Thanks for contributing an answer to Role-playing Games Stack Exchange! My long-term RPG instinct is to say 'clearly they don't'. Most other users of the Heavy Crossbow have +0 Dex mod and so have no damage bonus, but the Half-Red Dragon Veteran (p.180) has a +1 Dex mod that applies to the damage roll of the Heavy Crossbow. Since they rarely have to move, they can launch a full attack nearly every round. There's some good discussion here - basically it allows Dex fighting to be a distinctive style that gets more hits and more crits but lower damage per hit.. It breaks a lot by making ranged classes the top dps. Pathfinders have a special gauge called the Relic Gauge that is used to cast certain Skills. Photo Competition 2021-03-01: Straight out of camera, Stood in front of microwave with the door open. Note: When you multiply damage more than once, each multiplier works off the original, unmultiplied damage. Against whom was the Tree of Life guarded after the fall of Adam and Eve? Exception: Extra damage dice over and above a weapon's normal damage are never multiplied. I always viewed it this way, there is a trade off that is done when building a character. A Pathfinder Guide to Using your Ability Scores. Does it break anything to say that ALL Crossbows and Firearms add Dex to damage by default? Dex to dmg with thrown weapons Originally Posted by Feint's End. This means that if you have one level of swashbuckler you can use dex to atk and damage with that weapon. At the end of the day at lvl 20 strength only gives +5 or 6 damage on attacks. MathJax reference. The answer below seems to back my findings, crossbows do add Dex modifier to damage. Only the gunslinger adds dex to damage with a crossbow, and only at lvl 5 with a certain archetype. Also, I cannot find any mention in the latest errata (v1.1) (Oct 2015). Also note that many colored items are also links to the Paizo SRD. You can use hurricane bow with a crossbow. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. Nothing? rev 2021.2.16.38590, The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Role-playing Games Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us. Therefore, at least to me, the best versions of a combat rogue are the: 1) Unseen Archer; 2) Switch Hitting Bow/ Dex-Based Melee Fighter; 3) Throwing / Melee Fighter and 4) Two-Weapon Fighter. Should a high elf wizard use weapons instead of cantrips? Base Weapons Source Core Rulebook pg. Lesser Damage (–1 DP): Reduce the weapon’s damage by one step (1d3 to 1d2). Load: Loading a light crossbow is a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Do you add your strength modifier once or twice to an unarmed strike? No? There are eleven ways I know of to get dex to damage. If you would like help with Pathfinder player options not covered here, please email me and I am happy to provide additional assistance.I will use the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks. Does strength affect the damage when using crossbows? Because of that, ranged weapons have to be less offensive (because there isn't anything else to be lesser in meaningfully) than melee weapons if there is to be a reason to ever not choose to use ranged weapons. Is there any Dex requirements for bow or crossbow, or strength requirements? We can conclude that there are no existing RAW printed in the PHB that forgo adding your Dex Mod to crossbow damage, and we can farther conclude that all forms of Crossbows add your Dexterity Modifier to both the attack (to hit) roll, and the damage roll when making an attack. If you have a penalty for low Strength, apply it to damage rolls when you use a longbow How to respond to welcome email in a new job? Damage 1d6 (small), 1d8 (medium) Critical 19-20/x2 Type piercing. UPDATE: the MM has a few other examples that are not consistent with 'Dex on damage', but in general, most are accurate. Maybe, just maybe, we let strength maintain this one teensy, tiny advantage. It might be helpful to make that explicit in the Q. A better idea (which is not to do with this fighter build), would be Double Crossbow (which makes two damage rolls with one attack) + Vital Strike (which doubles the damage dice) for 4d8 damage per attack, or 8d6 with Lead Blades / Gravity Bow … Monster stats sometimes bear some similarity to the way PCs operate, but that's far from universal, and it's generally not possible to reverse-engineer game rules from their stat blocks. Early-game anti-suffer advice: Take Tartuccio’s Crossbow and make him use cantrips in the prologue. Precise Strike: Teamwork Dex 13, BAB 1 Deal +1d6 damage per melee hit if both you and an ally with this feat … Dex To Damage On Ranged Attacks Pathfinder You may add 1d6 piercing damage to any ranged attack roll. All users of the Light Crossbow and Hand Crossbow in the MM apply Dex bonus to the damage roll. What modifiers are added to the attack and damage rolls of this unique longbow from Waterdeep: Dragon Heist? You may do this a number of times equal to your wisdom modifier. The Veteran (MM 350) deals a straight 1d10 with their Heavy Crossbow, despite having Dex+1, and the Scout (MM 349) deals 1d8+Dex with their Longbow. Halfling or elven swashbuckler with str 6 and dex 20. To get it out of the way: One of those eleven is the fifth level of Gunslinger and most of its archetypes, which grants dex to damage with firearms (and in one case, crossbows).The second is the fifth level of the Raging Technologist Barbarian Archetype. Dex already gives damage through crits, especially with firearms. When I hear 'long-term RPG instinct' it makes me think that you're referring to something broader than two systems. Alright, I'm with you so far Players Hand Book! Sweet. For a better comparison, check out the Half-Red Dragon Veteran, who has +1 Dex mod, wields a Heavy Crossbow, and has a +1 bonus to the Heavy Crossbow's damage. Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances 3. The Knight has +0 Dex mod, and thus cannot be compared to the Veteran, who has a +1 Dex mod. Of course, some early physical damage helps improving the damage even further. Why am I seeing some ranged build that use something else than composite bow to have strength of over 15? Dex classes are also often in light armour and thus faster, so it also makes kiting even better than it already is. Does anyone else have a RAW for 'crossbows don't add Dex to damage?'. It makes them treated as One handed Piercing weapons. The tiller has a mechanism to lock the bowstring in place, attached to a trigger … PHB pg 177 under 'Attack Rolls and Damage' gives you all the detailed rules you would need on adding Dexterity modifier to ALL ranged weapon attacks. Thrown weapons are an exception because the harder you throw, the more damage they do on impact. If you answered yes, does it break anything if that's a specific feature of the Gunslinger? 278 2.0 Most characters in Pathfinder carry weapons, ranging from mighty warhammers to graceful bows to even simple clubs. The Gunslinger gains a massive damage boost at level 5 when you gain Gun Training, adding you Dex to damage, and as you are using a ranged weapon, and Dex is one of the biggest boosts to your AC, it is a huge damage bonus. Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. I've always wondered why a feat like this has never made it into the mainstream. This post is an info post for everyone who keeps asking about it. Extra finesse from AEG's Swashbuckling adventures allows you to use your Dex instead of Str for damage with any finessable weapon. If you want to add strength to a bow, you need a composite bow at least +1. Benefit: You add your Dexterity modifier to your to hit and damage roll when making attacks with a bow or crossbow. Dreamscarred Press' Deadly Agility feat adds dex to damage with light/finess weapons instead of strength, and doesn't specify that it has to be melee, so you can get dex to damage with light thrown weapons. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon, such as a sling or longbow. It wouldn't matter if it were 100% to 0%, the two just don't follow the same rules. Our other goals: • Very early double iron rings to push the base-damage further May 21, 2014 Pathfinder Dex to dmg with thrown weapons. requires a 32-bit CPU to run? Do I get to add my dexterity bonus to my damage rolls with Shadow Blade? This means that if you have one level of swashbuckler you can use dex to atk and damage with that weapon. It only takes a minute to sign up. More posts from the Pathfinder2e community. Pathfinder uses Ancient Bows as primary weapons. A longbow is too unwieldy to use while you are mounted. At 5t level with the crossbow this Goblyn will hit at +12, and with deadly aim and rapid shot will hit at +8/+8 for 1d8+4 damage each. Work study program, I can't get bosses to give me work. The second option is to pick up a synthesis bow with the adds 3/5 cold damage as the implicit, or to synthesize one yourself with 3 T1 dex rolls on fractured bases (has to total 161 dex). 1. At 5th level with the Longbow this goblyn will hit at +12, and with deadly aim, rapid shot, and a Composite longbow, will hit at +8/+8 for 1d6+5 damage each shot. Would a contract to pay a trillion dollars in damages be valid? The potential examples are astounding and so wont be listed here, but if you tried to build each Monster Manual entry on a PC character sheet, you are going to notice the majority have inconsistencies. You draw a light crossbow back by pulling a lever. Dex 13, Base attack bonus +4 You can throw nearly anything - ale tankards, rocks, bags of coins - and make it hurt. It makes strength a pretty bad stat, as heavy armour is now not needed, and strength based melee is no longer top of the line damage wise. Weapon Group crossbow. Section on Dexterity (PHB 176) does not have any exception for the crossbow. How can I tell whether a DOS-looking exe. Keep a dagger on you in case you will need to burst something with Shocking Grasp. Moving away from Christian faith: how to retain relationships? Dex to dam. Applies dex to damage to any single light or one handed slashing weapon, but does not make them finessable. If you are able to make attacks of opportunity with your bow, the maximum range for those attacks also increases to 60 ft. However, that still doesn't matter because monster stat blocks aren't built using player character rules, full stop. Opt-in alpha test for a new Stacks editor, Visual design changes to the review queues. Introduction: Pathfinder is a DEX archer class part of the Explorers class group. What can I do to (non abusively) get him to always be tucked in? Damage is possible, but much less consistent than martials, with casters generally being better at AOE and having easier access to energy damage to exploit weaknesses. does it break anything if that's a specific feature of the Gunslinger? What does it mean for a Linux distribution to be stable and how much does it matter for casual users? Can a caster cast a sleep spell on themselves? 