Did you remember he can only take 1 AoO against any single creature in a given round?
Also, he has a +7 weapon. WTF? I have a group of level 14 characters, the highest anyone has is a +4 total modifiers.
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Why is this in the houserules forum?
Anyway, manyshot and rapid shot combine, but there's no way you should let him put all his money into one weapon, nor should he ever be able to afford that monstrosity at level 9. His WBL is 46,000gp, and a +3 Longbow of Speed is 72,000gp (a +6 weapon). He CAN afford a +3 composite longbow, but I would like to see the rest of his character sheet, because chances are if he's sneaking a 72,000 gp weapon in, there are other things wrong with it.
Oh, and even with combat reflexes, he can't take more than one attack of opportunity for the same move. So each giant is eating max one AoO before closing and wringing his neck. I would not attack him either, I would grapple.
Archery is...very, very powerful with very little investment.
TBH, it's marginalizing even without the way-out-of-WBL bow.
Lvl 9 fighter Bab is 9/4
dex 20 +5
Weapon spec Long bow + 2
Weapon train +2
+3 Longbow of Speed +3
weapon focus +1+22/+22/17 to hit with many shot. 4 arrows
Damage is 7 each arrow with an avg damage of 42 each round
Hes mad because I wont let improved snapshot in the game that allows him a 15' spread of Threat range combined with combat reflexes. As mobs with a 5' range come into their 5' range he is eating them up in AOO then finishing them off. They are fighting hill giants and hes taking a hill giant out every other round.I know I can monkey with the encounter but seems a little hackey if I have to design every encounter around his crazy DPS. His old character got killed and this is a new character with out much magic items save the bow.
Am I being a little crazy here or is Improved snapshot a little OP?
Last question does Many shot and Rapid shot combine?
Remember that Weapon Spec. adds to damage, not to attack rolls. So your attack bonuses all drop by 2.
An 8th level fighter would have Greater Weapon Focus. That works out to +2/+2 with spec and focus.
==Aelryinth
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It's in the rules of attacks of opportunities, page 180 of the CRB.
Combat Reflexes and Additional Attacks of Opportunity:
If you have the Combat Reflexes feat, you can add your Dexterity modifier to the number of attacks of opportunity you can make in a round. This feat does not let you make more than one attack for a given opportunity, but if the same opponent provokes two attacks of opportunity from you, you could make two separate attacks of opportunity (since each one represents a different opportunity). Moving out of more than one square threatened by the same opponent in the same round doesn't count as more than one opportunity for that opponent. All these attacks are at your full normal attack bonus.
I'd still suggest that you post his character sheet to be audited by all of us (we're awesome at ripping things apart). If he's still giving you trouble after that, throw casters with scrolls of wind wall at him, and give select enemies DR piercing.
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+3 Longbow of Speed +3
Damage is 7 each arrow with an avg damage of 42 each round
Hes mad because I wont let improved snapshot in the game that allows him a 15' spread of Threat range combined with combat reflexes. As mobs with a 5' range come into their 5' range he is eating them up in AOO then finishing them off. They are fighting hill giants and hes taking a hill giant out every other round.Am I being a little crazy here or is Improved snapshot a little OP?
Wait, he threatens 5' only, how is he getting AoA's on enemies moving up to him? That's not how it works.
The bow is way too much at that level. Also, if he put all his money into that, how good are his will saves?
Are all of the giants getting AoA's when he shoots?
Don't forget that the giants can throw boulders (or grapple/trip/dirty trick/disarm)
At level 9 he could have a +3 weapon and boots of speed, especially if the party has crafters. Perhaps this is being misreported.
Also....a level 9 archer can do wayyy more than 42 damage per round. Really, he's pretty underpowered. Especially against giants, as he should be running Deadly Aim since they have low-ish AC. Plus Bracers of Archery Lesser, and the Gloves from the APG that add to weapon training, and maybe even some strength....this guy's really not killing the game.
To answer your question, yes. Improved snap shot is a little overpowered. Bows did not need that much of a boost. It's already the best fighting style in the game.
Improved snap shot is cool but not really overpowered: you need at least 3 feats to make it work, and if an enemy charges you the most you can make is two attacks.
You can indeed make a lot more AoOs if an enemy run around you (leaving different squares counts as provoking different AoOs, imho) but this is not something that usually happens in my games.
EDIT:
just wanted to add: improved snap shot is not game breaking but in my opinion it tends to make the game less dynamic
I agree with Sylvanite. My Ranger Archer build and Sylvanites EK Archer build are both far worse than this at level 9.
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Well the switch hitter in our game is a Ranger so misses out on the fighter damage boosts and is not Archery focused, yet he does:
To Hit: +9 (base) +4 (Dex) +2 (enhancement) -3 (Deadly Aim) - 2(rapid shot).
