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Building my level 7 Tiefling Slayer. My favorite Character so far, so I'm looking for some feedback.
She's build as a ranged combatant, but because she's Oni Spawn and has a decent STR score she is often fighting in melee with a crazy Axe the DM dropped, which has worked well even if I have no feats to use with it.
Was thinking of maybe taking Vital Strike instead of Improved Initiative, since I can benefit from it in both Range and Melee.
What do you think!?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzXi1_wkpyiiUC1FTEs1RU5MTVk/view?usp=shari ng
PS. I'm terrible with Google Docs, so in case it doesn't work for whatever reason, these are the stats and feats
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
17 18 12 10 14 5
Feats:
Level 1 Feat General Point-Blank Shot
Level 3 Feat General Rapid Shot
Level 5 Feat General Reckless Aim
Level 7 Feat General Improved Initiative
Class Options:
Slayer Talent 2: Trapfinding
Slayer Talent 4: Ranger Combat Style Feat 1
Slayer Talent 6: Ranger Combat Style Feat 2
Ranger Combat Style: Archery
Ranger Combat Style Feat #1: Precise Shot
Ranger Combat Style Feat #2: Manyshot
Vital strike does very little for you.
You should Grab Manyshot with your Feats and grab Point Blank Master as your Ranger combat style so you do not provoke when in melee with a bow. Then never put your bow down or stop your full attacking.
Deadly aim and Clustered Shots is also a good feat to grab and a better pick up than Reckless Aim.
If you are dead set on using an axe as well then Quickdraw and Power Attack will be your feats for Melee potential. But If you grab Point Blank Master I would never put the Bow down as there is no point to.
Darn It!
I had switched Reckless Aim for Deadly Aim but forgot to save changes.
So far I've enjoyed the flavor of fighting with an axe, plus I can add sneak attack damage with flanking. Besides I've never provoked an AoO because there's always 5 foot steps. But I'll keep it in mind if I decide to go full on archer.
The Accomplished Sneak Attacker feat is always nice on a Slayer if there's room, and if they're actually decent at getting sneak damage. Personally, I'd build a Slayer as a sneak attack machine through feinting or dirty trick, but since you're already archery-invested you might as well keep up with that.
Thanks. I'm very much enjoying the archery gameplay but also being competent when the poop hits the fan and I get to bring out my +2 Undead Bane Greataxe with added Sneak attack flanking damage.
Vital strike does very little for you.
You should Grab Manyshot with your Feats and grab Point Blank Master as your Ranger combat style so you do not provoke when in melee with a bow. Then never put your bow down or stop your full attacking.
Deadly aim and Clustered Shots is also a good feat to grab and a better pick up than Reckless Aim.
If you are dead set on using an axe as well then Quickdraw and Power Attack will be your feats for Melee potential. But If you grab Point Blank Master I would never put the Bow down as there is no point to.
Sorry, I frogot to ask. Is there a difference to whether I pick something up as a feat or a Ranger Combat style?
Sorry, I forgot to ask. Is there a difference to whether I pick something up as a feat or a Ranger Combat style?Vital strike does very little for you.
You should Grab Manyshot with your Feats and grab Point Blank Master as your Ranger combat style so you do not provoke when in melee with a bow. Then never put your bow down or stop your full attacking.
Deadly aim and Clustered Shots is also a good feat to grab and a better pick up than Reckless Aim.
If you are dead set on using an axe as well then Quickdraw and Power Attack will be your feats for Melee potential. But If you grab Point Blank Master I would never put the Bow down as there is no point to.
When you pick a ranger combat style you have only a certain number of feats to pick from BUT you can bypass all prereqs needed for the feat. This is why Slayer/ranger really excel at making a STR based Two weapon fighter because they can keep dex low.
The Axe is nice but let me again explain why Vital strike is bad even for this method. Your sneak attack is not added twice. You're better off Quickdrawing and Full Attacking getting sneak attack damage on all your hits. Or because you are so invested in Archery feats to just get Point Blank Master and Keep full attacking with the bow.
In Treantmonk's guide to rangers, he brought to light a style of Play called the switch hitter. Back then (2009) it was very viable as there were not many sources to pick from. Pretty much Core only. So he had little to pick from. But now Switch hitting is not optimal when you have so many feats to pick from to make a single combat style really powerful. Your overall damage output is better by sticking to 1 type of combat. Sneak attack is nice but Slayer has been proven to be successful without it due to Studied Target and Added feat damage. Sneak attack is just nice when it happens on a Flat-Footed target within 30ft. But you do not need to go out of your way to make use of the ability if you are an archer. Just pick the closest target and unload if they are flat-footed. So improved initiative is not really that bad of a pick for you, unlike Vital Strike.
Fantastic advice.
I was looking into Point-Blank Master but it said I still need to have weapon specialization for it even if I did get it as a Ranger Combat Style.
Are there any other feats with skip able pre-requisites I should keep an eye out for?
Fantastic advice.
