So I'm building an arcane archer for my friend's upcoming campaign, and I'm a little fuzzy on two of the abilities, having found nothing specific in the CRB or other books to give me any clarity.
1. When using imbue arrows, you cast aoe spells attached to the arrow. If the arrow hits a person, they become the center of that aoe spell, but do they still take weapon damage from the arrow? I would assume getting hit with an arrow still hurts, even if it was immediately eclipsed by a cloud of fire or a burst of force.
2. The seeker arrow specifies a target "known" to the arcane archer, and goes on to talk about cover, concealment, and moving around corners. What if there is an invisible enemy that the archer has seen? Scenario: encounter begins, everyone is visible, enemy casts invisibility and is no longer visible but the arcane archer knows that the enemy is there (just maybe not exactly where he is standing). Would seeker arrow hit the guy? My argument for this is that if someone is standing around a corner and you can't see them, they're about as good as invisible (you don't really know where they're standing but you know they exist and the arrow does the rest). So why should that not work if the enemy is not behind cover or around corners, but is instead magically invisible?
Any rulings or advice on this would be helpful. Please no build advice, I already have my heart set on a build and just want some clarification for two of the rules.
1) The arrow fired as part of imbue arrows changes the spells range to the bow range. That is all. It is not an attack. The arrow itself won't hit anyone.
2) Seeker arrow will ignore invisibility.
Concerning imbue arrows, if the arrow misses the spell is wasted, this only makes sense if an attack roll.is required. If an attack is required what stops it from targetting an enemy? Where is the text telling us that in this case an arrow does no damage?
1) The arrow fired as part of imbue arrows changes the spells range to the bow range. That is all. It is not an attack. The arrow itself won't hit anyone.
The arrow has to hit something, even if it's just an empty square; there are specific rules for if the arrow misses, which means some kind of roll or check is required to see whether or not it hits its mark (otherwise it missing wouldn't be a possibility, just like if the spell were cast normally). Since the spell is stored in an arrow, the natural assumption is that the archer must make an attack roll with that weapon to see whether or not the spell is on target.
Also, there is no text specifically confirming whether or not an attack roll is made, nor is there precedent given in another ability similar to this one.
Concerning imbue arrows, if the arrow misses the spell is wasted, this only makes sense if an attack roll.is required. If an attack is required what stops it from targetting an enemy? Where is the text telling us that in this case an arrow does no damage?
My thoughts exactly.
1) Yes, you're firing your arrow with your bow. That's a bow attack, and logically we would expect normal bow attack rules to apply. I would expect the ability to declare otherwise if that were the intent. Note that you can always choose to attack a location instead of a creature (which would let you guarantee a hit, natural 1 notwithstanding)
2) The ability does not require line of sight and ignores concealment, so invisibility does nothing against it.
I stand corrected on the first point. I didn't notice the 'if the attack misses line' and was just focused on the 'This ability allows the archer to use the bow's range rather than the spell's range' line. Other than the attack misses, there is not other mention that you make an attack, and since I overlooked that I thought an attack wasn't even part of it.
Damage would in that case be as normal for the arrow.