Archery swordsage.

[Bag_of_Holding]

Hello all. Is it possible at all to build an archery-based swordsage? It would have to have minimal multiclassing from Ssg base class but homebrew is fine as long as it's balanced.


p.s. Actually, I seem to remember a homebrew discipline focused on ranged attacks. If someone could direct me to the thread that'd be appreciated.

[Skjaldbakka]

Here ya go: Falling Star, by Fax_Celestis

[Bag_of_Holding]

Here ya go: Falling Star, by Fax_Celestis

Lovely. Thank you Skjaldbakka.

[Crazy Scot]

I think the big problem you will have with this is that unless you go with a home-brewed version, is that most of the abilities rely upon melee attacks. I don't think there are any restrictions saying you can't use them on ranged attacks, but I think you will find that most of the ability descriptions in the ToB say they require a melee attack. There are some that don't (primarily those that provide short ranges) but most attack abilities require a melee attack roll to initiate. I took a look at a ranged attack specialist form ToB once, but found that the lack of good abilities that were usable at range too frustrating to complete the build.

Edit - As a side note, if you want to go with a ranged ToB character (though not a bow) you could always check out the bloodstorm blade PrC. It doesn't have the range of a bow, but you can generally do more damage since you can hit with a melee weapon at range as if it were a melee attack. And since they are treated as melee attacks, you can use your special melee attack abilities at range.

And the 10th level class ability is just broken as all get out. Add in the "Blood in the Water" stance, with a weapon with a 18-20 crit range (Keen it to make it even better) then attack everything within range once. And every time you get a crit you get an untyped +1 bonus to hit and dam (which means it stacks even with itself). Using this combo in any mass combat scenario is just deadly! After a round or two of combat you would be able to hit just about anything (unless you roll a nat 1), and be dealing enough damage to put the party tank to shame.

[Skjaldbakka]

and be dealing enough damage to put the party tank to shame.

Methinks you misunderstand what role this build would be filling in the classic party dynamic.

[Valairn]

I know there are a couple of strong warblade/sword sage builds out there for archery, but I imagine they use some sort of high level maneuver to get the job done, like Time Stands Still(Double Full Attack) and the Mongoose maneuvers which add extra attacks. My suggestion, talk to your DM about it, especially if its a low level campaign, since a lot of the lower level maneuvers are not even usable by RAW with ranged weapons.

[Eldariel]

The trick is getting an Elvencraft Bow as a first priority. That allows you to use melee maneuvers just as easily as you can use the ranged ones. In fact, ToB is easily the best way to make a ranged melee character as you'll be just fine with the maneuvers only taking care of your melee, allowing you to focus on your ranged abilities with your feats.

[Darrin]

Hello all. Is it possible at all to build an archery-based swordsage? It would have to have minimal multiclassing from Ssg base class but homebrew is fine as long as it's balanced.

Check this thread (post #17) for a SwordSage/Soulbow build that focuses on Wisdom:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4210901

SwordSage+Bloodstorm Blade would make an interesting ranged build... use a shadow hand weapon and you could add your Dex bonus to your ranged attacks. Add Dead Eye (from Dragon Compendium) and you can add double your Dex bonus to damage.

While most strikes require melee attacks, a SwordSage and cherry-pick a lot of maneuvers/boosts/counters that don't require melee attacks.

[Talya]

Here's one i'm currently playing. I rather intentionally didn't optimizer her, but damn is she fun.

http://www.thetangledweb.net/addon.p...char&cid=10326