Peerless Archer

[torrasque666]

Is a three level dip into Peerless Archer worth it for access to ranged Power Attack on a swift hunter build? Or is relying on the additional damage from skirmish enough?

[GilesTheCleric]

Have you made a graph of your max damage at each level? Compare it to these numbers from MM1; most things you face should be similar.

CR 1
avg hp: 13
max hp: 31

CR 3
avg hp: 28
max hp: 55

CR 6
avg hp: 70
max hp: 133

CR 10
avg hp: 137
max hp: 305

CR 15
avg hp: 225
max hp: 312

CR 20
avg hp: 410
max hp: 858



Highest max HP from SRD creatures:
CR 25: 1105
CR 30: 1785
CR 41: 1856
CR 42: 1984
CR 50: 2880
CR 66 (highest CR): 2613

[Pluto!]

Peerless Archer is great. Losing a little Skirmish isn't a big deal.

What might be a bigger deal is losing spellcasting on a Swift Hunter, but that's a class feature which is only actually good once you start putting some work into it.

[Uncle Pine]

If available, Hank's Bow (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ask/20061227a) is a better way to grab Power Shot. If Hank's Bow isn't available (i.e. you're using crossbows), Peerless Archer is amazing.

[torrasque666]

The Energy Bow isn't available because honestly, I think online articles are cheap. Also, footbow. Unless you really are willing to ELI5 just how you can make a footbow into an Energy Bow. Granted, usually I see it being used to accommodate the fact that STR scores can shift easier than trying to buy a new composite bow every time that it does.

[Uncle Pine]

Hank's Energy Bow is a +2 composite longbow with a bunch of added features. Final price: 22,600 gp.
Assuming you don't want to remove any of the added features (infinite force ammos, increased base damage, automatic accommodation to any Str score and power shot), of which we don't know the specific price even though we know that they cost 14,200 gp as a whole, torrasque666's Energy Footbow would be a +2 composite footbow with a bunch of added features. Final price: 22,650 gp*.

*A +0 Str composite longbow costs 100 gp (+100 gp/Str modifier), while a +0 Str footbow costs 150 gp (+100 gp/Str modifier). Thus, since the enchants are the same, we only need to add +50 gp to the final price.

[Bronk]

The Energy Bow isn't available because honestly, I think online articles are cheap.

That's just a reprint from "Dungeons and Dragons Animated Series Handbook", which is an actual hardcover book.

[kalasulmar]

And the given price doesn't seem nearly high enough. It really should be the equivalent of a +5 weapon, at the very least.

[ZamielVanWeber]

And the given price doesn't seem nearly high enough. It really should be the equivalent of a +5 weapon, at the very least.

I entirely disagree. Archery is atrocious. You need to spend money on ammo (unless you buy a specific item); you don't add Str to damage; you cannot power attack. Even low DRs utterly destroy your damage output early game because you do so little (1d8+enhancement? Wahoo...). Hank's Energy Bow still falls short of what melees can do but helps quite a bit.

[kalasulmar]

Why stop at Hank's bow? Go ahead and add the sworn enemy property of an oathbow, while you're at it. For a couple hundred gold, or so.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Why stop at Hank's bow? Go ahead and add the sworn enemy property of an oathbow, while you're at it. For a couple hundred gold, or so.
1) It is over 10000 gp to add it.
2) Your DM would need to permit it. The rules do not explicitly allow you to take parts of one and use them on others,
3) Murdering your damage against every target but one (and fate forfend that they successfully flee the battle) is hardly a good use of your money.

[torrasque666]

After looking over Hank's Energy Bow.... it has some funky wording about its power shot ability. It says that you can subtract from your attack rolls a penalty equal to Hank's BAB. Hank is a 7th level Ranger, so BAB +7. If you somehow got ahold of it before 7th level, you could power shot up to 7. But if you get it after 7th, you can only power shot up to 7. It makes no allowance for subtracting the penalty from your​ BAB.

[Uncle Pine]

After looking over Hank's Energy Bow.... it has some funky wording about its power shot ability. It says that you can subtract from your attack rolls a penalty equal to Hank's BAB. Hank is a 7th level Ranger, so BAB +7. If you somehow got ahold of it before 7th level, you could power shot up to 7. But if you get it after 7th, you can only power shot up to 7. It makes no allowance for subtracting the penalty from your​ BAB.
Actually, the exact wording says that Hank can get a bonus to his damage with the bow if before making attack rolls you subtract a number up to Hank's BAB to your attack rolls. Both the damage and the penalty last until the end of Hank's next turn.
This is incredibly powerful: a character named Hank can in fact lend some money to another party member (ideally someone who doesn't attack a lot, like a Wizard specialized in crowd control and summons) who buys the bow for him. Afterward, Hank can get up to his BAB as a bonus to damage each turn without any penalty to his attack rolls! Because the Wizard will soak it up for him!
Funnily enough, this is only the second time I see the need to optimize a name in a build.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Cute as that is, obvious error is obvious and intent is clear. Unless your DM allows drown-healing it'll function like power attack for the wielding archer.

[Uncle Pine]

IMO, this is even worse than drown-healing. Definitely treat every mention of Hank in that article as nonexistent and carry on.