Me and my group are starting a new campaign at level 1 in a homebrew setting by the DM. I'm looking to play a ranger which focuses on using a bow robin hood style. My DM is allowing me to use the Expanded Spell-Less Ranger from Kobold Press which is great so far and has some great options for a skirmisher type that I had considered but I'd like to go for a robin hood type (More below) and I can't seem to find a way to do it while still being relevant when full round attacks start coming into play.
Currently I'm looking at Focused Shot, Deadly Aim, and Bullseye Shot on the d20pfsrd which will be great for the lower levels but I'm pretty certain I'll be next to useless at a higher level if I don't take advantage of full round attacks.
I don't particularly like the idea of doing a full round attack to fire off a handful of arrows in a single round in quick succession, I'd prefer to sacrifice that for a single more powerful/accurate shot (Thinking Robin Hood vs. Legolas, I prefer Robin Hood!). I was thinking I could just re-flavor it and just say "I'm doing a full round attack, but I'm actually just shooting a single well aimed arrow!" but since you still do multiple attack rolls it doesn't really feel right - maybe I'm just being picky.
My GM has no problem allowing third party resources, and encourages us to get creative and present ideas for homebrew feats/rules/class features/etc. to give more options as long as they are balanced, of course. I was thinking of something along the lines of a Improved Focused Shot feat or similar which gives some kind of damage boost on a single attack as a full attack action but I'm not too good with figuring the numbers and maintaining balance. Since my DM is currently on a vacation for a week with his family I can't really ask him for any input or hand it off to him to figure out the specifics/mechanics of it.
Unless I'm missing something from 3rd party sources or something on the d20pfsrd I need something homebrew. So, has anyone done something like this or have any ideas on how to make it work?
I tae it you're not a fan of Lars Anderson? He makes Legolas look slow . . .
See the (Paizo) feat chain:
Vital Strike
Improved Vital Strike
Greater Vital Strike
These will do conceptually what you want, and even have some mechanical benefits to offset the obvious disadvantages (you need to spend 3 feats, and for Bows/Arrows the damage per round isn't all that great, and you only add bonuses and Criticals once): Even if the damage output per round isn't all that great, the damage per shot is pretty good, which gives you a way to overcome Damage Resistance that you just can't get the right weapons for, simply by doing damage in big bursts, and you can even do this and move beyond 5' step in the same round, which is especially good when you end up needing to use it with your melee attacks as well (these feats work with both ranged and melee -- best to build for switch-hitting, especially since some melee weapons have substantially bigger damage dice). Unlike Focused Shot, the damage done by these feats is not Precision Damage, so it works on anything that isn't completely immune to damage done by whatever weapon you are using (and the fact that you can use it with all your weapons helps with this). This feat chain does stack with Focused Shot, but this is only a straight addition, not a synergy (since the Focused Shot damage gets added only once, and eventually will be such a small fraction of the total that you will hardly notice it).
Also see the damage dice-increasing spells:
Gravity Bow (works with Bows/Arrows and Crossbows/Bolts, although if you are Small or Medium, the results on Bows/Arrows are kind of disappointing)
Lead Blades (works on melee weapons -- for best results use a big two-handed weapon like a Greatsword, and for even better results get Enlarge Person cast on you first -- unfortunately doesn't work with ranged weapons, and is unfortunately not a Ranger spell)
The feat investment for two-handed weapon fighting isn't huge (although more investment can improve it), so if you're short on feats, get the archery feats you want (and you're leaving out the rapid-fire feats anyway), the Vital Strike chain (unfortunately 3 feats), and Power Attack, and you should be good to go.
Sniping + Sneak Attack?
I tae it you're not a fan of Lars Anderson? He makes Legolas look slow . . .
See the (Paizo) feat chain:
Vital Strike
Improved Vital Strike
Greater Vital StrikeThese will do conceptually what you want, and even have some mechanical benefits to offset the obvious disadvantages (you need to spend 3 feats, and for Bows/Arrows the damage per round isn't all that great, and you only add bonuses and Criticals once): Even if the damage output per round isn't all that great, the damage per shot is pretty good, which gives you a way to overcome Damage Resistance that you just can't get the right weapons for, simply by doing damage in big bursts, and you can even do this and move beyond 5' step in the same round, which is especially good when you end up needing to use it with your melee attacks as well (these feats work with both ranged and melee -- best to build for switch-hitting, especially since some melee weapons have substantially bigger damage dice). Unlike Focused Shot, the damage done by these feats is not Precision Damage, so it works on anything that isn't completely immune to damage done by whatever weapon you are using (and the fact that you can use it with all your weapons helps with this). This feat chain does stack with Focused Shot, but this is only a straight addition, not a synergy (since the Focused Shot damage gets added only once, and eventually will be such a small fraction of the total that you will hardly notice it).
Also see the damage dice-increasing spells:
Gravity Bow (works with Bows/Arrows and Crossbows/Bolts, although if you are Small or Medium, the results on Bows/Arrows are kind of disappointing)...
I've never heard of him, just looked him up that's pretty awesome actually. I hadn't seen those vital strike feats, thanks for the links I think they will do the trick!
What was the name of that 3.5 archer prestige class where you get to add dice when you shoot an arrow as a standard action?
EDIT:
I found the book, and it is called Order of the Bow Initiate. It's special attack would not stack with vital strike. More or less all of the class features have before PF feats.
I suggest asking your DM about using Mythic Vital Strike. Robin Hood seems like a slightly Mythic sort of dude, and Mythic Vital Strike lets you add in Str and other "flat" bonuses with each additional die from the Vital Strike feats instead of just once. This still wouldn't be as damaging as a full attack since you won't get Haste, Rapid Shot, or Manyshot, but you also won't have to take the Clustered Shots feat, and you'll potentially be more mobile than a full attacking archer. I think you'd only need 1 Mythic tier for this.
@FaceInTheSand - Pinpoint Targeting is OK, but since you need BAB +16 it could take a long time to get it working.
"Real world" Robin Hood might not be Mythic, but somebody who wants to be effective with one shot per round might need a little extra kick. I've long favored the idea of replacing the Gunslinger's Dead Shot deed with something more like Mythic Vital Strike to allow "one big shot" instead of forcing you to rapid fire muzzle loaders to be effective. Something similar would be nice for crossbows, which also have a reputation of being slow but deadly.
Since most DMs aren't likely to allow Mythic Vital Strike I guess some other damage boosting tricks might be in order. Deliquescent Gloves can give you an affordable +1d6 acid damage which will work in melee too and even gives you a melee touch attack if needed. I suppose that having an assortment of Bane arrows could be helpful too if perhaps rather expensive (at least you'd be shooting them slowly). I guess that you could potentially further enhance the value of the Bane arrows with the Arrow Eruption spell (though it might not fit the "Robin Hood" theme too well)
Note that Lars Anderson uses a 40 str pull Short bow for his Rapid Fire trick. His arrows have no penetration power (note that his only example of punching armor is against chain mail, which, well, already has the holes in it).
It's basically a horseman technique invented in desert/hot climes to shoot civilians or lightly armored troops when raiding at speed, when you can't draw an arrow from a quiver and aren't facing someone with actual armor.
As an additional Combat manuver, introduce this: If you take a Full Round action to launch a single arrow, you gain a bonus of +2 to hit, +1 per iterative attack you give up.
--Which basically allows you to shoot Deadly Shot for free, since your accuracy won't suffer.
Another thing you could do is allow some damage bonus to stack during Vital Strike. I'm inclined to Weapon Spec and Weapon Mastery and Feats myself, as a nod to fighters.
==Aelryinth