This build was designed as a support archer for a party setting, though in testing it did quite well solo, even defeating a level 40 drow monk/rogue with complete spell immunity and three potions of heal. The idea was to create a support archer that had AB and damage equal to a dedicated archer, but could still cast spells like a dedicated sorcerer. There are some weaknesses with this build, most notably the low hit points and the low DC (though only 4 of his spells have DC checks) and spell pentrating capabilities. With epic warding (can't be dispelled), divine shield and the damage shield spells (even characters with SR take damage from the shields) he is difficult to assault physically. His high saves vs. spells and the combination of globe of invulnerability, spell mantle and improved invisbility provides a fair degree of spell protection as well. Without any magical equipment, casting maximized Eagle's Splendor and Cat's Grace, haste, divine might and rapid shot he can make 6 attacks (47/47/42/37/32/47) that inflict 17+1D8 points of damage (7 points of that divine). With a true strike spell he can pretty much ensure that every arrow hits, inflicting 129 points of damage on average with just a regular bow. If that fails, he still can cast timestop and maximized IGMS. If he needs to escape, he can always cast greater sanctuary followed by black blade of disaster to cover his escape.
Advantages
-Good AB with a bow. An AB of 47 is low for an arcane archer, but better than the average character. -Good damage with a bow. He has divine damage from divine might and damage from arcane archer bonuses. -Level 9 sorcerer spells. He has a low spell DC, but luckily there are many sorcerer spells that either don't have a DC or will do significant damage if a saving throw is made. Sorcerers can also cast a large number of defensive spells. -Good saves vs. spells. He should make his saving throws against most spells. -Immune to fear.
Disadvantages
-Really Low Hitpoints. With Improved Invisibility, and Epic Warding he can take a great deal of punishment. The damage shield spells like, death armor, elemental shield and mestil's acid sheath will also discourage melee attacks, leaving only ranged attacks that typically don't do much damage. This is still a huge problem for this character. -Low Caster Level and spell DCs. His spells have been chosen to minimize the number that are DC dependent but he does have a few reflex save for half spells which will not be too effective. He will also have some trouble with SR, though Mordenkainen's Disjunction will help with that. If it doesn't help, he'll have to resort to arrows and hope his damage shields and damage reduction spells can help him prevail. -No evasion. He'll make his saving throws against reflex spells, but he's still going to take damage. -Mediocre Fortitude Save. It's pretty good against spells, but it's not good enough to deal with devastating critical. In a setting where devastating critical is not banned, he will still have to worry about melee attacks. -Low melee AB. He really has no melee presence. -XP Penalty. He's pretty difficult to level up.
Correllon's Spear
Race Elf
Alignment Lawful Good
Base Attributes STR 14 DEX 18 CON 10 WIS 8 INT 12 CHA 14
Final Level Distribution Arcane Archer 15 Paladin 4 Sorcerer 21
Feats Level 1: Power Attack Level 3: Weapon Focus (Longbow) Level 6: Divine Might Level 9: Point Blank Shot Level 12: Rapid Shot Level 15: Extend Spell Level 18: Divine Shield Level 21: Epic Weapon Focus (Longbow) Level 24: Great Charisma I Level 27: Great Charisma II Level 30: Epic Prowess Level 33: Maximize Spell Level 36: Great Dexterity I Level 38: Great Dexterity II Level 39: Epic Spell: Epic Warding
Final Attributes STR 14 DEX 26 CON 10 WIS 8 INT 12 CHA 20
Final Saves (vs. spells) Fortitude 28 (36) Reflexes 33 (41) Will 23 (31)
AB and Damage (no buffs, normal compsite longbow) 47/42/37/32 10+1D8 (20 X3)
(+12 to CHA, +12 to DEX, +6 to STR, Haste, Rapid Shot, +5 Composite Longbow, True Strike, Divine Might) 71/71/66/61/56/71 13+1D8 (+11 Divine) (20 x3)
AC 22 (no buffs) 62 (+12 to DEX, +12 to CHA, Haste, Mage Armor, +5 Robes, +5 Ring of Protection, +5 Amulet of Natural Armor, +3 Boots of Hardiness, Divine Shield)
Level 9: Black Blade of Disaster, Mordenkainen's Disjunction, Timestop _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Edited By griphook on 05/31/05 14:30
ahemm.. err...... well, i dont get it... i mean yes, these two builds are epic... but i can't say that understand them much.
