What is the most complex Ranged Weapon Attacker?

[Man_Over_Game]

What class has the most complex or versatile ranged weapon attacking build? I'm interested in playing a ranged combatant of some kind, but I'm looking for something a little more interesting than "I shoot the thing".

I've considered Arcane Archer, Scout, even an Ancestral Guardian Barbarian with Sharpshooter (I throw the javelin and run away!), but I want to hear about what your guys' opinions are.

By complex, I mean where I actively make different decisions each round, or can change my tactics as needed. The Ancestral Guardian, as the opposite example of what we're looking for, would follow the strategy "I shoot the biggest thing" in almost every circumstance.

In other words, it's effective, but dumb.

What are your examples that are, uh...not dumb?

[Xenothelm]

If you’re not too worried aboit damage, some kind of bard w/ crossbow will give you MANY tactical options :)

[Man_Over_Game]

If you’re not too worried aboit damage, some kind of bard w/ crossbow will give you MANY tactical options :)

Most of the tactical options in that instance have little to do with the ranged attacks. You could technically replace the weapon attack with Vicious Mockery, and hardly anything would change.

That's less of a "complex ranged weapon attacker" and more of "What's the most complex character that can equip a ranged weapon".

Unless there's something else that I'm missing about the Bard that you're referring to? I might be missing something.

[OldTrees1]

There are a bunch of ranged cantrips. So you could play the "I attack, deal X damage of Y type and include Z effect".

So perhaps a Wizard 1 / Battlemaster Fighter X? You get to choose between a stronger more accurate mundane attack vs a scaling but less accurate elemental attack that has a rider effect.

[Man_Over_Game]

There are a bunch of ranged cantrips. So you could play the "I attack, deal X damage of Y type and include Z effect".

So perhaps a Wizard 1 / Battlemaster Fighter X? You get to choose between a stronger more accurate mundane attack vs a scaling but less accurate elemental attack that has a rider effect.


What class has the most complex or versatile ranged weapon attacking build?


I guess what I'm looking for is something who's skillset supports the use of a ranged weapon over the other alternatives that they could do with their action.

I'd say it'd be fine to include options other than just attacking with a bow, but they should be because it's a very clear choice. Most cantrips are general effects by design, so you aren't shafted if you chose the wrong one. As a result, there's not going to be too many instances where Ray of Frost is a much better/worse choice than just shooting the thing.

I'm going through right now to see if I notice anything interesting between the relationship of Crossbow Expert + magic, but I haven't noticed much other than maybe Hunter's Mark.

The Hunter Ranger has a cool possible combo with Volley + Horde Breaker (attack an entire group, if you killed someone and they were adjacent to a second enemy, hit the second enemy too), but other than that it's really quite simple: shoot at groups, stay away from bad guys.

Hmm....this might be more difficult than I thought.

[Aett_Thorn]

The Bard can pick up Ranger archery spells with Magical Secrets, allowing them to get things like Lightning Arrow, Conjure Barage, and Swift Quiver. Swift Quiver alone allows for two additional attacks on top of your normal action, allowing you to cast a non-concentration spell and then attack twice. It can be quite fun.

[Millstone85]

The most complexity is probably found in the arcane archer, with one trick arrow for each school of magic.

Now, I happen to be planning a character who worships the elven god of archery, and I have decided to go kensei. It is mostly just about making the shots more powerful (up to 2d10 + 1d4 + 8 damage on a hit) but as a monk the character will also have a lot of mobility.

[Man_Over_Game]

The Bard can pick up Ranger archery spells with Magical Secrets, allowing them to get things like Lightning Arrow, Conjure Barage, and Swift Quiver. Swift Quiver alone allows for two additional attacks on top of your normal action, allowing you to cast a non-concentration spell and then attack twice. It can be quite fun.

I've considered some of those spells, but to be honest, they're all a bit...lackluster.

Lightning Arrow deals decent damage to a single target, and then moderate damage to nearby enemies. Assuming 100% accuracy on all accounts, that's 18 damage to the primary target and 9 damage to everything else within 10 feet of it (so a total of 27 damage to the primary target).
Fireball, on the other hand, is 4 times the area of Lightning Arrow (20ft radius), and assuming 100% accuracy, deals 28 damage to everything within its radius. There's not many valid reasons to pick Lightning Arrow unless you're willing to pick a clearly inferior option.

