Too many bonuses!!!!

[Thanee]

They stack for attack and damage, but for damage REDUCTION the arrow's enhancement bonus is the only one that counts.

Archers are certainly very powerful in 3rd Edition, especially when combined with various magical enhancements, but since just about everything is very powerful, it doesn't really matter.

Bye
Thanee - who fell an enemy last game with a single arrow (via massive damage ).

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

There are several methods to make it difficult for archers (and most opponents will use them):
1) Get Cover (this can include being prone, but this is not a good idea if you are engaged in melee. But most melee combats grant some cover bonus...)
2) Use your own archer
3) Protection from Arrows Spell
4) Engage the Archer in melee ASAP

Be aware that using bows can be difficult in darker areas. (Darkvision for most PCs does not get behind 60 feet. A double move for the standard races and most bigger creatures, and they are there. Undeads take only half damage from bows.)

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[Macbrea]

Minmax the archer Half-elf
18 dex 18 str
Fighter 4/Ranger 10/planar champion 1
Equipment: Bracelets of archery, Mighty comp Longbow(+4 str) +5, Arrows +5
Feats: point blank shot, Rapid shot, weapon focus (comp bow), Weapon spec (comp bow), improved rapid shot, quickdraw, ect

To Hit: +30/+25/+20 (+33 vs humans on plane, +32 vs aberants on plane, +31 vs all other on this plane)
So: Rapid shotting on average: +26/+26/+21/+21/+16
Damage: (under 30ft) 1d10 + 18 + (2 vs humans) + (1 vs Aberants) + (1 on this plane)


So this 15th level character would average 115 points a damage a round vs creatures under 30ft. The problem is he quickly runs out of shots unless he has a person willing to greater magic weapon his arrows. Even then he will probably run out of arrows after the first few combats in an adventure. As I wouldn't expect him to carry more then 100 arrows into an adventure. Which makes him utterly deadly for 20 rounds. Then he is a semi fancy fighter.

This character is at the mercy of the local market. Unless the gamemaster is being nice or he picks up alot of arrows off his enemies. Even then those arrows probably shouldn't be +5 arrows.

 

[Bagpuss]

So: Rapid shotting on average: +26/+26/+21/+21/+16

Even then those arrows probably shouldn't be +5 arrows.

Too right, otherwise else he's spending 5,035 gp a round, which could get expensive.

 

[Jeremy]

Minmax the archer Half-elf
So: Rapid shotting on average: +26/+26/+21/+21/+16
Damage: (under 30ft) 1d10 + 18 + (2 vs humans) + (1 on this plane)


So this 15th level character would average 115 points a damage a round vs creatures under 30ft.

<scoffs>

That's not min/max the archer. THIS is min/max the archer.

Wood Elf Psychic Warrior 7/Deepwood Sniper 8

18 STR, 34 DEX (20 DEX +3 from levels, 6 from gloves of dexterity, and 5 from a lucky animal affinity)

+14/+9/+4 (BAB) +6 (Metaphysical Bow and Arrows) +1 (Weapon Focus) +1 (Point Blank Shot) +2 (Bracers of Archery) +12 (DEX) -2 (Rapid Shot) = +34/+34/+29/+24 with an additional shot at +34 due to haste from Boots of Speed.

Damage within 30' is 1d8 + 6 (Metaphysical Bow and Arrows) +2 (Weapon Specialization) +1 (Point Blank Shot) +1 (Bracers of Archery) +4 (Mighty [+4] Oathbow) = 1d8+14 (17-20/x5) because of the sniper's keen arrows and your improved critical feat until you swear aloud to kill something, upon which your damage becomes 2d8+28 (17-20/x6).

Figuring one of those 5 attacks crits and the other 4 hit, average damage is about 222 on the critical arrow + 148 on the other arrows. If you don't like assuming out of 5 rolls a 17 or higher will come up once, then buy the character an ioun stone that stores 6 spell levels and get 6 Hunter's Mercy spells put in it. Then use your extra partial haste action to use the ioun stone and you've got a virtually guaranteed critical (just don't roll a 1 on the confirmation roll).

