Psionic ranged character idea

[Soranar]

I've always like the archery style of combat but tacking on extra damage has always seemed difficult and counterproductive (since sneak attack only works within 30ft which means you lose the whole point of shooting targets from afar). Even with crossbow sniper your effective range only increases to 60 ft.

Still, assuming you're using a Force Bow (which has unlimited STR bonus to damage, infinite force arrows for 2d6 damage and power shots) it seems easy enough to do away with precision damage schemes.

So, instead, I was thinking of relying on psionics (expansion= bigger weapon damage and higher STR) and weapon specialization (+2/4/6 damage on each arrow works pretty well if you can shoot enough of them)

Now the problem is making a build for this concept.

For psionics, not many great options. Either I go psychic warrior as a base class (which won't be that great until I get the force bow, which should only show up around level 7 or 8). Then I can take 3 levels of Pious Templar for weapon specialization (which qualifies me for ranged weapon specialization for another +2 damage but Pious Templar requires pointless feats to qualify for it)

Or I take fighter as my base class (for early weapon specialization) and rely on some kind of prestige class for my psionic powers (maybe a warmind dip which I progress further with Slayer).

Finally I could also rely on an entirely different base class (say ranger), take Pious Templar then Warmind and Slayer (which seems to delay the combo too much).

Anyway, I'm hoping for suggestions to make this work so feel free to help out. As I said, the whole point is adding non-precision damage (too many creatures immune to it, limits the range too much) so don't suggest swift hunter builds.

[RMS Oceanic]

I know you said no Swift Hunter builds, but I just need to point this out: Swift Hunter allows you to apply the Skirmish Damage to somthing normally immune to it (Your favoured enemies). Also there's a feat that can double your Skirmish range. But I digress.

The key to being an effective archer regardless of build type is quantity of attacks. Odds are the Zweihander will be outstripping you in damage until iterative attacks appear and you are in a better position to do a full attack than he is. The most effective way to do this is the Splitting ability for your weapon. A +3 ability that requires you to have Precise Shot, each arrow you fire splits into two, you make two seperate attack rolls and they each apply the same damage, be it strength/dex/Weapon Specialization/what have you. It's definitely worth trying to get that on the Force Bow. Also look at Rapid Shot for another (two with splitting) attack(s).

Normally Weapon Specialization isn't worth it, but in this case that would let you qualify for Ranged Weapon Mastery from PHB2. A flat +2 on attack rolls and damage for all ranged weapons that do the same damage type as your Focus/Spec weapon, including your Focus/Spec Weapon, so that's a total of +3 attack/+4 damage to your chief weapon. This usually also isn't worth it at higher levels, but unlike Melee Weapon Mastery RWM also increases your range, so if you like to pick people off from a distance, this is the feat for you.

[Rejusu]

You'll want to pick up the Zen Archery feat from Complete Warrior if you want to have any chance of hitting stuff while expanded then. Remember that each size category increase is a cumulative -1 size penalty to attack rolls and a -2 to DEX for a total of -2 for a single category increase and -4 for an augmented expansion. That on top of your power attacks will result in a hefty penalty on your attack rolls.

Although you can't avoid the -1 on attack rolls, you can mitigate this through Zen Archery which lets you use your Wisdom bonus on your ranged attack roles instead of your Dex. Plus this has good synergy as you'll want a good wisdom score for manifesting powers.

Word of warning though: most of the archery feats have a minimum dex prerequisite and keep in mind you lose the benefit of a feat (though not the feat itself) if you no longer meet the prerequisites. Which means that depending on your feat selection expansion could effectively disable your build. Most of the dex requirements are 13-15 which means you'd need a Dex of between 17-19 to avoid this. Expansion honestly isn't all that great on an archer.

If you're going the psionics route then one way of getting more damage is to take the Psionic shot -> Greater Psionic shot feats. They require you to expend a focus to use though so to use them effectively you need psionic meditation so you can focus as a move action. You can also pick up a Psicrystal and Psicrystal containment which allows your psicrystal to hold a second focus. The Hustle power is also useful for this as it grants you a move action at the cost of a swift action, so you can use the extra move action to refocus and then still full attack.

The perfect archery power also allows you to make ranged attacks without provoking AoO's. You can also take a feat that allows you to make ranged attacks as touch attacks (Fell shot). I don't know what you're talking about when you say that Psychic warrior won't be that good as a base class until 7 or 8. Thanks to it's ability to manifest powers it'll easily be better than using a ranger or fighter as a base class. There's a good reason it's tier 3 while ranger and fighter aren't.

Just make sure if you do take Psychic Warrior the second level Mantled Warrior ACF is an absolute must.

[Golden Ladybug]

The Mantled Warrior ACF is good, but for Archers the Soulbound Weapon ACF (also from the Mind's Eye) is something worth considering. DR is one of the biggest hurdles that an Archer needs to deal with, because your damage output is based on lots of little pieces of damage, which DR just laughs at. Soulbound Weapon gives you the tools to summon up Bows which can overcome Alignment Based DR on a whim, and you can just throw a bunch of Cold Iron or Silver arrows into your bag. It also lets you toolbox in some Bane Bows when you need them.