Conjure Barrage is basically a 60ft cone-shaped Fireball that has a unique consumed material, one piece of ammunition. It doesn't involve a weapon attack at all, or utilizes any attack whatsoever. A bard, with 8 dexterity and maxed out on Charisma would cast this better than a veteran Ranger. It's damage is also less, doing 22.5 damage.

Swift Quiver looked pretty cool, but it basically gives you more attacks at the cost of concentration. The attacks have to be ranged and have to be bonus actions, so there's not much you can do with it other than just "attack more". The only real tactical decision making I can see come from it is just making sure nothing makes you lose Concentration, which isn't much of a complex strategy. It's also a level 5 spell, which would mean that you could instead pick Rary's Telepathic Bond (can cast as a ritual), Teleportation Circle or Cloudkill, which are all equally valid choices.

I'm still determined to find one complex ranged weapon attacker build, though.

[Asmotherion]

I'd like to draw your attention to the Hexblade Sorlock.

Seriously. Between Quickening Eldritch Blasts, Putting Hex on people, Reppeling Blast on Persistant AoEs like Sickening Radiance, Switching to Crossbow occasionally for style or glory (especially if you have the feats to back it up, but not without a good hex/hexblade's curse... we're not mundanes after all), and even using an other Ranged Attack Cantrip or Two when the time is appropriate (Fire Bolt on Trolls for example is a good idea, if you're out of spell slots, and Chill Touch is never completelly wasted if there's an enemy healer). Add the occasional Fireball to your arsenal, when the timing is right, perhaps even a lightning bolt, and you're real game.

Weapons are for everyday men... Extraordinary men do it with magic :P

[Man_Over_Game]

I'd like to draw your attention to the Hexblade Sorlock.

Seriously. Between Quickening Eldritch Blasts, Putting Hex on people, Reppeling Blast on Persistant AoEs like Sickening Radiance, Switching to Crossbow occasionally for style or glory (especially if you have the feats to back it up, but not without a good hex/hexblade's curse... we're not mundanes after all), and even using an other Ranged Attack Cantrip or Two when the time is appropriate (Fire Bolt on Trolls for example is a good idea, if you're out of spell slots, and Chill Touch is never completelly wasted if there's an enemy healer). Add the occasional Fireball to your arsenal, when the timing is right, perhaps even a lightning bolt, and you're real game.

Weapons are for everyday men... Extraordinary men do it with magic :P

@OldTrees1 recommended something similar. I'm sorry, I guess I'm looking for something that's more weapon-centric. I know it's hard to fit this kind of bill (weapon attacks are generally more boring than spells, and ranged is more boring than melee), but I'm sure we can find something that fits what I'm looking for.

[Man_Over_Game]

UPDATE:

I think I found what I'm looking for.

Upon further review of the Battlemaster (and a CTRL-F for the word Melee), I found that five of the Battlemaster's maneuvers require melee combat. One other maneuver uses your Charisma.

This means that an optimized Dexterity-based ranged combatant can utilize 10 maneuvers as a ranged Battlemaster. At max level, a Battlemaster would know 9.

There would be some exceptions (Parry might be worthwhile, since it uses Dex; Trip Attack might be not, since it knocks prone; Evasive Footing is basically a Disengage action), but this seems like the best choice.

The Battlemaster could focus on just Dex and Con, can know up to 9 valid choices and can use them up to 6 times per rest. In comparison, the Arcane Archer can know up to 6 choices and use them twice per rest, all while being MAD trying to up Dex, Con and Int.

This is probably the best choice I've seen so far, but I'm looking forward to someone showing me up.

[Lalliman]

Eight of the Battle Master's maneuvers can be used with ranged attacks. If you combine Battle Master with two or three levels of ranger for Ensnaring Strike and Hail of Thorns (or ranger with three levels of Battle Master), you'll have a large amount of effects that you can apply to your ranged attacks, even if they are limited-use. Unfortunately this only works within a narrow level range if you don't want to gimp yourself out of getting Extra Attack, and it requires that you ignore the potent-but-boring Hunter's Mark.

Edit: You ninja'd me on the Battle Master front.

