Paizo twittered the next preview will go live at midnight tonight.
Isn't the next preview Harsk? Very exciting for me, as I play a dwarven crossbowman in CotCT. Who I have named Harsk. Yes, really.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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The monk preview ought to be an eye-opener for people worried about the power of melee classes (including the fighter). Some of the feat combos high-level melee types can pull off are absolutely sick, and cruel Jason has been hiding them from people for unknown reasons (perhaps he enjoys stirring up controversy? You'll have to ask him.)
What I'm saying is that it'll be pretty awesome, and I'm exciting for it too.
In the meantime, wait till you get a load of the ranger!
Actually, I'm getting curious to see the Pathfinder bard.
I thought they decided to drop the bard from the book?
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Indeed.. Harsk is the preview scheduled to go live tonight at midnight PST.
There are some fun surprises hiding in this one...
Jason
Will there be any clue on how animal companions are handled? Are they pretty close to the revised rules you put out late in the playtest / design phase? I'm hoping so because I thought they were well done.
My only real complaint about the revised animal companion rules was that, mechanically, the cat and dinosaur were pretty much no brainers. Also, there was no way to get a flying mount. A druid could get a dire bat at 4th level in the old system, so even medium creatures could get a flyer if they wanted. But with the new system, flying mounts and exotic creatures like Hippogriffs were out, which was a bit of a shame. However, I have been enjoying my battle cat in our 2nd Darkness playtest.
The preview is out !!!
EDIT: oooh, caster level = Ranger level -3 !!! Finally !!!
Looks interesting, beefed up the ranger some, but doesn't seem too over the top. I like the favored terrain, have always thought that was a good idea, glad to see it's there.
After the last few previews though, I'm wondering at how modified the beastiary is going to have to be. Honestly, the core classes are now cranking a lot of damage at mid levels now. More than I'm used to in my campaigns. My players are 8 and 9 and averaging about 3d6 per attack across the group (One is 1d8 with 2 attacks and party buffs (marshal), another 3d6 (fighter/cleric), another 4d6 (warlock/scout), another rarely attacks, as she's a druid and does buffs and heals and snakes swiftness, and the last one is a duskblade who does 1d8+1d6 with a bastard sword (when he doesn't channel a spell of course)). So to me a ranger cranking out 138 damage in 2 rounds makes me blink at the adult dragon I sent them up against last week and go 'Wow, they'd cut him in half first round' (they chased it off in 3 rounds, but lost their duskblade and had to pay for a true ressurection afterwards).
I love the fact that favored enemy grants more than just attack bonus's. It never made sense to me before that a ranger couldn't track/hunt/etc his favored enemies any better than anyone else.
I love the fact that favored enemy grants more than just attack bonus's. It never made sense to me before that a ranger couldn't track/hunt/etc his favored enemies any better than anyone else.
Dude, rangers got their favored enemy bonus on bluff, sense motive, listen, spot & survival in 3.5e already.
Anyway, let's look at the ranger's abilities a bit more closely. The hunter's bond(companions) looks like a really sucky ability. Sure, you'll give bonuses to your allies. But you could be attacking, or even full attacking instead. I'm fairly sure that a ranger can do more damage with a full round action, than what his ½ favored enemy bonus versus one opponent can do.
Pinpoint targeting is really a strange ability. It requires a standard action, so you can only use your best attack. A ranger shouldn't need to bypass his enemy's AC bonuses just to hit with his best attack. If he needs that, he probably won't hit with his iterative attacks when he can't bypass AC.
Caster level change is awesome. So is animal companion change. Ranger finally has the potential not to be dispelled of all his own buffs when hit with a greater dispel.
I love the fact that favored enemy grants more than just attack bonus's. It never made sense to me before that a ranger couldn't track/hunt/etc his favored enemies any better than anyone else.Dude, rangers got their favored enemy bonus on bluff, sense motive, listen, spot & survival in 3.5e already.
