Mistress Dilamon

[Biggus]

Dilamon, a ranger so skilled with a bow that he had never seen her miss, not once in ten thousand shots

I came across this quote the other day and it got me wondering: can this be done in 3.5? If not, how close can we come?

Let's keep things vaguely sane by ignoring epic, so say a 20th-level ranger or multiclass ranger (mostly ranger levels, given that she's described as "a ranger"). I thought maybe a few Fighter levels to pick up some extra feats.

Obviously high attack bonus is a top priority, but you can still roll a one so rerolls are important. On that score we have:

Luck Blade (DMG), Mantle of Second Chances (MIC), Phaant's Luckstones (GW), Luck feats (CS), Luck domain power (PHB), Lucky weapon enhancement (MIC)

She'll definitely want a +5 lucky seeking composite longbow.

She'll want the feats PB shot, Far shot, and Precise Shot (she gets Improved Precise Shot free at ranger level 11).

What else is out there?

[Jervis]

There’s a expanded list of bestow curse options that forces you to Reroll any d20 that results in a 20. Just get a cursed wand that creates a spell with a reversed effect to let you Reroll any d20 roll that results in a 1.

[sreservoir]

Lucky Blade (MoE 98) is another reroll. Benediction (CC 116) is another reroll. Surge of Fortune (CC 128) ensures a natural 20 though it's a kind of high-level personal-only spell that needs to be cast for each shot. Alter Fortune (PH2 101) grants a reroll, but with the XP cost it's kind of expensive and you'd probably rather just carry more Phaant's luckstones.

[Eurus]

Bit of a lame answer, I know, but a "missed" attack doesn't necessarily miss, in the same way that HP is not necessarily meat. An attack that bounces off the target's armor or natural armor is a miss in the tabletop game, but it probably wouldn't be described as a miss in a novel!

The feat Better Lucky than Good from Complete Scoundrel lets you turn a nat 1 on an attack roll into a nat 20. It's a swift action that only works a few times per day, and it requires two other luck feats as a prerequisite, so it's not a very powerful pick. But if you only shoot targets you can hit on a 2 and stop shooting once you're out of luck rerolls for the day you could legitimately boast that you "never miss"...

[RandomPeasant]

The easy way to do this is aura of perfect order, which allows you to simply take 11 and never worry about natural 1s. This is easily doable under the constraints, with Ranger 18/Crusader 2 getting a stance at IL 11 right at 20th level. Accepting less Ranger levels (or some kind of homebrew ToB Ranger) makes it possible even earlier.

[Jervis]

The easy way to do this is aura of perfect order, which allows you to simply take 11 and never worry about natural 1s. This is easily doable under the constraints, with Ranger 18/Crusader 2 getting a stance at IL 11 right at 20th level. Accepting less Ranger levels (or some kind of homebrew ToB Ranger) makes it possible even earlier.

as always, the best way to make a ranger is to not be a ranger

[Biggus]

Bit of a lame answer, I know, but a "missed" attack doesn't necessarily miss, in the same way that HP is not necessarily meat. An attack that bounces off the target's armor or natural armor is a miss in the tabletop game, but it probably wouldn't be described as a miss in a novel!


That is actually a fair point, when I'm DM'ing and someone would have hit but for the target's armor/shield/natural armor, I describe it as "you fail to penetrate their heavy armor/steel-hard skin" rather than "you miss". Counting those as hits makes more sense of how she could be firing a 4th attack at -15 every round and still never miss.


as always, the best way to make a ranger is to not be a ranger

You know, I had a feeling it wouldn't be long before someone said that...

[RandomPeasant]

as always, the best way to make a ranger is to not be a ranger

You could do it as a straight Ranger by taking Martial Study and Martial Stance, you're just one IL short of being able to take a 6th level stance at 20th. You could also PrC into Eternal Blade instead of taking Crusader levels, which may feel more like being a Ranger to some.

[Kalkra]

Limited Wish can make an attack auto-hit. In theory, that should be the equivalent of a 6th-level Wizard/Sorcerer spell. I don't really see where to go from there, though.