Most feats don't require a physical weapon, so most should work. It'd be nice to have an official list though.
What where you thinking of that doesn't work?
I am pretty certain the playtest thread said it is to be treated like a ray and did not qualify for PBS, rapid shot, etc.
They said it doesn't work with rapid shot and arcane strike but no reason given why. Then they said that things that work with a ray works with Mystic Bolt. As I said above, most things don't require a physical weapon so should work with a ray as it's treated as a weapon. So the only reason rapid shot and arcane strike are out is because they made an exception as I can't see a reason for them not working otherwise.
Also "balance" concerns are negated by gunslingers.
Also "balance" concerns are negated by gunslingers.
LOL Yeah but then they don't want to have an extra feat for talents because of "balance" concerns when oracle revelations and extra revelations are a thing. There seems to be a concerted effort to make the class inferior to other classes for some reason.
The zen Archer build 'one' is super optimized and is doing 1d8+24 damage and that's vs regular AC not touch and he needs to sink money into a +5 bow. Warlock is getting 1d6+20 to touch ac
Or let's go with something more common. Bard Archer 10 should have a strength of at least +1 and deadly shot for +6 and maybe minimum a +1 bow plus arcane strike 1d8+10
Compare that to the 1d6+10 energy damage to touch AC. Let's average this out to 14 damage vs 13. Seems to me at first that in exchange for one point loss in damage we get to hit everything 95% of the time, pretty freaking sweet.
BUT WAIT!
It's not a problem for a bard to have both rapid shot and manyshot by then
That's now for a full attack 54 damage to the warlock's 26
To prove its not hard here's and Archer focused bard build
1st level point blank
3 - precise shot
5 rapid shot
7 - arcane strike
9 - manyshot
Have him either be human or arcane duelist and you've got something else like lingering performance to put in 7
Sorry warlock if you're looking to compete with ranged focused characters youre out of luck with just your mystic bolt. Better try something fancy with two weapon fighting.
At higher levels, would Mythic Bolt still be a viable tactic?
Even with a full attack, you're getting three 1d6+20 attacks. 25 points of damage is fairly negligible at that point, especially since most targets will have energy resistance.
Plus, a Warlock can't qualify for Point Blank Master, so the Bolt will always provoke if fired as a ranged attack.
I like the Mystic Bolt, but I don't think it's a game-breaker, even if things like PBS and Rapid Shot (and arguably Arcane Strike) are allowed to apply
I am pretty certain the playtest thread said it is to be treated like a ray and did not qualify for PBS, rapid shot, etc.
i heard them say weapon focus (Ray) doesn;t apply to it and isntead you take weapon focus(M-bolt), i thought that this meant it behaved like a normal ranged weapon, odd.
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I am pretty certain the playtest thread said it is to be treated like a ray and did not qualify for PBS, rapid shot, etc.i heard them say weapon focus (Ray) doesn;t apply to it and isntead you take weapon focus(M-bolt), i thought that this meant it behaved like a normal ranged weapon, odd.
Logan was the developer of Mystic Bolts, so his posts are the ones that are key:
For the purposes of the playtest, you can't use Arcane Strike with a mystic bolt. It counts as a weapon only for the purposes of Weapon Focus (mystic bolt) and works like a weapon in the basic ways it needs to to work with attack routines (you can use it with a full attack and can two-weapon fight with it and another weapon). Most other feats and abilities that work with weapons or give bonuses to weapon attacks (including Rapid Shot) can't affect mystic bolts. Basically, only if something would apply to a ray does it apply to a mystic bolt (including Improved Critical, etc.).
Also, can a Warlock combine Mystic Bolts with two weapon fighting? Mystic Bolts takes the place of an attack, so it seems like it would be possible.You can create/fire only one mystic bolt at a time, so you can two-weapon fight with a mystic bolt and a different weapon, but you can't two-weapon fight with two mystic bolts.
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The main issue is that Logan seems to contradict himself. He says "Most other feats and abilities that work with weapons or give bonuses to weapon attacks (including Rapid Shot) can't affect mystic bolts." then says "Basically, only if something would apply to a ray does it apply to a mystic bolt (including Improved Critical, etc.)."
If you follow the second quote, rapid shot would be in (it can be used for a full attack). Very few feats call out needing an actual physical weapon, so most are in. Also, Bards song adds to a rays damage and hit so arcane strike should work.
So I'm left scratching my head how it works like a ray but NOT like a weapon as most thing treat a ray as a weapon.
Also there is no clustered shots for energy resistance, and vs immunity you are just screwed.
I think clustered shots would/should work for energy resistance. The added together damage counts for massive damage so it would seem that you always add together the damage it's just that they never considered a weapon doing elemental damage when they made the feat.
Without this working, bolts are going to have serious issues at higher levels where resistances start being the norm.
I'd love a talent to change the damage to sonic or force.I actually would prefer sonic over force.. sure force is better.
but man sonic feels so hard to get, and the few spells it has aren't strong..
but i think the highest level sonic spell I can think of is 6 right now..
So you could totally make a sonic warloc.Which would make me beyond happy.
Force would be nice for incorporeal undead. The fact that is has no resistance is IMO icing on the cake. You'd most likely have to drop the damage though or make it a higher level ability.
Sonic is almost as nice for resistances as few things has it.