Anyway, let's look at the ranger's abilities a bit more closely. The hunter's bond(companions) looks like a really sucky ability. Sure, you'll give bonuses to your allies. But you could be attacking, or even full attacking instead. I'm fairly sure that a ranger can do more damage with a full round action, than what his ½ favored enemy bonus versus one opponent can do.
Pinpoint targeting is really a strange ability. It requires a standard action, so you can only use your best attack. A ranger shouldn't need to bypass his enemy's AC bonuses just to hit with his best attack. If he needs that, he probably won't hit with his iterative attacks when he can't bypass AC.
Caster level change is awesome. So is animal companion change. Ranger finally has the potential not to be dispelled of all his own buffs when hit with a greater dispel.
LOL
Shows you how often someone has played a ranger in my game. :)
I think hunter's bond(companions) is a terrific ability. For example, if your group is hunting a dragon, and that happens to be your first favored enemy, you've now given all your allies (including cohorts, etc) a +3 (in Harsks's case) to attack and damage. Even at lower levels, giving up a standard action to grant your allies a +1 to all hit/damage for 3 rounds is not bad at all. Please note it seems to be a non-typed bonus too. Or perhaps Favored Enemy is a type of bonus now, so another ranger wouldn't get the bonus. That's no different than a cleric casting 'bless' or 'aid', and much more effective at higher levels. It's also very useful in a swirling melee, if the Ranger's favored enemy is Orc, he can give all his allies a 3 round boost against those orcs. I'll be very very happy to have the Ranger around doing this when he can.
I think pinpoint attack is a great 'surprise round' ability. Not in and of itself, since you're trading multiple attacks for one, but, combine it with things like power attack (where you trade accuracy for damage) or any other abilities where you trade attack for damage or special effects, then you can get a massive round in on the surprise round, ensuring that all your damage boosts and special attacks effect the target. Assume the target has high enough AC for ranger to only hit 50% of the time on his first attack. His second would be 25%, and subsequent hits would be 5%. I'll trade that 50% and 25% for a 95% with one attack, especially combined with Power Attack for example.
I doubt a ranger can combine pinpoint targeting with a power attack-like feats. If he could, he probably would have combined pinpoint targeting with deadly aim in the preview.
Edit: Or perhaps it would have been too confusing to show the use of two new abilities at the same time.
Anyway, let's look at the ranger's abilities a bit more closely. The hunter's bond(companions) looks like a really sucky ability. Sure, you'll give bonuses to your allies. But you could be attacking, or even full attacking instead.
In the Pathfinder Beta, Hunter's Bond lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Wis bonus. You don't have to use a std action every round!
I also have had numerous occasions where I have to move with my ranger before being able to make a shot. I'd be extremely happy to ignore monsters armor when I'm in position to make that shot. Of course I'd rather make a full attack, but I want to have a good option when I can't.
The monk preview ought to be an eye-opener for people worried about the power of melee classes (including the fighter). Some of the feat combos high-level melee types can pull off are absolutely sick
Always good to hear. Just as it should be: Fighters fight. They don't do magic, they just fight. And they're damn good at it.
(perhaps he enjoys stirring up controversy? You'll have to ask him.)
Yeah, in that case he'll *really* give us a straight answer. ;-P
Anyway, let's look at the ranger's abilities a bit more closely. The hunter's bond(companions) looks like a really sucky ability. Sure, you'll give bonuses to your allies. But you could be attacking, or even full attacking instead.
Could you? But the guy's out of range. You'd have to walk there, anyway, so it would be a single attack, anyway. And he's still got the stoneskin on, which is annoying and the wizard's turn is behind yours, so he cannot dispel it right now.
Or something like that. Anything like that. It's not always better than attacking, but it can pay off in some situations. Seeing that few abilities are useful all the time, I think this is good enough.
Pinpoint targeting is really a strange ability. It requires a standard action, so you can only use your best attack. A ranger shouldn't need to bypass his enemy's AC bonuses just to hit with his best attack.
You won't always get easy targets. And you won't always get to use full attacks.
