[3.5] ways to mitigate or eliminate cover by an Archer

[macdaddy]

I'm playing a Mystic Ranger archer in 3.5. While I have the precise shot feat, I am still concerned about shooting into combat.

If a friendly fighter is between me and my target, which is highly likely, I will be at -4 to hit due to soft cover. So I either have to double move multiple times, or shoot once and move multiple times, before I can get into position for a flanking shot full attack option.

Yikes.

At 12th level(Mystic Rangers have their combat feats delayed in exchange for better spell casting progression), I'll get Improved Precise Shot, which will eliminate this penalty, but until then, its going to be a pain in the thumb.

o - Rangers have the 1st level spell Guided Shot. Its a swift action, which is awesome, but it last just 1 round.
o - Flight, if outside, would allow me to go up for 1 move/1 round, which *should* allow me to make shots without soft cover being granted.

Are there any other ways for me to eliminate or mitigate the effects of soft cover so I can be more accurate and have a better chance of doing my full damage?

[Rebel7284]

Quickened True Strike?

Persist Guided Shot? This may require a cleric dip or other ways to reduce metamagic costs. :)

[Fouredged Sword]

Talk to your allies. Get them to take a 5ft step to clear your shot.

[Extra Anchovies]

Talk to your allies. Get them to take a 5ft step to clear your shot.

This. The easiest way to optimize ranged combat is proper use of battlefield positioning.

[Galen]

The 5' step is a good idea, but as a backup plan, there are a lot of minor magical items (Anklet of Translocation, Chronocharm of the Horizon Walker) that let you move as a swift action, to better get in position.

[Fouredged Sword]

And guided shot is for that one round you NEED to make a full attack and the fighter is in the way. A belt of battle is also REALLY nice, just in general. A move action as a swift action X times per day is really nice. Travel Devotion will allow you to scoot and shoot for a whole combat each day.

[Extra Anchovies]

Travel Devotion will allow you to scoot and shoot for a whole combat each day.

More if you have the spare feats to take it extra times, but you probably won't since archery is feat-intensive. Too bad you can't get Turn Undead without dipping out of MR for a level.

Also, scoot and shoot. I like that phrase. It's cute.

[Rebel7284]

More if you have the spare feats to take it extra times, but you probably won't since archery is feat-intensive. Too bad you can't get Turn Undead without dipping out of MR for a level.

Also, scoot and shoot. I like that phrase. It's cute.

While this is true, you can take Sword of the Arcane Order feat and enter Sacred Exorcist to keep your casting intact and get turn undead.

Regardless, dipping cleric can be a good move. There is a whole handbook on the subject!

[Extra Anchovies]

While this is true, you can take Sword of the Arcane Order feat and enter Sacred Exorcist to keep your casting intact and get turn undead.

Regardless, dipping cleric can be a good move. There is a whole handbook on the subject!

True, true... dip Cloistered Cleric to keep the skill points, nab free Knowledge Devotion and Travel Devotion, and then you get bonus damage and up three uses/day out of TD without pumping Cha past 12, which is about as many uses/day as you'll ever need (unless your party actively tries to block you). And with that much free movement, why not dip Scout and pick up Swift Hunter? MR is a variant ranger, so it applies.

ETA: Mystic Ranger 16/Cloistered Cleric 1/Scout 3 only loses a single point of BAB, and has a full skirmish progression. Tack on Greater Manyshot if you want, too!

[macdaddy]

Anytime I mention the word "archer" in the forum, it always ends up with advice about Scout, Swift Hunter, and Travel Devotion via a cloistered cleric dip.

:)

I'm sure being a straight ranger and relying on full attack improved rapid shot for damage (and praying not to run into something with a DR that I cannot affect via magic/cold-iron/silver/adamantium) is inferior to a scout/ranger relying on move/precision damage, but I don't think its THAT much inferior until you start getting free/swift action movement multiple times per day.

Only 1 arrow per round gets precision damage against an opponent, so against multiple opponents, a Swift Hunter with greater many shot (which isn't until 12th level) will excel; until then, it's not much diff.

BTW,

What do people think about Favored enemies for a ranger? I debated about Arcanist Hunter(ACF), but since it doesn't affect critters with SLA's (Drow, Dryder, and most Demon's/Devil's), I decided its probably not all that. So I went for the standard Outsider(Evil) and then Undead.

[Rebel7284]

Anytime I mention the word "archer" in the forum, it always ends up with advice about Scout, Swift Hunter, and Travel Devotion via a cloistered cleric dip.

:)

I'm sure being a straight ranger and relying on full attack improved rapid shot for damage (and praying not to run into something with a DR that I cannot affect via magic/cold-iron/silver/adamantium) is inferior to a scout/ranger relying on move/precision damage, but I don't think its THAT much inferior until you start getting free/swift action movement multiple times per day.