[Man_Over_Game]

Eight of the Battle Master's maneuvers can be used with ranged attacks. If you combine Battle Master with two or three levels of ranger for Ensnaring Strike and Hail of Thorns (or ranger with three levels of Battle Master), you'll have a large amount of effects that you can apply to your ranged attacks, even if they are limited-use. Unfortunately this only works within a narrow level range if you don't want to gimp yourself out of getting Extra Attack, and it requires that you ignore the potent-but-boring Hunter's Mark.

Edit: You ninja'd me on the Battle Master front.

Lol, sorry.

I might do that. The only issue I might have is the fact that I'd probably have to dip fairly hard into Ranger for the benefit, while also needing to value my Wisdom score (probably at least 14).

Hmm...Could go Crossbow Expert + Hunter's Mark + 3 levels of battlemaster and the rest into Ranger. And being a Ranger means I can prepare spells rather than being locked into them. I can really see this working out.

I wouldn't even need to start out as a level 1 fighter, since Rangers get most of the same proficiencies.

Really, the only difference between which class I start is whether I want STR+CON proficiencies as a Fighter, or STR+DEX proficiencies + 1 skill as a Ranger, and both options are pretty comparable.

They both are pretty boring level 1, thinking about it. Probably Ranger. They get at least a few things that CAN be cool. Fighters get Second Wind in comparison.

Eh, to avoid gimping myself and going MAD, I'll just stick with Battlemaster. A complex, 2 stat ranged character is a lot better than I was expecting so I'll just settle with this.

[gloryblaze]

I've considered some of those spells, but to be honest, they're all a bit...lackluster.

Lightning Arrow deals decent damage to a single target, and then moderate damage to nearby enemies. Assuming 100% accuracy on all accounts, that's 18 damage to the primary target and 9 damage to everything else within 10 feet of it (so a total of 27 damage to the primary target).
Fireball, on the other hand, is 4 times the area of Lightning Arrow (20ft radius), and assuming 100% accuracy, deals 28 damage to everything within its radius. There's not many valid reasons to pick Lightning Arrow unless you're willing to pick a clearly inferior option.

Conjure Barrage is basically a 60ft cone-shaped Fireball that has a unique consumed material, one piece of ammunition. It doesn't involve a weapon attack at all, or utilizes any attack whatsoever. A bard, with 8 dexterity and maxed out on Charisma would cast this better than a veteran Ranger. It's damage is also less, doing 22.5 damage.

Swift Quiver looked pretty cool, but it basically gives you more attacks at the cost of concentration. The attacks have to be ranged and have to be bonus actions, so there's not much you can do with it other than just "attack more". The only real tactical decision making I can see come from it is just making sure nothing makes you lose Concentration, which isn't much of a complex strategy. It's also a level 5 spell, which would mean that you could instead pick Rary's Telepathic Bond (can cast as a ritual), Teleportation Circle or Cloudkill, which are all equally valid choices.

I'm still determined to find one complex ranged weapon attacker build, though.

The benefit of Lightning Arrow over Fireball is that it works with Extra Attack - you're dealing 6d8 + 1d6 (hunter's Mark) damage to the primary target and 2d8 to the secondary targets, but then you get to pop the first target for another 2d8 (colossus slayer) + 1d6 (hunter's Mark) + Dex mod (probably 4). So the primary target takes 47 damage and the secondaries each take 9, whereas Fireball is 28 to each or a regular Extra Attack would just be 28.5 (3d8 + 2d6 + 8) to the primary target.

[Man_Over_Game]

The benefit of Lightning Arrow over Fireball is that it works with Extra Attack - you're dealing 6d8 + 1d6 (hunter's Mark) damage to the primary target and 2d8 to the secondary targets, but then you get to pop the first target for another 2d8 (colossus slayer) + 1d6 (hunter's Mark) + Dex mod (probably 4). So the primary target takes 47 damage and the secondaries each take 9, whereas Fireball is 28 to each or a regular Extra Attack would just be 28.5 (3d8 + 2d6 + 8) to the primary target.

That's a good point, but either you're a Lore Bard (with no extra attack), or you're a Valor Bard who just spent his 10th level feature on a level 3 attack spell.

In comparison, Aura of Life (nobody can die) and Aura of Purity (allies are immune to conditions) are probably better picks in this instance.

[gloryblaze]

That's a good point, but either you're a Lore Bard (with no extra attack), or you're a Valor Bard who just spent his 10th level feature on a level 3 attack spell.

