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Boots of Speed. 10 Rounds is enough for a day. The Average adventuring day has roughly 4-6 fights. That's easy enough to dedicate 1 round of haste per fight. And burn 2 on significant enemies. The cost of a weapon becomes astronomical and You are still lacking Adaptive and Seeking properties.
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On the weapon the price is literally exponential.
Boots of Speed are the way to go. If you get rich, even pack a 2nd pair.
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On the weapon the price is literally exponential.
Boots of Speed are the way to go. If you get rich, even pack a 2nd pair.
I'm sorry if it makes me that guy, but,i think it's pretty explicitly quadratic.
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Don't bother with the frost shock or fire enchants. They may sound like a good way to pump damage, except most everything in the game is going to have some sort of resistance against those types of energy damage. The minimum is usually 5 resist, so you have to roll max damage to deal any damage.
Prioritize your straight + enhancements over pretty much everything else. It may not sound fancy, but it's usually better than everything else. So basically every enemy is going to resist at least 1 of the 3 energy types, and as you gain levels the number and appearance of the energy resistance will increase to the point that they will basically be worthless enchantments.
Also, don't forget the fact that as a paladin you can have a divine weapon bond that can grant you all sorts of useful enchantment abilities.
I would recommend boots of speed, deliquescent gloves, +5 bow with adaptive and seeking and no other enhancements. You might exchange seeking for something else when you reach the level you can pick up Improved Precise Shot.
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Seriously, don't overlook cyclonic. Wind wall or underwater targets might not come up often, but if they do, they will completely shut you down. Cyclonic goes through them like they weren't there.
I keep forgetting that came out.
At a +2 it is spendy, but at higher levels it's well worth it to have the most common tactics for defeating archers just be completely removed from effectiveness.
I'd probably get a +x adaptive seeking bow until I could pick up improved precise shot and drop seeking and pickup cyclonic. This assume however that your GM will allow you to "redistribute" your magical enhancements without having to sell your bow at half value and buy a new bow at full price.
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I'm sorry if it makes me that guy, but,i think it's pretty explicitly quadratic.On the weapon the price is literally exponential.
Boots of Speed are the way to go. If you get rich, even pack a 2nd pair.
Isnt quadratic: [number] high 2
and exponential [number] high X?
Thus making quadratic a subset of exponential. Might have gotten my english translations wrong.
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On the weapon the price is literally exponential.
Boots of Speed are the way to go. If you get rich, increase the CL to 20 so you can get 20 rounds of Haste per day.
FTFY. (But on a serious note, I am unsure if that would work that way: I'd think it would, but it's not explicitly defined.)
@ OP: I'll vote with the others on the Boots of Speed.
If I may suggest on your Bow though, I would advise against getting elemental weapon properties, as they can be easily resisted/negated against a lot of foes at your level.
Smite Evil does bypass all DR, but only against Evil enemies. As a Paladin, you need to be able to bypass most (if not all DR) on every enemy plausible. To this end, I would suggest a straight +5 Bow on top of your Boots of Speed; this allows you to bypass all DR except weapon-type DR (Bludg., Pierc., Slash.), and DR/-, which is really helpful in keeping you relevant against Non-Evil enemies. Also, it's +1 to your attack and damage rolls. It's much more beneficial then another 1D6 (average 3.5) damage.
If you have 1,000 gold available after your +5 Bow and Boots of Speed items, getting the Adapative property on your Bow is also highly recommended, so that if you get Strength increases, your Bow adjusts with you (instead of being forced to reforge it all the time).
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I'm sorry if it makes me that guy, but,i think it's pretty explicitly quadratic.On the weapon the price is literally exponential.
Boots of Speed are the way to go. If you get rich, even pack a 2nd pair.
Isnt quadratic: [number] high 2
and exponential [number] high X?
Thus making quadratic a subset of exponential. Might have gotten my english translations wrong.
Actually exponential is number^x.
Quadratic is x^2.
In writing this may seem a small difference, but the numbers and trends it produces are enormously different.
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I think you're putting too much stock into the damage dice.
