Design Manager
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I was sitting down to work on a character that was originally going to be a Zen Archer, but after looking over the Sohei a little more closely, it actually seemed like a better choice since we will be starting this campaign at 7th level. One of my main questions was: A Zen Archer specifically cannot use Rapid Shot in conjunction with Flurry of Blows, but the Sohei does not appear to have any such restriction. Can the Sohei Rapid Shot and Flurry together?
Knowing this makes a pretty large difference between which archetype fits best, and it will affect where I distribute my stats and what feat chains I take.
Well, you can't use a longbow to do a flurry of blows when a sohei...
But I suppose you could flurry + rapid shot if you were using shuriken?
Sohei can flurry with a bow at level 6. From what i have read i think for damage the soehei at higher levels might pull ahead of the Zen archer. But the Zen archer can be much more Mono-stat oriented and has alot of other 'tricky' stuff the Sohei doesnt hav elike firing around corners.
Have they fixed the whole 'flurrying = TWF so no flurry with bows' thing? If not, I'd say neither and go archer fighter. Or just straight fighter, archery is feat-heavy.
Sohei can flurry with a bow at level 6. From what i have read i think for damage the soehei at higher levels might pull ahead of the Zen archer. But the Zen archer can be much more Mono-stat oriented and has alot of other 'tricky' stuff the Sohei doesnt hav elike firing around corners.
Oh, wow. Reading comprehension. Sorry. >_>;
Still, my personal preference is the Zen Archer Monk. The number of archery related abilities is amazing and having your to hit based on wisdom rocks. ...but if a Sohei can flurry and use rapid shot, that does seem viable. (Looks like it should work)
Have they fixed the whole 'flurrying = TWF so no flurry with bows' thing? If not, I'd say neither and go archer fighter. Or just straight fighter, archery is feat-heavy.
Zen Archer Monk laughs when you say archery is feat heavy. :3
as far as a homegame goes. there isnt anything to fix. Everone understands the intent of how Sohei and Zen archer were supposed to work. Outside of PFS this means nothing has changed.
for PFS i havent a clue. but the intent of the Archetype being able to flurry with specific weapons like bows crossbows or polearms is clear.
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Design Manager
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I was sitting down to work on a character that was originally going to be a Zen Archer, but after looking over the Sohei a little more closely, it actually seemed like a better choice since we will be starting this campaign at 7th level.What are you looking for the character to do?
What is the rest of the party composition (i.e. roles, etc)?
What generation/options do you have?
-James
The party is going to consist of a magus, witch with a healing archetype, shapechanger ranger/rogue, and an undine bard with the watersinger archetype. I was thinking since this is going to be a massive 5 level dungeon run, I should cover range and damage, I'm just not sure if the small increase in damage with the Sohei is going to be better than the Zen Archer tricks.
James, why does Zen Archer shine at those levels? Past 6 is about when I start considering Empyreal Sorc-> Arcane Archer
My favorite, speaking of that, is the Empyreal Sorcerer/Zen Archer combo, possibly sliding into Arcane Archer. There's a lot of synergy with Empyreal Sorcerer (but take things that up your caster level!).
Hmm slightly worried that sohei can use gloves of dueling like fighters. :)
A bit of a biased source, but better thought out than I'd be...
What about sohei archer monks? At the time of writing, a sohei archer can take Rapid Shot and Manyshot and use them on a bow flurry. He also gets a slowtrack Weapon Training progression. With gloves of duelling the training nets him +5 bow attack and damage at 18th level.Punchy perks, pal, but at what price? The sohei gets six monastic bonus feats, of which five can be invested in mounted combat...not a field that lends itself terribly well to bowmanship. Meanwhile, the zen archer gets ten bonus feats, of which nine can and should be invested in archery. None of the zen’s archery bonus feats require prerequisites. Some are fighter-only, some are available before a fighter would get them, and one (Perfect Strike archery) is only available to the enlightened. An embarrassment of riches in the feat department is one of the zen archer’s great strengths. The sohei archer lacks this pleasant embarrassment. He still has his ten normal feat slots, of course (11 if human), but archery is feat intensive, and the zen archer gets free rein with his own open slots elsewhere - for example, he can put a few more in archery and a good number in defense, which is what makes him such a bastion.
+5 attack and damage at 18th level just about makes up for this disparity - but bonus bow feats aren’t all a zen archer gets. He has four archery-related ki powers the sohei never receives (expanded range, unarmed damage, total concealment, total cover). He gets Reflexive Shot (which is essentially another free feat, Snap Shot), Zen Archery, and eventually Ki Focus Bow, which allows stunning arrows and much else besides. The sohei archer is hot, but he’s not zen hot.
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