Hello everyone,
I post here because I like the idea of a ranged character with ton of differents arrow for every situations. But is it viable in pathfinder ?
My GM made some house-rules for this : the ammunition doesn't need a +1 enhancement bonus before adding special ability and I can buy any number of magical arrow (I do not have to buy stack of 50 every time). This cut down the cost of flamming arrow and other +1 bonus to 46Gp / arrow.
I was planning to take effective quiver, and a +1 conserving bow (to avoid loosing cash when I miss) and buy some arrow for each kind of elemental damage and/or damage reduction type.
Then I can stack the + bonus on the bow (or bonus like seeking / speed / ...) and use my magical arrow for flexibility and adaptability.
I really like the idea but I keep thinking that it's going to cost a lot, it's 46Gp per shoot with +1 bonus ...
What do you think of this plan ? What kind of special arrow can be nice for this ?
If you can afford 10K+ GP on the bow and quiver you can afford 46 GP arrows IMO. Not doing so is a false economy unless your GM is pulling punches.
Check with your GM whether switching arrow types will require you to spend an action turning on Flaming etc. It's not active by default.
Merciful is active by default. Get a bunch of these if that's a problem. If it's not a problem, maybe mostly Corrosive (acid resistance is least often the problem.). If you can find out the types of your enemies in advance, Bane is the best.
Seeking & Cyclonic are specialty arrows for you.
Also still remember to get Holy Water Balm (alchemy, not pure magic) as it's an effective pre-combat buff against some nasty enemies.
This won't help for magic arrows, but here are some ideas to increase your flexibility:
There are actually a lot of pretty nice special arrows in the Elves of Golarion book and the Alchemy Manual. Check these out and see which ones your GM will allow.
- Durable arrows are the most cost effective way to get special material arrows (adamantine, silver, etc.).
- Tanglefoot arrows let you entangle enemies.
- Slow burn arrows are essentially an alchemist's fire on the end of an arrow.
- If anyone in your party has the scent ability, pheremone arrows will give them +2 attack and damage against someone you hit with that arrow.
Other options:
- Weapon blanches are great with ammunition, to help you get through DR. Ghost Salt weapon blanch lets your arrows count as Ghost Touch.
- Blunt arrows let you get through DR bludgeoning (e.g., skeletons) and give you the option of doing non-lethal damage.
And there are a number of ways to temporarily add Special Abilities to your weapons thorough class abilities, spells, and magic items. I have a list of a few.
+1 on bane.
If your campaign is themed it is stupidly powerful.
Thanks for your answers.
For bane, I'm already an inquisitor so I'm not going to buy that.
I already use few non magical arrow (tanglefoot, slow burn, pheromone ...) and love it.
What about spell storing arrow ? This seems pretty powerfull (may be too much ?)
A spell storing weapon allows a spellcaster to store a single targeted spell of up to 3rd level in the weapon. (The spell must have a casting time of 1 standard action.) Anytime the weapon strikes a creature and the creature takes damage from it, the weapon can immediately cast the spell on that creature as a free action if the wielder desires. (This special ability is an exception to the general rule that casting a spell from an item takes at least as long as casting that spell normally.) Once the spell has been cast from the weapon, a spellcaster can cast any other targeted spell of up to 3rd level into it. The weapon magically imparts to the wielder the name of the spell currently stored within it. A randomly rolled spell storing weapon has a 50% chance of having a spell stored in it already. This special ability can only be placed on melee weapons.
A spell storing weapon emits a strong aura of the evocation school, plus the aura of the spell currently stored.
Yeah, it would be OP. But it can't be done.