I built an archery alternate feature fighter, who is starting at lvl 10.
I get a fairly large wad of cash to start with. 62,000 Gold for gear and whatnot.
So what I would like to hear from people is what kind of gear would a high dex archery fighter type like myself use?
Magic Bow? Of course, but what kind of effect is most reliable?
A quiver that keeps me stocked in arrows, not impossible, but does it really have any other merit than it keeps me with crappy mundane arrows?
I what is everyone else's favorite archery gear?
Go with enhancement bonuses on your bow over fiery or icy. Helps mitigate the penalty from rapid shot and deadly aim.
An efficient quiver. A couple different monster-bane or monster-slaying arrows make a big difference. If you're going the switch-hitter route, you can even put a spear or a longspear or any other kind of stick-esque weapon in there for emergencies. Or different bows.
Belt of dexterity.
Bracers of archery.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Um... a bow and arrow? :-)
Ok, more useful...
On the (I assume composite long)bow itself. Seeking and Thundering are nice. Seeking for concealment issues ("Yeah, it's a <non-OGL kamdan like creature>. So?") Thundering for the occasional sonic/deafness effect. That's about 18,500gp, so that's a nice chunk already (assuming a +1 bow)
For arrows, I might disagree with Ice Titan, put all your enhancments here. arrows are cheap. Sure you won't always have a +2 to hit and damage over if you use my bow, but do you need it if you're raining death down on mooks?
Effecient quiver/bracers of archery are a must. If you're a sniper build, shadowed armor is a good investment, as is slick armor if you expect to be grappled. Cape of the Montebank or lesser cloak of displacement also makes for quick repositioning/hard to hit.
I'm going to be weird and suggest either the golden lions or the Bronze griffon, useful if you do get rushed and can't get away, or if you just want additional bodies in melee so they target(s) can't get away. It's an expensive backup, but a nice one.
Oh, and gloves of arrow snaring. :-)
Gloves of the Duelist
Wearer gains a +4 bonus to his CMD against disarm attacks, attempts to sunder his wielded weapons, and effects that cause him to lose his grip on his weapons(such as grease).
The wearer doesn’t drop held weapons when panicked or stunned. If the wearer has the weapon training class feature and is using an appropriate weapon, his weapon training bonus increases by +2.
I wouldn't but be a rat bastard DM and do this but the archer build gains Expert Archery instead of weapon training as a class feature...basicly the same thing but by RAW this would not work.
But yeah those are some dime nice gloves. Glad the fighter in my game doesn't know about them he already deals a silly amount of damage.
Side note the coolest thing about the archer is trick shot being able to disarm at range is amazing look to items that might be able to give you a bonus to CMB. Using one arrow to feint a target is great if you have a full rogue in the party he will love you for when he can't flank.
I picked up a +3 composite Longbow (up to +3 from str), Greater bracers of archery, a belt of incredible dexterity +4, an efficient quiver, and +1 studded leather armor. On top of basic arrows, a couple of spears, some javelins, and other basics, I had 200g left.
With this set up, at level ten I can make a basic single shot with +26 to hit, and does 1D8+8 damage. If I combine Many Shot, Vital Strike, Rapid Shot, and other archery feats I took, I can do so much as a Many Vital shot critical hit doing a total of 12d8+48 damage.
I dunno about you guys, but hitting for 2D8+8&2D8+8 damage with a non critical hit with a regular arrow is pretty good, right?
Vital Strike is a single attack action, therefore it's not compatible with full attacks rungok.
Archers have no problem with getting full attacks and full attacks are almost always better than vital striking (high DR is the primary exception) thus the Vital Strike chain is pretty much a total waste of time.
Sorry to burst your bubble...
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Go with enhancement bonuses on your bow over fiery or icy. Helps mitigate the penalty from rapid shot and deadly aim.
An efficient quiver. A couple different monster-bane or monster-slaying arrows make a big difference. If you're going the switch-hitter route, you can even put a spear or a longspear or any other kind of stick-esque weapon in there for emergencies. Or different bows.
Belt of dexterity.
Bracers of archery.
I'll back Ice Titan, this is all good advice.
I recommend straight enhancement bonus on the bow, and then sets of arrows for specific types of enemies. Keep the enhancement bonus on the arrows at +1 and just add special properties from there. The bonus doesn't stack (the attack uses the higher enhancement bonus) but the special properties do.
Keep holy and axiomatic arrows, as well as various elemental arrows, to help overcome what DR isn't bypassed by the bow. Other than that, you should be good.
As Vuron pointed out, Vital Strike doesn't work with a full attack. I recommend dropping it and taking Deadly Aim instead, it gives (at your level) -3 to hit for +6 damage, on all attacks. Totally worth the hit penalty.
As Vuron pointed out, Vital Strike doesn't work with a full attack. I recommend dropping it and taking Deadly Aim instead, it gives (at your level) -3 to hit for +6 damage, on all attacks. Totally worth the hit penalty.
