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Get someone close to him to have them sunder the bow or cut the string or something.
Mind control him or his teammmates (bard/witch). Have them fight really big monsters with lots of hit points.
Cutting the bowstring is a sunder manoeuvre. Well, technically, the bow doesn't even need a string to fire, but don't penalize archers by saying that someone can cut their string to avoid making a CMB check.
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Cutting the bowstring is a sunder manoeuvre. Well, technically, the bow doesn't even need a string to fire, but don't penalize archers by saying that someone can cut their string to avoid making a CMB check.Get someone close to him to have them sunder the bow or cut the string or something.
Mind control him or his teammmates (bard/witch). Have them fight really big monsters with lots of hit points.
^ This. Please do not get the thread into another "cutting a bowstring : success" argument. There is no difference between sundering the wood or the string in terms of mechanics.
generally speaking if you are creating stuff to specifically oppose one Pc it's best to either ask that Pc to leave. or stop dming. Chances are if you go down this rout hell notice it eventually resent it and it will lead to problems.
the other one is a problem of perception. my experience has been that when a fighter does lots of damage people run aroun screaming op but dont seem upset when a Izard casts an sod and the bad guy just falls over.
that said I'm undecided in my opinion of clustered shot. it seems to make ALOT of bad guys a little easy. but this also may be an issue of perception.
Just make sure the game is fun for everyone.
If one guy is optomized for combat, maybe everyone else is glad he is killing the BBEG before the BBEG is killing the PCs! If so, then great.
If everyone else is feeling left out when combat happens, maybe they need to have some slight adjustments made to their feat/skill/spell/class ability choices? We did this in a game I play. Someone was playing a swashbuckler/ranger archer, and wasn't too good at either. She was re-built as a pure ranger archer, and was much happier. Oddly enough, archery is actually pretty rules-lite for a newby or rules-lite player. Basically just point and shoot, using manyshot/rapid shot if you can stay still and shoot or vital strike if you moved that round and can only get off 1 shot that round. No need to worry about flanking, higher ground, attacks of opportunity (if not near melee!), combat maneuvers, difficult terrain, etc. etc.
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Oddly enough, archery is actually pretty rules-lite for a newby or rules-lite player. Basically just point and shoot, using manyshot/rapid shot if you can stay still and shoot or vital strike if you moved that round and can only get off 1 shot that round. No need to worry about flanking, higher ground, attacks of opportunity (if not near melee!), combat maneuvers, difficult terrain, etc. etc.
if you play by RAW then i would disagree. rangers have line of sight, which is the same as line of effect(CRB) plus the need to also see the target, as a major disadvantage. if you have a party with heavy melee, or people who like to stand in front of the ranged characters, then you will have issues with cover. you need to take precise shot or you will suck shooting into a melee. then to top it off you cant shoot while prone, and added +4 to ac vrs prone targets. getting a full attack should be very difficult if the gm plays smart enemies smart. i would always suggest that new players go melee only because of the simplicity of: move, hit, move, hit, move, hit, win.
honestly you have to know the mechanics of combat to make a ranger work as well as they should.
Well, archers can take feats that remove penalties (like Precise Shot), so that helps.
And our GM usually has several bunches of opponents show up at once, so the archer takes care of one group, and the dragon shaman and battle sorcerer take care of the other group. We have a small party, so that helps.
I think it's more a problem specific to your campaing (open sea warfare) than a problem specific to archers. In the same campaing, an optimised blaster would also perform very well, although it's harder to optimise a blaster than an archer. Open sea campaings just scream ranged battles, so it's not a big surprise than an archer is doing so well. In an underground campaing, an archer wouldn't be that great, and he would probably get killed by the first Large Earth Elemental encountered.
That being said, tower shields counter archery. Also, soft cover is your friend. The BBEG should always have minions in front of him to provide him soft cover. Strong winds and waves will affect negatively the casters as much as the archer, so it's not like if you were only picking up on the archer. Invisibility Sphere and Tiny Hut are good spells for any pirates who wants to get close to the PC's boat without dying. Ready actions can also screw an archer up, like an evil alchemist throwing a smoke bomb at the archer's face as soon as he starts is full-attack routine (the archer takes fire damage AND waste his round).
I hope those little advices will help you. Good luck!
Regarding all the people recommending adding penalties due to the motion of the boat and weather and such...I would highly recommend against doing this unless a) it's already in the rules or b) you discuss it with the player ahead of time. I know that if I played a certain type of character and midway through the campaign, new "circumstantial" penalties to me appear, I'd be more than pissed off.
Regarding all the people recommending adding penalties due to the motion of the boat and weather and such...I would highly recommend against doing this unless a) it's already in the rules or b) you discuss it with the player ahead of time. I know that if I played a certain type of character and midway through the campaign, new "circumstantial" penalties to me appear, I'd be more than pissed off.
