Bazzdar's page

Cheapy wrote:

I can't speak for him, but I can easily imagine him trying to make the game interesting for all characters. When one character is cleaning up everything, suddenly everyone else is bored.

Well if the problem is my other players are texting and talking about sports during the big fight, because this guy kills everything - that is one thing.

But if the problem is- he chased off my black dragon in 1 round, and he killed my paladin in one round. And I was trying to present a good challenge and failed. Well, that's another problem entirely.

Some other character is hasting this guy in almost every important fight. That player made the decision that instead of doing something to directly effect the enemy, he is buffing his party members.

Is that guy sitting there thinking, "Damn, there he goes killing everything again, why do I even bother showing up?" or does he think, "We kick ass, when I buff up our Arcane Archer, he tears s**t up."

Depending on what the other party members are doing, that spell actually might do more damage than the AA would by himself. The DPR on extra attacks is amazing!

The real problem isn't- this AA can do 200 points of damage, in a single round. So I'd like to know what the real problem is, so I can give him good advice, because I've been in that situation before and it sucks.

The real problem is epic CR should last more than 2-3 rounds with party taking damage < 1/10 total hits or am I wrong? And if I am right then the problem must be me because I went over his sheet and there was no discrepency with the rules.

Doh! That little bugger. I thought I had him for second. Ranger focus gives +2 plus an additional +2 at 5th 10th and so on. He is 5th lvl ranger so his +4 to hit and damage is legit.

Does anyone know where I can find the rules for fireing arrows under water? mwaahahaha!

edit: found it. -2 per 5 feet of water.. excellent >:)

tnx for the input!

I am going to try some elder air elemetals. Does that whirlwind form have any physical immunities? Also thinking about throwing a group of scrubbs with a hidden glabrezu amoungst them. SUPRISE!!

Also I forgot to add his +4 to all attack and damage rolls against a single target from his ranger archtype (APG) into the equation:
that brings him to 18x2/18/13 unbuffed and 20x2/20/15/20 at 4d6+16/arrow fully buffed.. brutal.

I was wondering if ranger focus only increases per his ranger level and not his class level. It just says level so I'm sure he would argue with me over it. If it IS ranger level can someone point to where that is made clear? I havn't found it.

Bazzdar

ok here we go..

elf - ranger 5, wiz 2, AA 4 (they are 11th now)

str:16 dex:21 con:14(16) int:16 wis:13(15) cha:12

feats: point blank shot, precise shot, weapon focus:longbow, deadly aim, rapid shot, many shot, stabbing shot (APG, this is the "trick" he was hiding from me).

abilities: ranger focus +4 (APG), track, wild empathy, arcane bond, scribe scroll, specialization:conjuration[teleportation school (APG)] (opposed by necromancy and enchantment), enhance arrow, imbue arrow, endurance, favored terrain:jungle, terrain bond:jungle, seeker, chameleon step, and shift ??? (can't read it)

traits: magical knack +2 wiz caster level, warrior of old +2 init

spells: 1st- grease, obscuring mist, shield, detect secret doors, mount, silent image, expeditious retreat, color spray, burning hands, alarm, gravity bow, and ??? ?trick or track? (can't read)

2nd- web, darkness, knock, summon swarm, locate object, cat's grace, bull's strength, pyrotechnics, ?arrow eruption?, create pit, protection from energy, see invisibility

3rd- spiked pit, stinking cloud, fireball

gear: boots of levitation, snipers eye (custom item gives distance, +1 hit, and increases crit range by 1), cloak of arachnidia, belt of +2 con, efficient quiver, ioun stone +2 wis, golem bane scarab, ring of protection +2, ring of force shield +2, amulet of natural armor +3, robe of blending, ring of evasion (swapping).

weapon: +3 compound long bow (str:20) of icy burst.

so a regular round of shots would go: (assume he is outside 30ft)
BA:10/5 + 5(dex) + 1(weapon focus) + 3(enhancement) - 2(composite penalty) -2(deadly aim) -2(rapid shot) + 1(sniper eye) = 14x2/14/9
damage:1d8 + 3(enhancement) + 3(composite bonus) +4(deadly aim) + 1d6(icy burst) + 1d6(additional element) = 1d8+2d6+10/arrow

and on a typical second round into combat like this:
w/ haste, bull's str, gravity bow: 16x2/16/11/16; 4d6+12/arrow

that's 4 shots, 5 arrows at 4d6+12 each without having to close distance. and x3 on a crit means gg boss.