2. Range Increment 80 ft. (projectile) Category ranged Proficiency simple. Stack Exchange network consists of 176 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. In fact bows added Strength to damage with a bunch of limitations. These extra weapon damage dice are not multiplied on a critical hit, but are added to the total. For attacks with ranged weapons, is the attacker's Dexterity bonus added to the damage roll? Even broadening that to 'All pre-4th D&Ds' would be helpful, if that's what you're referring to. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. The first, still called Dexterity, represents manual dexterity and applies to ranged weapon and unarmed attack rolls, attack and damage rolls with finesse attacks (if better than Strength), and Thievery checks. Gunslinger would need to have a trade off to get a breaking mechanic. Allows you to add 1/2 Dex mod to damage rolls for a crossbow that you have weapon focus in (a prerequisite for the feat). Bow Mastery : Weapon Focus (any Bow Or Crossbow), Base attack bonus +3 You are adept with either bows or crossbows. If you have the skirmish or sneak attack ability the maximum range you make such attacks increases to 60ft. G… site design / logo © 2021 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under cc by-sa. Some ranged weapons buy it back by adding half str or str at the cost of penalties for being too close or drastically reducing the range. You're talking about a +4 damage increase at 1st level. Longbow: At almost 5 feet in height, a longbow is made up of one solid piece of carefully curved wood. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. The site may not work properly if you don't, If you do not update your browser, we suggest you visit, Press J to jump to the feed. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. After you have finished a long rest, you regain all expended uses of this feature. Role-playing Games Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for gamemasters and players of tabletop, paper-and-pencil role-playing games. Alright, awesome. PTIJ: Is it permitted to time travel on Shabbos? Bow Sniper : Precise Shot, +1 Base attack bonus UPDATE 2: the MM errata (2015-12) corrects the Veteran example. Looking at some NPCs seems to be back this up. Also you need a hand free to load your crossbows, even repeating AFAIK. Don't worry too much about attack damage - even if we took finesse it'd add 7 damage at best and it'd cost us 2 levels of spell progression. Archery: These fighters, generally focusing on bows, dish out some of the highest raw damage in 'Pathfinder.' Likewise, in 5e, using Dex for damage is simply a function of weapon--weapons with the Finesse quality can use Dex for hit and damage by anyone, at no cost. I sometimes dropped or bought an early G-G-G bow at Tarleigh and kept it until I swapped for the 4-link bow, because the initial hit-damage does not matter after act 1 at all. As follows: '...you add your dexterity modifier to your attack roll and damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon (gives you some examples that include but are not limited to those listed)...'. Perhaps that extra +1 damage every turn from the Veteran would have changed it's Challenge Rating.... we aren't sure WHY the inconsistency is there, but it's present, and its inclusion has nothing to do with the rules Player Characters must follow. Looks like you're using new Reddit on an old browser. Why do fans spin backwards slightly after they (should) stop? Does the starting note for a song have to be the starting note of its scale? Probably breaks a lot more as well, but that's just off the top of my head. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't understand why a crossbow would work differently from other ranged weapons when it comes to damage. (Note: not a magic +1 bow, but a strength bonus +1.) I'm not a fan of the 5e approach where choosing a strength weapon is a matter of suboptimal flavor. Do I have to apply a negative modifier to the damage roll? I don't love the idea of requiring all characters to use Dex to-hit instead of Str, because that just means every martial character ends up having identical stats. Roll the weapon's damage dice for the attack four times and add the results together before adding bonuses from Strength, weapon abilities (such as flaming), precision based damage, and other damage bonuses. ... (combat feat) Use dexterity for to hit and damage with scimitar; Fencing Grace (not publiced yet) dex to dam? Precise Shot: Combat Point-Blank Shot: No -4 penalty to hit foes in melee with ranged attacks. Dex Scion. Among weapons sized for Medium characters, the maximum damage is 1d6 for light weapons, 1d8 for one-handed weapons (1d10 if exotic), 1d12 or 2d6 for two-handed weapons, and 1d10 for ranged weapons (1d6 if used or thrown one-handed). Crossbow sniper (from PHB II, pg 77). If you would like help with Pathfinder player options not covered here, please email meand I am happy to provide additional assistance. Clearly we