harper: How effectiv eis INT to hit and damage

[skaught78]

I just TRd into an arti, went with a traditional build by having a high DEX for my ranged damage. I'm wondering if it would be effective to just skip DEX and boost the heck out of INT and take the harper enhancements that allow INT for to hit and damage?
Also wondering if anyone has had success with a melee arti? I thought about LRing into one.

[HGM-Chi]

It's very effective, yes. Especially with the KtA thrown in. You want your dex high enough to still get the epic level combat archery feat though (21). But everything else in int.

[skaught78]

Whats Kta?

[Dandonk]

Whats Kta?

Know the Angles: Activation cost: [45/30/15] spell points. Cooldown: 20 seconds. Antirequisite: Divine Might. You gain an Insight bonus to damage and the DC of tactical feats equal to 1/2 of your Intelligence modifier for [30/60/120] seconds.

It's tier two in the harper tree.

[losvtranse]

Is it good for swashbuckler?

[Saekee]

I just TRd into an arti, went with a traditional build by having a high DEX for my ranged damage. I'm wondering if it would be effective to just skip DEX and boost the heck out of INT and take the harper enhancements that allow INT for to hit and damage?
Also wondering if anyone has had success with a melee arti? I thought about LRing into one.

dex is only for qualifying for feats as per HGM below; it is not for damage. It is also 'to hit' but if you take Strategic Combat from harper you get int to hit (the arti spell does INT to damage so you can buff just one ability, especially with insightful reflexes).

It's very effective, yes. Especially with the KtA thrown in. You want your dex high enough to still get the epic level combat archery feat though (21). But everything else in int.

KtA is very powerful for builds without access to Divine Might so yes, take it--it adds to your base damage pre-crit

[Saekee]

Is it good for swashbuckler?

yes. Probably a fun flavor arti would splash swashbuckling with a rune arm.

[CThruTheEgo]

I just TRd into an arti, went with a traditional build by having a high DEX for my ranged damage. I'm wondering if it would be effective to just skip DEX and boost the heck out of INT and take the harper enhancements that allow INT for to hit and damage?

Crossbows inherently do not apply any stat to their damage. Dex only affects to hit with them, not damage. The artificer spell insightful damage allows you to apply your int to damage on your weapon. This also saves you the AP you'd spend on int to damage from harper. The tier 1 harper enhancement, strategic combat I, allows you to apply int to hit. Insightful reflexes allows you to use your int for reflex saves instead of dex. Use these three together and ignore dex other than the 21 base (starting, tomes, and level ups only) required for combat archery.

You can also use the artificer insightful strikes spell to use int for to hit and the harper tier 3 enhancement, strategic combat II, to use int for damage, but the above is a better setup.