In comparison, Aura of Life (nobody can die) and Aura of Purity (allies are immune to conditions) are probably better picks in this instance.

For some reason it totally went over my head that the discussion was about bards, I thought we were talking about rangers haha. The fact that Fireball was brought up at all shoulda tipped me off

[thoroughlyS]

My recommendation is to combine Swords Bard, Arcane Archer, and Battle Master (via Rangers with No Spells (http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/UA3_ClassDesignVariants.pdf)). There are two ways to approach this, based on what levels you start at:

At lower levels, Ranger gives you access to your tricks the quickest, and gives you the most bang for your buck. Going to 5th level gets you Extra Attack and 3 maneuvers to use (5 if you take Martial Adept at 4th level). After that, going into Arcane Archer gets you two Arcane Shots per short rest, on top of Action Surge. In games that you expect to end around mid-levels, I recommend just progressing one of these two classes. Swords Bard takes too long to come online, so the game will probably end before you get to use your toys.

For games at mid/high-levels, start with Swords Bard for short rest Blade Flourishes, on top of 3rd-level bard spell slots. Two levels of Ranger gets you maneuvers again, and finishing with Arcane Archer gets you Arcane Shot at 11th level. After that, mix-and-match to your liking.

[Mitchellnotes]

Eldritch knight using darts!

Darts are a funny hybrid of a ranged weapon. One handed weapons, that work with sharpshooter, but aren't ammunition. Combined, this means throwing them shouldn't make them lose magical bonuses, nor should they break, and you only need one handed.

The issue comes in with the fact that they arent considered ammunition. This means that youll likely only be able to draw one a turn. However, with the eldritch knight summoning you could summon one back as a bonus action and you could pick up the dual wielder feat to be able to draw two weapons in a turn, for a total of up to 3.

Optimal damage? Probably not. But with studded leather +shield, fighter hps, and eldritch knight defensive bonuses you are going to be tanky. I personally like the idea of going gnome for the save advantages and picking up 2 levels of war wizard. As an added bonus, you can grab shadowblade for when you have to be in melee. All in all, a mobile striker who can still put out good damage and is hard to stop.

Also youd have a lot of options with your spell choices esp when you can force disadvantage on a save. The attacks themselves are likely standard sharpshootery things, but you still have a lot of options with how your abilities interact.

[Man_Over_Game]

Eldritch knight using darts!

Darts are a funny hybrid of a ranged weapon. One handed weapons, that work with sharpshooter, but aren't ammunition. Combined, this means throwing them shouldn't make them lose magical bonuses, nor should they break, and you only need one handed.

The issue comes in with the fact that they arent considered ammunition. This means that youll likely only be able to draw one a turn. However, with the eldritch knight summoning you could summon one back as a bonus action and you could pick up the dual wielder feat to be able to draw two weapons in a turn, for a total of up to 3.

Optimal damage? Probably not. But with studded leather +shield, fighter hps, and eldritch knight defensive bonuses you are going to be tanky. I personally like the idea of going gnome for the save advantages and picking up 2 levels of war wizard. As an added bonus, you can grab shadowblade for when you have to be in melee. All in all, a mobile striker who can still put out good damage and is hard to stop.

Also youd have a lot of options with your spell choices esp when you can force disadvantage on a save. The attacks themselves are likely standard sharpshootery things, but you still have a lot of options with how your abilities interact.


I suppose. Looking at it, it's not much more than any other Eldritch Knight, though. The only major difference I can see is that you can repeatedly throw a specific dart, and spam a few random ones, but I could pull the same thing off with Crossbow Expert rather than going down Eldritch Knight. The build could also be a lot simpler just by grabbing Magic Initiate-Warlock for Eldritch Blast, and it'd be the same exact thing with probably better damage and less tracking of bonus actions/darts/TWF. If there were more on-hit spells that utilized throwing weapons, I'd definitely give this a look, though.

So far, the best example I've seen (and have came up with) was Rogue 1/Fighter X (Battlemaster).

The level 1 Rogue gets you a ton of skills and sneak attack, the Fighter levels get you Medium Armor and a ton of possible feats (Skulker, Medium Armor Master, Dual Wielder, Sharpshooter, Crossbow Expert), Battlemaster gives you a lot of tools to play with (Feint attack + Sneak Attack, anyone?), you can have up to 19 AC as a Dex-based combatant with no shield, you only need two stats (Dex/Con) and you only need 16 into Dex for it to work.

