Ways to get Precise Shot?

[krackenjack]

Playing a wizard - my first time actually running one, believe it or not - and I keep finding myself in the situation where there's nothing useful for me to do in a round but sit back and wait for my summons (note: the character's pretty sure the other party members are actually just persistant summons under his control) to finish mopping up. It's...boring. And frustrating.

So I'm trying to get better with my light crossbow. Biggest issue right now is the firing-into-melee problem. Would love to pick up Precise Shot, but feat cost aside it would be minimum 4 levels until I could snag it. Are there any other ways - weapon enchants, spells, ammo choices, etc - to get the same effect?

[RolandDeschain]

I think you mean Precise Shot to counter the -4 firing into melee penalty, but it does require the Point Blank Shot Feat.

You can get Point Blank from the Elf Domain, and fighter bonus feats through the spell Heroics.

[watchwood]

You could throw some evocations or other damage spells around, or toss a couple of buffs in order to increase the DPS of all your minions.

Failing that, buy a couple wands of magic missile. Your total damage will stink, but it's force damage so it will reliably hit pretty much everything. And it autohits too, so accuracy isn't an issue.

[krackenjack]

RolandDeschain: thanks, caught and corrected the error.

Watchword: yeah, I'm starting to think the best best may be just carry some cheep wands instead.

[Zweisteine]

Use flaws! Free(ish) are fun! Noncombatant is a good option!

At low levels, this doesn't work (so it isn't helpful, probably), but reserve feats get you spammable magic attacks (but very weak ones).

[Slipperychicken]

My advice is not to sink feats into crossbow use. You won't be good at it, and by level 5 or so, you should have enough spells for every day if you're careful. There are a few other things you could do, like throw oil flasks* and tanglefoot bags. Those are touch attacks, and are relatively useful.

*(See if your GM will let you prepare these ahead of time with flammable cloth so you can use a burning torch to light and throw them as a Full Round action. Simply touching the rag to a fire and tossing it is quite plausible for six seconds)



At low levels, this doesn't work (so it isn't helpful, probably), but reserve feats get you spammable magic attacks (but very weak ones).

Still stronger than a wizard trying to use a crossbow. I'd recommend Acidic Splatter if you have a Dex 12 or higher (and thus can make touch attacks), or Fiery Burst if you like fire and can't make touch attacks (Fiery Burst does allow a save for half, but also lets you cause lots of environmental damage if that's your cup of tea).

[Venger]

binding the sighting gloves to your hands chakra will do it as well since all the more viable options have been mentioned already.

[Darrin]

Precise weapon property, Magic Item Compendium p. 40.

You could also try the heroics in a pinch (Spell Compendium).

[Uncle Pine]

Continous magic item of Mirror Move (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20000901a)? While you're at it, you might grab other useful feats (like Improved Initiative). Couple with heroics if there isn't someone in your party with the feat you're trying to emulate with mirror move.

[Diarmuid]

Why not grab a reserve feat so you have something to do for free whenever you want.

[Thurbane]

The martial wizard variant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#wizard) from UA trades in Scribe Scroll and bonus metamagic/item creation feats for Fighter bonus feats.

[Emperor Tippy]

Dip a level of Martial Monk and grab it along with Chaos Shuffling Improved Unarmed Strike for Kung Fu Genius.

[TuggyNE]

I'd recommend Acidic Splatter if you have a Dex 12 or higher (and thus can make touch attacks)

Uh, what? Am I missing something?

[Slipperychicken]

Uh, what? Am I missing something?

I should have said "succeed touch attacks reliably" (in my country, "make" is sometimes used as a synonym for "succeed"), which he could only do with a decent attack bonus. With a Dex under 12, it would be difficult to land those touch attacks, so he would most likely be better off using Fiery Burst and betting on monsters failing their Reflex saves.