Oh okay that works. Dang. I thought I had a good thing set up here. Since I was only making one shot, I could fire two arrows with multishot and still use Vital Strike.
Okay Deadly aim works too.
Can you use a bow with a high + and then arrows with fiery or icy?
Can you use a bow with a high + and then arrows with fiery or icy?Yes, such is fairly common in fact, although the mods people put on arrows tend more towards holy, adamantine, silver, or cold iron. Mostly they're for dealing with DR. Bows are really flexible weapons that way.
Yep, bows + ammo is a relatively cheap method of getting the equivalent of a pretty potent melee weapon.
The problem is that ammo is expended on hits. This means that it's not really that cost effective to go with a high level of enchantment on ammo.
I think it's actually more efficient to use a low + to hit/+ to damage bow with desirable status effects (holy, shocking, etc) and then use greater magic weapon to enchant the ammo. You end up losing a +1 because enhancement bonuses for ammo and bow don't stack but you end up getting a pretty low cost weapon.
Combined with arrows of various non-magical materials to bypass DR (something regular fighters can rarely afford to do) and the archer is one of the more dangerous fighter archetypes.
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Bows plural.
An Efficient Quiver is a must. It allows you to pull the bow you need.
Seeking bow - 8,500 gp
Thundering bow - 8,500 gp
Holy bow - 18,500 gp
Now that's 35,500 gp for three bows
A Seeking, Thundering, Holy bow is 50,500 gp.
You're bow choice may vary.
Ammunition is the key. If you're running in PFS or have a cranky GM, you'll need to purchase your arrows in lots of 50 -- very expensive for specific arrows. If you have a good GM, just purchase a limited quantity of specific arrows, like 10 Bane Evil Outsider arrows.
Also, boots of speed.
-Swiftbrook
Just My Thoughts
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Bows plural.
An Efficient Quiver is a must. It allows you to pull the bow you need.
Seeking bow - 8,500 gp
Thundering bow - 8,500 gp
Holy bow - 18,500 gp
Now that's 35,500 gp for three bowsA Seeking, Thundering, Holy bow is 50,500 gp.
You're bow choice may vary.
Ammunition is the key. If you're running in PFS or have a cranky GM, you'll need to purchase your arrows in lots of 50 -- very expensive for specific arrows. If you have a good GM, just purchase a limited quantity of specific arrows, like 10 Bane Evil Outsider arrows.
Also, boots of speed.
-Swiftbrook
Just My Thoughts
Alternately, you could go with a +4 bow for 32,000 gp, and then spend gold on arrows that will let you be effective against specific defenses.
The simple fact is that having a high enhancement bonus is ALWAYS helpful, while properties like thundering, seeking, or holy are dependent on the enemy you're fighting.
Greater Magic Weapon would work really well with your strategy, except that it's going to lag behind. Having a +2 thunder, +2 holy, or +2 seeking bow, at level 10, isn't very impressive.
Greater Magic Weapon also means you'd lose out on one of the biggest benefits to a high enhancement bonus, bypassing certain damage reduction. At a +4 weapon you could bypass DR/ Silver, Cold Iron, or Adamantine. Use arrows for alignment and you're pretty much set.
I've been playing Pathfinder organized play so long I forgot my favorite bow enhancement from 3.5. If your GM give you access, choose Sacred from Magic Item Compendium. It's a +1 enhancement that makes the bow Good aligned for overcoming DR and 1d6 vs. undead, 2d6 vs. evil outsider.
Yeah were only using pathfinder books and no 3.5 materials. which sucks in some cases.
Greater Magic Weapon also means you'd lose out on one of the biggest benefits to a high enhancement bonus, bypassing certain damage reduction. At a +4 weapon you could bypass DR/ Silver, Cold Iron, or Adamantine. Use arrows for alignment and you're pretty much set.
Can you explain how the +4 weapon bypasses certain material requirements? Is that a PF only thing cause I thought it only bypassed #/+1-+5 DR.
Enchanted bows pass DR/magic. Having nonmagical arrows of all different kinds is how you really blow the other DRs out of your way, though adamantine arrows get real expensive.
Keep in mind that at high levels you're firing 7 arrows per round on a full attack. Ammo tends to go real quick-like.
I like to load a +1 bow with lots of other enhancements, I particularly enjoy tossing on all 4 energy enhancements, even though things are likely to resist one or two at high levels. I make up the rest by using GMW to make up the enhancement bonus.
Edit: A bunch of this post is off base. See below : )
Can you explain how the +4 weapon bypasses certain material requirements? Is that a PF only thing cause I thought it only bypassed #/+1-+5 DR.
Greater Magic Weapon also means you'd lose out on one of the biggest benefits to a high enhancement bonus, bypassing certain damage reduction. At a +4 weapon you could bypass DR/ Silver, Cold Iron, or Adamantine. Use arrows for alignment and you're pretty much set.
