Is there a solo-worthy archer build?

i've solo'd the game with many spellcasting builds, and gotten reasonably far with melee ones, but ive never even gotten past the moathouse with an archery focused build, is it even possible without just being a spellcaster who just uses a bow on the side?

 

does the always sneaking bug still work for sneak attacks? maybe a ftr/rogue could deal some decent damage.

i'll set my goal at clearing the moathouse, i dont think i could ever win the temple broken tower fight with an archer

 

What if he was a rogue-archer with a high 'use magic' skill--how far would you be willing to take that & still consider him/her an 'archer' build? I imagine a scroll of greater invisibility &/or protection from arrows could be a big help for the broken tower battle.

 

haha i just used the ring of invisibility and snuck past them this time, its a 2 ftr / 4 rogue so far, its actually better than i had expected to just use rapid shot and ring of invis, taking 2 shots one turn, and turning invis the next, so you get sneak damage from coming out of invis.

i dont think ill be ready to take them out until im a few levels higher though

also: i've found flee combat to be QUITE useful with this character when i bite off a bit more than i can chew i can still take out a few guys then heal and return, and this is my first time not just selling the ring of invis to pay for stuff to craft (which i cant do anyways with this guy)

i probably will end up using UMD'd scrolls and wands with this guy though, i think a high int CE fighter/rogue archer who uses guerilla tactics would be smart and cowardly enough to use scrolls to spread more havoc and keep himself better protected


i dont like to console in stuff though, does the magic merchant in nulb sell those scrolls, or will i just have to gank them from somewhere in the temple?

 

I'd just go to Burne (the magician in the tower in East Hommlett).

I think I'm going to try a solo (or maybe duo, we'll see ) next time I go through, it sounds fun.

 

its quite fun, i'd recommend cleric if its your first solo, that seems to be the best solo class for me with good healing, buffs, summons, flame strike nukes, crafting, and even respectable melee prowess

wizards i feel have some better buffs, a lot more nukes, but are a bit lacking in the summons and melee, and they start off pretty weak though so i suggest taking a martial class for your first level, for hp/bab/etc. barbarian is usually a good choice, and rage can come in handy early on, and later on you'll chew through large scale encounters faster than a cleric would with your nukes (rage becomes a little useless later but the fast movement is convenient sometimes, if you dont want to waste any levels at all you might want to just tough it out as a wimpy wizard for your first few levels)

druid is another obvious choice, spike stones/spike growth are excellent ways to annihilate lots of creatures in the game (if you do it right you can even run back and forth behind the rock formation in emridy meadows while the giant does the same and kills himself on your spikes), sleet storm and entangle can prove invaluable for mass battles - druids can control the battlefield better than the above two classes. i actually like to take monk as my first level as the wisdom to AC is quite nice, and then to flurry with a Shillelagh for early on..

its usually tougher to solo for me though because i generally am of some evil alignment so no fragarach, holy weapons, or protection/circles against evil etc. but easier early on (no moral compunctions about slaying my followers to gain their strength and wealth for myself, or killing others without reason )

 

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep it in mind. I imagine being a solo cleric means you insta-kill any undead you run across, which is a nice perq. Or an evil cleric, you get troops--that brings up a point, how seriously do you take soloing--I'm assuming your druids use their animal companions--do your evil clerics keep their controlled undead? Your wizards their charmed meat shields? etc.

Anyway, next time i get the time to play toee i'll probably try--after I try my hand at the pre-beta kotb demo, that is. :cool2:

 

i do keep my animal companions, and on occasion controlled undead as they are not very powerful and do their own thing. both only serve as temporary distractions. as a wizard i havent needed to use meat shields i just cast an insane amount of defensive buffs that make it a pain for the enemy to hit with anything

sometimes having a few undead buddies can give you time to drop the nukes or whatever you need to get out before engaging in melee, i found them highly useful vs the hezrou in the water node because he will blow his turns casting chaos hammer on them, but lately ive been having glitches where all the commanded undead get paralyzed so i tend to just destroy them by hand if i resort to commanding them at all. btw shades/shadows(i forget what they are called but youll know) are excellent damage absorbers vs the majority of enemies, if you plan on using the undead.

maybe instead of soloing i should go the other route, and make a party of evil clerics and raise an immense army of the dead haha... every round would take an eternity, i think after being used to the speed of soloing id blow my brains out doing that. but imagine an army of paralyzing lacedons and tough to harm shades/shadows being backed by spellslinging clerics with reach weapons...... the chaotic frenzy of the battles might actually be worth it

do you know if there is a cap to the amount of undead your party can command like there is with summons and followers?

 

You are asking about the limit to the number of ai_followers. Ai_followers are anything that has a blue circle around it when you select the whole party, but does not appear in the party line_up at the bottom of the screen. You cannot access the inventory of ai_followers, or control their actions, except for movement outside of combat. Animal companions, summoned creatures, commanded undead and creatures charmed with the Charm spell are all examples of ai_followers.

The max number of ai_followers prior to 5.0.0 was 3. With 5.0.0 that limit was increased to 10, and is still 10 in any of the CMFs.

 

ah darn, there goes my army raising plan

 

Try a Ranger/Cleric Elf; take the archery path, and stop once you are satisfied with all the bow feats you want. See what happens. Should be good for combat & crafting. Use speed potions, too. A favorite NPC PnP build was R/C/MU, but that might be too much of a split here.

 

i see, ill give that a shot if the umd rogue style runs into a brick wall

also ive never crafted bows before, got any advice?

 

At lower levels, archers are pretty weak like monks. If you stick it out, however, you will be impressed. On my recent game 5.0.2 with a 1/2E R/C, by the time he was in the lower temple levels he could down a Hill Giant by himself at range in a single round. I'd use some Ranger combination for your Rapid and Manyshot Feats then also get:

PB Shot
Precise Shot
Dodge/Mobility/Shot on the Run
Improved Critical(Compound Longbow)
Weapon Focus/Specialization(if your class allows, but these really aren't necessary)

Combine those with a decent dexterity, strength, and a longbow enchanted with flaming burst or something similar and you will lay waste...trust me. I've seen single arrows dish out @ 70 pts of damage:evil_laug You'll start getting irritated that you killed your target after the first couple arrows, but the guy will still fire the remaining few, to round out his attacks, into a corpse...

 

nice ill definately be giving r/c a try after i get tired of rogue, im hoping sneak attack can bring the damage up nicely but it kind of sucks to only have a +1 longbow because i cant craft anything