And now that the Netbook of Feats pdf is in it's 8th incarnation there is a wonderful feat called "Called Shot" in there that is basically power attack but with a ranged weapon. -to hit = +to damage up to base attack bonus... And with +34 to hit, you can probably take (or maybe not) a -14 to hit for +14 to damage leaving you at +20/+20/+20/+15/+10 for 2d8+56 (17-20/x6) when maxing for 390 points of damage per critical shot and 65 damage per shot for the rest.

But I'll leave that part out for the purists.

I apologize for any errors in this, the President of the company is supposed to be in today so I left my books at home. I had to do that from memory.

Fun stuff.

EDIT: Good Lord, my math skills are horrendous. Sorry for that.

 

[hong]

Damnit, that Called Shot feat is mine! They stole my feat! Call the United Nations!11!! Someone tell Bill Gates!!!1

http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hong/dnd/newfeats.htm

Heh. Actually, I'm surprised that they didn't put a feat like this into the PHB in the first place. It seems like an obvious thing to do.

 

[wolff96]

All that power, and not a hit to be seen

Archers have severe problems to deal with to achieve power.

A) Cost of magical arrows. It's either pay boatloads of cash or never be able to affect those with Damage Reduction, Stoneskin, Protection from Arrows... or constantly use up your partner's spell slots for Greater Magic Weapon. The one option here is Arcane Archer, but not every DM allows that and not every character is of elven descent.

B) Fragility of Bows. Sunder is a real bitch on those super bows... they stand up to being hit with a greataxe just about as well as tin foil.

C) Cover. As others have mentioned, if someone is plinking away with arrows, take cover.

D) Weather. Bad weather makes archery nearly impossible. Rain, fog, and wind all give horrible penalties to archery (if the DM has any sense, anyway.)

E) Wind Spells. Control Weather, Control Winds, and their baby brother Wind Wall all spell doom for an archer. Sheesh, a measly 3rd level spell can stop that totally min/maxed character from doing ANY damage, no matter their power. And it doesn't take much of a caster to generate a wind wall big enough to encircle a couple of ballistas, giants with rocks, or other missile weapon-types that aren't bothered by the wind... not to mention that the caster still has line of sight for all his spells.

 

[Jeremy]

I agree. My character's AC currently stinks, his HP are atrocious, and his bow being sundered will be the last problem he has if something gets to melee on him.

Though I don't have to worry about magical (or even masterwork) arrows because of metaphysical weapon (my third level power), cover will prove a problem until I get my sharp shooter feat to start negating cover. The Deepwood Sniper class already negates some concealment for me.

Bad weather can be a bother, but keep in mind, a highly min/max'd magical archer is more like a sniper than a true archer. Archer's do not have magical bows and arrows, superhuman aim and vision, nor magical items that enhance their already superhuman abilities. They have to make do with human abilities.

A rainy day will stop an archer (or at least severely hinder him) it will not stop the streaking silver missiles of a sniper (though it will hinder him).

You have a very strong point with magic, but of course magic can be used to stop just about everything. Melee, other magic, ranged attacks, natural attacks, magic is extremely versatile both in offensive and defensive capacities. Is this a unique weakness of the archer? I don't think so. I could be wrong, I think a prepared mage is just about the most dangerous thing in D&D.

But an archer, especially mine, is very well equipped to deal with a mage. First off, my particular archer has a spot check of +28. By the time he reaches his 8th level of deepwood sniper he should be up to +42 or so.. Assuming I can't talk our artificer (PC with item creation feats, he usually ends up with all our money. ) into creating some kind of item like a ring of jumping that affects my vision instead.. Then it'll be more like +62-+72...

I'll also hopefully have a bow of distance by then that with my far shot feat, and my deepwood sniper range increment increases should allow me to (and forgive me, I have none of my books with me at the moment) hit a target at 110*1.5*2 + 70? = 400 ft? Something like that, probably less, but the point is, a bow can shoot up to 10 range increments away with a -2 per range increment. If I can use my vision to pick out a target, and hit him with one of those 390 damage crits at range, especially if I'm hunting the guy and it's the first he knows of me, I may kill him with one shot before he gets that magic up.

Then again, all things considered, maybe not. But at least the archer still has a better than average chance.

 

[milo]

Hey D I borrowed your Defenders of the Faith and Forgotten Realms Handbook.

 

[Victim]

One of the main reasons archers can stack the magic bow and arrows is because they lack feats like cleave or power attack, or the ability to use a massive ability score for attack and damage like fighter with a 2 hander can.