Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 danteisme Jan 28, 2009 0:42:10	As skead has mentioned I am also taking part in this Big pvp battle. The arena is a medium sized arena. I am playing the ranger. Lvl cap is lvl 15. Books: PH1, DMG, Song And Silence, Sword and Fist, Complete Arcane, Masters of the Wild, Defenders of the Faith only. So far I got this. Str : 15 / +2 Dex : 19 / +4 Con : 14 / +2 Int : 12 / +1 Wis : 13 / +1 Cha : 11 / +0 Feats that I chose : Point Blank Shot Rapid Shot Improved initiative Dodge Mobility Shot on the run base attack bonus +15 +10 +5 240,000 G starting gold Help with items and maybe different feats let me know.
#2 danteisme Jan 28, 2009 1:13:05	I was thinking of using like a +4 Composite longbow(+4 Str) of shocking if someone could tell me how much this would cost
#3 Grumman Jan 28, 2009 1:33:49	You can get Rapid Shot from Ranger 2, Manyshot from Ranger 6, and Improved Precise Shot from Ranger 11, which gives you an extra feat to play with. I'd consider using it for Combat Reflexes, so you can take a 1 level dip in Shadowdancer for Hide in Plain Sight. I don't know if you're playing as a human, but if you are, you've got another bonus feat from that.
#4 danteisme Jan 28, 2009 2:53:16	I would have to then put points into perform dance to get it too 5 correct which means since its not a Ranger skill it would take 10 skill points?
#5 Grumman Jan 28, 2009 3:07:14	I would have to then put points into perform dance to get it too 5 correct which means since its not a Ranger skill it would take 10 skill points? That's correct. I'm curious as to why four of your six abilities are odd. If you're using a composite longbow, wouldn't using your level-derived attribute increase to give yourself 16 STR/18 DEX be better than 15 STR/19 DEX?
#6 danteisme Jan 28, 2009 3:12:00	Thanks for the advice just changed it on my character sheet. So anyone have any idea how much a +4 Composite Longbow of shocking would be (4str bow of course) Im pretty sure its 100 for the bow 300 for masterwork and 400 for +4 Str not sure how much the +4 ehancement bonus is or how much to get shocking on my bow would be.
#7 danteisme Jan 28, 2009 3:13:00	Oh im playign a halfling btw for Ac bonus and hide bonus and stuff
#8 Grumman Jan 28, 2009 3:21:36	+4 Shocking Composite Longbow (+4 STR) would cost 100+400 for the Composite Longbow (+4 STR), 300 to make it masterwork and (4+1)^2*2000 for the +4 Shocking, for a total of 50,800 gold pieces.
#9 danteisme Jan 28, 2009 3:30:22	ok thanks a lot man so far I have Gloves of Dex +6 - 36,000 Hands of Glory - 8,000g Cloak of resistance +5 - 25,000g Belt of giant str +4 - 16,000g Brooch of shielding - 1,5000g +4 Shocking Composite Longbow (+4 STR) - 50,800g 240,000 - all that stuff = I have 102,700 left Any ideas what else I should get?
#10 danteisme Jan 28, 2009 3:49:57	still need a chest rings and bracers
#11 danteisme Jan 28, 2009 5:11:54	Current Gear Gloves of Dex +6 - 36,000 Hands of Glory - 8,000g Cloak of resistance +5 - 25,000g Belt of giant str +4 - 16,000g Brooch of shielding - 1,500g +4 Shocking Composite Longbow (+4 STR) - 50,800g Celestrial Armor +3 - 22,400g Ring of Protection +3 - 16,000g Not to sure what else i Should get. Stats are now as follows. Str 20/+5 Dex 24/+7 Con 14/+2 Int 12/+1 Wis 13/+1 Cha 11/+0 I am playing a halfing Ranger 14 / Shadow Dancer 1. My ac is only 24 any advice on how to make it higher? Also what spells should I get and what animal companion should I get as well. Remember its for a Arena battle. Medium sized arena
#12 winternacht Jan 28, 2009 6:54:16	Greater Bracers of archery? And... why have Str:20 (+5) if you only habe a +4(Str) bow? As for the armor: Stay out of range and out of sight! Barkskin (spell) might help, too.