Only 1 arrow per round gets precision damage against an opponent, so against multiple opponents, a Swift Hunter with greater many shot (which isn't until 12th level) will excel; until then, it's not much diff.

BTW,

What do people think about Favored enemies for a ranger? I debated about Arcanist Hunter(ACF), but since it doesn't affect critters with SLA's (Drow, Dryder, and most Demon's/Devil's), I decided its probably not all that. So I went for the standard Outsider(Evil) and then Undead.

The higher level you are, the more dangerous spellcasters are, and thus the better bonuses against them are.

Are you going to take sword of the arcane order at all? It's such a good feat for Mystic Rangers!

[Vogonjeltz]

Are there any other ways for me to eliminate or mitigate the effects of soft cover so I can be more accurate and have a better chance of doing my full damage?

Yes. Sharpshooting from CW reduces the AC bonus from Cover. It's subsumed by Improved Precise Shot (IPS), but the requirements are significantly lower so you can acquire it early on and then retrain to something else once IPS becomes available.

[Galen]

Anytime I mention the word "archer" in the forum, it always ends up with advice about Scout, Swift Hunter, and Travel Devotion via a cloistered cleric dip.Elven Clerics of Pelor who got frustrated with the routine of prayers and religious services and escaped the cloister to live a life of adventure on the road make the best archers. It is known.

[Jowgen]

A custom continuous item of guided shot would work well, if your DM lets you get it. Ought to be 8000 gp, I think?

[Piggy Knowles]

If you're a volley archer, the Woodland Archer feat from Races of the Wild is a nice option to tide you over until you get Improved Precise Shot.

It is a tactical feat that had two particularly useful options. Adjust for Range says that if you miss a target, you get a +4 to your attack rolls against that target for the rest of the round. So, if you miss on your first shot due to soft cover, all your remaining shots effectively ignore that cover penalty. Pierce the Foliage says that if you hit a foe with concealment despite the miss chance, you ignore her miss chance next round.

Neither is a perfect answer to your issues, but they can at least help mitigate the problem for a while.

[Greenish]

ETA: Mystic Ranger 16/Cloistered Cleric 1/Scout 3 only loses a single point of BAB, and has a full skirmish progression.Two points of BAB, unless you're using fractional BAB and saves variant.


I'm sure being a straight ranger and relying on full attack improved rapid shot for damage (and praying not to run into something with a DR that I cannot affect via magic/cold-iron/silver/adamantium) is inferior to a scout/ranger relying on move/precision damage,Well, straight ranger might do less damage, but with some multiclassing, volley archery should be able to match or exceed swift hunter in damage. Swift hunter is pretty nifty in several ways, though, and does have a completed handbook.


Only 1 arrow per round gets precision damage against an opponent, so against multiple opponents, a Swift Hunter with greater many shot (which isn't until 12th level) will excel; until then, it's not much diff.Yeah, but luckily free movement isn't that hard to get.

[Extra Anchovies]

Two points of BAB, unless you're using fractional BAB and saves variant.

Oh yes, thank you. I keep forgetting that I've only ever used fractional BAB (even before I knew what it was called), it's that ingrained in my mind.

[Urpriest]

Only 1 arrow per round gets precision damage against an opponent, so against multiple opponents, a Swift Hunter with greater many shot (which isn't until 12th level) will excel; until then, it's not much diff.


9th typically. Unless you're slowing things down with a Cleric dip, in which case it doesn't matter.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Goggles of Foefinding in MIC are only about 2500 gp and let you ignore all non-total cover bonuses, iirc.

All my ranged characters, and even my reach weapon users...I always make sure to get those goggles ASAP.

[Curmudgeon]

Well, I wanted to get into Arcane Archer (for a 2-level dip to acquire Imbue Arrow) from a divine spellcaster base, so I used Mystic Ranger as well as Cloistered Cleric. Build below:

Here's an archer build I came up with a while back, intended to get more archery-related feats in a mostly spellcasting build; it's got something for everybody. (Note: The cheesy bonus feat swap may be RAW legal, but I recommend it only if you want to antagonize your DM.)

Race: Wood Elf (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/elf.htm#woodElf) (+2 DEX, +2 STR, -2 CON, -2 INT; Favored Class: Ranger). Alignment: within 1 step of Chaotic Good. You'll need to join the Order of the Shooting Star (see Champions of Valor). This build requires DEX 17 by the time you get to level 6 for Dead Eye, and DEX 19 later so you can pick up Improved Precise Shot.