can see Light Crossbows, Hand Crossbows, and Heavy Crossbows are included in these tables, along with several other weapons that were not directly mentioned in the entry on page 177. That's a lot! Axe Hurling : Weapon Focus (any One Axe Weapon) You can throw any axe. 2. One interesting suggestion Bardarok had is allowing Dex-and-a-half to-hit. Yes, it makes it so that there's no reason to play melee characters - ranged is just straight up superior. Would it be possible to unpack where your 'instinct' comes from? Ranged weapons give you the added defense of not having to be right next to your enemies, so they have to spend actions closing the distance to use their own most powerful attacks. You need two hands to use a bow, regardless of its size. So from this we know I get to add my Dexterity Modifier to any ranged attacks I make with weapons that are considered 'ranged', which means any and all weapons found on the Simple and Martial Ranged Weapon table on page 149, as well as any weapons that follow the rules on page 147 under the 'Ranged' tag. Use MathJax to format equations. With a strength bonus equal to or higher than the bow, you can add the bonus of the bow to damage. If all we see is the sensible world, what are the proofs to affirm that matter exists? You sacrifice some damage for safety by choosing range weapons, crossbows/firearms/bows, over melee weapons that put you in a dangerous position in a fight. You can build similar fighters with crossbows (or in some campaigns, firearms), though archery requires far … Does Crossbow Expert override the light weapon requirement for Two Weapon Fighting? You're right that the difference seems to happen more with monsters that wield crossbows. Spellcasting classes are generally best as buffers, debuffers, and utility. Creature design in the Monster Manual is inherently and purposefully NOT the same as Player Character design. Cost 35 gp Weight 4 lbs. I think that it is an error in the calculation. the big thing with a crossbow is you can dump strength and not take a hit to damage, and you can still eventually get all the rapid-shot stuff like a normal archer would. A weapon cannot have the improved damage quality and this quality … Applies dex to damage to any single light or one handed slashing weapon, but does not make them finessable. It does likewise for weapons with the 'Finesse' property, giving two examples that include, but are not limited to, the 2 weapons listed. Item Damage APS Crit pDPS eDPS DPS Stats; Silverbranch Silverbranch Crude Bow Bow Quality: +20% Physical Damage: (10-11)–(26-28.6) Critical Strike Chance: 5.00% Attacks per Second: 1.54 Weapon Range: 120 Requires 14 Dex +1 to Level of Socketed Bow Gems (80-100)% increased Physical Damage 10% increased Attack Speed +10 Mana gained on Kill +30 to Accuracy Rating 'The wild takes … So if you are asked to double the damage twice, the end result is three times the normal damage. Or your hit chance depends on your Dexterity, and damage is calculated on the weapon used. I support a limited subset of Pathfinder's rules content. Roll the damage (with all modifiers) multiple times and total the results. Gunslinger is already an unpolished class being tested by the community, adding an unbalanced aspect to the game doesn't make that better. This ranged weapon has a bow-like assembly mounted on a handled frame called a tiller. Crossbow features are Ammunition and Loading, but neither of these seem to address damage… 'Generally a fan of this rule regardless, but doesn't increase damage on ranged attacks, only Finesse Weapons. Also note that many colored items are also links to the Paizo SRD. Full details on how you calculate the bonuses, modifiers, and penalties for attack rolls and damage rolls are given in Chapter 9, but they’re summarized here, followed by the rules for weapons and dozens of weapon choices. In 3.5 & Pathfinder they did not. Let's make sure none of these crossbows have any exceptions to the rule, since we know 'Specific beats General' when it comes to rulings. It has weapon finesse and BAB of +3 as prereqs if I remember correctly. There is not a RAW exception to the rule about ranged attacks adding the Dex bonus to damage on a crossbow. By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. I support a limited subset of Pathfinder's rules content. It makes melee fighters obsolete. I want my son to have his shirt tucked in, but he does not want. D&D 5E has a different AC paradigm. (Pathfinder, 3.5, AD&D, etc.). 'Dexterity splits into two ability scores. 1. ... (Gunslinger ACF Bolt Ace 5) Dex to dam with Crossbow; Investigator; Talented Shot (Investigator ACF Steelhound 15) can select Bleeding Wound - see above. As a secondary, Pathfinder can equip Relics. However, I cannot actually find where this is detailed in the PHB... You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon, such as a sling or longbow. Take a penalty to hit for twice as much bonus damage. Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. I will use the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks. It makes them treated as One handed Piercing weapons. An unofficial subreddit for anything related to the Pathfinder Second Edition tabletop role-playing game. Do I add my ability modifier to the damage of the bonus-action attack granted by the Crossbow Expert feat?