#13 carnivore Jan 28, 2009 7:33:11	Current Gear Gloves of Dex +6 - 36,000 Hands of Glory - 8,000g Cloak of resistance +5 - 25,000g Belt of giant str +4 - 16,000g Brooch of shielding - 1,500g +4 Shocking Composite Longbow (+4 STR) - 50,800g Celestrial Armor +3 - 22,400g Ring of Protection +3 - 16,000g Not to sure what else i Should get. Stats are now as follows. Str 20/+5 Dex 24/+7 Con 14/+2 Int 12/+1 Wis 13/+1 Cha 11/+0 I am playing a halfing Ranger 14 / Shadow Dancer 1. My ac is only 24 any advice on how to make it higher? Also what spells should I get and what animal companion should I get as well. Remember its for a Arena battle. Medium sized arena try this: Halfling Ranger 3/ Fighter 4/ Horizonwalker 6/ Shadowdancer 2 it will give: BAB +14 Better saves Better HP more Feats.... and Weapon Specialization Evasion Uncanny Dodge Darkvision(120') Dimension Door at will every 1d4 rounds Hide in Plain Sight will get back with Feats and Equipment :D
#14 danteisme Jan 28, 2009 15:51:22	How much more would it be to get a +5 str bow another what like 200g?
#15 carnivore Jan 28, 2009 15:55:10	How much more would it be to get a +5 str bow another what like 200g? the progression is like this: 81–85 Longbow, composite (+1 Str bonus) +500 gp 86–90 Longbow, composite (+2 Str bonus) +600 gp 91–95 Longbow, composite (+3 Str bonus) +700 gp 96–100 Longbow, composite (+4 Str bonus) +800 gp so if you want a Composite Longbow(+5 Str)... it costs 100gp more than a (+4 Str) version :D
#16 danteisme Jan 28, 2009 16:35:07	Ahh wow thanks man =D. Any suggestions on what chest i should get?
#17 danteisme Jan 29, 2009 4:38:37	Bump Friday Night is game night anymore help would be great =D
#18 eldariel Jan 29, 2009 6:01:05	Well, first of all, not playing a pure spellcaster on those levels is probably a mistake and I'd be worried of any spellcasters you might face. Furthermore, because of the sources available (Complete Adventurer, Spell Compendium or Faerun-books would be needed to make use of it) as you just don't have many worthwhile spells for arena combat. Anyways, with those books you should definitely look at Prestige Classes more: Deepwood Sniper [Masters of the Wild] Order of the Bow Initiate [Sword & Fist] Weapon Master [Sword & Fist] All of those prestige classes are fairly awesome for Archer, and help you out a ton as far as making up for the lack of magic. I'd personally enter Weapon Master ASAP and take 7 levels of it. Indeed, Ranger 3/Fighter 4/Weapon Master 7/Shadowdancer 1 could be decent for an archer; Ki Damage really helps with your damage output, as does the increased threat range and critical multiplier. It also shares most of the prerequisites with Shadowdancer. Feats would go: 1. Combat Reflexes R. Rapid Shot R. Endurance 3. Dodge F. Weapon Focus F. Combat Reflexes 6. Mobility F. Combat Expertise 9. Improved Critical (stacks with Weapon Master's ability for a 16-20 crit range with X4 crits) 12. Open Feat (could be Weapon Specialization, for example) 15. Open Feat You don't need Point Blank Shot and you probably shouldn't pick it up as it's a fairly weak feat. Ranger allows you to get Rapid Shot without it. Does the arena run with preparation? If it does, you should pack a bunch of Wands with you and maximize Use Magic Device-skill. Otherwise, it's still a good idea, but I'd focus more on maximizing Hide, Move Silently and Spot. Note that Spot and Listen are class skills for Weapon Master so you can max them with little trouble; just maxing Spot should be enough. Something to consider as far as feats go: Mage Slayer Blind-Fight Pierce Magical Concealment Much of the spellcasters' defenses are based on illusions. That pretty much allows you to ignore them all. Alternatively, you could of course just have True Seeing on your person, but that costs a lot more. You may also wish to go through KSB Snow Owl's Archer Builds as all the classes of those but Peerless Archer are available to you. As said, Deepwood Sniper and Order of the Bow Initiate are both awesome options too. I just personally am fond of Weapon Master Archers due to the awesome increase in damage from Ki Damage and all that. EDIT: It's more economical to focus on miss chance rather than AC on those levels. So that may be a good idea for your equipment. Also, it's a good idea to have some dispelling equipment available; at the very least a Rod of Cancellation or two. Also, don't forget to poison the arrows you plan on using in the combat beforehand (you can find a good list of poisons at least in the 3.5 DMG). It's a good way to add extra effect to each hit. Just have your own Neutralize Poison potion handy while applying them; there's a 95% chance you won't botch everything and a good chance you will make your save even if you do, but if all else peters out, drink the potion. Few big questions: -Is there preparation time before fights? -Are consumables (arrows, potions, oils, wands, scrolls, etc.) replenished after each fight? -Are you considered to have night's rest after each fight? -What kinds of arenas (that is, terrain, ceiling, such) are we talking about? -You do play by 3.5 versions of the rules available, right? 