The Bullseye Bowman (as playable levels 1-40 as it will ever be, PvNothingInParticular)

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As far as I can tell (I won't promise; someone could still come along and beat me), this build achieves, under certain, very specialized circumstances, the highest effective AB possible in the game, 97. That's it, really. It's not like it does anything else.

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Race: Elf

Alignment: Neutral Good, True Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, Neutral Evil

Starting Stats:
Str: 8
Dex: 20
Con: 10
Int: 10
Wis: 8
Cha: 15

1 - Bard 1 - Point Blank Shot
2 - Bard 2
3 - Bard 3 - Weapon Focus (longbow)
4 - Bard 4 - Dex 21
5 - Bard 5
6 - Bard 6 - Curse Song
7 - Bard 7
8 - Bard 8 - Dex 22
9 - AA 1 - Rapid Shot
10 - AA 2
11 - AA 3
12 - Bard 9 - Lingering Song, Dex 23
13 - AA 4
14 - AA 5
15 - AA 6 - Improved Critical (longbow)
16 - AA 7 - Dex 24
17 - AA 8
18 - Bard 10 - Extra Music
19 - AA 9
20 - AA 10 - Dex 25

21 - AA 11 - Epic Weapon Focus (longbow)
22 - Bard 11
23 - AA 12
24 - AA 13 - Epic Prowess, Dex 26
25 - AA 14 - Great Dex 27*
26 - AA 15
27 - Bard 12 - Great Dex 28
28 - AA 16 - Dex 29
29 - AA 17
30 - AA 18 - Great Dex 30, Great Dex 31*
31 - AA 19
32 - Bard 13 - Dex 32
33 - AA 20 - Great Dex 33
34 - AA 21
35 - AA 22 - Great Dex 34*
36 - AA 23 - Great Dex 35, Dex 36
37 - Bard 14
38 - Bard 15
39 - Druid 1 - Great Dex 37
40 - Bard 16 / AA 23 / Druid 1 - Dex 38

Skills: Discipline: 43(42), Perform 28(30), Taunt 43(45), Tumble 40(54), UMD 18(20)

Ending Stats:
Str: 8
Dex: 38
Con: 10
Int: 10
Wis: 8
Cha: 15

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AB (longbow): +56/+51/+46/+41

Damage (longbow): 1d8+11 (critical 19-20, x3)

AC (robes): 32

Max HP: 288

Saves:
Fortitude: 20
Reflex: 38
Will: 19

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Max possible AB calculation:

27 (BAB)
20 (AB bonuses, weapon enhancement)
14 (Dex)
12 (Enchant Arrow)
6 (Dex enhancement)
6 (Taunt)
5 (Curse Song)
2 (Nature Sense)
2 (EWF)
1 (WF)
1 (EP)
1 (Point Blank Shot)

Total effective AB: 97

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Of course, you're probably never going to achieve this AB, since it requires you to have your Dex and AB buffed to the max in a wilderness area, and furthermore be firing your first attack of the round at an enemy within 15 feet who you have successfully taunted to the maximum possible degree and also affected with Curse Song...but at least it's not restricted by alignment!

Cheers. Cool!

Hey, considering the Enchant Arrow, Bardsong and Bard buffs it should also be playable.

The druid part is really crazy. I always thought AA would achieve the highest AB. I was talking about melee AB, never thought to specify it.
Nice goings.
_________________
I see the fear you have inside, you can run but never hide.
I will hunt you down and tear you limb from limb.

I run the Pre-Epic Builders guild. Join and share your experience. I think it was a good contest whether it was melee AB or not. It took a long time to come up with a character that was even 1 AB higher than yours, archer or not, and I can't think of any way to get higher than this. Dropping Druid or Bard for AA results in a net loss of AB, but taking more of either one gets you nothing.

