Let's say that a ranger casts Raptor's Sight and uses Swiftwing arrows; does he negate his range penalties?
Raptor's Sight reduces range penalties to -1 instead of -2 if you have 5 or more ranks in Spot and Swiftwing arrows only incure half normal range penalties.
Just curious.
-Kurocyn
Both are found in the Races of the Wild book.
The arrows themselves aren't all too special really. No magic or psionics or what-have-you, just good craftsmanship. They deal damage as if one size smaller though, due to the light arrowhead and shaft.
Personally, I like to tinker. I like to specialize my characters into a single, specific niche. In this case, a sniper...
-Kurocyn
Raptor's Sight reduces range penalties to -1 instead of -2 if you have 5 or more ranks in Spot and Swiftwing arrows only incure half normal range penalties.
I am familiar with neither spell/ability/whatever-they-are, but based on this description I would rule that the range penalty is simply reduced to -1 per increment*2.
So a -2 "to hit" per 100-foot range increment would become -1 "to hit" per 200 feet.
Let's say that a ranger casts Raptor's Sight and uses Swiftwing arrows; does he negate his range penalties?
Raptor's Sight reduces range penalties to -1 instead of -2 if you have 5 or more ranks in Spot and Swiftwing arrows only incure half normal range penalties.
Just curious.
-Kurocyn
These both do the exact same thing. They reduce the penalty for attacking at range in half from -2 to -1 for the specified range incrament of the weapon. One is caused by an enhancement by the spell, the other an enhancement because of the weapon. According to the DMG bonuses of the same type dont stack so if I were your DM I would rule that casting the spell wouldn't increase the effect already in place by the swiftwing arrows. The grey area is that the Races of the Wild dosn't specify the "type" of bonus each has. After reading the descriptions in the DMG I think that both are Enhancements.
So, this is the same as a masterwork weapon's bonus to hit not stacking with an enhancement bonus... I see.
Oh well. Only having a -10 to attack something out to 3,950' is still pretty good. ^ ^
-Kurocyn
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The grey area is that the Races of the Wild dosn't specify the "type" of bonus each has. After reading the descriptions in the DMG I think that both are Enhancements.
If no bonus type is specified, the bonus is untyped, and thus will stack with any bonus from a different source. These are clearly not the same source.
In the case of bonuses that have a different effect depending on the order in which they are applied, the choice is that of the character to whom the bonuses apply. Clearly the penalty would be reduced from -2 to -1 per range increment first, because otherwise there would be no benefit. There is some question as to how to do the halving of the remainder, but I'd be inclined toward figuring the total range penalty, then halving, with rounding not in favor of the character.
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Neither the spell nor the arrow has a bonus type, because neither provides a bonus.
A swiftwing arrow incurs only half the usual penalty for attacking at range (–1 per range increment rather than the usual –2).
If you have 5 or more ranks in Spot, you take only half the normal range increment penalty for ranged attacks (–1 per range increment instead of –2).
They both say that you only take half the normal range penalty. Based on "doubling" not stacking, as shown by Improved Critical and Keen weapons, I would say halving doesn't stack either.
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in the books they both say that they reduce the penalty by half (-1 per range increment instead of -2)
I'd say that it would take away the range penalties. After all, the arrows deal less damage, and it is a spell. Even as a first level spell, it's not as good as true strike, and you can still only shoot up to ten range increments max regardless.
So there's still no final ruling?
I have another question about how to determine my total range increment.
My character has a Comp. Greatbow of Distance (130'x2), uses flight arrows (+25'), is getting +10' for each Deepwood Sniper lv (currently 1 lv), has the Farshot feat (+50%), and has a ring with the Hawkeye spell always active giving him an additional +50%.
I listed and calculated them in the order that I think makes the most sense.
-First his gear. Anybody with that bow and those arrows can shoot that far, regardless. So I thought it made a good starting point.
-Second, his individual abilities, class coming before feat. This is simply his raw skill with a bow developed through experience.
-Third, magical effects. Adding these before the basic gear or his own skill just doesn't make sense.
Using this order, I came up with a range increment of 665'.
(((260+25)+10)+50%)+50%=665 (rounding up along the way)
Did I figure this correctly?
-Kurocyn
I would go one of two ways, depending on how kind I wanted to be:
Option 1: The range penalty cannot be reduced below -1. Therefore, these two do not stack in any fashion.
Option 2: Combining the two gives a range penalty of -0.5. Work out the total range penalty for the distance fired, and then drop the extra 0.5. So, when fired from a longbow (range 100), the penalty is 0, -1, -1, -2, -2, -3, -3, -4, -4, -5.
I would not allow these two to totally negate the range penalty. It simply doesn't make sense that a character can fire his longbow 1,000 feet without any penalty.
I'm leaning towards option 1, but that's mostly because I tend towards a conservative interpretation when adjudicating the rules - it helps keep a tight rein on power gaming.
Between the two, keeping the penalty at -1 makes more sense to me. Making it a -0.5 just doesn't seem right.
-Kurocyn
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So there's still no final ruling?
I have another question about how to determine my total range increment.
My character has a Comp. Greatbow of Distance (130'x2), uses flight arrows (+25'), is getting +10' for each Deepwood Sniper lv (currently 1 lv), has the Farshot feat (+50%), and has a ring with the Hawkeye spell always active giving him an additional +50%.
I listed and calculated them in the order that I think makes the most sense.
-First his gear. Anybody with that bow and those arrows can shoot that far, regardless. So I thought it made a good starting point.
-Second, his individual abilities, class coming before feat. This is simply his raw skill with a bow developed through experience.
-Third, magical effects. Adding these before the basic gear or his own skill just doesn't make sense.Using this order, I came up with a range increment of 665'.
(((260+25)+10)+50%)+50%=665 (rounding up along the way)Did I figure this correctly?
-Kurocyn
Actually, I believe that it would go as follows:
(((260+25)*1.5)+10)*1.5=655You add the +10 feet per level after farshot, yet before magical enhancements.