Weapons Weapon Categories. Weapons are grouped into several interlocking sets of categories. These categories pertain to what training is needed to become proficient in a weapon’s use (simple, martial, or exotic), the weapon’s usefulness either in close combat (melee) or at a distance (ranged, which includes both thrown and projectile weapons), its relative encumbrance (light, one-handed. DMG STR DEX CON INT DMGT RNG MAG; Crossbow Ranged 28 20 25 30m Harpoon Ranged 31 20 32 30m 3 Scrap Shotgun Ranged 35 32 32 30m 6 Heavy Crossbow Ranged 39 28 34 30m Speargun Ranged 41 28 41 30m 3 Double Barrel Shotgun Ranged 42 36 36 30m 6 Crossbow I Ranged 46 35 43 Harpoon I Ranged 50 33 50 30m 3 Heavy Crossbow I Ranged 53 39 49 Scrap Shotgun I.
For a rogue, there's no way to get dex-to-damage on crossbows. They're a simple weapon, so they're not meant to be good or competitive except in rare cases. A few archetypes add dex-to-damage for them, most notably Gunslinger's Bolt Ace. I'm unclear what you're asking. This is an error on the player's part, for sure, if that's what you're asking. Still archer is one of the strongest playstyles in pathfinder. They really dont need dex to dmg that would make them horribly overpowered. The closest you'll get is the Crossbow Ace archetype for gunslinger. Dex to damage with crossbows at 5th level. May 21, 2014 Pathfinder Dex to dmg with thrown weapons. Dreamscarred Press' Deadly Agility feat adds dex to damage with light/finess weapons instead of strength, and doesn't specify that it has to be melee, so you can get dex to damage with light thrown weapons. Dex to dmg with thrown weapons Originally Posted by Feint's End.
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Welcome to my newest optimized character build. This thread has reminded me that I planned such a build for a longer time. So this build will be a dual wielding double crossbow user with some flavor added to become...Dragonblood Subtype: Deepwyrm half-drow are of the dragonblood subtype (see page 4).
Drow Blood: For all special abilities and effects, a half-drow is considered a drow.
Immunity to sleep spells and similar magical effects.
Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day—detect magic; 1/day—disguise self. The caster level for these effects is equal to the character level of the deepwyrm half-drow.
+1 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.
+2 racial bonus on Bluff and Gather Information checks.
Urban Druid 1 / Bard 1 / Swordsage 1 / Fighter 4 / Deepwood Sniper 7 / Nentyar Hunter 1 / Earth Dreamer 5
After the first 7 lvls you are free to adjust the prc progression to your liking. I would start with Deepwood Sniper since it offers the nice crit chance and multiplier bonuses and than end with Nentyar Hunter & Earth Dreamer. But if you want the spell progression and the special abilities of Earth Dreamer first go for it (just keep in mind the earlier BAB loss and that when you don't have 'keen' your Blood in the Water stacks will stack slower and fewer times). But more to that later.
Level Progression:
* = Fighter Bonus Feats
** = Feat for first Flaw
*** = Feat for second Flaw.
**** = Swordsage bonus feat
A prerequisite and our first step on stack +1 attack and dmg bonuses (up tp 30ft).
**TWF**
Self explaining. The first step for offhand attacks.
***Precise Shot***
To avoid the -4hit penalty for attacking into melee with a ranged weapon. This build has already enough penalties to deal with. Thus a nice to have feat.
Urban Druid
First, it fits the fluff being an urban character. Second, because it gives us proficiency crossbow (any)! This saves us 2 feats for hand-crossbow and double-hand-crossbow (since crossbow ain't a defined term in 3.5 'any' applies to all crossbows, even double crossbows). Further it provides us with a free mount (light warhorse) that can be replaced within 24h if it dies.
Reload (a single) hand crossbow as free action. Also counts as Weapon Focus and gives +1 to attack rolls. Basically Rapid Reload and Weapon Focus for hand crossbows. For reloading while TWF with these see Reload section below.
Drow Fighter Racial Substitution Level
'Hit and Run Fighter' is priceless for this build in the early levels and is still a reliable boost at later lvls. It gives you +Dex mod to dmg rolls when your enemies are flat-footed within 30ft (surprise round; Grease; Marbles; Ice Slick..). We lose Heavy Armor Proficiency, which is irrelevant for this max DEX build anyway. And as a nice icing on top it gives +2 untyped bonus to Initiative-
'Soothing Voice' replaces Countersong which already almost never sees use. Spend a daily use of Bardic Music to emulate Calm Emotions. The Will save DC is determined by a Diplomacy roll! Max Diplomacy for maximum abuse.
