Drow Repeater Arty

[Twidger]

I've already got a WF and Human artificer, so please don't suggest a race change. =)

Now, I've had Drow for a while, and haven't found anything particularly good to do with them. It occurred to me that, at least as regards stats, Drow and Artificer are a good fit. Since artificers have quite a few feats, it's not too hard to make up for the HP deficit, either. So, here's what I'm thinking. Any suggestions, advice, criticism welcome.

Starting as a level 7 veteran:

STR 10
DEX 18
CON 12
INT 18
WIS 8
CHA 10

Went 10 STR b/c I find 8 STR really annoying when it comes to carrying capacity, even with Bull's on.

I have one tome handy at the moment, a +1 DEX, so that gets me to 19 for IPS. I'll use found tomes for boosting stats as they come, rather than buying them from the store, so not counting on any others in planning.

With my primary two stats being Drow favored, and the CHA not being a waste with UMD, at least in this area, Drow's a pretty good bargain.

Feats:

1) Toughness
3) Augment Summoning
4a) Point Blank Shot
6) Rapid Shot
8a) Maximize
9) Skill Focus: UMD --> Swap for Toughness when UMD higher
12) Improved Crit: Ranged
12a) Precise Shot
15) Toughness
16a) Improved Precise Shot
18) Toughness
20a) Empower

I considered Spell Focus: Evocation Feats for the Runearm, but if I use a Lucid Dreams at end game, it's a Will save, so it doesn't seem too important. I've read that it doesn't do much for Blade Barrier on an arty. So, if that assessment's correct, it frees up two slots.

Squishy?

According to the character planner, the base health with the Toughness feats (not counting the swap in later for UMD) would be:

226 base

Then add in attainable items:

20 toughness item
20 2x toughness enhancements
30 G False Life
60 +6 CON item
20 G. Heroism
20 False Life wand or clickie (I've read this stacks with item false life)
20 Rage Pot
--------
416
22 Feat Swap at w/e level
-------
438

Then harder to get stuff, that might take a while:

438
45 Greensteel
20 +2 Exc. CON item
10 Bump up to 40 pt False Life item
20 +2 CON tome
------
533

So, IF my math and stacking assumptions are right, that doesn't seem too bad.

Enhancements not listed since they're easily changed and I'm more concerned about feat choices. Plus, there are several good discussions regarding enhancements going on already.

[BlackSteel]

stats on drow are great for an arti. The bad thing about drow is that their enhancements suck ballz compared to other races, or the instant self healing of a WF

[Twidger]

stats on drow are great for an arti. The bad thing about drow is that their enhancements suck ballz compared to other races, or the instant self healing of a WF

Well, Arty has lots of enhancements to eat up AP, so maybe not too bad. Plus, enhancement overhaul on the horizon.

[smeggy1384]

Drop the dex by 1 point, remember at 1750 favor you get a bind to char tome.. if you get dex tome those build points can go elsewhere. You'll probably want both max and empower before 20, so bump a toughness to last feat if you really need so many.

Quick Draw would be a good one too i hear, supposed to speed up weapon switching and action boost things (fusilade for example).

[MrCow]

Quick Draw would be a good one too i hear, supposed to speed up weapon switching and action boost things (fusilade for example).

Since the change to crossbows (that came with Artificers) Quick Draw doesn't help Artificers quite as much as other classes. The crossbow is not subject waiting for the global cooldown to expire (that is triggered by action boosts, spell casting, and weapon switching), so it can be used seamlessly with most actions without needing Quick Draw.

[Twidger]

Drop the dex by 1 point, remember at 1750 favor you get a bind to char tome.. if you get dex tome those build points can go elsewhere. You'll probably want both max and empower before 20, so bump a toughness to last feat if you really need so many.

Quick Draw would be a good one too i hear, supposed to speed up weapon switching and action boost things (fusilade for example).

I've already got a +1 Tome, so I can use that without waiting for the 1750 favor. I'm pretty sure I'll hit 15 for IPS way before I hit 1750 favor for the free tome, and I'd rather use that one on INT anyway. The two pts saved on DEX really wouldn't be a huge boost elsewhere. I could go 13 CON, but doesn't really seem necessary. I could drop 2 STR to go to 14 CON, but 8 STR is annoying while leveling and 12 vs 14 CON isn't a huge difference.

I'd take Empower before 20, but I can't put a Toughness in the lvl 20 slot since it's not an artificer bonus feat. For the most part, I laid out the feats based on getting in all of the crossbow feats as early as I could (except picking up precise shot right before improved precise shot since it's not much use until then) and getting in maximize before Blade Barrier.

I could drop the level 15 Toughness for Empower, but that begs the question of what to slot in the level 20 bonus slot. The likely candidates are a Metamagic, Shot on the Run or WF: Ranged. I'm not sure how useful the other Metamagics are for artificer, and Shot on the Run and WF: Ranged probably aren't needed if I keep DP running with clickies, which should be easier on an artificer.

[Ytteri]

Well quick draw could still be pretty good if he's going to be swapping in scrolls or wands alot mid-combat, and since he's a fleshy he probably will be doing that with heal scrolls. Not entirely sure if that's worth the feat slot.

[Twidger]

Well quick draw could still be pretty good if he's going to be swapping in scrolls or wands alot mid-combat, and since he's a fleshy he probably will be doing that with heal scrolls. Not entirely sure if that's worth the feat slot.

Yeah, I was wondering about that. I can always ditch a Toughness for it. I'll definitely be heal scrolling, and wanding before that.