MisterKaws
2019-05-06, 02:47 PM
So, here's the thing:
I've been tinkering with Antropomorphic Squids for quite a while now, because almost all of their abilities would be broken by themselves, and yet they get 3 or 4 of those in a package. All while being HD0 LA+1 if Necropolitan.
Now, I was trying to optimize an archer, because almost every attempt to do so usually involves cheese. So... I want to make an efficient PO archer that can stand side to side with the usual Uberchargers, Goliath Dungeoncrashers, and Warblades. The first hurdle in doing it, as most who tried it know, is dealing decent damage.
And I quite possibly have found a solution for it.
You might be asking me right now: why would a squidman be the answer to the archer builds' usual impotence problem? Well, the answer is the eight arms.
"Oh you silly beholder are you suggesting we make a quad-wielding flurry of misses piece of s-" Calm down, young padawan. Let me show you the way. This is what true beauty looks like:
Dragonbone(Drc) Eight-arm(SS) Composite Footbow(RotW)
Requires eight hands and two feet to wield properly.
1d8 damage, x3 critical, 130' range increment, 4.5x strength bonus to damage.
Yeah, that's right. Here we have a race that has LA +1 only, +4 Str and Dex, and can dump Con because it's undead.
Now let's assume it's a point-buy, so you'll probably be able to get 18 Str and a ton of dex as well. So your strength bonus is +6, and that means you're dealing 1d8+27 per hit. At level 2.
And you can easily notice the madness just keeps scaling upwards, ensuring our beautiful squidman is a mobile miniaturized railgun at all levels.
But there's a problem: you can only use a footbow while airborne or prone, and using it prone shanks your attack bonus by a ton, not to mention all other problems related to being prone.
I have two potential solutions:
(A) Use Jet while aiming at an angle upwards that leaves you exactly 65 feet above ground, which would turn into 20 feet after the first round of falling(it's 45' first round then 90' each thereafter). Next round, start with shooting(or manyshot later), use a free action to 'change hands' with the bow (from feet to a couple hands), then use Airstep Sandals to take control of the fall and land safely. The problem with this would obviously be the full-round action, which means this combo can only be decently used in the first round of combat. And you better hope it's not a surprise round, otherwise you'll fall and take enough D6s of damage to kill your puny 12hp self.
(B) Move with Airstep Sandals upwards(only 5' since no essentia at lvl1) then shoot, 'change hands' and use Tumble to go down. The problem with this, yet again, is the action cost, and since we need tumble, we'd have to take Feat Rogue as the first level, which means 1 less Attack Bonus at level 1. Not a big problem, of course, considering the squidman's Dex bonus is around +4~+5 at level 1, depending on the point buy.
Both of those have huge action costs, and both leave us with no mobility. Also, Airstep Sandals would be freaking useless after a couple levels, so it'd be first in line to the retraining booth. I'd rather not use flaws, because it's usually frowned upon. The character pretty much has to be either a Fighter or a Feat Rogue because of the Exotic Weapon Profficiency, and it likely needs another feat, which, in this case, I assumed would be Shape Soulmeld(Airstep Sandals).
I also know not having Precise Shot means the character is pretty bad at actually helping a melee character, but I'll just assume the long-range deletion ability will make up for it by neutralizing the largest threat before the tank engages, and then just pepper targets running for the mages afterwards.
Anyway, I want to know if you guys can come with a better solution that works at ECL 2, since I'd rather have this character work right from the start.
I've been tinkering with Antropomorphic Squids for quite a while now, because almost all of their abilities would be broken by themselves, and yet they get 3 or 4 of those in a package. All while being HD0 LA+1 if Necropolitan.
Now, I was trying to optimize an archer, because almost every attempt to do so usually involves cheese. So... I want to make an efficient PO archer that can stand side to side with the usual Uberchargers, Goliath Dungeoncrashers, and Warblades. The first hurdle in doing it, as most who tried it know, is dealing decent damage.
And I quite possibly have found a solution for it.
You might be asking me right now: why would a squidman be the answer to the archer builds' usual impotence problem? Well, the answer is the eight arms.
"Oh you silly beholder are you suggesting we make a quad-wielding flurry of misses piece of s-" Calm down, young padawan. Let me show you the way. This is what true beauty looks like:
Dragonbone(Drc) Eight-arm(SS) Composite Footbow(RotW)
Requires eight hands and two feet to wield properly.
1d8 damage, x3 critical, 130' range increment, 4.5x strength bonus to damage.
Yeah, that's right. Here we have a race that has LA +1 only, +4 Str and Dex, and can dump Con because it's undead.
Now let's assume it's a point-buy, so you'll probably be able to get 18 Str and a ton of dex as well. So your strength bonus is +6, and that means you're dealing 1d8+27 per hit. At level 2.
And you can easily notice the madness just keeps scaling upwards, ensuring our beautiful squidman is a mobile miniaturized railgun at all levels.
But there's a problem: you can only use a footbow while airborne or prone, and using it prone shanks your attack bonus by a ton, not to mention all other problems related to being prone.
I have two potential solutions:
(A) Use Jet while aiming at an angle upwards that leaves you exactly 65 feet above ground, which would turn into 20 feet after the first round of falling(it's 45' first round then 90' each thereafter). Next round, start with shooting(or manyshot later), use a free action to 'change hands' with the bow (from feet to a couple hands), then use Airstep Sandals to take control of the fall and land safely. The problem with this would obviously be the full-round action, which means this combo can only be decently used in the first round of combat. And you better hope it's not a surprise round, otherwise you'll fall and take enough D6s of damage to kill your puny 12hp self.
(B) Move with Airstep Sandals upwards(only 5' since no essentia at lvl1) then shoot, 'change hands' and use Tumble to go down. The problem with this, yet again, is the action cost, and since we need tumble, we'd have to take Feat Rogue as the first level, which means 1 less Attack Bonus at level 1. Not a big problem, of course, considering the squidman's Dex bonus is around +4~+5 at level 1, depending on the point buy.
Both of those have huge action costs, and both leave us with no mobility. Also, Airstep Sandals would be freaking useless after a couple levels, so it'd be first in line to the retraining booth. I'd rather not use flaws, because it's usually frowned upon. The character pretty much has to be either a Fighter or a Feat Rogue because of the Exotic Weapon Profficiency, and it likely needs another feat, which, in this case, I assumed would be Shape Soulmeld(Airstep Sandals).
I also know not having Precise Shot means the character is pretty bad at actually helping a melee character, but I'll just assume the long-range deletion ability will make up for it by neutralizing the largest threat before the tank engages, and then just pepper targets running for the mages afterwards.
Anyway, I want to know if you guys can come with a better solution that works at ECL 2, since I'd rather have this character work right from the start.