The Mighty Bow... sort of...

[Greylock]

The SRD is/are the compiled System Reference Documents. See the sticky at the top of this page. Very useful stuff there.

Welcome onboard, Geflin...

 

[Timeboxer]

Keen is only for Melee weapons. Ammunition belongs under range.

This actually depends on whether the tables are a prescription or a proscription, I think. A reading of the actual weapon descriptions is different -- keen weapons are not strictly prohibited to melee weapons; however, ki Focus, throwing, and vicious are prohibited to only melee weapons, and brilliant energy applies only to melee weapons, thrown weapons, and ammunition. By "exception proves the rule," an exception to the rule (e.g., a limitation to only melee weapons) implies that there exists a rule that applies at all other times (e.g., weapon special abilities can be put on melee and ranged weapons). So. There also isn't anything particularly unbalancing to having a keen bow, either, so.

Of course, the disadvantage of this is probably that defending weapons must be swords. ("A defending weapon allows the wielder to transfer some or all of the sword's enhancement bonus to his AC...")

 

[Rackhir]

I can see no good reason for prohibiting Keen as a property on bows. Especially since it doesn't stack with Imp Crit in 3.5. Call it piercing if you wish, but it is neither unbalancing nor unreasonable.

 

[Bloodweaver1]

Why not add some damage bonus to the bow, such as Shock or Frost. They add +d6 damage to every hit. Her overall damage would be far better than with Keen or Improve Critical.

Welcome DUDE!! As I, like you, am also a newbie to these boards.

If you are considering doing extra damage on your bow via magical means. I HIGHLY recommend getting your bow enchanted with the "Exit Wound" magical ability out of the Complete Warrior. I understand that its a 3.5 book but see if your DM will allow it.

Does an extra d6 of stright up damage (no elemental magic here so it can't be DR'd) and you can possibly hit the bad guy behind him... well worth the +2 enhancement cost!!

 

[Timeboxer]

Does an extra d6 of stright up damage (no elemental magic here so it can't be DR'd) and you can possibly hit the bad guy behind him... well worth the +2 enhancement cost!!

Sure it can. Be DR'd, I mean. Try psychokinetic, which does only 1d4 damage but automatically penetrates all DR.

Exit wound doesn't work on undead, I notice. But it's good for making a tactical archer, as opposed to the do-as-much-damage-as-possible archer.

 

[moritheil]

Elemental magic can't be DRed either; DR applies against physical attacks.

Does an extra d6 of stright up damage (no elemental magic here so it can't be DR'd) and you can possibly hit the bad guy behind him... well worth the +2 enhancement cost!!

 

[Kae'Yoss]

KaeYoss (cool name by the way, what's it stand for?)

Read it aloud, and listen what it sounds like

you mentioned a 3.5 ranger in the "SRD" what exactly is the SRD? and where can i find it? (forgive my squirlly ignorance, but i'm still adapting to the 3.0+ world... )

The link has been given above, but I want to elaborate.

The SRD (System Reference Document) Includes most rules found in the three core rulebooks (PHB, DMG, MM), plus several other books as well (Expanded Psionics Handbook, Epic Level Handbook, Deities and Demigods). The only rules that aren't in are those that deal with character creation (ability generation methods, character wealth, and so on) as well as some signature monsters (Beholder, Mind Flayer, another couple of gritters). And most flavour text.

Other than that, there are all racial abilities, classes, skills, spells, feats, whatever in there. Everyone is allowed to look them up or print them out. You can even use them as a basis to create your own rules material, and even sell that stuff. You don't owe Wizards of the Coast a cent for that. They only want you to adher to certain matters of form (the d20 licence has to be repeated in the document, and so on).
As a result, there are literal tons of 3rd-party gaming books and PDF's out there. These aren't called "D&D" though, but "d20" and may not use the signature stuff. There's a lot of awesome stuff out there!

As for the ranger: in the recent revision of the D&D rules, the Ranger received a major power-up: More skill points, better reflex save, several bonus feats (including 3 which he can choose: A ranger chooses a combat style at 2nd level and receives bonus feats accordingly. The styles are two-weapon fighting and archery) and some other special abilities. The only disadvantage the new class has is the d8 instead of d10 for hit points, but that's not that bad. I strongly recommend using the new version, even if you don't play 3.5 in general.

3. several people metioned a spell regarding keen. i take it that it is the "keen edge" spell listed in the PHP. i'm still learning how to build enchanted weapons and such. does it mean if i place the spell on the bow, it will bestow its enchantment on the missles it throws?

As far as I know, it doesn't. The spell has to state that explicitly. Otherwise, you could make keen arrows, but not a keen bow.

We were talking of keen, which is not exactly the keen edge spell. The keen enhancement is a property you can add to magical weapons. In order to enhance weapons that way, you need the Create Magic Arms and Armour feat, spend a certain amount of gold, time and XP enspelling the item. You won't need to cast keen edge everytime you want a keen weapon, because this is permanent and only the most powerful magic can strip magical weapons of their power.

 

[noeuphoria]

From the srd: only piercing and slashing weapons can bee keen. A longbow is a piercing weapon with a crit range of 20. If you make it keen (which you can, because it's piercing), it deals 1d8 and crits on a 19-20. The listing for the longbow assumes you're using it to shoot arrows.

 

[geflin]

so if she takes improved critical at 12th level (the next available feat to her) and we add keen to the bow, it will crit on an 18 to 20. this is the best she can do?

i mean its nothing to sneeze at, but the stuff that our DM has been thowing at us has been.... difficult... to kill. so i'm looking to get our artillary the best possible advantage. it makes my life as the grinder much easier. we'll be making our way back to our semi-permanant base at zhentil keep (Looooong story... if you want to hear it, let me know,and i'll post it somewhere), so we'll be able to do more stuff next week. let me know if anyone else comes up with anything else!

thank you for all of your help.

 

[Rackhir]

so if she takes improved critical at 12th level (the next available feat to her) and we add keen to the bow, it will crit on an 18 to 20. this is the best she can do?

i mean its nothing to sneeze at, but the stuff that our DM has been thowing at us has been.... difficult... to kill. so i'm looking to get our artillary the best possible advantage. it makes my life as the grinder much easier. we'll be making our way back to our semi-permanant base at zhentil keep (Looooong story... if you want to hear it, let me know,and i'll post it somewhere), so we'll be able to do more stuff next week. let me know if anyone else comes up with anything else!

thank you for all of your help.

That's as high was you can get without some "extraordinary" modifier. IE talking your DM into permitting something that nominally exceeds what is permited.

There are a bunch of really cool ranger spells in the Complete Adventurer?(one of the complete books) that can significantly enhance an archer. One permits you to threaten a normal 5' range. It is only a first level spell so it would be relatively inexpensive to make constant in a bow.

If you are going for enhanced crits, don't forget the burst effect enhancements that give you extra damage on a crit. The high crit multiple of a bow means you get even more damage 2d10 rather than 1d10. If you went DWS, you'd get an extra d10 per +1 enhanced crit multiple.