Improved Precise Shot

[Glarnog]

Long story short, what should improved precise shot work against? My DM ruled it wouldn't work against a smokestick last week. I had been waiting for just such an occasion to use it. I wasn't happy, but I he wouldn't hear any rules or arugments. I kind of always hoped to eventualy use it with an ever smoking bottle or umd some obscuring mist. This was the first time we had run in to a smokestick.
Thanks

[jmelesky]

In order for it to work, the opponent needs to be targetable. The feat reads:


Your ranged attacks ignore ... the miss chance granted to targets by anything less than total concealment.

Smokesticks work like fog cloud, and fog cloud states:


Creatures farther [than 5 feet] have total concealment (50% miss chance, and the attacker can't use sight to locate the target).

So, your GM was making the right call, as far as I can tell. Unless you were trying to shoot at an opponent within five feet of you.

[Andezzar]

It works against anything that grants partial concealment. Your GM was right to rule that it would not work against a smokestick, unless you were within 5 ft. of the target. Any further distance grants the target total concealment.

Improved precise shot works against blur and similar effects. It should also work against darkness (the spell).

[tyckspoon]

Long story short, what should improved precise shot work against? My DM ruled it wouldn't work against a smokestick last week. I had been waiting for just such an occasion to use it. I wasn't happy, but I he wouldn't hear any rules or arugments. I kind of always hoped to eventualy use it with an ever smoking bottle or umd some obscuring mist. This was the first time we had run in to a smokestick.
Thanks

Improved Precise Shot explicitly does not work against Total Concealment- that is, if you can't see anything at all, it gives you no benefit. Smokesticks work like the Fog Cloud spell, which grants total concealment if you are trying to look through more than 5 feet of it. Your DM is (mostly) correct (if your target is on the edge of the cloud or you are adjacent to it- ie, no more than 5 feet away/not trying to see through more than 1 square worth of smoke - then they only have regular concealment and Improved Precise Shot will ignore that.)

[ericgrau]

This reminds me of when I got the epic feat to ignore total concealment as well. I had a huge attack bonus. I had arrows for incorporeal, see invisibility always up and I never used it but I had a way to shoot through a wall too. So I hit, I still hit and even then I hit. DM got annoyed and banned the entire precise shot chain next campaign. But the real culprit was my attack bonus boosters. Oops, still feel guilty about misjudging the group optimization level in epic.

Anyway improved precise shot works against less than total concealment and it works against less than total cover too. It's great to shock foes who think they're safe behind arrow slits or behind an ally. Pick the squishiest target you can in the far back.

[Glarnog]

Wow. Well I suck. Thanks for explaining. I guess I had it in my mind anything less than 100% miss chance was only partial. Completely slipped my mind that total concealment was a max of 50% miss chance. Good to know about it being effective vs. darkness though. Luckily I had a back up.

Thanks again.

Shooting through walls sounds awesome.

[Slipperychicken]

Oops, still feel guilty about misjudging the group optimization level in epic.


I know what you mean, having once ran a Wizard from 16-22.


"We're playing Epic" usually translates to:

"We think Epic just means big numbers and punching Gods. What is this 'Epic Spellcasting' of which you speak?"