Ranged Flanking


Advice


Howdy everyone. I'm currently playing a Halfling Slayer (Lvl 1), and wanted to find a way to flank with my bow if I could for the sneak attack damage. Does anyone know what feats there are that would allow me to do this?

Scarab Sages

None. You can threaten with a bow, and provide a flanking bonus for an ally, but ranged attacks can never benefit from a flanking bonus.


Yep, you're better off investing into Sniping as an alternative to gain Sneak Attack.


I don't actually need to flanking bonus, I just need to be able to flank something to get off the sneak attack. I found this feat that seems like it will let me, but I'm curious to see if there are other ways.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/gang-up-combat/


Also, is there a way to feint with a bow? If I could manage that then I'd be just fine. I'm just looking for ways to get off sneak attack if I can't stealth.


Yep, Ranged Feint.

Scarab Sages

If you don't have a flanking bonus, you don't have a flank, and you can't sneak attack by the rules. It is a common house rule to allow ranged flanking, but by the rules, it can't happen. Not with gang up, not with pack flanking, nor any other way of getting flanking, because ranged weapons do not benefit from flanking.

Ranged feint does work, and will allow sneak attack.


Allen Aynes wrote:

I don't actually need to flanking bonus, I just need to be able to flank something to get off the sneak attack. I found this feat that seems like it will let me, but I'm curious to see if there are other ways.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/gang-up-combat/

Quote:

Gang Up: Does this feat (page 161) allow you to flank a foe with ranged weapons?

The Gang Up feat allows you to count as flanking so long as two of your allies are threatening your opponent. The feat makes no mention of ranged attacks being included, and since flanking specifically refers to melee attacks, ranged attacks do not benefit from this feat. (JMB, 8/13/10)


RAW Gang Up would work though, at least you'd get table variation on it.

Sadly, ranged flanks is not something Pathfinder does which is (I will mention) quite silly as any total war player will tell you that Archers firing into a flank is brutally efficient.

Just remember that you can only Feint against some creatures, so you might run into trouble with that against stupider foes. That is however where sniping comes in. If you take Signature Skill (stealth) and expert sniper then as long as you are hidden you can take a stay hidden and fire one shot a round. Sadly there is no "rapid sniping" feat to allow you to take a full attack with a ranged weapon, so in direct combat this kind of blows.

However, it does allow you to scout ahead and deliver some pretty nasty kills. Especially once you get Assassinate, which allows you to basically get at least one free kill per encounter. Possibly soloing the entire encounter yourself if you roll high enough on your stealth checks and have sniper's goggles.


ShroudedInLight wrote:

RAW Gang Up would work though, at least you'd get table variation on it.

You may get table variation, but Gang Up very much does not work RAW - as per this FAQ quoted earlier by HH. Flanking specifically refers only to melee attacks, ranged attacks cannot benefit from Gang Up.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Advice / Ranged Flanking All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Advice