Melee for archers

[Barstro]

For story reasons, I want my ranged Inquisitor to be able to make armed bludgeoning attacks at a moment's notice. Since it needs to be bludgeoning, the Spiked Gauntlet will not work. I'm also not certain that a normal Gauntlet will work, since the SRD lists that an Unarmed Attack.

Any thoughts?

[Urpriest]

For story reasons, I want my ranged Inquisitor to be able to make armed bludgeoning attacks at a moment's notice. Since it needs to be bludgeoning, the Spiked Gauntlet will not work. I'm also not certain that a normal Gauntlet will work, since the SRD lists that an Unarmed Attack.

Any thoughts?

Cestus should work.

[Geddy2112]

In pathfinder you can get a cestus, http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/weapons/weapon-descriptions/cestus
it would allow you to use your bow, and your DM would probably allow you to use it in your off hand to hold the bow without penalty. I would say you take a -2 to draw with it, and you probably draw with your dominant hand.

You could also forgo using a punch and make your bow into a weapon. Use elvencraft to make longbows count as quarterstaffs and shortbows as clubs. Pathfinder has a spell called bowstaff(1st level inquisitor) that does the same thing as a swift action.

[ngilop]

club

mace

hammer

Brass Knuckles

flail

are just off the top of my head for blunt damage type weapons.


and isn; the cestus blunt and piercing?

[LentilNinja]

Do Inquisitors use Bows? Races of the Wild has Elvencraft for them, which can allow you to use a Bow as a Quarterstaff. I think holding out a bow and then proficiently hitting people with it is moments notice enough.

[Hiro Quester]

An Elvencraft bow(RoW p. 166) is what you want.

Your bow is thicker and longer than normal, and can be used for bludgeoning, no matter how you used it in the previous round.

A short bow functions also as a club. A longbow functions as a quarterstaff. Only costs 300 gold more than a regular bow.

You can even add melee enhancements to the end(s) separately from archery enhancements.

Edit: Ninja'd by LentilNinja

[Barstro]

Do Inquisitors use Bows? Races of the Wild has Elvencraft for them, which can allow you to use a Bow as a Quarterstaff. I think holding out a bow and then proficiently hitting people with it is moments notice enough.

I forgot to mark this as Pathfinder. I don't think Pathfinder has Elvencraft.

Inquisitors do get a spell to turn bows into staffs for a short duration, but I was going for something else. I think the cestus will work for my needs.