This is most certainly close enough that, if "everyone knows" that an Arcane Archer has the highest AB, "everyone" would do well to check his or her knowledge, 'cause it's a very near thing. Closer than what I thought possible. The build I posted grew out of a discussion of best AB possible in the normal forums, and we were discussing melee. That aside, reaching AB in the high 90's, no matter the criteria, is nice. Starting to think of it, you had the +7 from WM + the +9 from smite to beat. Plus Taunt. AA cuts close on it's own, with +15(and great dex feats for +2 more), then add +2 from Druid, but then you lose 3 from BAB, another 1 from size. Finding the perfect balance was well done indeed, with curse song tipping it in your favor.

Well, then for someone else to beat this challenge. pity you can't smite with ranged
_________________
I see the fear you have inside, you can run but never hide.
I will hunt you down and tear you limb from limb.

I run the Pre-Epic Builders guild. Join and share your experience. Well done there! Kudos to the this new creation.

So now we have both the highest possible melee AB build and the highest possible ranged AB build (which happens to be THE highest possible AB build). Great. We should have an official contest.

Cheers,
Kail
_________________
To hear the sound of Freedom, many gave their lives
They fought for you and me
Those memories will always live inside us, and now it's our time to be free
Quote: Posted 05/09/06 13:50:32 (GMT) -- Kail Pendragon

Well done there! Kudos to the this new creation.

So now we have both the highest possible melee AB build and the highest possible ranged AB build (which happens to be THE highest possible AB build). Great. We should have an official contest.

Cheers,
Kail

Hm.. I agree... we should have offical contest.

On side note.. I thought we had something about AB while ago... someone posted that it was possible to get over 100... perhaps I was mistaken?

Anyway, congrants to both builder who created high AB builds!

Anuis
_________________
- Epic Character Builders Guild

- Life is but a dream...

- I know more than I am letting on...

-I think, Therefore I am. If this build uses Balgaran's Iron Horn to knockdown an opponent and then gets a max attack. It would get a +4 AB boost vs. prone opponents for a grand total of 101. The melee build could manage this boost with a knockdown attack too, so it doesn't really change anything but the totals.

I would like to add congrats to Grimnir and Nimueh for their excellent builds. They really pushed the limits of min/maxing to create these builds. Well done.
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Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.

Edited By Mithdradates on 05/09/06 21:23

Actually prone opponents are -4 to hit for ranged attacks, the +4 is just for melee. I guess the Melee build gets the highest AB then (100).
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Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do. Personally I do not think that you can count Cursing and Taunting into an attack bonus as they are deceases to AC rather than an actual attack bonus!

If there was to be a contest you would have to have different categories:

1) Maximum SHORT term buffed AB (divine wrath, true strike, war domain all have limited uses & short duration)

2) Maximum SELF buffed AB (highest AB obtainable without any external influences)

3) Maximum AB in a low-medium magic enviroment (limited weapon enhancement with ability buffing items)

4) Maximum AB in a high magic enviroment (+20 weapons & +12 to dex/str/wis)

5) Maximum SUSTAINABLE AB (highest AB that can be sustained for extended combat periods) Hm, max POSSIBLE melee or ranged AB, and max self-achieved AB.

That should be it, no.

He, the melee one gets highest AB after KD...?
Where to stop counting......
_________________
I see the fear you have inside, you can run but never hide.
I will hunt you down and tear you limb from limb.

I run the Pre-Epic Builders guild. Join and share your experience. Actually the "effective AB" can get higher than +4 vs knocked down opponents, cause their AC loses all dodge, tumble and dex AC (they keep dex AC if they have UD). A fighter in full plate with +5 gear will lose 10 AC (5 dodge AC, 4 tumble, 1 dex), 9 if he has UD. Therefore the effective AB goes up by a whopping +14. Even an archer, in such instances would get a bonus to effective AB of +10 (+14 -4 ranged AB vs prone targets). Getting KD ain't pleasant.

Cheers,
Kail
_________________
To hear the sound of Freedom, many gave their lives
They fought for you and me
Those memories will always live inside us, and now it's our time to be free