# The Best Bow...



## Limper (Jan 5, 2003)

Recently one of our party got a Major Magical Weapon from ye olde Deck of Many Things (usually painful)... the DM rolled and he got +9! to work with... he's an Archer thus he wants it in the form of a bow... but other than that the DM hath been so kind as to allow the player to design his own.

Restrictions: Powers come from WotC Products (DMG, Splat Land, etc...)

What can you come up with? A hint: The mani plot is killing giants... but they are FAR from the only foes faced.

We who are about to die salute you for your assistance!


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## HellHound (Jan 5, 2003)

If you have a cleric in the party (Greater Magic Weapon), then stick to a +1 bow.

So then we have:

Mighty (+4) Composite Longbow

+1 enhancement bonus [+1 value]
flaming (+1d6 fire damage) [+1 value]
shock (+1d6 lightning damage) [+1 value]
frost (+1d6 cold damage) [+1 value]
acidic (+1d6 acid damage) [+1 value]
speed (+1 attack at full bonus) [+4 value]

The acidic ability comes from Magic of Faerun, the rest are from the DMG.

End result: +1 attack, +1 on attack rolls, 1d8+4d6+5 damage (more with greater magic weapon)


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## Limper (Jan 5, 2003)

Interesting... but I find it hard to believe only one thought on the subject.


By the way HellHound... what would you do if you were going to rely on being Hasted? In such a case what would you recommend be done with the Speeds +4?

I was thinking Bane (giant) and Holy... what do you think?


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## Destil (Jan 5, 2003)

I generaly won't put bane on a missle weapon, it's much better to get groups of arrows made (a quiver of giant bane, a quiver od dragon bane, you can even throw in a slaying arrow or two!) for specific bane weapons, IMHO. Holy and (lawful / chaotic) would work, though.


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## BMF (Jan 6, 2003)

> flaming (+1d6 fire damage) [+1 value]
> shock (+1d6 lightning damage) [+1 value]
> frost (+1d6 cold damage) [+1 value]
> acidic (+1d6 acid damage) [+1 value]
> speed (+1 attack at full bonus) [+4 value]




 I'd switch out the frost for sonic damage -- screeming or thundering or whatever it is called. I know I've seen it somewhere. some DMs don't like to mix frost and fire effects on the same weapon like that. 

 Personally, my favorite bow is a ghost touch weapon, combined with the blink ability, or some sort of etherealness. Nothing is more fun than taking cover in another dimension while you snipe creatures from a couple of hundred feet away. Throw in a few illusions and you've got a classic killer combo. 

 I'd spend the +9 on:
+1 magical enhancement
sonic enhancement
Ghost touch
distence
.... and whatever else goes well with that.....


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## Seule (Jan 6, 2003)

Ghost Touch is not bad, but I don't believe it allows you to attack Prime targets from the Ethereal, it just can become incorporeal at will, basically.
Screaming from Magic of Faerun is fun.
Seeking negates miss chances from concealment, also from MoF.
Keen is always good.
Speed is only good if you aren't usually Hasted in combat.

I also recommend looking in the Psionics Handbook if it is permitted.  I can't find mine (used it two days ago), but there are cool enhancements there.

I'd probably go with +5 (That way you are self-sufficient and always ready, and the GMW can go on the ammo), as well as Keen and a bunch of Elementals.

  --Penn


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## Skullfyre (Jan 6, 2003)

The thoughts and possibilities.....
will get back to this(after examining all options)


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## Tolen Mar (Jan 6, 2003)

Interesting that this should come up...

Im playing with a +8 bow at the moment with enhancements from the DMg and the Psionics book.  I have a mighty +2 (Im low on Strength and dont need the extra), Keen (which improved crit range), Distance (which doubles range), and impact (which increased the damage a bit), and its +5...If you were to take a lower bonus with it, then seeking is good, plus anything that ramps the damage some more...

It works well for me, Im a Psychic Warrior/Order of the Bow Initiate, and I have a lot of feats and abilities that enhance that bow.

(Of course, it'll be my luck that someone will point a major flaw with this Bow...When it gets late, I tend to make a lot of mistakes in my adding )


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## Drakmar (Jan 6, 2003)

see.. where as I would go for a fairly simple bow.. There are certain things that to me make more sense to go on Arrows.. like Lightning Burst etc.

I would go with.

Ghost Touch (+1)
Keen (+1)
Wounding (+1)
Speed (+4)
and top it off by making the bow +2

now.. that assumes that the DM lets you have more than +5 worth of enhancements.

if they didn't.. well.. um..
I would go with
Ghost Touch, Keen, Wounding, and then Distance (+1) and top it off by making the bow +5.

