13 réponses à ce sujet

[DiamondSkinned]

So I figured I'd play the OC as an Arcane Archer -- specifically, a wild elf sorcerer with four levels of ranger for archery benefits and BAB assistance (plus a bear guardian as a bonus). But while I know how many levels of ranger I want -- 4, just enough to benefit from increased BAB and get the companion -- I'm not sure about the distribution of Sorc. and AA levels. Should I be a spellchucker who can shoot arrows or an archer who casts spells? 

[Thorsson64]

None of the above. Here's why:

 

1. Archer's have a great Feat called Manyshot; it doubles (most) damage, but it does so at a large AB Penalty. Archers therefore need high AB to cope with that. Sorcerer's have low BAB which will not help there, and while they have some buffs that will help, the overall effect is considerably lower than you could get by replacing Sorcerer with Bard (say) and taking 9 levels of AA. You will be a poor Archer.

 

2. AA does not increase your casting ability, and neither does Ranger. You are therefore not a very good caster either.

 

3. Ranger gets Combat Feats at levels 2, 6 and 11. It gets Favored Enemies at 1, 5, 10. 4 levels of Ranger really doesn't get you much, and is certainly not going to give you the AB you need.

 

Only you can decide whether you want to be a spellcaster or an archer, but in either case don't go at it half-cocked and try to do both.

[Dann-J]

Due to the lack of spell progression, I get the impression that most AA builds only take a single token level of wizard. Wizard (1) / ranger (6) would let you qualify for AA at level 8, for instance.

[Axe_Edge]

Here's a low level AA I ran through the IWD Remake. Very fun. Suggested by Ark as a simple build. It'll give you something to look at. A PC with higher level goals will look a little different.


http://nwn2db.com/bu...26032&version=1

[DiamondSkinned]

None of the above. Here's why:

 

1. Archer's have a great Feat called Manyshot; it doubles (most) damage, but it does so at a large AB Penalty. Archers therefore need high AB to cope with that. Sorcerer's have low BAB which will not help there, and while they have some buffs that will help, the overall effect is considerably lower than you could get by replacing Sorcerer with Bard (say) and taking 9 levels of AA. You will be a poor Archer.

 

2. AA does not increase your casting ability, and neither does Ranger. You are therefore not a very good caster either.

 

3. Ranger gets Combat Feats at levels 2, 6 and 11. It gets Favored Enemies at 1, 5, 10. 4 levels of Ranger really doesn't get you much, and is certainly not going to give you the AB you need.

 

Only you can decide whether you want to be a spellcaster or an archer, but in either case don't go at it half-cocked and try to do both.

Hmm, I get it. Don't double up, specialise. Thanks, in any case. That answers the question enough for me. 

[Dann-J]

Hmm, I get it. Don't double up, specialise. Thanks, in any case. That answers the question enough for me. 

 

Yep. Party-based games are about being one of a group of specialists, rather than being a lone jack-of-all-trades. There's no 'I' in D&D.

[Axe_Edge]

This one has a ton of votes:

"One Shot, One Kill"


http://nwn2db.com/build/?3621

[Lilura]

Wow, it seems the AA got somewhat nerfed in NWN2. A pity, since ranged attackers received little love in NWN official content (especially HotU) as is.

[Thorsson64]

One Shot, One Kill did get loads of votes. However we now know that Sneak Attacks do not get double damage on Manyshot. The best builds therefore take Assassin (Death Attacks do double, probably an Obsidian bug), AA and then up AB/damage by other means. Without Kaedrin the best class for this is Bard due to Inspire Courage. However with Undead immune to Death Attack for the Campaigns you might be best to go Bard/AA/Fighter or Ranger.

 

It's a long while since I played NWN, but I recall AAs as being overpowered on PWs I tried. AAs are certainly strong enough in NWN2, providing that you build correctly. With Kaedrin's pack there are a number of additional options for ranged attackers.

[Arkalezth]

Beware of builds with tons of votes, especially those that were created in 2009, or by Zhumtor.

AA is the same in both NWN games. In the first one you just weren't capped to 10 PRC levels, which means the max AB/damage bonus was +15 instead of just +5. But this applies to other classes as well.

If you mean that there were better bows in the NWN1 OCs than in the NWN2 ones, I don't know. That doesn't mean the class itself was nerfed, though.

[GCoyote]

For HoU, your main partner was the drow assasin so it helped to have a PC able to use all the arcane scrolls and wands you collected along the way. For the NWN2 OC, you almost always have a tank available to soak up damage so you can take a second to decide between lobbing a fireball or sniping at enemy spell casters.

[Thorsson64]

Fireballs will do friendly fire if you don't have the settings on the easier two IIRC.

 

A good archer will easily outdamage a fireball anyway.

[Dann-J]

I'm starting to think that a bard arcane archer would be interesting. You'd need two or three bard levels to get 1st level spells (depending on how high your charisma is), but from a base attack bonus point of view you might as well take four levels (bards have medium attack progression, so your BAB only takes a hit at 1st, 5th, 9th, etc levels).

 

Not only would you be able to cast in light armour (I can see myself spamming the Grease spell to slow enemies), but you'd get a few low-level inspirations into the bargain. Inspire Courage would give you +1 to attack and damage at no extra cost. With four levels of bard and a decent charisma bonus you'd even have access to level 2 spells. I can see Cloud of Bewilderment, Mirror Image and Ghostly Visage coming in handy.

[GCoyote]

Agreed. Plus Bard gives your character the conversation skills that Rangers lack making them more playable outside wilderness settings.