The class looks like it'd comes online at level 4, when you're Rogue 1/Fighter 3 (Battlemaster).

From there, it looks like you can determine if you're more ranged/stealth or a versatile melee fighter. For ranged, where you're likely to use fewer bonus actions, going more into Rogue for Mastermind can aid your team very well, or Inquisitive Rogue to utilize your ridiculous range without any need for allies to engage (better at solo missions). Either way, Rogue would provide more for out-of-combat experiences. For melee, or a more versatile build, going into full Fighter will land you a bunch of more attacks and feats that will make you more combat-centric with defense improvements from feats and the higher hit die.

[thoroughlyS]

The class looks like it'd comes online at level 4, when you're Rogue 1/Fighter 3 (Battlemaster).
One consideration for this set-up is delaying Extra Attack, which really matters from 5th level onward. In a longer game you won't really feel it, but 5th level will tend to feel rougher than it should.

In a very short game, I would forgo Rogue to get maneuvers earlier.

[Man_Over_Game]

I thought about that, but Fighter is really dull outside of combat. It doesn't really get anything that contributes outside of combat, and I generally despise that. The Expertise + skillset that rogue provides at level 1 is more than enough to compensate for that.

While I say the build comes "online" at 4, that's mostly because it gets the fun parts from Fighter 3. It really gets better once you can either afford to get more attacks from Fighter or get your second archetype in Rogue (either way, character level 6), but your playstyle won't change much in either situation in comparison to Fighter level 3.

Or, simply put "It gets better, but nothing changes".

Without Rogue 1, you get the extra attack at level 5, and you basically are a Dex Fighter with TWF and Ranged and some cool combat tricks with Medium/Light armor. Out of combat, you have...acrobatics; everything else is unoptimized fluff and stuff you're not likely going to rely on.

With Rogue 1, you push back extra attack at level 6, with sneak attack. You deal a little more ranged damage, but can still TWF, especially when near teammates and you still have some cool combat tricks with Medium/Light armor. Out of combat, you have acrobatics, thieves' tools, stealth, sleight of hand, perception, and expertise in two of these skills.

The only thing it really costs you for all that is pushing back Extra Attack by one level.

[thoroughlyS]

That's what backgrounds and ASIs are for. Any Fighter can become a Rogue-lite by taking the Criminal background for proficiency with deception, stealth, and thieves' tools. Going a step further, you can get proficiency with any two skills and any two tools with any background (because you are allowed to change those as you see fit). At 4th level, you can pick any feat you want to expand your capabilities outside of combat.

Ranger with No Spells is another way to get non-combat class features, although I will be the first to admit that ranger is pretty lackluster. Revised Ranger is the default solution to that problem, but at that point you're drawing from three different sources just to take levels in one class.

Rogue just doesn't factor in to the original purpose of this discussion, as it lacks any additional complexity with regards to ranged weapon attacks. Sneak Attack is just an always on feature that technically limits your options in combat because you need to target the creatures that provoke it.

[Man_Over_Game]

It does give you some options with feint attack, and it increases your ranged damage by 1d6 without requiring anything extra (TWF would require melee combat and a bonus action).

In addition, proficiencies in things like stealth, acrobatics, perception, with expertise, with the common Dexterity saving throw and the debilitating Intelligence saving throw can all play in as factors to the ranged combat game. You're not likely going to be able to afford the expensive medium armor options without a bit more cash anyway, so you're not likely to suffer disadvantage from sneaking this early on. This also opens up your background options so you're not stuck to any one background.

Plus, at level 1 Fighter, you get Second Wind, a self heal as a bonus action, useable once per rest. At level 1 rogue, you get sneak attack, an extra damage effect applicable to every round where you hit an enemy that's near your allies.

The fighter doesn't get any real changes until level 3. From 1 to 3, it's basically "I shoot until I get hurt. Then I bonus action heal once and keep shooting until thing is dead". You don't even need to "decide" to heal; you can just keep shooting.

At least, with level 1 rogue, you get a little more diversity with some extra options to sneak, detect, or dealing extra damage to specific targets. You have choices with rogues. Not all of them might be smart (like spending an action to hide, or attacking something not adjacent to an ally), but you still have some.

