Piggy Knowles
2013-04-16, 07:18 PM
Hey, all,
I'm working on adding more entries to my google doc full of interesting archer builds, and I was hoping for some refinement on the last.
This is an attempt to make a Song of the White Raven archer. Should be pretty straightforward, but I've never tried to put together a ToB archer before, so I thought I'd post it here.
Some general things I'd like to refine:
1. As written, I'm basically stuck with a shortbow, since neither class gives longbow proficiency. Should I try to finagle EWP (Greatbow) into the build? The early feats are kind of tight, and while I could maybe rearrange some of the later feats, it just seems silly to me to switch out my weapon at level 15 or 18. I could also dip a level in something else (losing Diamond Defense isn't going to kill me), but I don't want to delay my initiating too much. EDIT: Gah, completely forgot about Bracers of Archery. That solves that issue neatly.
2. How screwed will I be if I don't fit Melodic Casting into the build? On a typical bardsader I'd definitely take it so that I could use a wand chamber and get some more bard spells, especially things like Whirling Blade, but I'm not sure how handy it will be here. The feats are pretty tight, so it's tough.
3. With only three bardic music uses, I'm going to be pretty ridiculously tight until very late levels, so usual tricks like having both regular IC and DFI up won't really fly. Is it worth bumping Woodland Archer back a bit to get Extra Music earlier? Or even one of the base archery feats?
4. Roots of the Mountain is a pretty ho-hum stance. It's entirely situational, I just couldn't think of anything else at that level. Any thoughts for swapping it out? I could maybe pick up a level one stance like Hunter's Sense (handy out of combat, although it overlaps with Hearing the Air) or Stance of Clarity (+2 AC for a stance seems even more ho-hum than Roots of the Mountain, though - at least Roots of the Mountain is handy in some situations, even if those situations are rare). And is Supreme Blade Parry the best choice for an 8th-level stance for an archer? EDIT: Switching Supreme Blade Parry out for Stance of Alacrity.
EDIT:
5. I've been considering switching to Bard 4/Warblade 16. That means an extra bardic music use, which is nice (especially at low levels) - lack of music uses per day has been bothering me about this build a lot. I'd also get a second level spell, which again will be handy at the low levels but more or less useless by the end. IL and BAB stay the same, although I would have one fewer high-level maneuver (I'd probably have to drop Diamond Defense, since I'll have to use my level 16 retrain in order to pick up both Raging Mongoose and Time Stands Still). Thoughts?
BUILD:
Silverbrow Human, Savage Bard 3/Warblade 17
FEATS:
1- Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
3- Rapid Shot
6- Song of the Heart
8- Improved Initiative
9- Song of the White Raven
12- Dragonfire Inspiration, Iron Will
15- Woodland Archer
16- Great Fortitude
18- Extra Music
20- Blind-Fight
MANEUVERS:
1- Sudden Leap, Moment of Perfect Mind, Leading the Attack
2- Wall of Blades, Action Before Thought
3- White Raven Tactics, Iron Heart Surge
4- Covering Strike
5- Iron Heart Focus, Mountain Hammer
6- Order Forged from Chaos
7- Iron Heart Endurance, Quicksilver Motion
8- Raging Mongoose, Diamond Defense
9- Time Stands Still
STANCES:
Blood in the Water, Roots of the Mountain, Hearing the Air, Stance of Alacrity
Thanks, all!
I'm working on adding more entries to my google doc full of interesting archer builds, and I was hoping for some refinement on the last.
This is an attempt to make a Song of the White Raven archer. Should be pretty straightforward, but I've never tried to put together a ToB archer before, so I thought I'd post it here.
Some general things I'd like to refine:
1. As written, I'm basically stuck with a shortbow, since neither class gives longbow proficiency. Should I try to finagle EWP (Greatbow) into the build? The early feats are kind of tight, and while I could maybe rearrange some of the later feats, it just seems silly to me to switch out my weapon at level 15 or 18. I could also dip a level in something else (losing Diamond Defense isn't going to kill me), but I don't want to delay my initiating too much. EDIT: Gah, completely forgot about Bracers of Archery. That solves that issue neatly.
2. How screwed will I be if I don't fit Melodic Casting into the build? On a typical bardsader I'd definitely take it so that I could use a wand chamber and get some more bard spells, especially things like Whirling Blade, but I'm not sure how handy it will be here. The feats are pretty tight, so it's tough.
3. With only three bardic music uses, I'm going to be pretty ridiculously tight until very late levels, so usual tricks like having both regular IC and DFI up won't really fly. Is it worth bumping Woodland Archer back a bit to get Extra Music earlier? Or even one of the base archery feats?
4. Roots of the Mountain is a pretty ho-hum stance. It's entirely situational, I just couldn't think of anything else at that level. Any thoughts for swapping it out? I could maybe pick up a level one stance like Hunter's Sense (handy out of combat, although it overlaps with Hearing the Air) or Stance of Clarity (+2 AC for a stance seems even more ho-hum than Roots of the Mountain, though - at least Roots of the Mountain is handy in some situations, even if those situations are rare). And is Supreme Blade Parry the best choice for an 8th-level stance for an archer? EDIT: Switching Supreme Blade Parry out for Stance of Alacrity.
EDIT:
5. I've been considering switching to Bard 4/Warblade 16. That means an extra bardic music use, which is nice (especially at low levels) - lack of music uses per day has been bothering me about this build a lot. I'd also get a second level spell, which again will be handy at the low levels but more or less useless by the end. IL and BAB stay the same, although I would have one fewer high-level maneuver (I'd probably have to drop Diamond Defense, since I'll have to use my level 16 retrain in order to pick up both Raging Mongoose and Time Stands Still). Thoughts?
BUILD:
Silverbrow Human, Savage Bard 3/Warblade 17
FEATS:
1- Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
3- Rapid Shot
6- Song of the Heart
8- Improved Initiative
9- Song of the White Raven
12- Dragonfire Inspiration, Iron Will
15- Woodland Archer
16- Great Fortitude
18- Extra Music
20- Blind-Fight
MANEUVERS:
1- Sudden Leap, Moment of Perfect Mind, Leading the Attack
2- Wall of Blades, Action Before Thought
3- White Raven Tactics, Iron Heart Surge
4- Covering Strike
5- Iron Heart Focus, Mountain Hammer
6- Order Forged from Chaos
7- Iron Heart Endurance, Quicksilver Motion
8- Raging Mongoose, Diamond Defense
9- Time Stands Still
STANCES:
Blood in the Water, Roots of the Mountain, Hearing the Air, Stance of Alacrity
Thanks, all!