I was looking into Point-Blank Master but it said I still need to have weapon specialization for it even if I did get it as a Ranger Combat Style.Are there any other feats with skip able pre-requisites I should keep an eye out for?
If you get it as your Style feat you skip that prereq and can still use the feat...it is why I said take Manyshot as a normal feat and grab PBM as your Style Feat which you can skip that prereq.
You should make these your Archery Style feats- Rapid Shot, Point Blank Master, Improved Precise shot.
Grab everything else via Normal feats: PBS, Precise Shot, Deadly Aim, Many Shot, Improved Critical, and clustered shots. After that, you are pretty open to taking anything you want. My suggestion at that point is Survival feats like Iron will.
Switching to a greataxe is a perfectly viable tactic if you like it, but Quick Draw is definitely the way to go if doing so. There are still situations where being able to switch to a melee weapon can be an advantage, like when you're helping with flanking and cashing in on sneak attack damage.
How do you lock in your Sneak Attack Damage? I am fond of Dirty Tricks to Blind your opponents. If you take the Bounty Hunter Slayer Archetype, you get a special Dirty Trick Ability.
Refresh my memory: Slayers an take Rogue Talents, too, right? If that's the cases, take a look at False Attacker. Use Stealth on your approach. Shoot people while you are being all hidy. False Attacker lets you make a Bluff Check as a Swift Action, and success means your victim thinks the attack came from some other direction or some other person: they don't get a Perception Check to find you.
I currently have the Sniper Archetype. Plus my Charisma is 5, so Bluff would be terrible :P
Fantastic advice.
I was looking into Point-Blank Master but it said I still need to have weapon specialization for it even if I did get it as a Ranger Combat Style.Are there any other feats with skip able pre-requisites I should keep an eye out for?
If you get it as your Style feat you skip that prereq and can still use the feat...it is why I said take Manyshot as a normal feat and grab PBM as your Style Feat which you can skip that prereq.
You should make these your Archery Style feats- Rapid Shot, Point Blank Master, Improved Precise shot.
Grab everything else via Normal feats: PBS, Precise Shot, Deadly Aim, Many Shot, Improved Critical, and clustered shots. After that, you are pretty open to taking anything you want. My suggestion at that point is Survival feats like Iron will.
Late reply.
If I were to take Point Blank Master how you suggested, I wouldn't really be getting sneak attack damage on every shot unless I got Snap shot, or the enemy was flat footed though, right?
I'm playing a ranged slayer myself, level 9 at the moment. Funny enough, I'm playing an aasimar. The GM also dropped a sick sword that I like to use if things get to close to me (+1 Vicious Adamantine greatsword), I have an okay strength to help me use that.
Anyway, so answer your question, I picked up point blank master as soon as I possibly could, it's so useful to be in threatened squares and not provoke AoOs with your bow, and if you flank you should be able to get sneak attack without snap shot, or if they're flatfooted, of course. Having snap shot will be good for AoOs though. I don't have it yet, but it'll be the next feat I pick up.
Like you I enjoy using melee weapons when things get rough, and sticking to a bow even in close quarters feels too much like Legolas to me, when my Character is pretty Brutish (Oni Spawn Tiefling).
Although the prospect of Full round attack with sneak attack damage is pretty alluring.
So it's really a question of being OP versus Flavor at this point.
Like you I enjoy using melee weapons when things get rough, and sticking to a bow even in close quarters feels too much like Legolas to me, when my Character is pretty Brutish (Oni Spawn Tiefling).
Although the prospect of Full round attack with sneak attack damage is pretty alluring.
So it's really a question of being OP versus Flavor at this point.
It is more Flavor V Flavor.
Has nothing to do with OP. You are not the right class to be OP and highest DPR with a bow.
Careful throwing around words like OP and Cheezy. Because a Fully martial character with no casting hardly falls into either of those categories.
Most of us here just know pathfinder rewards specializing and trying to do too many things on a character ends up making you weaker at everything. A majority of your feats are archery so we want you to use those feats you invested in as much as possible. Not that we are trying to break the game for your character or make it so you can solo challenges a party of 4 typically needs to address (Tho quite a few people here could make such a character).
Sorry for my late replies. If there's a way to see when I get replies to a topic I don't know about it.
When I say OP I'm thinking more of optimizing than just game breaking.
I get it, just for this character I like the flavor of her pulling out a sword or an axe when things get tight than her fighting close combat with a bow like Legolas.
In any case, what is the most OP class for a bow with highest DPR? Is it Fighter? Asking for a friend :P
Sorry for my late replies. If there's a way to see when I get replies to a topic I don't know about it.
When I say OP I'm thinking more of optimizing than just game breaking.
I get it, just for this character I like the flavor of her pulling out a sword or an axe when things get tight than her fighting close combat with a bow like Legolas.In any case, what is the most OP class for a bow with highest DPR? Is it Fighter? Asking for a friend :P
Arsenal Chaplain Warpriest or an Inquisitor to my Knowledge. Unless it has recently changed.
Interesting!
Thanks for all your help.