Character Creation Help. 3.5

[aajj1987]

So i have to build a New Drow that is good at range attack they killed off my elf because the party cleric is dumb. I was Leaning towards ranger to prestige to Order of the bow initiate for precise shot. but taking a scout cross class for the skirmish bonus? didnt know if they stacked typically? If anyone has any good build suggestions im open to listen. we got 1 free level adjustment. currently the party is level 11 so i could only go to level 10. Any input is welcome

[Eldariel]

Warblade 6/Ranger 2/Barbarian 1/Fighter 1 going into Eternal Blade would be my choice. Great volleys, good skills, lots of handy tricks.

Order of the Bow Initiate (3.5) is just bad: archers do damage with full attacks while it's limited to a single attack.

[aajj1987]

Warblade 6/Ranger 2/Barbarian 1/Fighter 1 going into Eternal Blade would be my choice. Great volleys, good skills, lots of handy tricks.

Order of the Bow Initiate (3.5) is just bad: archers do damage with full attacks while it's limited to a single attack.

yeah i saw that. thats why i didnt know how well the precise shot on top of skrimish would work. i like the setup above none of it is home brew is it? the DM house rules is no home brew.

how does that class play cause the ranger i had was basically rapid shot. or many shot. got kinda plain after a while.

[Falontani]

there are entirely too many ways to create a good archer. So it is really up to what kind of theme you want your archer to go down. You mentioned scout so I will mention that you can stack Ranger Levels and Scout Levels for the purpose of Skirmish damage and favored enemies with the feat: Swift Hunter. Added bonus is that creatures usually immune to skirmish damage lose the immunity if they are your favored enemy as well.

Other than that I'd need more of an idea on what exactly your wanting to do with your archer.

Sniper: One shot one kill?
Volley: I created a cloud of arrows in the sky
Long Range archer: I shot you from 10k ft
etc

[aajj1987]

well i would be more the sniper route. as much damage as possible with one shot. is my preferred play style. my biggest thing about rapid shot is its great but i have no movement.

[Falontani]

alright, i'll mess around and send you something in a few hours, in the mean time the more information you can give others on what exactly you want the better support we can give ^_^

[Nifft]

well i would be more the sniper route. as much damage as possible with one shot. is my preferred play style. my biggest thing about rapid shot is its great but i have no movement.

The base class Scout is a very simple way to get decent single-shot damage while moving. At level 6, take Improved Skirmish for another +2d6 damage, and you've got reliable extra damage while encouraging movement.


More reliable: Scout 3 / Ranger ++ and the Swift Hunter feat. Pick up Favored Enemies which normally resist Skirmish damage (e.g. Undead), now they don't resist it.

More damage: Scout 3 / Rogue ++ and the Swift Ambusher feat. If the feat Craven is available, pick that up too. You're advancing both Sneak Attack and Skirmish with every Rogue level.

More magic: Scout 3 / Rogue 1 / Wizard 1 / Unseen Seer 10 / Spellwarp Sniper 5, taking both Craven and Improved Skirmish (the latter when your Unseen Seer advancement gives you +2d6/AC+1 Skirmish).

[Eldariel]

yeah i saw that. thats why i didnt know how well the precise shot on top of skrimish would work. i like the setup above none of it is home brew is it? the DM house rules is no home brew.

how does that class play cause the ranger i had was basically rapid shot. or many shot. got kinda plain after a while.

None of it is homebrew. Basically get Whirling Frenzy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#rageVariantWhirlingFrenzy ), Targetteer Fighter [Dragon Magazine 310] for Arrow Storm and Warblade maneuvers Dancing Mongoose, Raging Mongoose and Time Stands Still. Those augment your attacks. Otherwise you use utility and mobility maneuvers like Sudden Leap, White Raven Tactics, Iron Heart Surge, Quicksilver Motion, Moment of Prescience, etc. You can also get a lot of mileage out of stances (Hunter's Sense, Hearing the Air, etc.) and they can even augment your attacks (Blood in the Water in particular). I like the build because it's also a switch hitter; with very little effort (basically just taking Pounce from Barbarian and perhaps picking Power Attack as a feat) you're more than fine as a melee fighter thanks to your strikes and maneuvers. For example Leading the Attack stance + Bounding Assault maneuver + Pounce is a brutal melee full attack: and Elvencraft bow [Races of the Wild] allows you to use that while fighting with your bow.

Basically it's an archer that has some more things to do, and Eternal Blade further augments your options enabling learning spontaneous maneuvers (Diamond Nightmare Blade is a nice one) or getting Int to attack and damage. And Int to AC is also possible, and such. It's just a cool class both fluff wise and in practice.


Another option that would also help alleviate your boredom and offer a very different strong archer shell is the Bard 8/Arcane Archer 2/Sublime Chord 2/Sacred Exorcist 4/Abjurant Champion 4 build. You're at a weak point right now but next level you'd get into Sublime Chord kickstarting your casting. This build gets full Sorcerer spells basically with the "Imbue Arrow"-ability allowing you to fire spells like Silence or Antimagic Field at enemies. Definitely a very versatile and powerful set of options. You can pick the Divine Might feat (you get Turning from Sacred Exorcist) and the Charming the Arrow (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fey/20030815a) feat (requires the fey type though; if you can't get the DM to allow that for Elves, you can always take Unseelie Fey [Dragon Magazine #304] template) to get Charisma to everything. Though you can easily make do without that, it just makes your life even easier.


I could go in more depth about either build but I'm kinda pressed for time so I'll leave you with those little blurps. Both are lots of fun to play (I've played both) and both are plenty powerful for any game so choose freely. Though you would want to buy off the level adjustment from Drow; the level behind really hurts (the Arcane Archer build is a whole different beast with level 5 spells on level 11 than it is on level 10 with level 3 spells, for example).


I would recommend against any Skirmish/Scout builds. Having played one for 10 levels, I found it dreadfully boring after a while. You literally repeat the same thing encounter in, encounter out. After 100 encounters you'll be bleeding "I move and attack" out of your eyes if you're anything like me. That's why I always add some resource management with various options to my characters (ToB or magic or some such).


More magic: Scout 3 / Rogue 1 / Wizard 1 / Unseen Seer 10 / Spellwarp Sniper 5, taking both Craven and Improved Skirmish (the latter when your Unseen Seer advancement gives you +2d6/AC+1 Skirmish).

I would just skip the Scout and go Rogue 1/Wizard 4. Hunter's Eye [PHBII] from Unseen Seer with the caster level buffs and full casting ensures you have more than enough Sneak Attack damage and on level 14 you can persist all the level 1 one round buff spells that remove all the restrictions on ranged sneak attacks pretty much guaranteeing sneak full attacks. Though to get real sneak attack you'd have to replace Spellwarp Sniper with Arcane Trickster.

[aajj1987]

As a relatively new DnD player this is really helpful guys thank you a bunch for the feedback so far.

[Eldariel]

As a relatively new DnD player this is really helpful guys thank you a bunch for the feedback so far.

Glad to be of help. I found this as a slightly more detailed description of the Warblade/Eternal Blade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=7771890&postcount=6) build.

[KillianHawkeye]

Skirmish and Precision Shot work perfectly well together and are capable of putting decent damage on a single arrow, but they both require you to be at pretty close range to your target. It's not exactly what you think of when you imagine a sniper, and it isn't as strong full attacking with Rapid Shot or doing a Skirmish with Greater Manyshot (especially when you consider buffs that you might be getting from the other members of your party that could be adding up over multiple attacks).