If you have 1D6 of everything, the average damage of that is 3.5, or 14 total. Most creatures will have a minimum resistance of 5.
This means that there is a 1 in 6 chance that you will do at best, 1 point of damage. There are some Demons and such that have resistance 5/Fire, Cold, Electricity, and Acid, or higher, and if your attacks hit them, you're either doing 0 damage with those dice 5 out of 6 times, or 1 damage with those dice 1 out of 6 times. Since the Resistances are cumulative (that is, they apply to each time), if you do run into a creature with all 4 resistances (they do exist, trust me), all those properties are wasted.
Granted, I'm not saying you'll fight them all the time, you did say that most of the time, there will be 2 resistances working against you, meaning those averages won't be doing you any good. On average, you're getting 7 (as the 3.5's are basically negated) or 9 if you're lucky, and at best, you're getting 14, which is highly improbable.
You're also assuming every arrow will hit. The bonuses to hit from the straight pluses should definitely outweigh the extra damage dice, especially against higher CR/AC foes, as their AC can very easily negate all that damage dice.
Having +18 to hit and dealing 87 points of damage can easily one-round high-end equal CR foes, like this one here, whereas if you had only a +1 Bow, you'd miss some of your attacks, and he'd be left standing.
I'll also go ahead and point out that a +4 Bow does negate Adamantine DR, which you said you're lacking. Adamantine DR comes from spells likes Stoneskin, and from facing enemies like Golems (which your Smite Evil would not work on). You'd be silly not to expect facing enemies like that.
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Ahem.
You guys arepro'snerds and i'm anidiotperson who enjoys the game and is still learning
Fixed that for you.
EDIT: Don't get me wrong: I'm a nerd, too.
EDIT 2: You may well be. That's possible. Nothing wrong with that.
EDIT 3: I mean, "pros" would be making far more mistakes than you. They only get money.
EDIT 4: Nerds, though... man, those guys. They are serious. You do not mess with them. They don't need money. They're doing this for fun.
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@Darksol the Painbringer
When you make the calculations you did in your post, did you take Clustered shots into consideration? or am i just wrong and Clustrered shots only effects DR and not resist?Ok so big question here - im 3000 XP from level 9 - if i do get +4 (or even +5), do i even need to get the Clustered Shots Feat?
You guys are pro's and i'm an idiot.... every point you make shows me im missing something. - I REALLY appreciate the help and time each of you invested in my questions\thread
Resistances and Damage Reduction are separate entities. Clustered Shot only applies to Damage Reduction, not Resistances, as it only calls out Damage Reduction. Resistance is its own thing, although it serves a similar function to Damage Reduction.
This means for each bow shot that has those D6's, they are calculated separately (but the bow's physical damage is only reduced once). Anything that's not typed generally formats to the weapon's damage type (Piercing for bows), as it's just an addition to the weapon's damage potential, and not a separate rider (such as the energy properties), so your bonus damage from Smiting, for example, would count as Piercing (since a type isn't specified), and adds onto your other physical damage.
With a +5 Bow, you'll only need to deal with DR of Slashing/Bludgeoning/Piercing (which can be aided by purchasing specific types of arrows, such as Blunt Arrows for Bludgeoning), or DR/-. They can come up, in the case of Skeletons, Raging Barbarians, etc., but as far as burning a feat on it...I probably wouldn't.
The big reasons to get a +5 Weapon ASAP is to bypass as much DR as you can (meaning you're doing RAW damage and don't have to waste Smites just to deal with enemies that have a ton of DR), and to boost your to-hit as much as you can (which translates to more hits, which means more on-hit effects, like Smite, activate). There are some effects that might be worth it (I'd suggest Keen, but Bracers of Falcon's Aim are just too damn OP for their price to pass up), such as Conductive to apply Lay On Hands effects to Undead enemies you shoot (which can be pretty nice). Seeking is also vital, so that your attacks don't have to deal with concealment from spells like Blur and Displacement, or even Invisible enemies. There are others, but those are the biggies.
I wouldn't beat yourself up; even optimizers overlook stuff (I've certainly done it) that makes their "super overpowered OMG" build not work.