Yes, it is something new to PF. If you look in the Glossary of your Core Book you'll find a chart that will tell what DR each + will overcome.
DR Type Weapon Enhancement Bonus Equivalent
cold iron/silver +3
adamantine* +4
alignment-based +5
* Note that this does not give the ability to ignore hardness, like an actual adamantine weapon does
Page 562. Wow. Good to know, hadn't seen that. They should really have that included in the Magic Items section with all the info on Magic Weapons.
clustered shots is an epic feat, as it effectively removes damage reduction's effectiveness. (it lets you take your full attack, tally up the damage, THEN apply damage reduction. that means it's almost negligable.
as to gear, i've just been rolling up a level 20 archer fighter for a high-powered campaign, and i've discovered this: your will save is rubbish. fort is good (you're a fighter), reflex is good (sky-high dex), but your will is going to be pretty cruddy. on the strength of that i recommend you pick up a headband of wisdom. boosts your will, and as a bonus adds to your perception, argueably the most useful skill in the game (and it stacks with your class bonuses to the skill.)
i heartily advise the snap shot tree and combat reflexes. fifteen foot reach for AoOs and massive number of extra attacks? count me in!
If you take the snap shot tree and combat reflexes, you might want to consider the combat patrol feat. With that feat you could enhance your reach up to 30 ft.
Humbly,
Yawar
I'll add a +1 mithril chain shirt, and a pile of potions.
Remember to have a back-up weapon, too. Archery is good, but won't work 100% of the time.
So what? You're a 10th level fighter. You would be dangerous with a sharp stick.
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I wouldn't but be a rat bastard DM and do this but the archer build gains Expert Archery instead of weapon training as a class feature...basicly the same thing but by RAW (Gloves of Dueling) would not work.Correct, and I see no reason to be permissive -- if the player wants an archetype, he has to forfeit some Gouda to get Swiss.
Side note the coolest thing about the archer is trick shot being able to disarm at range is amazing look to items that might be able to give you a bonus to CMB. Using one arrow to feint a target is great if you have a full rogue in the party he will love you for when he can't flank.
A 10th-level rogue ought to know how to feint on his own. (Sorry: minor rant against brainless strength-based rogues who whine when the other PCs aren't perusing suboptimal tactics to help set them up).
If you have some strength and/or use potions of Bull Strength I'd suggest getting "adaptive" put on your bow.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/magic-weapon-special-abil ities/adaptive
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Bracers of Falcon's Aim might trump Bracers of Archery.
+1 to hit + Perception Bonus + Improved Crit
might not compete with the greater bracers, depending on how often you see the top end of your die.
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@Fuel Drop. Completely agree. Because of the weakness in Will saves I would HIGHLY recommend a Clear Spindle Ioun stone with Wayfinder (4,500gp). This will make you immune to possession and mental control...you don't want to the character that TPK's your own party.
And nothing is quite as sweet as telling you GM their mind control has no effect!
I personally think the Bracers of archery are way overpriced for the bonus you get.
If your fighting in tight spaces it helps to have a high AC. Dex obviously helps but Ring of Force Shield, Ring of Protection, and Amulet of Natural Armor can go a long way in boosting your AC.
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@Fuel Drop. Completely agree. Because of the weakness in Will saves I would HIGHLY recommend a Clear Spindle Ioun stone with Wayfinder (4,500gp). This will make you immune to possession and mental control...you don't want to the character that TPK's your own party.
And nothing is quite as sweet as telling you GM their mind control has no effect!
I personally think the Bracers of archery are way overpriced for the bonus you get.
If your fighting in tight spaces it helps to have a high AC. Dex obviously helps but Ring of Force Shield, Ring of Protection, and Amulet of Natural Armor can go a long way in boosting your AC.
The mind effect protection however is only vs. evil enemies. Also to DM discretion.
The Cap of the Free thinker, found in ultimate campaign, allows you to make another save vs. A mind-affecting effect. This is vs. ALL types. So if you have both this item, and the wayfinder OVERSIZED mentioned, you are immune to evil mental control, compulsion, and charm effects. and you get a second save vs. all other types, besides evil that would do mind-affecting control on you. I don't think the DM will ever control you, unless by way of wish/miracle, or deity.
-Also, ring of foe focus, for better saves and AC.
-Xorn robe, for better perception
-Quick runners shirt, to quickly move and get into position, to scout ahead and attack. Many great uses.
-if the archer fighter archetype, that allows for combat manuevers, the gauntlets of skilled manuever are definetly needed. Gives a +2 bonus to one combat manuever. If custom made, can have the bonus to multiple types, like trip, disarm, sunder. One of my favorite hew items for this type of archer.
- and my personal archer favorite, goz mask. Allows you to see through smoke,mcloads, underwater particulates, and the sort. Better than water vision ability, or flame sight from oracle.