According to the core rules an epic fight is a APL+3 CR. I've been sending top end epic battles at them for a while. Should I go beyond that? What if something unforeseen shuts him down and the rest of the party is left with a APL+4 or 5 CR. I don't want them all to die. :P

I read that the parties items can add to the CR but it was kind of vague. Is the CR system crap or am I just a bad gm because they destroy epic CR so fast? I've tried lots of stuff like acidic terrain, ambush holes, confinement near deadly drops, pouring rain with spider climbing casters, ambush in the dark, grappling orcish vampire spawn, range behind cover, overwhelming numbers, invisibility, and flyby attacks but nothing seems to hold up. Do other gms typically pass epic CR's on a regular basis to keep up with their players?

tnx Bazzdar

he cast grav bow but that's it. The other buffs come from another player. And honestly he was still doing over 100 damage per round unbuffed. He said the buffs are just icing on the cake. Bull str gives him +2 to hit and +2 dam per arrow. haste of course is extra attack.

He uses the 5ft step, 5ft teleport, full attack trick to avoid attacks of op. I will add some creatures with reach to negate that but hopfully they have ranged or are in a tight cave or he will just levitate away and keep firing.

ok he took ranger instead of fighter but he used a ranger template from the APG which let him give up some stuff for the ability to make any single target his hunter focus 3/day. This gives him a +4 to hit that target. He definately has manyshot and rapid shot. He gets hasted and bull str which brings him to a 20 str which is the str of the composite long bow (but he says the buffs are not what make him kick ass). he uses gravity bow a lot. His weapon is +3 Icy burst and he adds flaming to that via his AA class. He crits on 19-20.

He also has boots of levitation and uses a wizard teleport 5ft + 5ft step trick to move out of full attack range and still get his full attacks. I should mention there is also a 2h PA barb and a duel wield dps fighter wich do significant damage. They seem fine because they have to engage the enemies befor they start dealing damage. The main annoyance with the archer is he gets his full attacks every single round at hundereds of feet away. He can shoot through cover with feats and abilities. He can shoot flying enemies. He can basically kill everyone in the world. On top of that he tells me he has even another trick that he hasn't shown yet.

He killed my fire giant in the first round. He almost killed (forced retreat) my adult black dragon in one round. He killed a lvl 9 paly in one round (evil campaign). What should I do to balance this out. The big bosses get one round (hopefully) to do somthing before they splat. I could negate him completely (wind walls, paralyze, etc.) but that would get old (sucks to do nothing all fight).

tnx

help! I am running my first campaign and don't have time to pour over all the rules (and keep them in my head) while taking 16 college credits. One of my players (arcane archer) did almost 200 damage in one round at level 10. Is this possible and if so should it be? I haven't had a chance to look over his character (bad me) but I will soon. I know he has a +3 composite bow of icy burst with a 20 str requirement, but his str is only 16 so he has a -2 to hit. He is using feats and spells from the APG which I don't have ready access to. Sorry if this isn't enough info, I am just afraid the other players will start to feel left out or I will end up overpowering the party in an attempt to compensate.

tnx

In other words, can I hit a foe with a stored touch spell and my bloodline ability at the same time?

The rules state that a held charge dissipates if I cast a spell, but grave touch is a "bloodline power". I'm not even sure if it is a spell-like ability. In the description above it is refered to as a "special ability". Is there a reference that can clean this up for me? Thanks