Again, it's not one of the always useful abilities, but I can think of a dozen siatuations where this could come in handy.
If he needs that, he probably won't hit with his iterative attacks when he can't bypass AC.
So he doesn't need them, anyway.
Ranger finally has the potential not to be dispelled of all his own buffs when hit with a greater dispel.
Especially with the new dispel magic (regular and greater)
The monk preview ought to be an eye-opener for people worried about the power of melee classes (including the fighter). Some of the feat combos high-level melee types can pull off are absolutely sick, and cruel Jason has been hiding them from people for unknown reasons (perhaps he enjoys stirring up controversy? You'll have to ask him.)
I hope that doesn't mean that the availibility of high-level feats are supposed to be substituting for the monk's dearth of good class features after level 12 (talk to animals! fall long distances!).
Anyway, let's look at the ranger's abilities a bit more closely. The hunter's bond(companions) looks like a really sucky ability. Sure, you'll give bonuses to your allies. But you could be attacking, or even full attacking instead.Could you? But the guy's out of range. You'd have to walk there, anyway, so it would be a single attack, anyway. And he's still got the stoneskin on, which is annoying and the wizard's turn is behind yours, so he cannot dispel it right now.
Or something like that. Anything like that. It's not always better than attacking, but it can pay off in some situations. Seeing that few abilities are useful all the time, I think this is good enough.
A guy who's out of range for a ranger's ranged attack is most likely out of range for everybody else too. If an enemy has stoneskin on and your friendly neighborhood wizard can dispel it, why don't you just delay until you can get that full attack?
Pinpoint targeting is really a strange ability. It requires a standard action, so you can only use your best attack. A ranger shouldn't need to bypass his enemy's AC bonuses just to hit with his best attack.You won't always get easy targets. And you won't always get to use full attacks.
Again, it's not one of the always useful abilities, but I can think of a dozen siatuations where this could come in handy.
If he needs that, he probably won't hit with his iterative attacks when he can't bypass AC.So he doesn't need them, anyway.
Archers live and die by their full attacks. A full attack with a ranged weapon should be at least three times as good as a single attack, at least when your levels are double digits (actually after level five, if you get hasted. But you're not always hasted then) Often it's better to take a full attack against an enemy even if you could get a sure hit with a standard action.
Also, are you arguing, that when an archer can't hit the monster's AC with his best attack (at the time his best attack is really good.) he should even try to fight instead of running away? A single attack is a drop of water in the ocean of a monster's hit points.
Anyway, I did some calculations of Harsk vs Frost giant. They're hidden under that spoiler button because nobody here will actually be interested in this. :)
Harsk hits with a pinpoint surprise attack 95% of time and deals 1d8 + 1 magic + 1d6 shock + 2d6 lawful + 6 favored enemy +1 point blank shot for an average of 23 points of damage per hit.
His deadly Aim full attack hits 95%/95%/70%/45% of time and deals 6 points more damage per hit for Deadly Aim, or 29 points of damage.
If we ignore his chance to score a critical hit he will deal 0.95 * 23 + 0.95 * 29 + 0.95 * 29 + 0.7 * 29 + 0.45 * 29, or 110,3 points of damage.
So far, the giant seems to be standing. I'm too lazy to type the calcultation for when Harsk can score a critical here, so you'll either take my word for this or crunch numbers yourself. If Harsk can score criticals he'll deal 124,29 points of damage on average in that surprise round and one round spent full attacking. Still not enough to drop that giant two CR's below his level in a surprise round and a real round, even though Harsk was in his favored terrain hunting his favored enemies.
Spoiler Omitted
Actually I get 135.64 damage when you include the chances for crits (including the required confirmation roll). Did you include the fact that he has Improved Critical? Or perhaps you were only allowing the 20% chance to crit after calculating the chance to hit (they are independent since he will hit every time he threats).
That would do the job, and doesn't include using Quarry to increase attack bonus.
Ok,
Maybe I'm just a backwards GM, but, to me, if the party is hitting 95% of the time with their first two attacks, the enemies are WAY underpowered for their current level.
To me, an 'average' fight should see the melee/ranged guys hitting 50% of the time on their best attack. The casters will probably be hitting about 50% as well with ranged touch's (or better, but fewer times per day), or they'll use area of effect spells, or debuffs, or other things.
A 'tough' fight should see the melee/ranged guys hitting about 25% of the time on their first attack. With the casters having to deal with spell resistance, or high saves, or evasion/improved evasion.
In the above example of the frost giant... he's got about the same hp's as the PC, a lower AC, and lower average saves. He's not even an equal fight for the PC without any special abilities on the PC's part. The above example works out to something like: 'Well, my 2nd dan black belt is sneak attacking a brown belt...'. The example is heavily skewed in the PC's favor just on the face, not counting the fact the dwarf is a ranger trained to kill giants.
If you want to convince me the ability is useless, you'll have to pick an example that's not skewed 180% towards your argument.
Ok,
Maybe I'm just a backwards GM, but, to me, if the party is hitting 95% of the time with their first two attacks, the enemies are WAY underpowered for their current level.
This is Harsk at his best, against his most favored enemy in his most favored terrain.
He only has +15 to hit - that's just 75% against a frost giant, whose CR is two lower than his party's. Seems pretty dead on to be 50% at CR +2 (checking.. yep, Cloud Giant, CR 11, AC 25 - 55% hits.)
So.. I agree.
Ok,
Maybe I'm just a backwards GM, but, to me, if the party is hitting 95% of the time with their first two attacks, the enemies are WAY underpowered for their current level.This is Harsk at his best, against his most favored enemy in his most favored terrain.
He only has +15 to hit - that's just 75% against a frost giant, whose CR is two lower than his party's. Seems pretty dead on to be 50% at CR +2 (checking.. yep, Cloud Giant, CR 11, AC 25 - 55% hits.)
So.. I agree.
Ah,
But are you agreeing that if they can hit on a 95% the enemies are way too underpowered, or are you agreeing that I am a backwards GM?:)
But yes, I agree, Harsk *should* be hitting about 75-85% on his favored enemy at the same level. Against the giant, he'd get his +6, so at CR 11, AC 25, he'd have an 85% hit rate on his best attack, which is perfect. I was just pointing out that the guys example was a weak opponent that was so easy to hit that there was no reason need to ignore his armor. On a non-giant enemy of the same level, he should only have a 50% chance to hit, and might want to bypass armor to ensure he does.
Which brings up an interesting point. If you are bypassing armor, that should logically mean you are bypassing any special qualities it has too, although the preview doesn't go into details. For example, if the target has Adamantine Full Plate of Heavy Fortification, do you also get to ignore the damage reduction and fortification? If so, that is a very powerful ability. Especially if you've invested in improved critical ability.
I hope that doesn't mean that the availibility of high-level feats are supposed to be substituting for the monk's dearth of good class features after level 12 (talk to animals! fall long distances!).
Spell resistance! Kill people with a mere touch! Beat up constructs and wizards with stoneskin!)
A guy who's out of range for a ranger's ranged attack is most likely out of range for everybody else too.
But the ranger I'm talking about doesn't have a ranged weapon. He uses two scimitars.
As I said, it't not necessarily something everyone can use all the time, but it's far from useless.
Archers live and die by their full attacks.
A full attack with a ranged weapon should be at least three times as good as a single attack
Oh, I don't know about should. Is there some place I can go and complain if it doesn't work out? Is it the same place I can go and complain if life turns out to be unfair again? :P
Seriously, though: There's always the chance that the enemy has a fiendishly high AC, and you're hard-pressed to hit with your best attack, let alone extra attacks. In such cases, basically making a touch attack can be a godsent. Better one attack that has a good chance of hitting than 3 or more attacks you need to roll 18+ for.
Also, are you arguing, that when an archer can't hit the monster's AC with his best attack (at the time his best attack is really good.) he should even try to fight instead of running away? A single attack is a drop of water in the ocean of a monster's hit points.
You can't always run. Sometimes, the enemy is faster.
High AC doesn't always translate into many HP, either.
And, of course, it might be a question of full attack against full attack or single attack against single attack (and maybe AoO if you cannot tumble) if the bastard's chasing you around.
I'm just saying that you shouldn't put all your apples in one basket. Or, if you do, don't complain that you're hungry if someone manages to take away your basket.
Spell resistance!
Mixed blessing.
Kill people with a mere touch!
Once a week, IF you don't miss with the attack AND the target doesn't make his save...
Beat up constructs and wizards with stoneskin!)
A 3,000 gp ability at level 16; too little, too late (cf. Tongues/Speak with Animals vs. Tongue of the Sun and Moon).
Spoiler OmittedActually I get 135.64 damage when you include the chances for crits (including the required confirmation roll). Did you include the fact that he has Improved Critical? Or perhaps you were only allowing the 20% chance to crit after calculating the chance to hit (they are independent since he will hit every time he threats).
That would do the job, and doesn't include using Quarry to increase attack bonus.
I suppose I should do the math again and this time bother to put it out for all to see.
Harsk deals 23 points on surprise round and 12,5 more on a critical for 35,5.* (weapon damage doubles, as does magical bonus, point blank and favored enemy)
His chance of hitting a surprise round without critting is 0.75 + 0.2 * 0.05 = and has a chance for a critical 0.2 * 0.95. This gives him average damage of (0.75 + 0.2 * 0.05) * 23 + (0.2 * 0.95) * 35.5 = 24.225 on a surprise round.
On a full attack, he deals 29 points on a regular hit and 18,5 more on a critical for 47,5* points of damage.
He deals damage purely without critical hits: [(0.75 + 0.2 * 0.05) + (0.75 + 0.2 * 0.05) + (0.5 + 0.2 * 0.3) + (0.25 + 0.2 * 0.55)] * 29 = 70.76
He deals damage purely with critical hits [(0.2 * 0.95) + (0.2 * 0.95) + (0.2 * 0.7) + (0.2 * 0.45)] * 47.5 = 28.975
Adding up all the damage: 24.225 + 70.76 + 28.975 = 123.96
*A mistake found in my previous calculation and fixed here. I nearly always forget about point blank shot.
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I love the fact that favored enemy grants more than just attack bonus's. It never made sense to me before that a ranger couldn't track/hunt/etc his favored enemies any better than anyone else.Dude, rangers got their favored enemy bonus on bluff, sense motive, listen, spot & survival in 3.5e already.
Anyway, let's look at the ranger's abilities a bit more closely. The hunter's bond(companions) looks like a really sucky ability. Sure, you'll give bonuses to your allies. But you could be attacking, or even full attacking instead. I'm fairly sure that a ranger can do more damage with a full round action, than what his ½ favored enemy bonus versus one opponent can do.
Pinpoint targeting is really a strange ability. It requires a standard action, so you can only use your best attack. A ranger shouldn't need to bypass his enemy's AC bonuses just to hit with his best attack. If he needs that, he probably won't hit with his iterative attacks when he can't bypass AC.
Caster level change is awesome. So is animal companion change. Ranger finally has the potential not to be dispelled of all his own buffs when hit with a greater dispel.
LOL
Shows you how often someone has played a ranger in my game. :)
I think hunter's bond(companions) is a terrific ability. For example, if your group is hunting a dragon, and that happens to be your first favored enemy, you've now given all your allies (including cohorts, etc) a +3 (in Harsks's case) to attack and damage. Even at lower levels, giving up a standard action to grant your allies a +1 to all hit/damage for 3 rounds is not bad at all. Please note it seems to be a non-typed bonus too. Or perhaps Favored Enemy is a type of bonus now, so another ranger wouldn't get the bonus. That's no different than a cleric casting 'bless' or 'aid', and much more effective at higher levels. It's also very useful in a swirling melee, if the Ranger's favored enemy is Orc, he can give all his allies a 3 round boost against...