Bard ACF: Healing Hymn
Replaces Fascinate with the ability to increase heals from cure spells with your perform rank (up to the max possible due to caster level for that cure spell). Further if used before going to bed/rest, it counts as you would rest for full 24h, despite the circumstances under which you are sleeping.
Draconic Aura: Vigor
This one is really cheesy. +1 Fast Healing for everyone under half of his maximum HP. And since the build is dragonblooded, it increases with class lvl (any! no class specified) and goes up to +4 at lvl 20. Together with Healing Hymn, you will easily cover most of the healing needed by your allies.
Mainly because it gives us 1/2 DEX bonus to our crossbow attacks. Together with Hit and Run Fighter this makes up to 1.5 x DEX mod for our attacks.
****Weapon Focus: (Kukri)****
We have to pick a melee weapon focus (free from Swordsage) and Kukri has the best critchance to keep up stacks (see below) if you should need to fall back to melee for some odd reason.
Swordsage:
This single lvl dip gives us so much tools. Even the low lvl maneuvers can be useful. But most important is the stance that is mandatory for this build.
Distracting Ember - (Swift Action) Small fire elemental dummy to get flanking until end of your turn
*Moment of Perfect Mind - Use Concentration checks in place of Will save.
*Cloak of Deception - Greater Invisibility until end of your turn. Gets lesser interesting when you can effort to buy a wand and can than be replaced with something else.
*Counter Charge - (Immediate Action) chose to make an opposed Str or Dex check with your enemy (enemy has to use the same ability score as you!). +4 on Str if you are bigger or +4 on Dex if you are smaller. If you win the check, you enemy may not attack you with his charge and you may place him up to 10ft away from you. Perfect against those nasty ubercharger/pounce builds/monsters.
*Mighty Throw - Melee touch attack with special throw attempt. Than make a Str or Dex check with a +4 bonus and not restricted by enemy size. On success the enemy moves up to 10 ft away and is prone. A good tool if you get cornered by enemies and don't have an escape route option otherwise available. Since it is only a standard action, you may move away afterwards.
Sudden Leap - jump as a swift action. Gets more interesting if you are apart from your mount for longer time.
Stance: Blood in the Water
This is our bread & butter. While in this stance you get for each crit a stacking and duration refreshing (1min) untyped +1 bonus to attack & damage. And this build will crit a lot on later levels due to high attack rate and critchance. Without this, the build would not even be half as good. It's that important! It will help to deal with attack penalties (up to -6 for a non max BAB build is heavy) and that the dmg skyrockets.
Mainly because of PRC requirements, since we will avoid melee range and barely cast in combat anyway.
The +2 dmg is nice, but more importantly because of Ranged Weapon Mastery
Make sure that you get Far Shot via either a 'Helm of the Hunter' or 'Horizon Goggles'. Both have minor gadgets, so pick the one you prefer. This prc gives us the needed dmg boost for the otherwise weak crossbows.
Keen Arrows
Doubles our critchance with crossbows = 17-20 which is basically a 20% chance to crit. Helps a lot to get more stacks for Blood in the Water.
Range Increment Bonus
+10 ft./level of Deepwoodsniper (+70ft max for this build added after all other modifiers like Far Shot)
Prerequisite for Earth Dreamer PRC (if you go for an alternate build, this feat can be exchanged); use move action to sense creatures direction (but not point/square) up to 20ft.
Concealment Reduction
Your miss 10% less when an enemy has concealment bonuses.
Magic Weapon
If it would have been Greater MW.., but this will be barely used. Only if you still miss access to +1 weapons and can't effort a wand of GMW.
Projectile Improved Critical +1
Now our crossbow crits for x3.
Not mandatory but still a nice to have ability.
First it mentions 'attack rolls' so it applies definitively to more than a single attack.
Second, there is no duration mentioned!
Third, the move restriction only applies for the round aiming!
If your DM approves this, it's a great ability to start a fight against single strong enemy. This way you can make faster use of your extra attacks and reliably hit with em.
+2 to attack and dmg. Mainly for the attack bonus to further compensate our penalties, but the dmg bonus is also nice to have.
Consistent Aim
1/day reroll an attack roll. Not great, but nice to have I guess.