It's already in the rules: Weather
Which is why I stated "a) it's already in the rules." But some people were suggesting a -2 penalty for ranged attacks on a boat in calm waters, with higher penalties for choppier water. That's nowhere in the rules that I can find, unless you want to equate calm waters to strong winds.
Which is why I stated "a) it's already in the rules." But some people were suggesting a -2 penalty for ranged attacks on a boat in calm waters, with higher penalties for choppier water. That's nowhere in the rules that I can find, unless you want to equate calm waters to strong winds.
Effectively there's no rule for motion of the boat concerning archery. That being said there's no shame in using strong wind in some battles (not all battles) since it penalize every PCs, not just the archer.
I know that. Am I being unclear? That's why I specifically stated that unless there's rules in the book about it, you shouldn't introduce penalties such as that without discussing it ahead of time, otherwise it's a slap in the face to the player you're penalizing.
I know that. Am I being unclear? That's why I specifically stated that unless there's rules in the book about it, you shouldn't introduce penalties such as that without discussing it ahead of time, otherwise it's a slap in the face to the player you're penalizing.
I'm not disagreeing with you, just confirmed what you said. :)
The largest problem for weather at sea is alot of people apply land based concepts to wind that simply dont apply to coastal or ocean regions. On land trees and mountains slow down the wind. On the ocean the wind speed is translated into waves. What are 'moderate' winds on land are pretty constant (trade winds) on the ocean or along the coastline during morning and evening. Strong winds are pretty common on the ocean.
Most archers should be concerned about the weather. If the DM has not been using weather modifiers they should inform the player that they have learned about weather and as a result will apply it in the future. Give the player a chance to tweak their character if they so desire.
Failure to apply rules and effects in the past should not prevent you from applying them in the future.
Alientude, regarding waves you are correct there is nothing in there about them. However, circumstance penalties ARE in the rules and waves do create significant hardships for ranged attacks. Additionally, I put calm in 'calm' to indicate that what others think of as calm really isnt. Even in long island sound the waves can get high enough to make a small ferry boat rock decently. This will certainly throw off aim. And that was without wind btw.
Beaufort scale
Some photos of what that scale looks like on the ocean. This is a site for beginners.
Map of the world's wind over a 10year period. Notice the lower wind speed on land
In the last graphic of average wind speeds the speeds are in m/s. Anything in the 9+m/s range is 20+mph, about strong(-2to hit). Thus, fresh breeze (Beaufort 5, in Pathfinder terms 19.55-24mph..about -2) is pretty common on the ocean. On land not common.
- Gauss
Yes, wind and weather rules should be used. The thing is, however, that you're recommending adding new circumstantial penalties that have never been included before. In essence, you're recommending the GM suddenly spring new rules that are not in the books to nerf a specific character. If I'm that player, I'm pissed off, as the rules of the game I play have just changed in a way that is specifically antagonistic to me. It's not fair to build a character under one set of rules, then have the GM arbitrarily change those rules just because he doesn't like my character. This is why I specifically mentioned unless the rules are clearly written out already, the GM should discuss any changes with the player first.
TLDR: don't change the rules mid-game without talking to the affected people first.
I am not suggesting he 'screw' the player. And I did state he should inform the players. I am actually going to play an archer soon and when I shoot outdoors one of my first questions will be what is the wind? - Gauss
By adding wind penalties (and maybe motion penalties) to ranged attacks, the GM should keep in mind that he will be also screwing the bad guys archers. Such penalties will have more drastic effects on mooks (low-level bad guys) than on any PC, since mooks already have an hard time hitting PCs while PCs usually don't have to roll very high to hit mooks.
Maerimydra that is true, but those mooks will probably already need 20's. These penalties do not make the combat more dangerous (at long range) for an archer, they just draw the combat out longer to give the other players a chance to do something. - Gauss
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I have a Ranger archer that is about as effective as the 2H Bbn in terms of sheer damage, though not anywhere near the charging Cavalier!
Encounter design can play heavily into how he performs. Now barring Improved Precise Shot (which our Rgr has) soft cover and other cover/ concelment is the way to go. However once IPS is taken then you need to think outside the box. Armor Class only goes so far and against spell casters AC tends to be low. Obviously in an encounter where a primary caster is the BBEG anti-missle defense is crucial and in the type of campaign you are running should be standard tactics because a dedicated ranged weapon or spell user is a huge threat.
Next is to spam the number of minions. More targets can soak up excess attacks but the mooks have to be dangerous enough to warrant that attention. Counter-snipers are a good threat even if they only have half his feats. Use small flying creatures to harass rear line combatants. Buffed animal companions, summoned monsters, attack spells like spiritual weapon, flaming sphere, spectral hand, etc.
--Vrock the boat