34pt Arcane Archer

[Dodoroq]

After having seen my homeland in Forgotten Realms again, I feel the urge to subject to a mighty artifact I hold in my possessions. They warned me its usage will kill me, but if all I heard is true, I will be reborn... and return even stronger to foil Llolths plans.

Even though the pure spellsinger bard build was efficient in a lots of ways, and really fun to play, I feel it is time to move on. I have managed to farm a lot of not-easily obtainable gear of all sorts and have really nothing else to do on this life. Not to seem to be overly content about the build, there were flaws in it... a lot of them to tell the truth. I will try to avoid them next time. The worst flaws to get rid of for next life were the lack of any reasonable ranged damage output, poor choice of weapons that could be used (I used Charisma modifier to attack and damage) and too low strength to reliably use SF pots (drinking one made me encumbered with slowed movement, not a nice thing in stress condition!).

The next move will be an arcane archer bard. I love elves. I really do. And with the addition of Epic Destinies and simpler availability of higher level tomes, the major reason of why not to select elf, the con penalty, is pretty much obsolete. There should be no problems getting close to 700 hp at cap without HP-boosting ED, and this is the amount which is pretty sufficient on a self-healing ranged DPSer.

Tirain Hawksong, True Neutral Elven Spellsinger 16/Ranger 3/Wizard 1
Stats (34-pts build)
STR 41 = 16 (base) + 6 (level-ups) + 2 (tome) + 2 (ship buff) + 1 (litany) + 7 (item) + 2 (insightful) + 2 (rage) + 2 (inspire excellence) + 1 (Fatesinger ED)
DEX 37 = 17 (base) + 3 (tome) + 2 (enhancements) + 2 (ship buff) + 1 (litany) + 7 (item) + 2 (insightful) + 2 (inspire excellence) + 1 (Fatesinger ED)
CON 34 = 14 (base) + 3 (tome) + 2 (ship buff) + 1 (litany) + 7 (item) + 2 (insightful) + 2 (rage) + 2 (inspire excellence) + 1 (Fatesinger ED)
INT 25 = 10 (base) + 3 (tome) + 2 (ship buff) + 1 (litany) + 6 (item) + 2 (inspire excellence) + 1 (Fatesinger ED)
WIS 24 = 8 (base) + 2 (tome) + 2 (ship buff) + 1 (litany) + 6 (item) + 2 (insightful) + 2 (inspire excellence) + 1 (Fatesinger ED)
CHA 32 = 12 (base) + 3 (tome) + 1 (enhancements) + 2 (ship buff) + 1 (litany) + 7 (item) + 3 (exceptional) + 2 (inspire excellence) + 1 (Fatesinger ED)
Please note some numbers are odd - the item setup counts with just the items and tomes I have available right now. With U17 a lot of new things will appear and it will be easier to get +8 stat/+3 insightful stat to get a point or two higher here and there... also counts only with tomes I have currently available.
For 32-pts build, drop Intelligence by 2, Move Silently is really NOT that important.

Feats and levelling:
Leveling order: BRBBBBRBWBBBBBRBBBBB
1: Point Blank Shot
2: Bow Strength (Ranger bonus)
3: Weapon Focus: Ranged
6: Maximize Spell
7: Rapid Shot (Ranger Bonus), Two Weapon Fighting (Ranger Bonus)
9: Manyshot, Extend Spell (Wizard Bonus)
12: Improved Critical: Ranged
15: Quicken Spell
18: Toughness
21: Inspire Excellence
24: Combat Archery (if I lay down my hands on +4 Dex tome by that time)

Skills:
23 ranks of Balance, Concentration, Haggle, Move Silently, Perform and Use Magic Device;
1 rank of Tumble
8 ranks in Hide
UMD is above 50 total, enough for everything important. Perform caps at approx. 70, Haggle on 62 without item switch (possible to get it to 72 with item switch easilly)

Enhancements:
Arcane Archer Conjure Arrows IV
Arcane Archer Imbue Arrows VI
Bard Charisma I
Bard Energy of the Music III
Bard Extra Song I
Bard Inspired Attack II
Bard Inspired Damage III
Bard Lingering Song III
Bard Lyric of Song II
Bard Song Magic III
Bard Spellsinger II
Bard Wand and Scroll Mastery III
Elf: Arcane Archer
Elven Dexterity I
Elven Arcanum III
Improved Concentration II
Racial Toughness II
Ranger Dexterity I
Ranger Skill Boost I
Ranger Sprint Boost I
Wizard Ice Manipulation I (for augmenting twisted Sorc ED bursts)

HP breakthrough:
681 = 20 (base) + 96 (bard) + 4 (wizard) + 24 (ranger) + 325 (constitution) + 27 (toughness feat) + 20 (toughness enhancements) + 40 (superior false life on Cove hat) + 20 (toughness item) + 10 (argo favor) + 45 (GS item) + 50 (epic levels)

SP:
Over 1600, with 10% discount on spell costs, SP replenishment, Torc + ConOp.