Now we are 20% less likely to miss a concealed enemy
2/day reroll an attack roll, still not great but yeah^^
Projectile Improved Critical +2
Now our crossbows crit for x4 dmg. Yes pls!
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Till here the build is mostly set into stone, except the Earth Sense feat^^.
After this point you are free to make adjustment for picking prcs. I would recommend to dip a single lvl into Nentyar Hunter since it gives you up to 5th lvl spells (for 5 lvls of progression) including healing spells and greater magic weapon. Since the prc abilities are meh, so we'll use the Earth Dreamer prc that will progress the NH spellcasting and five us some other nice to have abilities for this build. It may not fit the El Mariachi flavor so much, but is otherwise a great end for this build. Keep in mind that you can rearrange all lvl behind 7. So if you want to fill the roll as primary healer and have the abilities, you could push it.
An alternate build option would be to take a 2nd lvl Bard to get Alarm and enter Abjurant Champion. Gives you a higher BAB & casterlvl at lvl 20 (both 17 with fractional BAB at 20). But the downside is only up to 3rd lvl spells. And the abilities are not even close as useful as the suggester build route, which was the reason for me to suggest the other as standard build. You may think otherwise but I wanted to mention it.
You may even think about other options and alter the build to your desire. Just the Feats are still hardly recommend, since they are a big part of this build.
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Make sure you already bought the Gloves of Balanced Hand to get Improved TWF. I don't think these feats needs more explanation^^.
Nentyar Hunter
We need a Dark Blue Ioun Stone for Alterness and a Mask of the Tiger for Track to enter this prc. As mentioned this gives us access up to 5th lvl spells over 5 lvls. Gives us access to Greater Magic Weapon (best as wand due to needed caster lvl to get +5 bonus) to enchant our ammunition. This should be a good compensation for the fact that this build caps at +14 BAB (missing the 4th attack for mainhand). As said a single lvl dip is ennough.
Woodland Stride
It's for free, so why not^^
Besides from the 1/2 BAB downside a great PRC with nice at will abilities. This helps us to become an unstoppable killer. Since Nentyar Hunter has only 4 lvls of spellcasting left, we will use the last lvl (20) to give Urban Druid a lvl of spellcasting progression.
Earth Friend
Creatures with earth subtype react friendlier to you. Initial attitude improves by one step.
'Ask a mountain' while dreaming^^ high chance to get the answer if it is in the mountains territory. And since you only get a correct reply (if at all), this is better than the regular spell version iirc. 1/day and needs 10min.
Gives use DEX bonus to enemies in 30ft range. Together with all the other sources this build can stack up to 2.5 x DEX bonus!
Lesser Tremorsense 10ft.
Up to 10 ft you can pinpoint any creature (maybe besides incorporeal..^^).
Standard Action (At will !) - duration 3+CON mod rounds
See through stone, dirt, or almost any other sort of earth except metal to a range of 30 feet. This helps you to look into most buildings, behind walls and many other things. Look into the ground for treasures^^.
Standard Action (At will !) - duration 3+CON mod rounds
This ability is nuts. You can always dive through earth like an earth-elemental and leave no trail. This makes you really unstoppable. Enter any building, appear behind an enemy from the ground/wall, escape into save mother earth^^, so much abuse potential. And since it is at will, you can abuse it as much as you like (to pay the standard action every 3+CON mod rounds). A great cornerstone ability for this build, but also a good reason to think about altering the lvl progression if you want it earlier. Up to your liking.
- Horizon Goggles (8K g) or Helm of the Hunter(9K g) for the Far Shot feat
- Gloves of Storing to draw and hide your crossbows as free action and to easily reload while TWF.
(combine the Gloves for increased price as described in the rules)
- Cloves of Balanced Hands gives us access to Improved TWF. Recommend after hitting lvl 7 (+6 BAB), but before hitting 15 (Greater TWF)
- Dark Blue Ioun Stone gives Alertness. Get it before lvl 15 for Nentyar Hunter.
- Mask of the Tiger gives use Track. Also before 15 for NH.
Marbles 2s
Pathfinder Adding Dex To Crossbow Dmg Pdf
Marbles are cheap and your first tool to victory. Always buy many of em and let your warhorse carry em. They cover a 5ft square and forces Balance checks. Unless the victim has 5 ranks in Balance (who ever has that?^^) is considered flat-footed and thus our Hit and Run Fighter ability kicks in. Since the application is dropping them into enemy space, we will abuse an Unseen Servant (see below) to do the job.Collar of Perpetual Attendance 2K g
Pls approve with your DM first, since the item did came out as a April Fool. But it follows the regular item creation cost for such an item. So, not so cheesy as the April Fool joke may make it look like. It gives at will Unseen Servant, which will deploy your marbles on enemy spaces all day long. If your DM should deny this option, use a Drow House Insignia for Unseen Servant as replacement.
