wolfy42
06-16-2010, 04:31 PM
Here is an alternative to the traditional arcane archer builds. It has a freaking TON of feats, evasion, decently high AC and great crits on ranged weapons.
You must be an elf to qualify for the arcane archer PRE. Cha is important as well for both intimidate and UMD.
Stats:
Elf Fighter 18/monk 2
Str 14 (06)
Dex 17 (08) (+2 tome needed for IPS)
Con 12 (06)
Int 12 (04)
Wis 13 (05)
Cha 11 (03)
Ending stats:
Str 14 base + 2 tome + 6 item +2 rage + 4 defensive stance + 2 fighter enhance= 30
Dex 17 base + 2 tome + 6 item + 2 elven enhance + 5 level = 32 (no exceptionals etc)
Con 12 base + 6 item + 2 tome = 20 (no stance bonus/rage etc counted)
Int 12 base + 2 = 14 (4 skill points per fighter level)
Wis 13 base + 1 monk enhancement + 2 tome + 6 item = 22
Cha 11 base + 6 item + 1 tome (Eventually +3) = 18
You get a total of 19 feats...allowing you to grab both the stalwart defender PRE and Arcane archer PRE, weapon specialization Ranged (greater weapon spec as well), Manyshot and Improved precise shot, bow strength, shield mastery and improved shield mastery all on one build.
Breaking down the feats quickly it's something like this:
Weapon focus ranged
weapon spec ranged
greater weapn spec ranged
PBS
rapid shot
Many shot
Precise shot
Bow Strength
Improved precise shot
shield mastery
improved shield mastery
toughness
With 7 feats left over.
Options would be:
Combat expertese, Dodge, SF UMD, SF intimidate,improved crit ranged, lightning reflexes,quick draw (allows better use of returning throwing hammers + better use of boosts), power attack + THF line (used with Falchion), Power attack and GTWF (used with H2H).
The build works both solo and in a party. Solo you use your ranged combat pretty much 100% of the time, with Stalwart defender stance going through manyshot (for the +4 strength etc) and until enemies get close, then kiting for the rest if possible or switching to S&B if not.
In a party you shine the most though because you take advantage of an AA's ability to grab a huge amount of aggro right off the bat with ranged attacks. You do almost as much damage as a fully maxed out AA damage wise (between specialization bonuses, defensive stance bonus to strength, fighter strength enhancement etc). Use manyshot to get a huge amount of aggro and IPS to thrash the heck out of a ton of enemies at once. In fact if enough room is available kite all the enemies back to your group that stands back a ways (run up to the room and start shooting with manyshot and them move back while hitting the last enemy in the line that is following you till you get to your party). Once the enemies get close enough switch to S&B and drop into defensive stance. You should have full aggro at that point and if anything does break aggro you have intimidate as backup.
Three skills are important for this build and a 4th is nice.
The important skills are:
Jump (class skill)
Intimidate (class skill)
UMD (cross skill but only 1 point can be invested)
I suggest pumping spot with your last point as it's nice to have for a ranged character.
For your monk levels max balance (Take monk at level 1)
Feel free to sacrifice jump a bit to pump spot up more. Jump can be boosted easily with spells.
UMD will get fairly high although it will take along time. If you take SF UMD I believe you hit UMD 36. 11 base + 5 cha (2 tome + 3 exceptional cha) + 6 shroud + 2 HoGF + 5 gloves + 3 SF UMD + 4 GH = 36
Higher is possible by using things like a +4 cha tome or short term potions etc. With the above you could us a GH scroll with a bit over 50% chance (32 base UMD without GH) and then have an 80% chance while GH is active to use heal scrolls (only 15% less then max). If you grab a +4 cha tome or if you sacrifice 2 wisdom to boost cha up to 13 base you could end up with a 5% chance like everyone else.
AC while turtled up (not using a bow) will be quite high and DR while turtled up will be excellent as well between all the bonuses even when not using a tower shield (you lose a ton of AC if you switch to a tower shield).
Bonus AC between dex and wisdom is 17 I think and even with stalwart bonuses and tower shield mastery there is no way to getting even close to that number.
Meanwhile AC hits something like:
10 base
8 dodge (Icy/Ring/Feat)
4 dodge (DS)
11 dexterity (without exceptional)
6 wisdom (+2 tome only, no exceptional)
4 insight
4-5 protection (depending on item)
3 barkskin
7 armor
5 CE
3 SD bonus
7 shield
=73 ac with no alchemical bonus.
76 ac while blocking due to DS bonus.
Boosts solo of up to 80 or so are possible and the base can be increased by using alchemical bonuses as well. In a party AC should be able to hit around 90 or so, while still having evasion. No spell bonuses from haste etc are factored in above. Monk AC bonus is not added as you won't be centered with a shield equipped.
Meanwhile DR will be quite nice even when not blocking. 6/- DR base just from having the shield equipped.