Saves:
Fort 40, Will 39, Reflex 46.
Other defenses are DR 10/Good, Displacement, Ghostly, Dodge 13%, AC around 60

Saves:
Healing Amplification: 171.6%

I won't post all of the items for the build as it will use a lot of swaps, suffice to say I have acquired everything important for the build (GS HP item, GS SP Con-Op item, Torc, Red dragonhide, Pinion, quite a few epic things, Litany of the Dead, Upgraded Quiver of Alacrity, ...).

Now... what do you think? Any suggestions? Any input is welcome!

[karl_k0ch]

I'd seriously consider Precise Shot and Improved Precise shot.

Dropping to 15 bard/4ranger/1 wiz will weaken the 'bard' part, but give Precise Shot as a free feat, as well as Ram's Might as a buff for both melee and ranged damage.


Combat Archery is currently broken:

Unfortunately, Improved Martial Arts, Dance of Flowers, and Combat Archery don't boost the weapon dice multiplier for bows. We are aware of this issue, and I apologize for the inconvenience. I know it seriously affects you, particularly if you have a moncher toon.

[Dodoroq]

Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming.
Yes, I have seriously considered that, but if I will go with Precise Shot, I want IPS too. The other option was classical Bard 16/Ftr 2/Rng 2, which has 1 feat more available, and there getting both PS and IPS was doable with the sacrifice of either Quicken (need it for emergency heals) or Combat Archery (might be a way). I am conscient of the non-functional feat at the moment, although it will take few months till I get back to 24 to take it. A lot of things might happen in the meantime.
Dropping below lvl 16 in bard was not that tempting either - on the current build I am able to do raid healing pretty consistently, but dropping to bard 15 gets me out of lvl6 spells and that means just Cure Light: Mass as a means for that. Having just one mass spell is too few - by being able to circle two of these, I am able to make up for the lack of mass heal. I would like to keep the same capabilities as before (raid healing, single target CC through irresistible dance) and add some more.

Anyway, it is still food for thought and still few days before I TR. Anything might change during that time.

[junta74]

You don't seem to be getting that much from the third Ranger level.

[Dodoroq]

Yes, basically its nothing from it, however it is also nothing from the other options.

Ranger and Bard are equal on skillpoints, wizard is 4 skillpoints back.
Ranger and Wizard brings +1 will, Bard gets nothing.
Bard brings 34 more SP, Wizard 32 more SP and ranger nothing.
Ranger brings 8, Bard 6 and Wizard 4 HP.

In this all it is more like equal, so it stays whether I should be interested more in +1 Wizard caster level (bumping me from 9 to 10, so not enough for anything important), +1 6th lvl Bard spell (which is not overly useful, as my DCs are far from stellar, its scrollable Heroes Feast) or Diehard feat.

If only I could take that level from yet another class...

[unbongwah]

The other option was classical Bard 16/Ftr 2/Rng 2, which has 1 feat more available, and there getting both PS and IPS was doable with the sacrifice of either Quicken (need it for emergency heals) or Combat Archery (might be a way).

Perhaps I missed it: what's the rationale behind wiz instead of ftr splash? On my bard 16 / rgr 2 / ftr 2 SS build, I squeezed in PBS, Toughness, WF:R, Max (SS pre-req), Manyshot (ftr 1), IC:R (ftr 2), Prec Shot, IPS, Quiken (or Precision), Inspire Excellence, with final epic slot open for Combat Archery or another meta.

[Dodoroq]

You are probably right - the rationing was the difference of 22 HP, feat and Haste boost compared to 260 SP, 3 Spell Penetration and self-buffing ability of CL9 wizzy spells (jump, resists, shield). Seriously, when I compared these two variants, the thing I was missing the most would be the Haste boost from the fighter variant, while at the last life I struggled the most with inventory space (resist pots) and lack of SP.

Right now I'm lvl6, so possibly lvl9 might still go to Ftr. Not that I would meet anything I wouldn't been able to handle so far on mostly-solo Elite streak - that will come up in Sands for the first time, and by return, its little bit late for the decission.

[jskinner937]

Personally I would go 16SS/2ranger/2rogue

Hard to pass up evasion and +SA dmg. :P
Wisps hurt bad on EE without evasion.

[Dodoroq]

Didn't had problems with the EE wisps last life without Evasion, not with the 800-odd HP I had at that time.

However, I'm starting to plan for third life, even if I have not finished the second life yet, and you are true about the evasion. I really like how the build goes so far - I have changed mind in the middle of the process for this one, going Bard/Ranger/Fighter 16/2/2, and right now I'm lvl 9.
The ranged pew-pew power starts to be nice, and I am still missing IC:ranged, PS and IPS, so I guess that when I am getting the first numbers of around 35 and crits of cca 110 at lvl9, I should be good at the endgame with nicer bows like Pinion (expecting cca 80 dmg a hit, around 250-300 a hit on crits (threat range 17-20, Seeker +15 making it auto-confirm), plus Manyshot and AA imbue...). I wonder what Bow of Sinew will do with the numbers in few levels...

Once the thoughts on a final TR for Tirain will be somewhat rounded, I will post a build for discussion and criticism.