Horseshoes of Flame 32K g
Now your warhorse can fly and you can fire from even more safe positions. Further the nightmarish look is nice. And now it is likely that your mount has a higher INT (+10) score than you. Teach him languages, rename him Mr. ED and ask him for advice all day^^
2x Double-Hand-crossbow named 'Lady and the Tramp' each 200k g
'Lady' + 1 (+3 Splitting, +2 Exit Wound, +2 Phasing +1 Silence +1 Spell Storing)
'the Tramp' +1 (+2 Exit Wound, +3 Slpitting, +3 Force, +1 Spell Storing)
+ Wand Chamber (2x 100g) for each. One with Grease, the other with Greater Invisibility
+ Oil Chamber (2x 1000g) if you want to play with poisons
+ Prismatic Burst (2x 30,000g) Since this build relies on crits, this is the fallback strategy against those that are immune to crits to get some extra dmg.
Drow House Insignia (spell) 1st=620g; 2nd=3,300g; 3rd=8,200g
Clvl 5 (always!) and once per day casts a specific spell (chosen at creation/when bought) up to 3rd lvl. Use it for Ice Slick (cleric 1st, like grease but 20ft square). The 5 rounds are normally enough to do the job. If you want more charges/day or other spells, these can be stacked with the normal magic item stacking rules. The item text even mentions that more powerful drow may have multiple spells on it.
This item is highly recommended to further abuse Hit and Run Fighter.
1: Store every unused charge of your Insignia into your Spell Storing Crossbows
2: If an ally should die, shoot his 'lazy ass' stable (-1hp)^^!
This method ensures that your ally is really dead and not somewhere between -1 and -9 and and lets him incarnate without the normal penalties. Further we have a crazy range with the Crossbows compared to the regular touch range. Due to dual spellstoring weapons we can store up to 2 battle rezz this way. You couldn't ask for a better combat medic imho.
Bracers of Armor and if you can effort it buy a pair for your mount too.
Animated Riders Shield you don't need to hold it and you can profit from it together with your mount. All wished fulfilled.
5x Whish for +5 Dex
Together with the +5 from lvl up this is a +16 increase to DEX. Really important to ramp up our starting dmg with all the DEX to dmg feats (2.5x). Assuming a base at lvl 1 from 16/18 we would have 32/34 DEX and a mod of +11/+12. This would add up to +27/+30 dmg to our crossbow attacks if the conditions are met sole from DEX.
We could have picked Quick Draw to get full attacks with free action reloads even for early lvls, but imho the feat is not worth it and this is a feat-starving build. Instead it makes use of Gloves of Storing to store and draw your weapons as free action and thus reload your single crossbows easily for free (crossbow focus), one after the other. Imho the most elegant way to reload and better than wasting another feat on it
The build has a high attack rate due to TWF and can get even more with the double crossbow attacks when you have gathered enough crit stacks to reliably hit despite the penalties. Each of the attacks will be Splitting into two (only once, but that is enough) and all have Exit Wounds. If you position yourself (with your mounts movement) correct, you can full attack for dozens of attack rolls and possible crits for maximizing Blood in the Water stacks. Wanna annihilate entire armies/legions within a few rounds? No Problem, we have enough firepower. Further we can bypass (either) cover, shield, armor and shoot AC & shields from force effects down.
The dmg starts high (feat bonuses, GMW, 2.5x DEX mod, 17-20/x4) and skyrockets as you gather more Blood in the Water stacks.
We passively heal all allies who have lost more than half their HP and can dish out some emergency heals or later even battle rezz. Imho a well rounded build.
2. Use 'Earth Sight' to locate your target behind a wall/inside a building.
3. 'Take Aim' with 'Lady' who has phasing & silencing
4. SHOOT!
5. Leave as if nothing happened
No trace that someone even entered the building. The target should fall 'silently' dead, since the save roll should autofail when dead.
Pathfinder Adding Dex To Crossbow Dmg Mod
I always thought a crossbow build would never work out good compared to other optimized combat builds, but I guess I have to change my mind here^^.
As always, thx for reading this big wall of text. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I felt lost while making this build. Let the feedback come. I'm prepared for anything: critic, bugs, rule discussion, suggestions or whatever else you have in mind related to the build.
edit:
- fixed the 'Items for Prerequisites' since the items for Nentyar Hunter where missing.
- added Racial traits info
- and a few typos^^