this one atleast has 21 lvls or sorc, so its kinda good for something... and it can get a fairly high AB for a while. but so can a reliable archer, except that that guy will do a LOT more damage, then again, youdor have the armor spells like acid sheath Im not sure, but can you use Divine shield with out a shield in hand?
the saves of this guy are ok, the AC is OK, but not many will een want to hit you for fear of acid sheath or what not.
I can see what your trying to do with this build actually, and i have thought of it myself, but it seems to me that the lvl spread just isn't there to make it work well.
(or maybe it just me )
Edited By aluka on 05/23/05 20:52
It, looks like a fun build to try. I think it is very versitile and as a party support character; it fills that roll very well. This biuld wasn't created to be a solo-artist or pvp'er from hell, but rather a support character with alot of options to choose from depending upon the situation. very well done:)
Jim, (Fist.)
Quote: Posted 05/23/05 20:44:37 (GMT) -- aluka
but so can a reliable archer, except that that guy will do a LOT more damage
Not really, without magical equipment the reliable archer does 21+1D8 points of damage vs. 17+1D8 for this character. With a +12 to STR and an appropriate mighty bow, the reliable archer could do 27+1D8. With a +12 to STR and a +12 to CHA this character would do 29+1D8 points of damage. Some of that damage is also divine, without magical equipment the reliable archer couldn't touch an adamantine golem, this character would tear it apart. The advantage of the reliable archer is that it has the highest AB of any character, which is great, but a naked 47 AB is higher than what most melee builds end up with. In a balanced setting, a 47 will probably let you hit the average opponent a few times a round, and against a tougher opponent you still have magic.
Quote: Im not sure, but can you use Divine shield with out a shield in hand?
Yes. According to the D&D rules you should have a shield, but in NWN you don't need one.
Quote: I can see what your trying to do with this build actually, and i have thought of it myself, but it seems to me that the lvl spread just isn't there to make it work well.
The end result works fairly well, the big problem is the hit points. Unlike a regular sorc it doesn't have problems with magically immune opponents (it does have a level 1 paladin spell so it can slay rashakas with ease) and can still kick arse against magically vulnerable opponents. It is not as strong as a pure sorcerer or a good tank build, but archers never are really strong builds (unless you have uber arrows with 6D6 of extra damage on them). _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
hmm heres what i see as the build strengths: (minor note before that, I do not consider +12 to stats viable for any build except for barbarian in str and con and druids in wisdom from owls insight. for casters, i give +7 from empowered. the reason is, if your using stat boosting equipment, then you loosing some of the other benefits of that piece of equipment. For you, a Nymph cloak does a lot of good, extra spells, extra saves, extra damage and AB and duration, so maybe +12 for you isn't so unlikely, but only in cha, you might loose too much for gettiong bracers of boots of dex)
+ Spell breach and Disjucntion makes you party favorite for mage hunting.
+ Sheath and death armor and Elemental shield make you hated by melee classes (but not by much)
+ divine damage is almost unstopable so you will almost always do damage on a hit, then again, so are IGMS
+ the occassional spell is always good against a fighter
+ fairly good saves, Divine Grace is awesome when with Sorc.
The cons, as I see them:
- no spell penetration (not a big deal since you do arrow damage mostly, but still, it might come to haunt you)
- low HP (but you said that already)
- a fair amount of reliance on true strike over and over and over again and no combat casting
ok.. so im wrong it makes more sense now that i do a pros and cons table. the think i like the most, is that this build draws AB power from two sources, Cha and Dex. its the same reason i like druid/monk/clerics so much.
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