New OOTS products from CafePress
New OOTS t-shirts, ornaments, mugs, bags, and more
Results 1 to 10 of 10
  1. - Top - End - #1
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Planetar

    Join Date
    Oct 2008

    Default Best Ranged Weapon Enhancements?

    So I have a soulbow build utilizing greater manyshot with psionic shot (DM ruled that it works, whether or not it's RAW). The full build is soulknife 4/fighter 1/soulbow 8/Kensai 4. Other relevant info is that alignment is LE, and the campaign is in a completely enclosed city where all inhabitants (solely human subspecies and halflings) are kept from leaving via DM fiat. All essentials and gear are also provided for via DM fiat.

    But anyway, what I'm looking for are the best possible enhancements to put on my mind arrows.

    I've currently got +3 Human Bane, Lucky, Vampiric, Corrosive, and a mindblade gauntlet with splitting put into it. (+3 Human Bane, Lucky from SB, +1 Vampiric, Corrosive from Kensai)

    Can the playground think of anything better?

    Note: no build or feat suggestions please. This is the character I want to play as, I just need help finding ranged weapon enhancements.

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Australia
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Best Ranged Weapon Enhancements?

    You've got Splitting, so I'd suggest Magebane, a -bane ability that works on anything that casts arcane spells or invocations.

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Planetar

    Join Date
    Oct 2008

    Default Re: Best Ranged Weapon Enhancements?

    Magebane is worth considering, I guess, but almost seems a bit situational, since incarnum and psionics are also around in this setting, and most NPC's aren't above 11th level.

    I'll see If I can convince my DM to let me add that to the Soulbow enhancements list, so I can put it on when I know I'll need it, and take it off when I don't.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Barbarian in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jul 2009

    Default Re: Best Ranged Weapon Enhancements?

    Splitting is BAR NONE the best. It is a perfect +100% damage for a simple +3.

    Force can be really good too.

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Optimator's Avatar

    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    SLC
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Best Ranged Weapon Enhancements?

    I've always found the Wounding enhancement nice on a bow. Force is great, Transmuting is good too if you can't get Force. Collision is great too.

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Colossus in the Playground
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Finland
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Best Ranged Weapon Enhancements?

    Wounding is, by default, not available on ranged weapons. As Soulbows are hax though, it's very nice.

    My own choices would be:
    - Splitting: Doubles your damage. +3
    - Force: Ignores all DR, should be quite immune to weather, kills people big time, and is effectively Ghost Touch to boot. Actually extends to Ethereal plane also in addition to nailing Incorporeals. +2
    - Seeking: Ignores all miss chances, mirror images and the like. Incredible, especially vs. casters and on longer distances where miss chances easily occur. +1
    - Collision: +5 damage, no ifs, no buts. As a bonus, multiplied on Critical. +2

    And that's a +9. Next, Holy is a worthwhile consideration, Merciful is sorta interesting for the +7 average damage (but nonlethality has severe issues, like many creatures being completely immune and things that stay up while in negative nonlethals).

    There's a ton of abilities I'd place on arrows instead of weapon (Magebane, Any Generic Bane, Distance, etc.) but in your case, that's naturally impossible. As such, Magebane isn't a horrible option, for example. Corrosive is quite decent too, being a more rarely resisted of the 1-mana elemental enhancements. Also makes you glow green at will, which is awesome, especially in the future. Screaming isn't bad either, but 1d4 is average 1 less point than Corrosive. Still, even more rarely resisted.

    Oh yeah, uh, Lucky is total bollocks on arrows. It's legal for Soulbow, so there you go. As every arrow is fired separately, you may reroll every attack roll with a +1 enhancement.
    Last edited by Eldariel; 2010-01-26 at 01:15 AM.
    Campaign Journal: Uncovering the Lost World - A Player's Diary in Low-Magic D&D (Latest Update: 8.3.2014)
    Being Bane: A Guide to Barbarians Cracking Small Men - Ever Been Angry?! Then this is for you!
    SRD Averages - An aggregation of all the key stats of all the monster entries on SRD arranged by CR.

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Person_Man's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Washington, DC
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Best Ranged Weapon Enhancements?

    Exit Wound: If you hit an enemy with a ranged weapon, it also effects the enemy behind him, and potentially the enemy behind him, and so on. A great enchantment to put on your backup ranged weapon, as its absolutely devastating if you have a conga line of bad guys lined up to attack you in a dungeon. +2 bonus, Complete Warrior pg 134.

    Banishing: Extraplanar creatures must Save or be sent back to their home plane. Pretty much an auto win button against summoned enemies, demons, devils, elementals, and many others. I suggest that you just keep 50 enchanted +1 Banishing arrows in your quiver just in case, rather then wasting your Soulbow or Kensai enchantments on it. +3 bonus, Book of Exalted Deeds pg 113.

    Paralyzing: Any creature hit must Save or be paralyzed. They get a new save every round. +2 bonus, Book of Exalted Deeds pg 113.

    Knockback enchantment from Complete Warrior gives you a free Bull Rush every time you hit an enemy. It was utterly nerfed in the Magic Item Compendium update, but if your DM lets you use the old one, then it's an excellent battlefield control tool.

  8. - Top - End - #8
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    IonDragon's Avatar

    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Central California, USA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Best Ranged Weapon Enhancements?

    There's something (Which I thought was Force, but doesn't seem to be) that turns your ranged attack into a touch attack.
    My games:
    Have you ever wondered How to Succeed in Evil?

    Thanks licoot for the awesome Pip avatar!

  9. - Top - End - #9
    Firbolg in the Playground
     
    Person_Man's Avatar

    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Washington, DC
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Best Ranged Weapon Enhancements?

    Quote Originally Posted by IonDragon View Post
    There's something (Which I thought was Force, but doesn't seem to be) that turns your ranged attack into a touch attack.
    You can pull it off with melee or thrown weapons a dozen of ways - Flame Blade, Sand Scimitar, Spectral Weapon, etc. With ranged weapons, I think the closest you can get is Brilliant Energy, which isn't a touch attack, but it's close. But since you're not using Power Attack, you shouldn't have a hard time hitting things anyway. And if you got touch attacks all the time, your DM would just up the touch AC of your enemies (or add more enemies) to challenge you.

  10. - Top - End - #10
    Colossus in the Playground
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Finland
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Best Ranged Weapon Enhancements?

    Quote Originally Posted by IonDragon View Post
    There's something (Which I thought was Force, but doesn't seem to be) that turns your ranged attack into a touch attack.
    No, there's Brilliant Energy but that doesn't exactly turn them into Touch Attacks and is extremely risky to have permanently on a weapon as it means there are wide swathes of creatures you simply cannot affect. Brilliant Energy Arrows, of course, are again another story.
    Campaign Journal: Uncovering the Lost World - A Player's Diary in Low-Magic D&D (Latest Update: 8.3.2014)
    Being Bane: A Guide to Barbarians Cracking Small Men - Ever Been Angry?! Then this is for you!
    SRD Averages - An aggregation of all the key stats of all the monster entries on SRD arranged by CR.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •