How did you get silence, entangle, and black tentacles on the same character?Dedicated Archer / Mage killer? I used an elf Arcane Archer imbuing arrows with Silence, Slow, Stinking Cloud, and Entangle to slow down those pesky ranged attackers...my favorite, Black Tentacles adjacent to them. That sure buys time for the melee combatants to close!
Also, step-up is actually hugely valuable to any melee character, precisely because of how powerful casters are. I honestly would never build a Fighter class character who didn't pick it up in the first 6 levels or so, and can't really see most Paladins going without it either, though there are some who might. (Rangers are a mixed bag of melee vs ranged, and barbarians get their own version of it, so those are hard to call.)
Fey blooded sorcerer gets you entangle. Not sure about silence.
How did you get silence, entangle, and black tentacles on the same character?
I had a level 12: 8th level Sorcerer with access to Black Tentacles, 2nd level fighter for the archery feats, 2nd level Arcane Archer, and many ranks in UMD (to decipher and cast the divine scrolls); plus my always faithful unseen servant holding the divine scrolls for me since I only have two arms...use a move action to load the bow, and a standard action to "use UMD" to cast the spell; The description for Imbue Arrow says "...and the Arcane Archer can fire the bow as part of the casting."
That may not be the way the RAW were intended to be used, but it fit our story line and it worked for our campaign, well, only if I made that DC 22-24 UMD check for the divine scrolls (my UMD +23)
Cha 19, +4
Ranks, +12, +3
Magical Aptitude Feat +4
Could've worked better with Skill Focus UMD.
It wasn't the most powerful character I ever played, but it was different and fun.
The big problem is 5 foot steps don't do jackshit against monsters with Reach, or Melee's with step-up.
Basically, in D&D, until a character reaches 21st level and is allowed to take a feat that should be accessible by 6th, being an archer = getting beat up unless you have a dedicated battefield controller to keep the beasties off you.
This hasn't been my experience. I've seen quite a few highly effective archers. Of course if you are in confined spaces with no one running interference it doesn't work well, similar to other sorcerers and other ranged combatants.
Random thought I had, which may have actually been covered earlier in the thread, but:
Is there a reason someone with Improvised Weapon Mastery couldn't clobber people with his bow, just as easily as the guy with Throw Anything can chuck his sword?
Random thought I had, which may have actually been covered earlier in the thread, but:
Is there a reason someone with Improvised Weapon Mastery couldn't clobber people with his bow, just as easily as the guy with Throw Anything can chuck his sword?
Game reason? None.
Real-world reason? Bows are fragile and even a hairline split in the bow will result in the weapon destroying itself next time it is used. They're also not very heavy and make lousy weapons, sort of like a flimsy staff with half the weight and half the impact. And they have that string that doesn't work well when it's wet or cut or even damaged, and it's hard to strike with a strung bow without worrying about damaging that string or slipping it off its nocks.
As a result, there is a game rule that prevents you from threatening adjacent spaces, but your suggestion of using Improvised Weapon Mastery could, as a game rule, circumvent this limitation of ranged weapons. Peraps your mastery of improvised weapons will teach you how to effectively wield a stick that has less impact power than a broomstick, all the while protecting your string from getting wet or dislodged and your bow from getting any damage at all - and still being able to do any damage with it.
Your real-world points make sense. Magic bows can be presumed to be much less fragile (to the point where breakage is simply not an issue unless you're trying to break it), but still pretty light and flimsy.
I would probably describe this as wielding the arrow rather than the bow.
Other ranged weapons wouldn't stretch my suspense of disbelief as much, though; pistol-whipping someone with a crossbow or walloping them with your sling? That's what the feat is for.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
|
The point with archery in melee isn't so much that you don't threaten an area, but that firing a missile weapon in melee provokes AOs. Having Imp. Unarmed Strike or spiked gauntlets or whatever might make you threaten within your reach, but it won't prevent AOs from firing a missile weapon in melee. AFAIK there's currently no way to do that in PFRPG without some 3.5 reachback. The point is, if you're an archer, you're good at ranged combat. So stay at range. You can't be good at everything.
Arguably, pistol-whipping someone with a crossbow should apply the weapon's enhancement bonus and any weapon-specific feats, just like throwing a greatsword (unless I'm mistaken).
Thus, Catch Off-Guard actually IS a good deal for archers who want to be able to attack in melee without provoking, though they obviously won't be as good at it as ranged (wrong stat, no Point-Blank Shot, etc).
Arguably, pistol-whipping someone with a crossbow should apply the weapon's enhancement bonus and any weapon-specific feats, just like throwing a greatsword (unless I'm mistaken).
Thus, Catch Off-Guard actually IS a good deal for archers who want to be able to attack in melee without provoking, though they obviously won't be as good at it as ranged (wrong stat, no Point-Blank Shot, etc).
Except for Str based archer rangers who don't need to meet dex qualifications for the feats :)
Orc - What are you doing?
Ranger - I shall smite thee wielding my longbow as a two-handed weapon.