So, his To Hit is much lower (+10/+10/+5) though Bard song gives him +2 and Haste also gives +1.
So, ignoring Haste he has +12/+12/+7 (or +16/+16/+11 against favoured enemy)
and his damage is:
1d8 (longbow) +4 (str) +2(enhancement)+6 (Deadly Aim) = 1d8+12 (+16 Favoured enemy) or 1d8+14 Bard song (+18 Bard song and favoured enemy)
So, if all were to hit it would be (4d8+48 min, 4d8+72 max)
As mentioned, this is just a switch hitter Ranger so is actually primarily focused fighting with a 2h yet is still putting out scarier numbers than the Fighter in OP when using a bow and this is without a crazy overpowered bow.
But es, Archery is way overpowered :)
Just because it's not as bad as it could be doesn't mean that it isn't marginalizing encounters.
Let's see, many shot, rapid shot, weapon focus, greater, weapon spec, snapshot, improved snap shot, combat reflexes. That's 8. Unless he's a human, he can't have Precise Shot (if I did my math right). Are you remembering to include that -4 penalty? Are you remember that allies grant cover bonuses to enemies? I had a gunslinger who didn't take any of the precise feats... even against touch AC he would have a hard time hitting if he used Deadly Aim.
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I never see it play out that way; until Improved Precise they are often -4 to hit, and the 70-80 damage / round Is made up for by their lack of being able to handle being closed on / surrounded. Melee types tend to have fewer feat investments, and while they have to close round 1 end up at 2+ dealing almost as much damage. They always look powerful on paper, but they're pretty balanced out in play.
Quilted Cloth is armor from the APG that gives DR 3 / - against small piercing weapons such as arrows.
Try using Cover with creatures that clearly are meant to be attacked with ranged weapons. For example, have a sniper high up in a tree who darts behind the tree after firing. That +4 to AC hurts.
Lvl 9 fighter
+3 Longbow of Speed +3
weapon focus +1
That bow is waaaaay too powerful at that level. That's closer to a lvl 15 weapon.
Remember that character wealth per level should be spread out over all the gear. Letting a character spend all his wealth on just 1 item can unbalance things.
I can't remember off the top of my head if there are any rules for max wealth/level per magic item type. But as a GM I make sure my players spread out the wealth when creating new PCs at higher levels.
My main concern is offering the group a challenge without having to throw the kitchen sink at them, or design every encounter to defeat the main dps. such as disarm's on the bow all the time or sunders etc etc.
You can mix it up a bit to have different fights so that you don't always to throw the kitchen sink at them.
A few suggestions are:
Use terrain to add in modifyers and provide full cover.
Have creatures, once they realize that the archer is the most dangerous of the group get into threatning range - using the bow will provoke AoOs.
Use items or spells to obscure vision (Smokesticks, Obscuring Mist, etc) to allow the NPCs to close or escape
Have the NPCs use terrain modifying spells, like any of the walls.
Keep track of ammunition, as in long fights, the archer may run out.
Occasionally have the NPCs use Wind Wall.
Occasionally have an NPC use warp wood on the arrows.
Have some NPCs use Mirror Image (UMD skill and a wand with a couple of charges)
Have occasions where the archer can shine and take down the enemies before they close.
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... As mobs with a 5' range come into their 5' range he is eating them up in AOO then finishing them off...
You only provoke an AoO by movement when you move out of a threatened square, not when you move into one. Any opponent with a reach of 5ft can simply walk (or charge) up to the guy and hit him without provoking an AoO.
... They are fighting hill giants and hes taking a hill giant out every other round...
Hill giants have a natural 10ft reach - which means they threaten all squares within 5ft and 10ft of themselves. There's no way our archer is getting AoO against them with just the Snap Shot Feat, unless they're going out of their way to let him.
... Am I being a little crazy here or is Improved snapshot a little OP?..
Whilst the Improved Snap Shot Feat is certainly very good at helping protect a dedicated archer from being cut-down in melee, remember that it shares with Snap Shot the limitation that only the AoO the Feat grants with a bow don't provoke AoO themselves. If the archer is within the bad guy's threatened area when he takes his normal ranged attacks, on his own turn, these Feats do not prevent him from triggering an AoO for using a ranged attack.
So, at best, the Improved Snap Shot Feat is granting the archer a single AoO against enemies which close with him (so unless he's one-shot killing them, they can then wail on him with relative impunity), and the basic Snap Shot Feat is granting him nothing unless they happen to do something to provoke when they're standing next to him hitting him repeatedly with pointy sticks.
... Last question does Many shot and Rapid shot combine?..
Yes, but only the first attack in the archer's full-attack routine gets the extra damage from the Manyshot Feat, and all the attacks take the -2 penalty to-hit from the Rapid Shot Feat.