HOTU as a missile weapons specialist
Dharius
Member Posts: 654
I'm thinking about trying HOTU as a 15th lvl ranger specialising in longbows....
The thing is - I really don't understand the point of missile weapons in NWN campaigns at all. Non-magical ammo is easy to find and is very cheap, but magical/specialised ammo is very expensive, and I feel like I'm wasting lots of money every time I use them...Also, it's quite easy for a single ranger to dual wield melee weapons and do a lot of damage in most fights without bothering attacking at range.
Or to put it another way, I use Deekin a lot, who's designed to use a light crossbow in combat, but I always use him in melee because I can't be bothered to stock up on magical bolts.
Am I wrong? Are missile weapons really pointless or not? Is there a good method of building a ranger using longbows in HOTU? I'd be interested in your thoughts
The thing is - I really don't understand the point of missile weapons in NWN campaigns at all. Non-magical ammo is easy to find and is very cheap, but magical/specialised ammo is very expensive, and I feel like I'm wasting lots of money every time I use them...Also, it's quite easy for a single ranger to dual wield melee weapons and do a lot of damage in most fights without bothering attacking at range.
Or to put it another way, I use Deekin a lot, who's designed to use a light crossbow in combat, but I always use him in melee because I can't be bothered to stock up on magical bolts.
Am I wrong? Are missile weapons really pointless or not? Is there a good method of building a ranger using longbows in HOTU? I'd be interested in your thoughts
Post edited by Dharius on
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Comments
- Attacking stuff in a place that's hard or impossible to reach with melee weapons
- Attacking something like a spellcaster immediately from range rather than giving them a spell or two for free as you close in
- Not clogging up melee in confined quarters or chokepoints
- Getting some free hits in as enemy melee close on you
That said, ranged weapons are done poorly in NWN for a number of reasons. And, ironically, in a system like Pathfinder archers are generally considered overpowered.
- It's too hard to get Mighty or the equivalent. In PnP you can make bows designed for a specific strength score that are nonmagical or you can get a magic enchant that just adjusts to your strength
- Arrows don't automatically inherit the weapon's damage bonus -- a +3 bow should do +3 attack and +3 damage
- If the previous statement made you said "But wait, can't the arrow just be +3?" It could, but now you're having to constantly pay for that +3...and in official modules like HotU you don't have +3 arrows that also do 2d6 fire damage or something. While a melee weapon user has a +3 weapon that DOES do 2d6 fire damage. This only gets worse in HotU allowing you to enchant weapons up to +10 without allowing +10 arrows (or anything remotely close to that).
Arcane Archers are by far the best archers, they get ridiculous bonuses which single-handedly turn bows into a powerhouse. Other classes struggle without some extra source of damage (like cleric buffs). Get all the normal archery feats -- Point Blank, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus, Improved Critical. Pick up Dodge and Mobility as well so you get +4 AC while firing in melee.
Get Bane of Enemies as quickly as possible (aka level 21). Now you have +2 attack and +12 damage (5 + 2d6) against all favored enemies. Outsiders are obviously the most important pick.
The biggest weakness is that you're not using a +10 melee weapon (or two) enchanted for extra damage. But you should do fine. I'd suggest the bear companion as its strength scales up but it'll still probably die fast at those levels, sadly.
If you only do Wiz than AA you can't dual until LVL 12 but taking Warrior Lvls quickens that AB requirement, I love using magic so after 10 lvls of AA I'd continue Wiz lvls.
Stoneskin, lesser & greater Spellbreach, Armor buffs, Clarity or Mind Blanks, Shadow Shield, Defensive buffs keep you fighting longer and Spellbreach for removing enemy buffs.
If you really want to you can use Conjuration spells like Web, Cloadkill & Acid Fog to reduce Movement speed.
As for Magic Ammo well yes it's a problem until your an AA because you start to auto enchant any arrow on the fly, just equip standard Arrows and fire away and in Chapter 2 & 3 talk to a certain merchant and you'll find a very expensive upgrade system, you can't upgrade a Mighty enchantment so I would only upgrade a standard magic bow that doesn't have Mighty, and finally the same merchant can enchant infinite ammo ?.
Oh and if you don't care about upgrading your bow I think one of the merchant has the "Forever" bow that has great enchantments and infinite Fire Arrows.
The Warsling Sniper for instance makes slings actually be useful for once. And since it's only a class with six levels, it allows for more levels put into Fighter. One of my personal favourites, if only for shedding some limelight unto a underappreciated weapon type.
The Order of the Bow Initiate is yet another alternative for bow users. It goes for more of the English Bowman soldier type of character than the Arcane Archer hybrid mage thingy.
Then there's the Blood Archer prestige class. It deals more in poisons, acids arrows and self regeneration. Though it's only for LE characters that specialize in longbows.
Of course, the easiest one would be to go fully into the Bowman base class. basically a Fighter specialized in missile weapons and sneak attacks.
Edit:
Just realized that the OP created this topic back in 2018. So much for answering to necromancy summons...
Well if anyone has a build they've used in HOTU or other modules tell us.
Forever stats
Attack Bonus +6
Mighty +5
Arcane Archer Only
Unlimited Fire Arrow +1d6
Taralash stats
Attack Bonus +4
Haste
Mighty +4
Skill Bonus: Spot +4
I think it's on a corpse in the frozen region next to a enemy Demon mini boss.
North Wind Bow +8 stats
Attack Bonus +8
Damage resistance: cold resist 20
Mighty +8
Unlimited Cold Arrow +1d6
Yes.
But I'll reiterate my previous point: it still sucks.
You can get a longsword with +10 AB, +10 damage, and +2d6 fire damage (so 10 AB and 17 damage).
Forever can get +10 AB and +1d6 fire damage (so +10 AB and 3.5 damage).
Getting unlimited +5 ammunition from the smith is much better (5 average vs 3.5, also creatures with fire resist/immunity won't completely negate the bonus damage).