Post/Author/DateTime	Post
CrystalBlue 06-19-07, 04:10 PM	Because I placed this on the wrong board... Finally playing my archer again was good. I missed him. But then I figured out why I hadn't been playing him for a long time. Human Archer Rng 3/Fgt 2/Hoz 4 Feats: Point Blank, Precise, Rapid, Multi, Mounted Combat, Mounted Archery, Improved Rapid I mean, right now I just realized I was 9th level. While the character is good, I have many flaws, though. 1.) I can hit anything. Period. With a full shot, off my horse, with as many penalties as I can think of, I'm still shooting a 12/12/7. That's WITHOUT my bonuses. Me hitting is not a question. Me doing damage is a problem. In the 60+ AR's on him, I have never gotten energy access to weapons. Ever. Which has significantly tied him down in matching up to big bashers. I'm not saying I should be doing a full attack for 300+ damage like a Shock Trooper...I'm saying I should be doing more then 3d8 + 8...esspecially if I have to worry about damage reduction or such things. 2.) What other feat should I take? I've gotten everything I need, I think, for an airborne machinegun. Is there something awesome that I'm missing? And on to my Monk...who has made level 4. I know I was talking about this a few months back, but I want to make sure I'm not screwing him up TOO badly... Human Monk Mnk 4 Feats: Improved Grapple, Combat Reflexes, Power Attack, EWP (Scorpion Claws), Earth's Embrace Is this good so far? At 4th level, should I retrain anything? I have the Earth's Embrace so I'm doing some good damage at low levels from my grappling...so I'm not TOTALLY useless. And yes...this is the monk going Dragon Disciple. Poo on you who steers me away from that.
kenobi65 06-19-07, 04:22 PM	1.) I can hit anything. Period. With a full shot, off my horse, with as many penalties as I can think of, I'm still shooting a 12/12/7. That's WITHOUT my bonuses. Me hitting is not a question. Me doing damage is a problem. In the 60+ AR's on him, I have never gotten energy access to weapons. Ever. Which has significantly tied him down in matching up to big bashers. I'm not saying I should be doing a full attack for 300+ damage like a Shock Trooper...I'm saying I should be doing more then 3d8 + 8...esspecially if I have to worry about damage reduction or such things. Well, I think you've identified the crux of the issue. I'm guessing that you haven't gotten access to holy, either? Thanks to Rapid Shot, you're always going to be one attack ahead of your melee brethren, but lack of extra dice of damage hurts, and I'm not sure if there's any build choices that could change that. 2.) What other feat should I take? I've gotten everything I need, I think, for an airborne machinegun. Is there something awesome that I'm missing? Best idea I can think of, based on what you could take today, is Improved Critical. At least you can double the chance of doing x3 damage (and, with your good attack bonus, should have a good chance of confirming crits). My other two suggestions, you don't qualify for right now: - Weapon Specialization (need 2 more levels of fighter) - Improved Precise Shot (need BAB +11, and a Dex of 19...or have 11 levels in Ranger)
UMiskatonic 06-19-07, 07:03 PM	Personally, I prefer Imp. Precise to Imp. Critical, although they are both good. With all the grappling, concealment, and cover that goes on in higher-level mods, I think Precise allows you to be much more useful. It doesn't increase you higher-end damage, but it does cut down on the number of rounds that you sit there not full attacking because you don't want to shoot your wizard buddy my mistake. And as for access, just keep playing. It'll come around eventually. Try to have a bag of gold ready, so when that adventure access does come around, you can take care of it right away.
kenobi65 06-19-07, 10:07 PM	Personally, I prefer Imp. Precise to Imp. Critical, although they are both good. With all the grappling, concealment, and cover that goes on in higher-level mods, I think Precise allows you to be much more useful. It doesn't increase you higher-end damage, but it does cut down on the number of rounds that you sit there not full attacking because you don't want to shoot your wizard buddy my mistake. Oh, I absolutely agree. In our home game, my wife plays an archer ranger, and she calls Improved Precise Shot the "I-can-shoot-the-wings-off-a-fly-through-a-buttonhole-in-a-hurricane" feat. But, Improved Crit is something that CrystalBlue could take for the 9th level feat; the prereqs would require waiting until at least 11th level to take Improved Precise.
solbergb 06-19-07, 10:16 PM	To fix your archer damage, you need 2 more fighter levels to pick up weapon spec and on your next feat weapon mastery. Those will give you +2 to hit and +4 damage over what you're doing now, and you can get both by level 12 You might also consider a barbarian level, extra rage and getting a bigger strength bow. Extra rage will need a retrain to fit in anytime soon, but you could do that at level 10. Energy bows aren't the only way to get extra damage. Merciful, Sacred and Holy are also good, as are boots of speed. Failing any of those, get a belt of strength+4 and a bigger strength bow. Your damage is too low, I agree. On the monk - I really don't like Earth's embrace - you are being fortunate in the table variation on how the feat works if it is working for you, and I'm happy that somebody got some judges to agree on what the feat does. But in future, that's the feat to retrain if you want something else. My recommendation for a grappling guy who wants a rank in Kn arcane anyway would be delay potion. My own monk has it and the ability to become size large as an immediate action from that potion of enlarge you drank a couple hours ago is just amazing, once you can afford to burn a consumable or two over the course of a module. You want improved natural attack at level 6, and improved trip for the monk feat if you stick with monk long enough. Otherwise I think your basic plan is ok...being as strong as possible and being a decent grappler will work on some stuff, and on other stuff, just whack them with flurry or 2H weapon+power attack plus your massive strength.
