Venkman's page

I'm playing a sorcerer in an upcoming adventure, and I've never played one before. We're starting at 6th level, which means I get one 3rd-level spell known. I'm pretty sure I'm going with haste; but it got me thinking: When you first get access to a given level of spells (any level, not just 3rd), what's the first spell you learn?

(Obviously, the choice will depend at least partly on your campaign, other party members, etc. So, for the sake of this discussion, just keep it generic as possible.)

I'm running a couple characters in the Serpent's Skull AP, and there's a reasonable chance that we'll be away from civilization for long enough that ammunition could become an issue. My ranger took a rank in Craft(Bows/Arrows), and has a total +6 to his check. Obviously, the big issue in the wilderness will be obtaining raw materials. The RAW seem to suggest that arrows that hit are destroyed and presumably beyond repair. But it makes sense that destroyed arrows could be scavenged for parts (certainly for the arrowhead, if nothing else.)

Basically, I want to be able to go to my GM and work out a reasonable system where I can make new arrows out of destroyed arrows (I'm only talking about regular arrows, nothing MW or magic.)

With a +6 to Craft and a +9 to Survival to forage for materials, would it be fair to say my character could automatically make, say, 5 arrows a day while adventuring? Or if not, what do you all think would be a fair way to rule it?

Yeah, the more I look at arcane archer, the more it feels like the entire class could almost be replaced by a good magic bow, so I'm inclined now to go with a straight ranger. BUT, I was thinking it might still be useful to throw in one level of wizard at some point. I'd give up a point of BAB, but I'd get +2 to will saves, a few useful spells (expeditious retreat), and the ability to use arcane wands. The Magical Knack trait could give me a +3 caster level (although now I'm kinda wanting to take MK and apply it to my ranger class, so my caster level for that is only -1 from my class level.)

I'm playing in a campaign where we're starting a new AP with 1st-level characters, hopefully playing them up through at least 10-12th level. I want to start as a ranger and ultimately take a few levels of arcane archer. My character is an elf with the following stats (all adjustments already included): Str 14, Dex 17, Wis 14, Int 14, Con 12, Cha 7. I took the Lightbringer special ability from APG, (replaces sleep immunity, save bonus vs. enchantments, and Spellcraft bonus) partly for flavor, partly because it seemed like it might be useful.

The party is 4 characters and is tentatively set to consist of me, a fighter, an oracle, and a sorcerer. My guess is that my character may get into melee a bit more at level 1-2, but he will fairly soon become a primarily ranged attacker.

My plan is to go 6 straight levels of ranger, take 1 level of wizard, then 4 levels of AA. Beyond that, I'm open to suggestions. I want to optimize my archery abilities as much as possible. Arcane spellcasting abilities I pick up will be secondary, and probably used mostly for buffing rather than fireballs.

Keep in mind that I will be playing this character out through the low levels, and my DM is not averse to killing PC's, so I need to make choices that will help right away. (e.g. I want a first-level feat that will help me noticeably at 1st level, as opposed to setting me up for something good at 4th level.)

The main thing I want advice on is feat choices. I need PBS, Precise Shot, and WF(bow) as pre-reqs for AA, so I absolutely need to get all those no later than 7th level. I'm pretty sure two of my first 3 feats will be PBS and Precise Shot (I predict I will do a lot of firing into melee.) For my 3rd feat, I'm not sure whether to go with Deadly Aim or Rapid Shot. I'm leaning toward Deadly Aim, because I can take it at first level, where I would otherwise have no ranged damage bonus due to no mighty composite bow. But I could pick up Rapid Shot as early as 2nd level...so the question becomes which is better: one shot at -1 att/+2 dam, or 2 shots at -2 att/+0 dam? For my 5th-level feat, I had penciled in WF(longbow), but I could bump that back to 7th level and use my 5th-level feat for Deadly Aim or Rapid Shot (whichever one I didn't take at the earlier levels.) As far as my 6th-level bonus feat goes, I like Manyshot for the extra attack; but it might be better to take Imp. Precise Shot because it would be so much earlier than I could otherwise get it.

So, if anyone has any thoughts, I'd be happy to hear them. My character is only conceptual at this point, so I can still change things around, if people are convincing enough. :)