Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ivellious Galanodel 09-06-06, 07:50 AM	Would an arcane spell caster with an elvencraft bow (races of the wild) gain any benefit from the arrowmind spell (spell compendium)?
Jerks 09-06-06, 02:24 PM	Yes, but it's not as great of a benefit. The spell allows you to threaten with an arrow shot. Assuming you are using a composite longbow that's a base d8 damage instead of the d6 from using a quarterstaff. Chances are that if your are a dedicated archer, your chance to hit with an arrow shot is probably going to be better than your melee chance to hit. The advantage of the elvencraft bow is that you get to add 1x 1/2 your strength damage to the stave damage. Useful if your Str is 14 or greater. Finally, the spell is better if you find yourself threatened by fireshielded opponents or oozes. You don't want to risk smacking an ooze with your bow, but shooting an arrow won't destroy your weapon (although it might split the ooze into two pieces...but that's a problem for another discussion).
Wind of Darkness 09-06-06, 04:27 PM	Personally, I'm of the opinion that arrow mind is probably the best low level archer spell in the game, and that it should probably be high than Sor/Wiz 1. Even for an archer with an elvencraft bow, it's goos. You can threat with the bow. Not the quarterstaff with its d6 base damage, x2 crit and melee attack modifier. The longbow, with the d8 damage, ranged attack mod (Dex > Str, IMO, and if you're an archer...), and x3 crit. Nevermind the archery feats you probably took (Point Blank Shot comes to mind. Not great, but don't dis the +1). And without an Elvencraft Longbow... It pwns. Utterly. The ability to suddenly be able to make AoOs with a bow as an immediate action for a 1st level spell is nothing to sneeze at.