I have to say I fully agree -- what Jason has done with Ranger is amazing; I feel the Beta version (and looks like he got to "keep his stuff" in PF RPG) is the best incarnation of the class so far. I *LOVE* the Hunter's Bond, Quarry and Favorite Terrain! One of my long-time dreams back in the day was to play a dwarven ranger, but that didn't feel like a good fit in 3E; if I ever get to play PF RPG (instead of just running it), I'm going to play a dwarven ranger as my first PC, because now it *does* feel like an exciting, playable concept to me.
Another funny thing is that even though they added flavorful abilities to the class, it doesn't feel any less "martial" to me; for example, I could create an old bear or deer hunter NPC who doesn't use any spells or magic items and yet would actually *be* a very effective *hunter* (a non-adventuring professional, that is).
SPLENDID job, guys! :)
So.. I agree.Ah,
But are you agreeing that if they can hit on a 95% the enemies are way too underpowered, or are you agreeing that I am a backwards GM?
Both of course :)
I suppose I should do the math again and this time bother to put it out for all to see.
You're right, I was including the shock and axiomatic damage in the crit.
Still.. average of 10 hp left? Roll a little high and dead, roll a little low and still one shot from dead. The giant (despite what we as DM's would wish) should run. Two of these guys are supposed to be an average encounter for a group of 4.
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I doubt a ranger can combine pinpoint targeting with a power attack-like feats. If he could, he probably would have combined pinpoint targeting with deadly aim in the preview.
Edit: Or perhaps it would have been too confusing to show the use of two new abilities at the same time.
In beta, these two feats can be used together. I think it wad done here too, even though Jason mentioned Deadly Aim only for the full-attack (where it is admittedly more impressive).
In fact, I cannot think of a better time to reduce your bonus to hit than when your opponent's AC is down to 8.
If you include the Deadly Aim bonus to the damage dealt in the surprise round, and Jason's hypothesis that all 4 attacks hit, I would not be surprised that you reach the 138 points of damage stated in the preview.
Pinpoint targeting is also a very nice feat because it applies to any ranged attack (at least in the beta), not only projectiles. Sometimes, you might want to throw some weird things at your opponent and be 100% SURE that you do not miss (say, like throwing a big kryptonite net at Superman).
Wow that Ranger can certainly pour on the pain AT RANGE and do some insane damage to his foe.
Can I be the first to call for countless threads to 'nerf Rangers back to the stone age' please?; not because they actually need it, just so that us poor Rogue lovers can have a break about our Sneak attacks and the crazy knee-jerks about them :)
Seems to me that its actually pretty well balanced.
Great to see Crossbows getting some love too - my favourite weapon from fantasy lore, yet has always been a second rate joke against every other ranged weapon.
On that note, what I would like to see is a Str modified crossbow, that WASN'T linked to the users str... ie like a bow that you can buy to X Str modifier and add the damage, but as the crossbow is mechanical and wound with a winch you wouldn't need an 18 to use it (though it may take longer to wind). Given we have these already in the REAL world, its not that much of a stretch.
...nice nice nice...
*EVEN THOUGH* I don't personally like Rangers-as-Casters, especially with Summoning Spells (I understand, "backwards compatability", yada yada), I have to say the little "make over" to the Summoning lists is very nice. Little things like that do make a difference... And if the Summoning Lists got this, imagine Animal Companions!
Does anybody know what the Favored Enemy bonus type is? I'm guessing Morale...?
One thing I'm unclear on: The Favored Enemy wording indicates the bonuses apply "against" your Favored Enemies, which is straight-forward for Attack/Damage bonuses, but what about Stealth and Init, which you only roll once, not per individual opponent? Is it harder for ALL opponents to notice you (Perception vs. Stealth) and slower for them to react vs. you (Init) because you're in "Favored Enemy Huntin' Mode"? If NOT (and only Favored Enemies themselves are effected), the Stealth & Init bonuses should actually be penalties to Favored Enemies' Perception and Init, if I'm understanding it correctly... ???