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If you're looking for an "elemental" +dice effect, might I suggest holy?
But I'll agree with the rest that +2 to hit and damage is likely to be the bigger difference.
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As Gulthor has stated, I too would suggest Holy over the energy properties, especially since you're in Carrion Crown. I've never played the AP, but I can assure you I've heard enough about all the Undead and such. It's also in the name of the AP (Carrion refers to dead, rotting, decaying things, so stuff related to that is gonna pop up).
99% of Undead are Evil-Aligned, so a +2 property that lets you bypass DR/Good, and gives you an extra 2D6 damage that isn't resistant-dependant, is much more valuable than the energy-based damages, by far. Hell, even getting Bane (Undead) is pretty nice, as that too serves for +2 to hit and damage, and the 2D6 is added on, and that's only a +1 property. The best part, is it stacks with Holy. This means that you're getting an extra +2 to hit and damage, as well as 4D6 extra non-resistance damage. It also serves the Paladin flavor quite well; Undead are a scourge and defloration of the gift of Life, and those who are Evil, or influenced by it, shall certainly pay the price for their treacherous behavior.
Behold, the one and only, Lightbringer!
I do speak from a general stance in that straight Enhancement bonuses are generally best, but there are situations/APs were stuff like Holy is really prevalent and valued over straight Enhancement bonuses. This is easily one of those moments.
Yeah, the big thing your missing is that Damage Reduction and Energy Resistance are two separate things.
Smite bypasses DR, not energy resistance. Clustered Shots makes it so your shots only go against damage reduction once, not energy resistance.
So energy damage enchants are mostly worthless in this game. Unless you can get energy damaged added to your attacks for free and at early level it's generally just not worth it once you get to around level 10 or so. Most creatures and enemies will resist at least 2 energy types, which means those expensive enchants on your bow (and they are expensive when you considering the scaling cost increase) are basically wasted gold you could have spent doing something more effective.
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The big reasons to get a +5 Weapon ASAP is to bypass as much DR as you can (meaning you're doing RAW damage and don't have to waste Smites just to deal with enemies that have a ton of DR), and to boost your to-hit as much as you can (which translates to more hits, which means more on-hit effects, like Smite, activate).
This, but with a couple of things to add. In my experience +4 is essential to bypass all types of weapon material DR. Varying types of arrows may be an optin, but at some point you are shooting way too many arrows a round to have to worry about how many adamantine arrows you have on hand.
In most cases Seeking is the other enhancement that you are going to want. In the case of any campaign where a majority of your battles are against evil targets, Holy is the next big add: Holy not only gives you extra damage versus those targets, but it also helps by pass DR/Good. Maybe less of an issue as a Paladin, but worth considering if you find yourself running out of Smites - and/or you don't already have the Paladin ability to grant Holy to your bow.
As others have said, adding an extra +1 to the enhancement of the bow isn't particularly sexy, but you will hit more often with that extra +1 to attack - especially on your lower-bonus iterative attacks.
Things like Cyclonic and Ghost Touch are great to have on your backup bow(s), if you feel like you really need them. Seeking may fit into this category too, depending on the campaign. For instance ou may eventually have 3 or 4 bows:
+4 Holy for general use
+1 Seeking
+1 Cyclonic
+1 Ghost Touch
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Deliquescent gloves are only worth it because acid resist is the rarest form of resistance and it's not adding a +1 cost to your weapon. Not to mention that if you don't have weapon training there isn't much competition for the hands slot.
Isn't Sonic the Rarest form of Resistance?
But I will agree with the statement as hand slots hardly come into use much.
Deliquescent gloves are only worth it because acid resist is the rarest form of resistance and it's not adding a +1 cost to your weapon. Not to mention that if you don't have weapon training there isn't much competition for the hands slot.Isn't Sonic the Rarest form of Resistance?
But I will agree with the statement as hand slots hardly come into use much.
Force is. There are zero creatures that have Force resistance. (It's not supposed to be resistable anyway.)
Sonic would be the next one up, as there are only maybe a handful of creatures that have Sonic Resistance. That being said, I have seen it come up once or twice...