berpo 06-20-07, 11:17 AM	Human Archer Rng 3/Fgt 2/Hoz 4 Feats: Point Blank, Precise, Rapid, Multi, Mounted Combat, Mounted Archery, Improved Rapid I mean, right now I just realized I was 9th level. While the character is good, I have many flaws, though. OK first being ftr 4 is a must for an archer. Retrain Mounted Archery to weapon focus at lvl 10 since the penalty for firing while being mounted is not as bad as it should be without the feat. Having a belt of strengh + 4 or 6 is better than having some glove of dext. As you already told so, it is quite easy to hit. Buy a bow with you new and improoved strength to help you with dmg. Lvl 11 weapon spec and lvl 12 ranged weapon mastery. At lvl 12 your dmg per arrow will be : 1 (PBS) + 1 (magic) + 4 (wep spec /wep mastery) + 3 (belt +6) + your str mod ?? = 1d8 + 9 min. 4 times for an average of 50 pts per round. I don't like mounted combat feat but I don't have to change the concept of your char. Your mount can move and you still can full attack !!! I don't like the idea of the barbarian. If you have an high enough wisdom (12) take the fourth lvl of ranger for some cool spells like arrowmind. Have fun with your archer. It's a cool character to play. Marc
CrystalBlue 06-20-07, 12:32 PM	Archer I was thinking about the Weapon Spec. and it would add a good deal to my damage. The way I was making this character to begin with was to get into Horizen Walker to level 6 and get the Shadow terrain. I think we all know why I want to do that. :D Having a Dimension Door to get the heck out of an ambush is nice. But maybe it's not as good as I think it will be. I guess that's for everyone here to think about and let me know. If the Dimension Door isn't worth it, let me know and I'll start to get back into fighter. And with the access...there are a few things I've bought that I got access to just because I needed something. I do have Dex + 4 gloves right now and I also bought a +1 Keen Falchion...on a whim...because it sounded cool at the time. :D Maybe not the best investment, but I needed SOME way to do melee damage in a pinch. And...come on...it's keen. :D Monk He's going to step out of monk this level and get a level of Beguiler before Conflict. :D (GO CONFLICT!!! EVERYONE SHOULD ATTEND!!!) Once that happens, I'm gonna throw my chips in and gamble with the dreaded Highfolk Dragon Disciple Special Mission. If, beyond all hope, I actually make it through that, I'll have a dragon disciple grappler that'll also have claw and bite attacks...so my full attack has a chance of doing around 5 or 6 attacks (not at a high BAB, mind you...but still). And what's the table variation that you're talking about on Earth's Embrace. Pretty straight forward to me. When you pin and do your unarmed attack damage, you add an additional 1d12 damage to the roll. So, when I pin a target, I'm doing 1d8 + 1d12 + 3str. That's some good grapple damage for level 4.
solbergb 06-20-07, 12:39 PM	The variation is that when you pin, you don't actually do any damage. (look at the PHB - unlike establishing the grapple there isn't unarmed strike damage applied in the pin) So some people think it only applies when you pin and get an iterative attack to grapple for more damage. (except maybe if you have constrict somehow, constrict does its damage on a pin) Pinning also applies for only one round, so pretty much each round you're just pinning the guy and then hoping your iteratives do damage so you get the extra +d12. Usually you'll do more just grappling for damage. There are other variants but I can't remember them now. When I first asked about this feat, I got 6 answers from 6 people and decided it wasn't worth the bother. I suspect you're getting free damage when you shouldn't be - you're getting a free damage round every time you pin somebody and that's a local incorrect rules variant that makes the feat much more attractive.
Mommy was an Orc 06-20-07, 01:02 PM	And what's the table variation that you're talking about on Earth's Embrace. Pretty straight forward to me. When you pin and do your unarmed attack damage, you add an additional 1d12 damage to the roll. So, when I pin a target, I'm doing 1d8 + 1d12 + 3str. That's some good grapple damage for level 4. You don't actually damage a target when you pin... The Monk looks okay. With the archer, I might look to end up at Ranger 4/Fighter 4/Horizon Walker 4, then go Horizon Walker the rest of the way. Ranger 4 gets you an animal companion for your Mounted Feats.
CrystalBlue 06-22-07, 01:18 PM	Well, see...I would go 4th level ranger...so that I could make my griffon my animal companion...but I can't...cause I'd need to be a level 8 druid to get that, so that's a level 12 ranger. :( And I was 100% sure you damage when you pin. In fact, I read the section on pinning 3 or 4 times and I'm almost certain I damage when I pin...so please show me where it says I don't damage. And yes, I was going to sub out Earth's Embrace at some point when I have a better feat to pick...but there are so few grappling feats that it makes me cry. See? :weep:
control freak 06-22-07, 01:33 PM	You don't actually damage a target when you pin... a reaping mauler said that to a tarrasque who rolled a 1 on his fort save, the tarrasque died and when it came back asked him how he died in a pin, "i snaped your neck".
Mommy was an Orc 06-22-07, 02:21 PM	And I was 100% sure you damage when you pin. In fact, I read the section on pinning 3 or 4 times and I'm almost certain I damage when I pin...so please show me where it says I don't damage. And yes, I was going to sub out Earth's Embrace at some point when I have a better feat to pick...but there are so few grappling feats that it makes me cry. See? :weep: Once you grapple an opponent you have several options - I'll just list the two relevant ones: Damage your opponent Pin your opponent Pin your opponent is not Damage your Opponent...(or why not everyone chooses to automatically pin their opponents at every opportunity)