The trick to this bow.. is to hit all of you enemies once.. then hit them again.. you are not trying to kill straight away.. I love wounding.

Then later.. you just get some special arrows.. ones with returning.. that is what you put the Lightning Burst, or Bane on.  

See.. brilliant strategy..

Btw.. I know that this strat works.


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## Numion (Jan 6, 2003)

Speed isn't actually very good enhancement since it doesn't stack with haste. Rather go with Boots of Speed and additional 4 types of elemental damage.


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## Dave G (Jan 6, 2003)

Make it like the bow from the 80's D&D cartoon... turn it into a charged item, add Brilliant Energy and give it variable effects, like rope, etc...


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## isoChron (Jan 6, 2003)

Hmm, nice ideas but .....

1. Is keen allowed on a bow (I thought it only works on arrows). I hope I'm wrong 'cause a keen crossbow would be nice for my mage.
2. If you take frost, flaming, thundering, xxx, yyy, zzz ... How many standard actions would it take to activate all those nice gimmics ? One for all together or one for every flaming, shocking, acidic, frost and speed ? 

Oh, and never underestimate a natural +5 bow. No need for the cleric to waste a spell, no dispelling, runs 24 hours a day. Slightly harder to sunder  ! 
Hm, what about one or two elemental damages like sonicburst (don't know the ingame name of it) and flaming burst. Since a bow has a x3 crit it would do some nasty extra damage on a crit. Something like 2W8+1W6sonic+1W6fire+2W10Sonic+2W10fire+10enhancement sounds really critical to me. Remember: normal elemental damage isn't multiplied at critical hits.
Take Improved crit (Comp. longbow) and a level of deepwoodsniper (all arrows are keen) to get a crit from 18 to 20.

Just my 2cents.
Bye


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## BiggusGeekus@Work (Jan 6, 2003)

isoChron said:
			
		

> *
> Oh, and never underestimate a natural +5 bow. No need for the cleric to waste a spell, no dispelling, runs 24 hours a day. Slightly harder to sunder  *




I was thinking along the same lines.  What if the cleric is busy getting eaten or something?

+5 with fire damage and holy damage "extras".  That should cover most nasty critters.


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## Planetouched (Jan 6, 2003)

and it will overcome damage reduction, at levels where you play with +9 weapons most enemies have at least +4/20 or something...I'd go for a +5 and then soemthing like keen and sonic, not fire or cold(too many creatures have fire or cold resistances)


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## Stalker0 (Jan 6, 2003)

I'm a big fan of wounding on my bows. Archers get a lot of attacks, and hit with most of them. That wounding damage adds up.


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## Dark Dragon (Jan 6, 2003)

A +5 bow is quite nice but for overcoming DR 20/+4 (e.g.), you still need an appropriate arrow...

I'll take it as follows:

+2 enhancement (+2)
speed (+4)
wounding (+1) (in the MM II is Greater Wounding described )
distant (+1)
ghost touch (+1)

Buy some special arrows (from +1 to +5 enhancement) or have the wizard or cleric enchant them (or create them by yourself...) for special opponents...


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## buzzard (Jan 6, 2003)

A +5 bow is not going to help against DR. Only the magic on the arrow counts. Granted, +5 to hit/damage is nice, but if you want damage you can do better with the elemental types of damage. I don't really think keen works on the bow . I like speed myself. It is always an additional attack, not just when you get hasted (like for example on 10 rounds of haste on the boots, vs. all day with speed). Heck if you want keen, take that level of deepwood sniper and all arrows are automaitcally keen at 1st level. 

The wounding is a good idea.

I'd say 
+3
Speed, acid, wounding. 

This way you have good flexibility, and a fairly un resisted damage type. Though sonic may be better. Same cost in any case. 

The brilliant energy is something I would avoid. Yes, touch attacks are nice, but so many critter types are unaffected (undead, constructs...) that it could be a dud in a lot of cases. 

buzzard


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## Hejdun (Jan 6, 2003)

> wounding (+1) (in the MM II is Greater Wounding described )




Remember that Wounding is now a +2 ability.  It's in the errata.


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## Limper (Jan 6, 2003)

Looking good! Thank you and I'm sure my fellow player also thanks you.


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## hong (Jan 7, 2003)

BillyBeanbag said:
			
		

> *Make it like the bow from the 80's D&D cartoon...  *



http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hong/dnd/newenchantments.htm#energized


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## Shallown (Jan 7, 2003)

I had an archer character with Deepwoods sniper so I had a +1 sonic burst weapon. If I was to upgrdae it I would have gone for holy since there is plenty of evil out there and Maybe even lawful to get those chaotic people and double up on CE people. 

The Burst rocked with the Deepwoods crit increase, crit range increase, keen ability and imp crit. When I critted A bonus 3d10 was sweet.