Saves should be pretty decent as well. Monk helps pump those saves up making fort actually higher base then a pure fighter and reflex/will not that bad base. Add in a quite nice dex for a very decent reflex save and possibly taking lightning reflexes for a bit more (along with GH even solo and VoTM or HoGF for a bit more) and saves should not be a problem. Reflex save should be 8 base + 11 dex + 5 item + 4 GH + 2 luck + 2 LR = 32 and 35 while in defensive stance.
As far as damage.....you can do a ton of it but only for short bursts which f its perfectly with this build.
While in manyshot you have full AA bonus with slayer arrows and full BAB. You can use fighter haste boost right before to maximize damage output. Each arrow will have +10 damage from strength and + 4 damage from weapon specialization. With a +5 base bonus before any elemental additions your minimum arrow damage per shot will be 21...with 4 arrows at a time thats a minimum of 84 damage per attack. Even versus a single target that DPS during manyshot will be quite nice. Even when manyshot is finished if you hit 2 more more targets your dps will compete well with other characters...and of course you'll be hitting them from range (or you'd be in shield mode instead).
The character should be very versatile with high saves, evasion, decent UMD (just a few more points would make it perfect) excellent defenses, great intimidate and self healing.
You might want to drop wisdom and boost cha a bit more to help with the UMD situation. You need a 17 dex to get IPS (without having to wait for a +3 tome) and dropping strength anymore would hurt too much. You can't drop int more then 1 point and still get combat reflexes so that's pointless and you certainly can't drop con anymore (as it is a 12 con is this builds largest weakness in my opinion). Dropping wisdom hurts your will saves and drops your AC by 1 point which may be worth it for a 5% better chance of having your heal scrolls go off (and having your GH scroll go off initially as well if not in a party).
You can easily get SD at level 6 and AA at level 8. I suggest something like this:
Level 1 Monk Toughness
Level 2 fighter power attack (switched out later)
level 3 fighter PBS/Rapid shot
level 4 monk Feat CE (use +1 int tome before leveling)
level 5 fighter
level 6 fighter Manyshot & dodge (grab SD)
Level 8 Feats weapon spec ranged & bow strength (grab AA)
lvl 10 shield mastery & precise shot
lvl 12 Improved precise shot & improved shield mastery
lvl 14 greater weapon spec ranged, SF UMD (should be high enough to matter now)
Level 8 is when ranged damage starts to shine. You might want to ditch CE early on (it's not really useful till later anyway) and grab dodge instead...which lets you get bow strength at level 6 in combo with manyshot. That will make your ranged attacks still slightly useful from 6-8 when you get AA. Also can let you wait till you get a +2 int tome and skip using a +1 int tome that way.
End result is a very versatile character that can deal good damage vs individual enemies and great damage vs groups, has excellent saves, evasion and extreme AC and DR.
You must be an elf to qualify for the arcane archer PRE. Cha is important as well for both intimidate and UMD.
Stats:
Elf Fighter 18/monk 2
Str 14 (06)
Dex 17 (08) (+2 tome needed for IPS)
Con 12 (06)
Int 12 (04)
Wis 13 (05)
Cha 11 (03)
Ending stats:
Str 14 base + 2 tome + 6 item +2 rage + 4 defensive stance + 2 fighter enhance= 30
Dex 17 base + 2 tome + 6 item + 2 elven enhance + 5 level = 32 (no exceptionals etc)
Con 12 base + 6 item + 2 tome = 20 (no stance bonus/rage etc counted)
Int 12 base + 2 = 14 (4 skill points per fighter level)
Wis 13 base + 1 monk enhancement + 2 tome + 6 item = 22
Cha 11 base + 6 item + 1 tome (Eventually +3) = 18
You get a total of 19 feats...allowing you to grab both the stalwart defender PRE and Arcane archer PRE, weapon specialization Ranged (greater weapon spec as well), Manyshot and Improved precise shot, bow strength, shield mastery and improved shield mastery all on one build.
Breaking down the feats quickly it's something like this:
Weapon focus ranged
weapon spec ranged
greater weapn spec ranged
PBS
rapid shot
Many shot
Precise shot
Bow Strength
Improved precise shot
shield mastery
improved shield mastery
toughness
With 7 feats left over.
Options would be:
Combat expertese, Dodge, SF UMD, SF intimidate,improved crit ranged, lightning reflexes,quick draw (allows better use of returning throwing hammers + better use of boosts), power attack + THF line (used with Falchion), Power attack and GTWF (used with H2H).
The build works both solo and in a party. Solo you use your ranged combat pretty much 100% of the time, with Stalwart defender stance going through manyshot (for the +4 strength etc) and until enemies get close, then kiting for the rest if possible or switching to S&B if not.
In a party you shine the most though because you take advantage of an AA's ability to grab a huge amount of aggro right off the bat with ranged attacks. You do almost as much damage as a fully maxed out AA damage wise (between specialization bonuses, defensive stance bonus to strength, fighter strength enhancement etc). Use manyshot to get a huge amount of aggro and IPS to thrash the heck out of a ton of enemies at once. In fact if enough room is available kite all the enemies back to your group that stands back a ways (run up to the room and start shooting with manyshot and them move back while hitting the last enemy in the line that is following you till you get to your party). Once the enemies get close enough switch to S&B and drop into defensive stance. You should have full aggro at that point and if anything does break aggro you have intimidate as backup.