'cause if you play with 3.0 versions of the abilities, you need Manyshot and you need Haste. Those mean everything as far as optimizing goes. EDIT #2: Few pieces of equipment outside Core I suggest you look at: Bow of True Arrows [Sword & Fist]: seems like the perfect base weapon to start enhancing. The ability to cast True Strike is so huge in an arena like this where you might face AC optimized builds with AC in 50s. Manyshot would help a lot with this, though; being able to hit with 3 arrows at once is much better than one. Still, I'd enhance this rather than a standard bow. Alchemist's Arrow [Sword & Fist]: It could be argued that it deals normal damage in addition to the extra effect. If so, it's definitely worth it as this is a completely mundane addition to your damage capabilities. It doesn't have damage listed, which could just mean that it deals damage "as appropriate for the bow". Energy Drain Armor [Defenders of the Faith]: If someone gets next to you, you will be in trouble...but if you happen to be wearing this, you can just drain a few of their levels dropping their attacks and damage and spellcasting and everything else by a ton. Really, Enervation is one of the very few spells that are worthwhile in equipment form 'cause it doesn't offer saves.
#19 danteisme Jan 29, 2009 7:09:07	-Is there preparation time before fights? Think time for buffs -Are consumables (arrows, potions, oils, wands, scrolls, etc.) replenished after each fight? Maybe not quite sure lol -Are you considered to have night's rest after each fight? yes -What kinds of arenas (that is, terrain, ceiling, such) are we talking about? Just a open Gladiator type arena -You do play by 3.5 versions of the rules available, right? 'cause if you play with 3.0 versions of the abilities, you need Manyshot and you need Haste. Just 3.5 Thanks for all your help
#20 eldariel Jan 29, 2009 7:47:19	You should have some item for teleportation as you are an archer. You should also have Boots of Speed; 10 rounds is plenty for a fight. Due to the way the area is set up, classes with daily abilities like the Weapon Master become much stronger; you can effectively afford to maximize every one of your attacks. Open terrain is a problem. Shadow Dancer can only hide if there's some shadow present. You'll need some items to generate some, such as the Feather Token or Eversmoking Bottle. In fact, Eversmoking Bottle might be a very good idea if you bother with Deepwood Sniper or Ranger 11 (getting Improved Precise Shot), since you can ignore the concealment. Even without it, it should be in your favor to use a Bottle as you can hide in the smoke, and since you have no precision abilities in the Weapon Master-config and thus aren't hindered beyond the normal miss chance. In fact, if you get Seeking Bow or Seeking arrows, you won't even suffer that little mishap. One thing to remember is that you should enchant your arrows and bow separately, especially if consumables are replenished. 50 arrows cost as much as one weapon when enhanced, so you could get 50 +3 arrows for 18350gp. Therefore, you could get a well-enhanced bow along with a bunch of enhanced arrows and get much more bonus for your money than otherwise. Also, one thing to keep in mind is the "Bane"-property; it's definitely worth it to carry Bane: Human, Bane: Elf, Bane: Halfling and so on arrows along. Having 10 of each should be enough and Bane adds +2 to your weapon enhancement and +2d6 damage to the appropriate type. 50 Bane arrows would only cost you 8350 gp. That with a Seeking +1 bow (+4 weapon, base price is 8000gp + weapon cost; 10400gp would buy you a Seeking Bow of True Strikes with +5 Str for example) is perfectly affordable. Then you can buy Oil of Greater Magic Weapon +5 for 3000gp and apply it to your bow before the fight giving you a +5 Seeking Bow of True Strikes with Str +5; with appropriate Bane-arrow, it'll be a +7 Seeking Bow of True Strikes with Str +5 and +2d6 damage, all for a total of 21750gp (provided that you have 10 arrows for 5 creature types; if you believe you'll need to cover more types such as Monstrous Humanoid, Giant, Humanoid: Orc, Humanoid: Goblin or such, the price goes up of course). You could even afford extra abilities on the bow. And every one of those arrows would of course be poisoned... As for poison choices: Black Lotus Extract: DC20 or massive Con-loss. Expensive as hell though. Dragon Bile: A bit cheaper and has massive DC26 Fort-save or lose 3d6 Str (which can knock caster types out cold; Str 0 = unable to act). Purple Worm Poison: The cheapest option. It's not that usable as it really needs multiple hits in to do its thing; however, causing melee to lose Str might cause him to crumble under his equipment. This tends to take multiple hits to really deal with people though. However, costing just 700 a piece, you could poison 50 arrows for as little as 35000. The smartest thing to do is to get 5-10 dozes of the poison and apply it before combat to the appropriate bane arrows. That way you could get by with as little as 7000 for Purple Worm Poison, or 15000 for Dragon Bile, plus 750gp for a Potion of Neutralize Poison. Black Lotus Extract is probably prohibitively expensive, and Dragon Bile should do the job anyways. Poisons are on page 296 of DMG, btw.
