Archer builds?

[ATI]

Im thinking of making a monk/archer (zen archery) what can use his fists when he needs to get into close combat....any suggestions on this move and a potential build I could work off of?

[IcemanXV]

I don't know how many monk levels you plan to take, but a good class to take for this is druid. The spell owl's insight helps your attack bonus greatly, especially on ns4 where you (at the moment) cannot max a stat on equipment alone. You can also use cleric for owl's wisdom (and empowered/maximized versions). You can also use bulls strength from either class to help make sure you make use of mighty ranged weapons.

10 Druid/4 Monk/6 fighter for the first 20 perhaps?

This would give you 4 attacks per round with a bow, as well as access to lvl 5 druid spells (owl's insight). Insight gives you wisdom equal to half your druid level, so 10 levels were taken instead of 9. This also gives you an extra lvl 5 slot.

+5 Wis from an amulet, and +5 wis from owl's insight would give you +5 ab overall, from an even base stat.

You also get some extra fighter-type feats from this tradeoff, namely specialization and combat feats like called shot.

Other helpful druid spells (buffs):

Stoneskin (lvl 4)
Barkskin (lvl 2)
Ultravision (lvl 1)
Freedom of Movement (lvl 4)
Death Ward (lvl 5)
Spell Resistance (lvl 5)

I would take some fighter to start off with...to help get the basic feats such as point blank shot and rapid shot out of the way. Obviously you'd need to take zen archery, and it can be gotten faster with a fighter's faster ab progression. Just have to use a faction that allows monks and druids for this build.

Ab @ lvl 20 with 22 wis would look like this:

16 (levels) + 6 (base wis bonus) + 5 (insight and amulet) + 1 (focus) + 3 (bow) = 31 ab

At level 21 you can choose epic weapon focus which will boost your ab by 3. (1 for level 2 for feat). The rest of your remaining levels can go into monk for the SR and improved evasion benefits.


Hope I helped.

[nargileh]

Forget zen archery (unless u plan on making a ranged cleric or druid), focus on dex and combine it with weapon finesse. That way u'll be good at hitting in melee and ranged. I am currently playing a pure monk build based dex + weapon finesse and even tho i don't have point blank shot or rapid shot i often use my bow, especially to deliver called shots to the legs

[ATI]

I don't know if the druid/monk/fighter build would work....mainly because I think druid ro monk is The Circle only....meaning its impossible to multiclass the charactres, which is why I figured monk/ranger. Maybe go for 9 lvl of monk (increased speed) go the rest Ranger, that should be about a base attack of 11 from teh ranger lvls, then 7 from the 9 monk lvls, thats 18, then wisdom from zen archery (which also adds to AC which is sweet) +6 or 7 so that is 24 or 25, then add uh....+3 for the bow thats 28. hmm....thats not a good enough AB... I like the druid 10 lvls though, because those buffs are really nice, and you get called lightning to help out with offensive capability. Maybe instead of monk lvls (which i don't know if you cna take monk and druid at the same time with class restrictions) I could take Arcane archer and bard lvls in order to help out...

Maybe I'll go with my other archer woh is lvl 7 lvls ranger 1 bard 4 lvls Arcane archer, which should be really smooth. Arcane archer AB bonuses are the shiznite, but are their abilities still worth it in NS4?

Also the main reason I want ranger lvls is because I can get really good spot and listen checks (to kill HiPS). Maybe I'm trying to focus on too much... I'll have to play test things out and see which is smarter...I might just end up doinig 1 bard 7 ranger rest Arcane Archer. Those AB bonuses for AA are so worth it, especially since AB's need to be high in PvP. Maybe I'll test out the char I already have.

[Sakad the II]

I have gotten in at least three levels of Aa so I have imbue arrow, with is a good thing it helps take down Ogres at a good clip, but anything with fire ressistance and the arrows dont work too well.

[sep caldessian]

I agree, for an archer monk with melee support, i would go 14 str 16 dex at start and pump dex after that and choose WFin. around level 9 or so.

unless you plan on makin a WIS based monk, in that case go Zen.

[IcemanXV]

Druids and monks can be in almost any faction except shadow legion. So you could make a druid/monk/fighter in AO, RK, LA, etc. Monks have to be lawful, druids have to be a shade of neutral. Your char would be lawful neutral.

The build would work, and if you wanted more AB overall and weren't planning on using monk till later, you could sub more fighter levels first. Ranger could easily be taken in place of fighter as well.

[X-I-L]

There's a decent Bio wis archer build here:

http://nwn.bioware.com/underdark/charac ... avant.html

Combines druid, monk and DD lvls, it may well need modifying to work well in NS4 but either way I suggest u check it out.

[Quiett]

Actually ICEMAN, Monks are allowed in SL, but not Druids. And in TC, Druids are allowed but not monks. MA doesn't allow either.

[IcemanXV]

Actually ICEMAN, Monks are allowed in SL, but not Druids. And in TC, Druids are allowed but not monks. MA doesn't allow either.

We already mentally excluded MA TC and SL. I figured that much was obvious, hence my usage of AO LA RK.

[-BannyD-]

hate to break it to u but archers are very bad here compared to melee.

hitting all the time may be nice, but hitting all the time for 10 dmg sucks. anything with pierce resist will take very long to kill.

unless they make arrows that do comparable damage as weapons (2d6 phys and 1d6 elemental) then archers are of no use. oh and these arrows cant be rare drops off of tough mobs bc who wants to spend their whole time as an archer camping something to get arrows so u can camp the same thing longer to get more arrows but by then u already used up the arrows u got from killing the mobs before.

aka, make 2d6 phys and 1d6 elemental arrow generators drop off of bosses

[TheBestDeception]

hate to break it to u but archers are very bad here compared to melee.

If you raid Melencia enough times, you will almost certainly find the "Forest Imbued Arrow", which does 2d6 Pierce + 1d6 Acid.

As far as hitting all the time being a bad thing...try using called shot to reduce enemy speed to about 10% or to reduce their attack to -12...not quite useless if you ask me.

Plus, if you have cleric levels, you can throw in Divine Favor for magical damage...Prayer for slashing. A bard would add bludg damage with its bardsong. There are plenty of ways to make good archers; don't simply dismiss it as being useless.

[-BannyD-]

If you raid Melencia enough times, you will almost certainly find the "Forest Imbued Arrow", which does 2d6 Pierce + 1d6 Acid.

i know about those, but what do u think u use to kill with an archer? u use arrows...to kill fast u use your best arrows so (like i said in my earlier post) u start an endless loop of killing monsters that drop these arrows and using the arrows to kill the mobs faster so more arrows drop....if these were common arrows then it would be fine but they arent

why cant archers just have "forest imbued arrow" stack generators? the generator drops off a boss and the arrows it makes are non-droppable. i dont see why this is bad because archers are still at a disadvantage to a melee type. they have to find their bow AND the arrow generator, not just the popular Lagnars Hammer. plus they have to rest a bunch bc the generator would be like use of 5 times per day or something, 500 arrows doesnt last long.

[sep caldessian]

[dugbird]

Ive made a monk wiz AA in other places, not tried it here though. by the time ya get 6ab ya have the other feats taken care of. sure someone will tell ya if it will work here.