Cloistered Cleric 1 of Solonor Thelandira. Domains: Knowledge, War, Elf; gain Weapon Focus (longbow) and Point Blank Shot feats as granted powers. Level 1 feat: Precise Shot. Should pick up 1+ ranks in Knowledge (arcana) and 4 ranks in Knowledge (religion).
Mystic Ranger 1 (Ranger variant in Dragon # 336, page 105). Gain wild empathy, Track feat. Should pick up 5 ranks in Survival.
Cloistered Cleric 2. Level 3 feat: Far Shot.
Cloistered Cleric 3.
Mystic Ranger 2. Take Arcane Hunter ACF (Complete Mage, page 32) to get Favored Enemy: Arcanists. Gain 3 more ranks in Survival to get 8 total ranks.
Seeker of the Misty Isle (Complete Divine, page 61) 1. Gain Travel as bonus domain; convert this to Travel Devotion (Complete Champion, page 62) feat. Level 6 feat: Dead Eye (Dragon Compendium, page 95): add DEX bonus to arrow damage within 30'.
Mystic Ranger 3. Choose combat style: archery; this grants the Rapid Shot feat.
Mystic Ranger 4. Gain Endurance as a bonus feat.
Seeker of the Misty Isle 2. You'll now have BAB 6. Level 9 feat: Manyshot.
Seeker of the Misty Isle 3.
Seeker of the Misty Isle 4. Do the Dark Chaos Shuffle (Fiendish Codex I, pages 92 & 95) to swap Track and Endurance for

Sword of the Arcane Order feat (Champions of Valor, page 34): cast Wizard arcane spells in Ranger spell slots; and
Holy Warrior reserve feat (Complete Champion, page 60): add level of highest reserved War spell to weapon damage.
You'll now have Cleric 7 spellcasting, BAB 8, and can cast Ranger/Wizard spells at levels 0-2.
If you want to spread on the cheese sauce, this is where you would do the Dark Chaos Shuffle with the 4 Elf bonus feats
Weapon Proficiency: Elves receive the Martial Weapon Proficiency feats for the longsword, rapier, longbow (including composite longbow), and shortbow (including composite shortbow) as bonus feats. and pick up Extend Spell, Persistent Spell, Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell), and Extra Turning; persist Divine Power to keep your BAB up all day.

At this point you qualify to enter Arcane Archer, or you can continue with Seeker of the Misty Isle for more Cleric spellcasting plus other benefits of that PrC.

With Divine Power you'll be at BAB 11.
You'll add (DEX mod +1) to attacks, and (with a composite longbow) (STR mod +4) to damage. (The +1 is from Weapon Focus; the +4 is from Holy Warrior.)
Within 30' you'll add an additional +1 to attacks, and (DEX mod + 1) to damage. (The +1 is from Point Blank Shot; the DEX mod is from Dead Eye.)
You'll have 10 useful feats (or 14 with the cheesy sauce added), without flaws. If at some point you think you've got enough skill ranks in the various Knowledges, you can convert Knowledge domain to Knowledge Devotion for bonuses to attack and damage against the corresponding creature types.

[Gemini476]

If you have a permissive DM, finding a Truenamer 3 to speak Archer's Eye really can't be beat.

ARCHER’S EYE
Level: 2
Duration: 5 rounds
Saving Throw: None
Normal:With a few words of Truespeech, you allow your target to strike true with her ranged attacks.
Your target’s ranged attacks ignore penalties for concealment because her aim sharpens to focus on the unconcealed parts of her foe.
A potion of it would cost 300gp minimum (maybe a bit higher if the DM makes you pay for a better Truespeak check), and probably only work for a level or two because of how Truename magic items work (they have a set Truespeak check, and the DC is 15+twice your level), but it might be worth it for the ability to ignore total concealment for an encounter.

I don't remember how much this would help with cover, but yeah. It's somewhat useful as an archer.

[Stella]

Only 1 arrow per round gets precision damage against an opponent, so against multiple opponents, a Swift Hunter with greater many shot (which isn't until 12th level) will excel; until then, it's not much diff.

The Rules Compendium is a bit kinder to characters who deal precision damage:


Precision damage applies on any attack that meets the requirements of the ability that grants the damage. This includes multiple attacks made during a full attack. If conditions somehow change between multiple attacks, attacks that not longer meet the ability’s requirements can’t deal precision damage.


The specific rule for Manyshot contradicts this (and is therefore excluded under the "meets the requirements of the ability" clause), but that's only one way of getting multiple arrows in a round, such as just taking a full attack as a character with a high enough BAB to get iterative attacks.

[ericgrau]

Tie scrolls of guided shot to sticks, get quick draw and scroll spam guided shot. Don't be shy on burning scroll gold like water you'll probably never hit 2,000 gp total or even close to that.

Or get extend spell and fill all your 2nd level slots with extended guided shot.

Or find some kind of storage item to hold a wand of guided shot.