With straight fighter, there's not much early-game decision making other than just shooting the guy who's most dangerous/easiest to kill.

[thoroughlyS]

It does give you some options with feint attack,
What do you mean feint attack?

and it increases your ranged damage by 1d6 without requiring anything extra
If you're going for bonus damage, Hunter Ranger gives Colossus Slayer for +1d8 once per turn.

with the common Dexterity saving throw and the debilitating Intelligence saving throw can all play in as factors to the ranged combat game.
Rangers also get proficiency in Dexterity saving throws. Tangentially, Intelligence is absolutely the worst save to get proficiency in, because there are exactly nine effects in the core rules which even use them. Most things that deal with Intelligence instead require an action to use Investigation.

You're not likely going to be able to afford the expensive medium armor options without a bit more cash anyway, so you're not likely to suffer disadvantage from sneaking this early on.
I'm not clear on what you're trying to say here. The base medium armor people start with is scale mail, which has disadvantage on stealth. Breastplate (no disadvantage) costs 400 gp, which you can expect (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?402507-Deconstructing-5e-Typical-Wealth-by-Level) to get around 4th level.

This also opens up your background options so you're not stuck to any one background.
Like I said previously, the rules assume you can pick whatever proficiencies you want for any background.

The fighter doesn't get any real changes until level 3. From 1 to 3, it's basically "I shoot until I get hurt. Then I bonus action heal once and keep shooting until thing is dead". You don't even need to "decide" to heal; you can just keep shooting.
At least, with level 1 rogue, you get a little more diversity with some extra options to sneak, detect, or dealing extra damage to specific targets. You have choices with rogues. Not all of them might be smart (like spending an action to hide, or attacking something not adjacent to an ally), but you still have some.
At 1st level, both classes have access to the same options inside and outside of combat. The Rogue gets more damage and chooses two things to be 10% better at (i.e. Expertise), and the Fighter gets more staying power (higher AC, more hp, Second Wind). You start seeing a difference at 2nd level. Cunning Action really opens up a Rogue's repertoire, but Action Surge should not be discounted. When the chips are down a Fighter can do two things at once, which includes Dash, Disengage, and Hide, just like the Rogue. But on top of that, they can do any other option, which really comes into play with later levels or multiclassing. Further, it doesn't use their bonus action so they can still bust out Second Wind.

To approach this another way, a Rogue is just as straight forward from 1st to 3rd level. "I hide to get advantage, and then I keep shooting until thing is dead."

With straight fighter, there's not much early-game decision making other than just shooting the guy who's most dangerous/easiest to kill.
If you only take one level of Rogue, your decision making stays the same and you push back reaching Fighter 3. Using the game's expected encounter rates, a character is expected to surpass 1st and 2nd level after one long rest each. That changes when going from 3rd to 4th level, meaning that going from Fighter 2 to Fighter 3 will take longer than if you had done it earlier.

[Legendairy]

I admittedly skimmed at best...

Warlock with improved pact and ranger or fighter sounds decent. If you get slots to power ranged smites, some good versatility. If you go fighter you could go EK or AA. Ranger gloomstalker or hunter would be decent, your first round with gloomstalker could be painful with enough slots to ranged smite. With elven accuracy you can have some brutal crits with the extra ranger dice, the smiting and hunters mark. Again if I missed things (I’m quite sure I did) disregard my comments.

[Dronedevil]

What class has the most complex or versatile ranged weapon attacking build?

My reccomendation is get yourself Tinkerer's Tools, Alchemy kit, take sharpshooter feat, crossbow expert feat, either take Arcane Archer, Sharpshooter or Hunter as subclass in respective classes, based on your preference. Battle Master can also work, though it's options are severely limited by being ranged. Take a Heavy Crossbow.

Now, start crafting bolts. Make explosive bolts, corrosive bolts, flaming bolts, freezing bolts. Make bolts that when you fire two of them into a target it creates a circuit and shocks them for lighting damage. Make fireable nets.

The flexibility and complexity comes from the ammo you can create, so you just have to be creative. The reason Green Arrow isn't a D-list hero is because of his ammunition. Same with Hawkeye. The second you stop shooting just normal bolts, is the second you unlock the true potential of the ranged weapon attacker.

[MeeposFire]

UPDATE:

I think I found what I'm looking for.