And, since it comes with Weapon Focus tacked on, you might as well use it to help with the prerequisites for Pious Templar, of which True Believer gives you Raptor Arrows. Everything Bane on my unbreakable returning arrows? Yes please!

I think the best Psionic Archer is something along the lines of Ranger 2/Psywar 4/Pious Templar 3/OotBI 2/Slayer 9, worshipping Ehlonna. PT nets you access to the Cleric List, and natural access to cool things like Blessed Aim, The PsyWar list has Expansion and some nifty defensive powers, and Ranger has Arrow Mind and Arrow Storm. All of these are very good things.

Hank's Energy Bow with Splitting is the best Bow in all of 3.5, so get it as soon as you are able :smallsmile:

Psionic Shot->Fell Shot makes a scary, scary Archer. Especially one using Manyshot, as 4d6+BAB+Str+4(ish) damage hitting eight times as a Touch attack is a scary thing to be on the other side of. Add on Collision Bane Arrows and you can do some serious damage to damn near everything.

[Rejusu]

The Mantled Warrior ACF is good, but for Archers the Soulbound Weapon ACF (also from the Mind's Eye) is something worth considering. DR is one of the biggest hurdles that an Archer needs to deal with, because your damage output is based on lots of little pieces of damage, which DR just laughs at. Soulbound Weapon gives you the tools to summon up Bows which can overcome Alignment Based DR on a whim, and you can just throw a bunch of Cold Iron or Silver arrows into your bag. It also lets you toolbox in some Bane Bows when you need them.

Problem is they're both ACF's for level 2. So you'd need to get your DM to allow you to give up your first level bonus feat for one of them instead or choose between them. And if given the choice? Mantled Warrior every time. It's easily the best way to expand your power list and it's the only way to qualify for the Don Mantle feat (which requires you already have access to a mantle) so you can get even more mantles. It's far more feat economical than using expanded knowledge and you get the powers as soon as you can manifest powers of that level (EK only gives you a power one lower than the highest level you can manifest).

That said I don't really rate it too highly. Considering the PsyWar generally has to spend time buffing at the start of the fight as it is having to spend an additional ROUND just to get your weapon out is a bit ridiculous.


Psionic Shot->Fell Shot makes a scary, scary Archer. Especially one using Manyshot, as 4d6+BAB+Str+4(ish) damage hitting eight times as a Touch attack is a scary thing to be on the other side of. Add on Collision Bane Arrows and you can do some serious damage to damn near everything.

You know Fell Shot and Psionic shot require you to expend your focus right? You'd need a psicrystal with containment to be able to pull this off.

[Terazul]

Wh-Oh right. Not everyone knows about Dreamscarred press.

Play a Marskman (http://dsp-d20-srd.wikidot.com/marksman).

[The-Mage-King]

Hm. Seems like what you want is the Marksm-



Wh-Oh right. Not everyone knows about Dreamscarred press.

Play a Marskman (http://dsp-d20-srd.wikidot.com/marksman).

...

Are you preemptively copying me?

:smalltongue:



Anyway, yeah. Marksman is probably the best class for this idea- it's Wis based manifesting, gains powers that help archery, and has an array of abilities to help archery.

[eggs]

+1 for Marksman.

Short of that, Psionic Artificer is good for this kind of thing.

[Soranar]

Ok, here's a build that should cover all my bases.

Race: Wilf Elf
Alignment: any good
Deity: Fenmarel Mestarine
Domains: Elf, Travel, Animal
Template: Dragonborn of Bahamut

STATS (32 pts)

STR 14
DEX 14 (all you need is rapid shot)
CON 16
INT 12
WIS 16 (main stat)
CHA 8

2 flaws

1 Cloistered Cleric Rapid shot, Track, Endurance
2 Cloistered Cleric
3 Psychic Warrior Zen archery
4 Psychic Warrior
5 Psychic Warrior
6 Psychic Warrior Practiced Manifester : Psychic Warrior
7 Prestige Ranger
8 Prestige Ranger bonus feat: manyshot (even if I don't qualify for it)
9 Psychic Theurge
10+ Psychic Theurge (with 2 open levels at the end)


I had to forget about getting weapon specialization but I can get divine might and righteous might instead. Psionic powers mesh well with divine magic (no armor penalties, and psychic warrior gives me the proficiencies I need).

Still debating which mantle to take. Soulbound weapon is not an option since it breaks my action economy and wastes precious PP.

Otherwise I'd have to go with the following as I thought initially:

Ranger 6 (for manyshot without DEX) /Pious templar 3 (for weapon specialization + ranged weapon specialization)/Warmind 1/Slayer 10

This build would have full BAB and better HD but less wisdom synergy and no righteous might (there's something about becoming gargantuan and raining arrows the size of spears that is oddly endearing). The ranger build is also a lot simpler to justify story wise.

I'm not sure which build would be more fun to play though, rangers are pretty strong initially but the levels 6-9 would be slow and painful. The cleric starts a bit weak (no bow until level 3) but once you start getting psionic powers things should get into line. And divine spells just give you a lot more versatility outside combat.