Three skills are important for this build and a 4th is nice.
The important skills are:
Jump (class skill)
Intimidate (class skill)
UMD (cross skill but only 1 point can be invested)
I suggest pumping spot with your last point as it's nice to have for a ranged character.
For your monk levels max balance (Take monk at level 1)
Feel free to sacrifice jump a bit to pump spot up more. Jump can be boosted easily with spells.
UMD will get fairly high although it will take along time. If you take SF UMD I believe you hit UMD 36. 11 base + 5 cha (2 tome + 3 exceptional cha) + 6 shroud + 2 HoGF + 5 gloves + 3 SF UMD + 4 GH = 36
Higher is possible by using things like a +4 cha tome or short term potions etc. With the above you could us a GH scroll with a bit over 50% chance (32 base UMD without GH) and then have an 80% chance while GH is active to use heal scrolls (only 15% less then max). If you grab a +4 cha tome or if you sacrifice 2 wisdom to boost cha up to 13 base you could end up with a 5% chance like everyone else.
AC while turtled up (not using a bow) will be quite high and DR while turtled up will be excellent as well between all the bonuses even when not using a tower shield (you lose a ton of AC if you switch to a tower shield).
Bonus AC between dex and wisdom is 17 I think and even with stalwart bonuses and tower shield mastery there is no way to getting even close to that number.
Meanwhile AC hits something like:
10 base
8 dodge (Icy/Ring/Feat)
4 dodge (DS)
11 dexterity (without exceptional)
6 wisdom (+2 tome only, no exceptional)
4 insight
4-5 protection (depending on item)
3 barkskin
7 armor
5 CE
3 SD bonus
7 shield
=73 ac with no alchemical bonus.
76 ac while blocking due to DS bonus.
Boosts solo of up to 80 or so are possible and the base can be increased by using alchemical bonuses as well. In a party AC should be able to hit around 90 or so, while still having evasion. No spell bonuses from haste etc are factored in above. Monk AC bonus is not added as you won't be centered with a shield equipped.
Meanwhile DR will be quite nice even when not blocking. 6/- DR base just from having the shield equipped.
Saves should be pretty decent as well. Monk helps pump those saves up making fort actually higher base then a pure fighter and reflex/will not that bad base. Add in a quite nice dex for a very decent reflex save and possibly taking lightning reflexes for a bit more (along with GH even solo and VoTM or HoGF for a bit more) and saves should not be a problem. Reflex save should be 8 base + 11 dex + 5 item + 4 GH + 2 luck + 2 LR = 32 and 35 while in defensive stance.
As far as damage.....you can do a ton of it but only for short bursts which f its perfectly with this build.
While in manyshot you have full AA bonus with slayer arrows and full BAB. You can use fighter haste boost right before to maximize damage output. Each arrow will have +10 damage from strength and + 4 damage from weapon specialization. With a +5 base bonus before any elemental additions your minimum arrow damage per shot will be 21...with 4 arrows at a time thats a minimum of 84 damage per attack. Even versus a single target that DPS during manyshot will be quite nice. Even when manyshot is finished if you hit 2 more more targets your dps will compete well with other characters...and of course you'll be hitting them from range (or you'd be in shield mode instead).
The character should be very versatile with high saves, evasion, decent UMD (just a few more points would make it perfect) excellent defenses, great intimidate and self healing.
You might want to drop wisdom and boost cha a bit more to help with the UMD situation. You need a 17 dex to get IPS (without having to wait for a +3 tome) and dropping strength anymore would hurt too much. You can't drop int more then 1 point and still get combat reflexes so that's pointless and you certainly can't drop con anymore (as it is a 12 con is this builds largest weakness in my opinion). Dropping wisdom hurts your will saves and drops your AC by 1 point which may be worth it for a 5% better chance of having your heal scrolls go off (and having your GH scroll go off initially as well if not in a party).
You can easily get SD at level 6 and AA at level 8. I suggest something like this:
Level 1 Monk Toughness
Level 2 fighter power attack (switched out later)
level 3 fighter PBS/Rapid shot
level 4 monk Feat CE (use +1 int tome before leveling)
level 5 fighter
level 6 fighter Manyshot & dodge (grab SD)
Level 8 Feats weapon spec ranged & bow strength (grab AA)
lvl 10 shield mastery & precise shot
lvl 12 Improved precise shot & improved shield mastery
lvl 14 greater weapon spec ranged, SF UMD (should be high enough to matter now)
Level 8 is when ranged damage starts to shine. You might want to ditch CE early on (it's not really useful till later anyway) and grab dodge instead...which lets you get bow strength at level 6 in combo with manyshot. That will make your ranged attacks still slightly useful from 6-8 when you get AA. Also can let you wait till you get a +2 int tome and skip using a +1 int tome that way.
End result is a very versatile character that can deal good damage vs individual enemies and great damage vs groups, has excellent saves, evasion and extreme AC and DR.