Upon further review of the Battlemaster (and a CTRL-F for the word Melee), I found that five of the Battlemaster's maneuvers require melee combat. One other maneuver uses your Charisma.

This means that an optimized Dexterity-based ranged combatant can utilize 10 maneuvers as a ranged Battlemaster. At max level, a Battlemaster would know 9.

There would be some exceptions (Parry might be worthwhile, since it uses Dex; Trip Attack might be not, since it knocks prone; Evasive Footing is basically a Disengage action), but this seems like the best choice.

The Battlemaster could focus on just Dex and Con, can know up to 9 valid choices and can use them up to 6 times per rest. In comparison, the Arcane Archer can know up to 6 choices and use them twice per rest, all while being MAD trying to up Dex, Con and Int.

This is probably the best choice I've seen so far, but I'm looking forward to someone showing me up.

Do not underestimate the potency of knocking a target prone with a ranged attack. First off you can help your allies by knocking the target prone and also consider that you can use things like that on flying creatures and when you knock them prone I believe they get knocked to the ground (unless perhaps if they are too high up or have a special ability).

[opticalshadow]

My reccomendation is get yourself Tinkerer's Tools, Alchemy kit, take sharpshooter feat, crossbow expert feat, either take Arcane Archer, Sharpshooter or Hunter as subclass in respective classes, based on your preference. Battle Master can also work, though it's options are severely limited by being ranged. Take a Heavy Crossbow.

Now, start crafting bolts. Make explosive bolts, corrosive bolts, flaming bolts, freezing bolts. Make bolts that when you fire two of them into a target it creates a circuit and shocks them for lighting damage. Make fireable nets.

The flexibility and complexity comes from the ammo you can create, so you just have to be creative. The reason Green Arrow isn't a D-list hero is because of his ammunition. Same with Hawkeye. The second you stop shooting just normal bolts, is the second you unlock the true potential of the ranged weapon attacker.

The only slight issue with this may be DM of course dependent, can be a very high cost to play character requiring more capital to run at any level, and crafting any amount of ammo could be significant so may not be hugely campaign friendly, along with even finding the supplies.

I mean i like it, its exactly how we played archers in 3.5, with magic quivers full of a huge amount of niche ammo, but it sadly does come with more drawbacks then maybe any other class...even if this is prolly the best he can do.

I just wish they would make a real bow/ranged weapon focused class for once, everyone always wants one, and they always seem to get shafted.Except for maybe 4e rangers...but i dont want to give 4e any praise...

[Man_Over_Game]

My reccomendation is get yourself Tinkerer's Tools, Alchemy kit, take sharpshooter feat, crossbow expert feat, either take Arcane Archer, Sharpshooter or Hunter as subclass in respective classes, based on your preference. Battle Master can also work, though it's options are severely limited by being ranged. Take a Heavy Crossbow.

Now, start crafting bolts. Make explosive bolts, corrosive bolts, flaming bolts, freezing bolts. Make bolts that when you fire two of them into a target it creates a circuit and shocks them for lighting damage. Make fireable nets.

The flexibility and complexity comes from the ammo you can create, so you just have to be creative. The reason Green Arrow isn't a D-list hero is because of his ammunition. Same with Hawkeye. The second you stop shooting just normal bolts, is the second you unlock the true potential of the ranged weapon attacker.

A lot of people don't realize that tinkers Tools is actually really mundane and useless for most adventurers. Gnomes can do cool stuff because it's a racial trait, but everyone else can use it to repair swords, cloaks, and chairs and stuff.

Look it up in Xanathars. DC 20 is like create a temporary improvised item, like a shoddy shield out of some leftover wood or something. It makes you a handyman, not an inventor.

In fact, outside of the gnomish traits, it doesn't say you can make or improve much, only repair stuff to a prior state.

[Rp4man]

The benefit of Lightning Arrow over Fireball is that it works with Extra Attack - you're dealing 6d8 + 1d6 (hunter's Mark) damage to the primary target and 2d8 to the secondary targets, but then you get to pop the first target for another 2d8 (colossus slayer) + 1d6 (hunter's Mark) + Dex mod (probably 4). So the primary target takes 47 damage and the secondaries each take 9, whereas Fireball is 28 to each or a regular Extra Attack would just be 28.5 (3d8 + 2d6 + 8) to the primary target.

You can't do Hunter's Mark and lighting arrow. Both are concentration.