs... so Darkvision would be really nice to pick up. I'm leaning towards the Horizon Walker build.

I can always pick up the two levels of OotBI later if Close Combat Shot becomes a necessity... and since I currently can't qualify for Karmic Strike (without the Int prerequisite for Combat Expertise) the Ranged Threaten isn't quite so urgent. I can take my time getting up to PA8, I guess.

-Hyp.
 

Hypersmurf said:
Yeah... I'm only going as high as Ftr4 for Specialization.

At that point I'm torn between a filler level (Ranger or Barbarian, I guess), then OotBI2 for Close Combat Shot, and into Peerless Archer at 8th... or Rgr3/Horizon Walker 1 and into Peerless Archer at 9th.

I'm a human in a party full of dwarves and half-orcs... so Darkvision would be really nice to pick up. I'm leaning towards the Horizon Walker build.

I can always pick up the two levels of OotBI later if Close Combat Shot becomes a necessity... and since I currently can't qualify for Karmic Strike (without the Int prerequisite for Combat Expertise) the Ranged Threaten isn't quite so urgent. I can take my time getting up to PA8, I guess.

-Hyp.

I am starting to like: Rng3, Ftr6, Exotic Weapon Master1, Deepwood Sniper2, Peerless Archer8. I am going to monkey with it tonight to see about putting 2 levels of occult slayer.

Feats/Abilities:
H EWP (Greatbow)
1 Point Blank Shot
R1 Track
R2 Rapid Shot
3 Precise Shot
R3 Endurance
F1 Weapon Focus (Greatbow)
F2 Quickdraw
6 Manyshot
F4 Weapon Specialization (Greatbow)
9 Improved Rapid Shot
F6 Farshot
EWM1 Close Combat Shot
DS1 Keen Arrows
DS2 Improved Critical Multiplier
12 Power Critical (Greatbow)
15 Ranged Disarm
PA3 Power Shot
18 Combat Reflexes
PA8 Ranged Threat

The levels and feats could probably be shifted slightly to give a better power curve on the way up. I just built it in that order for convenience, and because this might be a character to replace a 21st level char I had die in an epic campaign. 19-20 threat range with x4 crits and power critical is beautiful. If you are willing to give up 1 base attack, track, endurance, and ranged disarm, you can pick up 2 more sneak attack dice, some skill points, and evasion by swapping rng3 for rog3. Flavor to taste, the core is there.


Hrm... since ranged threat is only 10', maybe lose 5 levels of PA and get 3 levels of hexblade and 2 levels of occult slayer for cha to saves, mettle, double damage when readying to fire at a caster casting... something to think about... including the rng/rog swap, you have an archer with 19 base attack, mettle, evasion, cha to saves, a bit of sneak attack, power shot, insane crits. Brainstorming is fun.
 

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