Does this build actually work?

[crushtron]

I was looking at making a Ranger Trapper, and I really like how the inquisitive works. I am sure someone has answered this before. Does Arcane Archer work with Crossbows? If so, did I build this right to 20? It should do Acid, Fire, Law, and Sneak attack with the boltsin a party if it does work this way.

New Build
18/2 Ranger/Rogue
True Neutral Tiefling


Level Order

1. Rogue . . . . . 6. Ranger. . . . .11. Ranger. . . . .16. Ranger
2. Rogue . . . . . 7. Ranger. . . . .12. Ranger. . . . .17. Ranger
3. Ranger . . . . .8. Ranger . . . . 13. Ranger . . . . 18. Ranger
4. Ranger . . . . .9. Ranger . . . . 14. Ranger . . . . 19. Ranger
5. Ranger . . . . 10. Ranger . . . . 15. Ranger . . . . 20. Ranger


Stats
. . . . . . . .36pt . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . --------
Strength. . . . 12. . . .4: DEX
Dexterity . . . 18. . . .8: DEX
Constitution. . 16. . . 12: DEX
Intelligence. . 14. . . 16: DEX
Wisdom. . . . . .8. . . 20: DEX
Charisma. . . . 10. . .


Skills
. . . . .Rg Rg Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn
. . . . . 1 .2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Heal. . . . . . 4. 3. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Disable . 4 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Search. . 4 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Spot. . . 4 .1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Listen. . 4 .1. . . . 2. 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Jump. . . 4 .1. . . . . . . 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 19
Concent . . . . . .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .17
Balance . 4 .1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Hide. . . 4 .1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Move Si . 4 .1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Swim. . . 4 .1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
UMD . . . 4 .1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .40 10 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8


Feats

.1. . . . : Point Blank Shot
.3. . . . : Rapid Reload
.6. . . . : Dodge
.9. . . . : Mobility
12. . . . : Combat Expertise
15. . . . : Shot on the Run
18. . . . : Precision

.3 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
.7 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Construct
12 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Undead
17 Ranger : Favored Enemy: Dragon


Spells

1. Jump (6), Ram's Might (8), Tumble (16), Longstrider (20)
2. Cure Light Wounds (10), Protection from Energy (12), Barkskin (18)
3. Neutralize Poison (13), Remove Disease (14)
4. Cure Serious Wounds (16), Freedom of Movement (17)

Enhancements (80 AP)

Inquisitive (33 AP)

• Inquisitive, Hit the Streets, Mind Like Iron, True Seeing, Undaunted
  1. Dual Shooter, Eye for Accuracy III, Conjure Bolts III, Law on your Side
  2. Crossbow Adept, Improved Law
  3. Crossbow Adept, Intelligence
  4. Crossbow Adept, Martial Inquisition, Greater Law, Intelligence
  5. Jaded

Arcane Archer (26 AP)

• Arcane Archer, Morphic Arrows, Metalline Arrows, Aligned Arrows
  1. True Strike III, Corrosive Arrows, Awareness III
  2. Force Arrows III, Elemental Damage
  3. Elemental Damage, Dexterity
  4. Elemental Damage

Mechanic (14 AP)

• Arbalester
  1. Sharpshooter, Mechanics III, Awareness III
  2. Sharpshooter, Skill Boost III

Tiefling (7 AP)

• Bloodhunt I, Charisma I, Bloodhunt II, Charisma II, Bloodhunt III

[Xgemina]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but AA elemental imbues don't work with crossbows.

As far as working or not, it depends on how you're playing. You can keep the same classes, and while it wouldn't be the most optimal build, you could keep it as it is and just use the Deep Wood Sniper tree for Survivalist, Thrill of the Hunt and Sniper Shot for example.

[unbongwah]

Arcane Archer imbues only works with arrows. Deepwood Stalker is a better choice for crossbow.

You need either Harper or Falconry tree to get INT or WIS to damage with this class split.

Not sure why you take Combat Expertise but not Improved Critical.

Less than 41 APs into Inquisitives is subpar but easily fixed.

[crushtron]

That is too bad thank you for the input.

[rabidfox]

It's already been mentioned that AA doesn't sync with inquisitive but as for the trapping part: Do want evasion or a rune arm more? If you're running inquisitive, the rune arm works wonders; if you're gonna go towards arcane arch, then rogue is the way to go. Dodge, mobility, shot on the run are a trait sink hole; improved crit (ranged), quicken spell (get those emergency heals off fast) will likely serve you better.

[Grailhawk]

Do want evasion or a rune arm more?

Ranger gets Evasion at Ranger level 9 they don't need to splash for it.

[rabidfox]

Ranger gets Evasion at Ranger level 9 they don't need to splash for it.

haha, I was so busy looking at the rogue splash that I didn't even think about the ranger part. Nice catch.

[C-Dog]

Does Arcane Archer work with Crossbows?

No. "Bows" and "arrows" are not crossbows and bolts.

(It was bugged and you could work around to get it to work once upon a time (even for thrown weapons!), but not for a couple years now.)

If so, did I build this right to 20?

Well, not really, no.

Besides no reason to take 2 levels of Rogue*, if you did, you'd want to spread them out to maximize the trapping skill points you get from the 2nd level.

(* Some like Fighter 1 for the extra Feat, I prefer Barb for the kiting speed. There are other options as well.)

That, plus the Feat selection and order is not optimal. Take what helps big early (Precision), save what helps small (+3% Dodge, +3 Ranged Power, etc.) for later. And Improved Crit asap - that too.

And the skills - 5 UMD, 5 Hide, 5 MS - all wasted skill points, 100% useless. As is most of that Jump - by Level 9 you'll have a +30 spell effect, and it's capped at +40 total, so... (And were you ignoring Open Lock intentionally?)

(So, ~something~ more like this... and ignoring the fact that Rangers don't need 2 levels of Rogue - just for Skill Point example...

Skills
. . . . .Rg Rn Rn Rn Rg Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn Rn
. . . . . 1 .2 .3 .4 .5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Heal. . . 2 .1 .3 .1 . . . .2 .2 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
Disable . 4 .1 . . . .3. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Search. . 4 .1 .1 .1 . . 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Spot. . . 4 .1 .1 .1 . . 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Listen. . 4 .1 .1 .1 . . 1. 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
UMD . . . 4 . . . . . 4 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .23
Open Lo . 4 . . . . . 4 . . . . . 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 20
Balance . 3 .1 .1 .2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Jump. . . 4 .1 .1 .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Haggle. . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Swim. . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Tumble. . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .40 .9 .9 .9 11 .9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

Tiefling (7 AP)

• Bloodhunt I, Charisma I, Bloodhunt II, Charisma II, Bloodhunt III

Since Charisma doesn't really feed into anything here afaict, at Level 7 (at the earliest) you're effectively paying 3 AP for 2d6-1 fire damage and +15 Fire SP - and that is damage scales w/ Spellpower on a build that doesn't have a strong reason to care about (fire) spellpower. And the next +2 AP don't make it much better. :/

Not the best return on investment.


And all things said, Inquisitive aside, you're kinda reinventing the wheel here:
o https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...=1#post5793839