#21 eldariel Jan 29, 2009 9:28:01	Actually, I'll just type a quick shopping list of Useful Things for you (this site lists all the ones in DMG): Luck Blade (0 wishes): 22060gp Cloak of Resistance +5: 25000gp Eversmoking Bottle: 5400gp Eyes of the Eagle: 2500gp Boots of Speed: 12000gp Celestial Armor of Silent Moves & Shadow (only +5 unless you're swimming in money): 29900gp (22400+3750+3750) Animated Heavy Mithril Steel Shield +1: 10020gp Hand of Glory: 8000gp Ring of Protection +2: 8000gp Seeking Bow of True Arrows (+5 Str): 10400gp Oil of Greater Magic Weapon +5: 3000gp 10 dozes of Dragon Bile Poison: 15000gp 100 Bane Arrows (Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, Gnome, Orc, Goblinoid, Giant, Monstrous Humanoid, Dragon): 16700gp Rod of Cancellation: 11000gp Belt of Giant Strength +4: 16000gp Gloves of Dexterity +6: 36000gp Potion of Displacement: 750gp Potion of Neutralize Poison: 750gp Potion of Barkskin +5: 1200gp Potion of Invisibility: 300gp Potion of Bear's Endurance: 300gp 5 Potion of Lesser Restoration: 1500gp Wand of Cure Light Wounds: 750gp That makes for a total of: 236230gp You'd be able to afford some other special arrows thrown into the fray, or more poison or some more potions for some sitiuations or some Wands (note that you can use Wands of Ranger-spells; that's why the Wand of Cure Light Wounds is on the list, you use Invisibility, then heal yourself full, then continue - Potions of Lesser Restoration follow the same logic as the Wand woulda cost fortunes). You'll have a total of +6 to all saves (+1 Luck, +5 Resistance) and one reroll, although I'd still want some bonuses to the pesky Will-save. Still, you should usually be able to deny opponent Line of Sight and thus the ability to target you with Will-save requiring spells.
#22 danteisme Jan 30, 2009 1:59:21	Was wondering if you guys could help me get Spell Resistance gear cause im sure there is gonna be a lot of casters here. Today is game day so all the help I can get today would be good thanks guys and gals.
#23 eldariel Jan 30, 2009 3:34:49	Spell Resistance in item-form costs too much; it's never worth getting (relevant numbers are always over WPL). The spell named "Spell Resistance" is just fine, but as you aren't a spellcaster, I'm betting you won't be able to do that. So just work with what you have and try to avoid Line of Sight/Line of Effect through Invisibility, Eversmoking Bottle, Hide (you can Hide in Eversmoking Bottle), etc. If they can't target you, they can't really make your save matter. That's why we suggested class that grants Hide in Plain Sight and equipment that grants concealment; max Hide and they can't find you without Spot-checks or alternative senses, and they're unlike to have enough Spot.
#24 danteisme Jan 30, 2009 15:52:07	wont the bottle affect my ability to hit them as well?
#25 eldariel Jan 30, 2009 16:28:53	If it would, it'd be an acceptable tradeoff, but thanks to your Seeking bow, as long as you aim at the correct square (which is no problem unless they Hide, for which you have maxed Spot, and See Invisibility if they go invis), you'll ignore miss chance. At the start of the fight, the bottle in one hand, the bow in another. Dropping the bottle is a free action, so start with that. Then you can either open fire (since the bow is already drawn, just do a full-round attack) or you can Snipe'n'Hide.