Arcane Archer ideas

[Jilseponie Wyndon]

I had spoken with someone a while back that on another server they have the different bows for AA's.  (No I do not remember who or what.)  Each had different elemental properties to it.  Yes, they had the feature of unlimitless ammo and they were quite expensive too, high level requirements, but I did not ask about how they were made to bypass the UMD ability.  So what I'm saying I guess is that there is another place out there that has these items so I know its possible to do.  But if it ever was to happen here I would put a high level req on it and of course price ... as to tagging it ... If Johans Cloak or Ronus' Boots can be tied to a specific character why not a bow?  That way GM's can be sure an AA has it and not someone with a UMD ability.  Just some thoughts from left field here ...

[Dorganath]

What Lalaith said is actually very correct in a lot of ways, especially the concept that those very, very few who worked very, very hard over the course of 20+ levels and an ECDQ/WLDQ in order to gain abilities that you're suggesting be put into a craftable weapon would completely negate all that they worked to achieve and attain.
  As for unbalancing...well, I wouldn't go that far. But in either case, what we're limited by is Bioware's engine. I wish we could simply enchant a bow, but it's just not possible without the unlimited ammo thing and/or other things we don't want or which do not fit well into Layonara.

[Dorganath]

Jilseponie Wyndon - 2/22/2007  8:42 AM If Johans Cloak or Ronus' Boots can be tied to a specific character why not a bow?  That way GM's can be sure an AA has it and not someone with a UMD ability.  Just some thoughts from left field here ...

 Johan's Cloak, Ronus's Boots and other such quest rewards are not tagged for a particular character but rather simply marked as "plot" so they cannot be traded.
  In the case of a craftable item, having it be plot may be quite cumbersome, especially if the AA did not make the bow himself (though that could be made a requirement). Marking things plot, however, has implications on being able to customize its appearance. Overall, it's not a great solution.
  There's still the problem though of unlimited arrows. Again, not getting into a discussion of power with AAs, I've seen how much damage they can do, and having them not need to worry about buying arrows ever again seems to be something we simply do not want.

[darkstorme]

vitor - 2/21/2007  10:22 PM

 Well, i had an idea, about the arrow enhanting item, as people could abuse of it, create some plain arrows, with the property only useable by: Arcane Archer. Then, it would have a different tag from normal arrows, so, make the enchanting item only work on these arrows, adding the damage and effect to them...

The other major problem with this, aside from the easy UMD Rogue/Bard workaround, is that there would then either have to be a place where the AAs could purchase said arrows, or they would have to be added to the crafting tables.  In addition to this, they could never be more than, say, normal arrows.  This is fine for the higher-level AAs, who get an automatic +x to any arrow that leaves their bow, but I suspect the lower level AAs are kind of fond of having special arrows... which would then ALL have to be duplicated to have these wands work on them.  And then, of course, there's the not-insubstantial switch statement involved in making the enchating wand work only on those arrows....

[Jilseponie Wyndon]

All right, I see your point on unlimited arrows Dorg and I agree.  That feature wouldn't have to be added.  So how about this:  A special Bow with appropriate features made up by the staff that you feel is fair with a set level requirement and/or cost or earned and given to the AA by the staff only.  Either under a stipulation that only they use it and/or you tag/mark it in however the way you do the thing you do in matters similar to this?

And are there that many AA's out there?  When I applied I got the impression that it was close to being a restricted class ... though impressions could be wrong.

~ Jil

[Dorganath]

The other side of the coin, mentioned above but apparently dismissed, is that one AA who has become a WL gained the ability to imbue a stack of arrows for personal use with elemental damage. The additional damage on the arrows due to this essentially follows the formula: AA levels/3, or one point of elemental damage per three levels of AA. At the character's current level, that works out to about 4 points of elemental damage added on top of his arrows.
So again, it's much less a matter of being overpowering as it is a matter creating an item (crafted or granted) for the general AA population pretty much invalidates the hard work of the AA who earned this well-deserved ability.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

Alright, that's cool... So.

How about a real suggestion that is pretty darned nifty?

Make the arrows glow, or look ghosty, or something. That'd be enough for several, from reading the thread.

Is this possible?

[Jilseponie Wyndon]

Thanks Dorg, I like that suggestion and will want to see if I can incorporate that into my WL app.

[Dorganath]

It wasn't really a suggestion, only an example.  
  And I'm pretty sure it was NOT the goal of this character's WLDQ but rather an appropriate reward that was given as a result. Writing the reward of your WLDQ into the request would not be a guarantee that such a thing would come to be.
  EDIT: revised statement based on error pointed out below. Thanks *sheepish grin*

[Talan Va'lash]

Posted by me 15 months ago:

The thing about the elemental arrows for AA's is that they should NOT have ANYTHING to do with CNR. At all. An AA is not a fletcher (well, not necissarily. Its not important to the class.) An AA is an archer who casts magic on his arrows AS he fires them.

CNR is not the answer to everything, and certainly not this issue.

---

Edit: and Dorg means "Pretty sure it was NOT the goal..." in his above post. Ahem.

[aragwen]

Well I will chime in a last time on this subject.
  Having posted originally longer than a year ago, my thoughts have not much changed about this, but I will state the following.
  I dont think the AA class is underpowered at all, but I dont think they lack flavor. The special abilities they get are only useful in RP situations or when a GM is around to make the ability more powerful (Used seeker arrow at least twice on my WL)
  So without changing anything on the special abilities it would just be nice to add flavor.
  The easiest way to add flavor is with enchanted arrows, now I am not suggesting adding a lot of damage with giving all AA's enchanted arrows, but maybe an item similiar to Talan's can be given to all AA on reaching a particular level. This item can be marked plot and as such they can't be traded and cause the item will only be given to AA's, nobody else will be able to use it.
  All this item will do is add maybe +1 of a particular damage (dont think a visual can be added without adding damage) to a stack of normal arrows. These arrows then cant be traded either, meaning that only the AA will be able to use them.
  Doing this will add the flavor to the class without necesary adding any extra power.
  Now having said all of this, I also understand that the team is very busy and have a lot of other way more important issues to attend to, than adding flavor to one class, so I fully understand and accept if this is not implemented.

[IDii]

Well I'll be brief here to say something. What are you comparing arcane archers to when you say they lack flavor? Look at the other prestige classes and say which one of them has that flavor anyway? Most of the abilities either add some combat power or do something that is totally useless in combat but might be fun to play around in Hlint for a few minutes after you get it.

I'd say the only classes that have more flavor than the arcane archers are shifters, palemasters, red dragon disciples once you have the wings. And that's only cool for being unique.

Rest of the classes are full of abilities that are about as cool as what the arcane archers get. Less useful probably but about equal in the coolness factor.

[vitor]

I agree with Aragwen (his last post), Totally.