Does anybody know what the Favored Enemy bonus type is? I'm guessing Morale...?
My guess is it's an untyped bonus or a competence bonus.
On Stealth and Initiative, it isn't Favored Enemy that grants those bonuses, but Favored Terrain.
Thanks, I must have glossed over the details,
and assumed Terrain & Favored Enemy both granting attack bonuses meant both also granted the skill bonuses....Wait a sec, though, hold on:
I think we're not seeing the forest for the trees...
If the Previews continue the trend so far, I think Pathfinder will end up being an utter failure:
All the classes will be so equally awesome nobody will be able to decide which class they want to play,
and thus the game will never end up being played :-)
I must have glossed over the details, and assumed Terrain & Favored Enemy both granting attack bonuses meant both also granted the skill bonuses.
They don't both grant attack bonuses :)
Favored Enemy applies to attack and damage rolls, Bluff, Knowledge*, Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival checks made against the giant.
Favored Terrain applies to initiative, Perception, Stealth, and Survival.
You might be thinking this because in discussing it we've emphasized how perfect the situation is - that's mostly for the initiative and stealth, so that Harsk can sneak up on the giant, shoot first, and go again before it does.
*: This is new.
Still.. average of 10 hp left? Roll a little high and dead, roll a little low and still one shot from dead. The giant (despite what we as DM's would wish) should run. Two of these guys are supposed to be an average encounter for a group of 4.
Yeah. And the ranger wasn't even using optimal tactics or weapons.
If the ranger had used (could use?) deadly aim on his first attack, he'd be doing about 6 points more damage to the poor giant. If he had a composite bow with a decent strength bonus (2 or 3), he'd waste the giant before it even gets to act.
This preview shows us that a slightly optimized ranger in his most favored terrain (to get a surprise round and to win initiative) can waste his most favored enemy if it's about two challenge ratings below his level without wasting any resources.
That's fair I guess, a prepared spellcaster can do pretty much the same.
Still.
It would have been a great time to showcase some improvements on the long neglected Crossbow line. Hasn't seen an update since the 80s when we got the Chu-ko-nu repeater in Oriental Adventures :(
Still.
It would have been a great time to showcase some improvements on the long neglected Crossbow line. Hasn't seen an update since the 80s when we got the Chu-ko-nu repeater in Oriental Adventures :(
If you haven't, you might want to go to "My Downloads" and get the Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide. It has a "Crossbow Mastery" feat that is pretty solid as well.
If you haven't, you might want to go to "My Downloads" and get the Curse of the Crimson Throne Player's Guide. It has a "Crossbow Mastery" feat that is pretty solid as well.
Yeah that's not too bad - it's a step in the right direction! The pre-req feats were an odd choice though - personally I would have swapped out Point Blank for Focus (xbow) - after all, what does being able to shoot at the close range have to do with reloading?
Now if only they brought in a Str modifier to damage for Crossbows... seems its about the only weapon in the game that you can't :p
personally I would have swapped out Point Blank for Focus (xbow) - after all, what does being able to shoot at the close range have to do with reloading?
Nothing, but it's a prerequisite for Rapid Shot, so is listed.
Nothing, but it's a prerequisite for Rapid Shot, so is listed.
/palm forehead.
Correct you are :p
personally I would have swapped out Point Blank for Focus (xbow) - after all, what does being able to shoot at the close range have to do with reloading?Nothing, but it's a prerequisite for Rapid Shot, so is listed.
Normally, yes, but since it's on the list of Ranger Bonus Feats - and the entry specifically says:
"This choice affects the character’s class features but does not restrict his selection of feats gained through normal advancement. He can choose these feats, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites."it would mean that a Ranger can (for example) take Rapid Shot at 2nd level and Manyshot at 6th level and skip completely Point Blank Shot.
Or am I wrong here ?
Or am I wrong here ?
If referring to a Ranger, what you have posted is correct :)