Save bane for special arrow batches as suggested.

Just a few thoughts.

later


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## Tolen Mar (Jan 7, 2003)

Dark Dragon said:
			
		

> *(in the MM II is Greater Wounding described )*




Where? Can I get a page number for this?


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## ConcreteBuddha (Jan 7, 2003)

THE BEST BOW EVER:


* +1 Darkwood Mighty (+4) Composite Longbow +1 of:
Impact [PsiHB] (+1), 
Seeking [SaF] (+1),
Holy (+2),
Honorable [OA] (+2),
Lawful (+2). *

Have a GMW buddy, and you are set.

I'd stay away from elemental damages entirely. Too many things have lots of ER at higher levels (especially by the time you have a +9 bow). They are kinda overrated, IMHO. The bow described above does:

*+6d6+2 vs. CE opponents. (Yippee!)
*+4d6+2 vs. NE and CN opponents.
*+2d6+2 vs. N and LE opponents.
*negates all miss chances from any source. (Obscuring mist? Huzzah! Blink? Sit on a tack!)
.
.
.
If you happen to be a single-classed ranger (a remote possibility, I'm sure), then take out Lawful and add Hunting [MotW] (+1). This doubles your FE bonus to damage. Really neat.
.
.
.
Without a GMW buddy:

Darkwood Mighty (+4) Composite Longbow +5 of:
Holy (+2)
Seeking (+1)
Impact (+1)
.
.
.
A couple of questions for previous posters:

1) Where does it say you can put "wounding" on a bow?

2) Where is the "sonic" special ability located?


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## darkbard (Jan 7, 2003)

doesn't the bonus from GMW *not* stack but only supersede an item's inherent bonus [if greater]?


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## Dark Dragon (Jan 7, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Tolen Mar _
> *
> 
> Where? Can I get a page number for this? *




Er...don't know the number of my mind, but look at the Kelvezu entry (under Demons). Greater wounding can be applied only to melee weapons, it's as a +4 enhancement.



			
				ConcreteBuddha said:
			
		

> *
> 
> :snip:
> 
> ...




Interesting question.

1) Well, it doesn't. One could argue that it is clearly stated for energy damage (e.g.), so wounding must be used on the arrow, not on the bow, because the arrow deals the damage. By the description of Greater Wounding, I won't allow Wounding on a bow (so I have to "build" a different bow  ).

2) Magic of Faerûn, "Screaming Weapon".


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## Mustrum_Ridcully (Jan 7, 2003)

> doesn't the bonus from GMW *not* stack but only supersede an item's inherent bonus [if greater]?



Yes, that is true. But the bonus from arrows and bows stack, though only the arrow`s bonus count against Damage Reduction.

This is the reason why many archers like to have someone with the ability to enhance their arrow (by Greater Magic Weapon, preferably), and have many energy type enhancements on their bow. 

For the "best bow": 
Corrosive, Flaming, Holy, Keen Shocking (?), Screaming +3 Mighty (+4) Composite Longbow might be quite useful. 
Maybe even a higher "+", (at expense of some of the energy types) because it is guaranteed damage if you hit, and makes it still easier. Remember that you might want to use all of your attacks (including your "Rapid Shots" maybe) effectively...

Holy is a guaranteed extra damage for most dangerous creatures you will encounter. At least if the setting is not going to be invaded by Formian (like mine  )

Mustrum Ridcully


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## Viktyr Gehrig (Jan 7, 2003)

The best +1 enchantment you can put on anything is Sure Strike. Then, you don't have to worry about not having enough enhancement bonus, since you automatically overcome Damage Reduction. Lets you play around a lot more with what damage and accuracy boosters you want.


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## ConcreteBuddha (Jan 7, 2003)

Korimyr the Rat said:
			
		

> *The best +1 enchantment you can put on anything is Sure Strike. Then, you don't have to worry about not having enough enhancement bonus, since you automatically overcome Damage Reduction. Lets you play around a lot more with what damage and accuracy boosters you want. *





Can't put Sure Striking on a bow.


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## Dark Dragon (Jan 7, 2003)

Right. But use True Striking and your first attack will most likely hit


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## Morose (Jan 7, 2003)

Ok, I'll play the role of the non-munchkin in this thread and make the following suggestion:

Build a bow that fits the character.

Trust me, it's a lot more fun to have something that's just plain "cool" than a "+5 uber bow of everything destruction".  Good "flavorful" enchantments:

Seeker (ignore concealment)
Hunting (rangers only on this one, but very in character)
Holy (effective, but also very fitting depending on the character's outlook)

There are lots of other ones that are often looked over.  Check through the books and see what fits.  That's my best recommendation.


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