Ultimate Archer??

[Zillo]

How would you outfit the Ultimate Archer????

[Dreamer128]

With a bow?

[Downunda]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dreamer128:
With a bow?

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LMAO

And some arrows

[fable]

Might want to give 'im some clothes, too. I hear it can get very windy out in the city at night, and nude people command very little respect from the civil authorities.

[Memnoch]

Don’t worry about these jokers. Though they do make a good point. The Darkfire Bow is pretty cool. Make sure you get Smite and Greater Whirlwind Attack as special abilities. With Boots of Speed you will be untouchable.

[fable]

I meant no disrespect. [img]smile.gif[/img] It's just that there are so many factors to take into account, your question is hard to answer as it stands. After all, if you give your archer items, you have to take them away from other party members who perhaps need them as much--or more. And the items an archer needs under certain circumstances will not be the items they need under others: a given bow with unlimited high quality ammunition won't phase a troll, who requires a bow loaded with fire arrows. Then, too, one has to take into account where you find items, and the level of a given party; its alignment, in some cases; and it's configuration.

Give us more info, and we'll give you, shall we say, more profound replies.

[toriuxik]

Well, the OBVIOUS one would be Gesen Bow and that Quiver +2 and a pile of acid arrows for troll killing. Use Grandmaster armour to be a running away scum too. I had a Bounty Hunter/fighter (illegal used shadowkeeper lol it was pretty good though), and it was quite capable of ripping apart the enemy forces. Make sure you use some other arrows with it... Still do damage from electric arrows AND you do arrows normal damage. Without actual arrows though it is incredibly slow for some reason... It doesn't want to fire until the last arrow hits, and that takes a second if it isn't a real one.

[Zillo]

I'm sorry. I should have been more specific. I wanted to solo with an archer from the beginning of SOA until the end of TOB. What gauntlets, armor, cloak, amulets, etc. should one look to posess to be successful??
How do you make the Archer have a quick fire ability besides getting to be a grandmaster with the bow?
Thanks

[Jim]

LOL at Dreamer, Downunda and fable
Stat wise use:

STR: (not import to an archer but remeber you will need to melee sometimes)

DEX: (max it out, 19)

CON: (max it - 17 or 18 depending on class)

Use an elf as they recieve bonuses with weapons.
Use gauntlets of weapon skill/expertise/specialisation to improve melee skill because remember archers can only become proficient in a weapon.
Use girdles of strength to improve melee.
Use shadow dragon scale in SoA, white dragon scale in ToB.
Use Strong Arm +2 in SoA and ToB (not the best THAC0, but the most damaging bow in the game and you can get it right at the start of chapter 2 from Ribald. Remember THAC0 is going to be excellent with a solo archer - they will level up fast and recieve frequent bonuses.
Keep a large sword nearly for melee Lilacour/warblade SOA, Gram ToB.
Use a cloak of the sewer at start of SoA, then use mirroring, then Montilo in ToB.
Use amulet of 10% resistance in SoA, Seradine in ToB.
In terms of RoF, the only bow that can improve this is Tuigan Bow+1 with 1 extra APR. An level 13 archer will attack 5 times with boots of speed anyway (with original grandmaster patch).

Hope this helps

Jim

[Legolas]

It's mostly a manner of taste, playing style and what's availiable.

The Heartseeker (once you're in ToB a regular, non-enchanted longbow works almost as well and is actually kinda cool [img]smile.gif[/img] ) with a helping of arrows, arrows +3 and unlimited arrows +2, and sling (any sling will do) with some bullets +4 (for the real tough guys) make a good missile weapon kit.
For normal weapons, the Ravager +6 is an extremely useful halberd (you can use the dragon's breath halberd before that, and Lilarcor earlier on) and a sideorder of instakills (fire/earth /air/golem kill staves, though I think Archers can't use the stick of golemslaying (staff of striking, IIRC))
Shields can be useful for emergencies, the shield of harmony and any singlehanded weapon are useful if you know you will be facing mind control creatures, but if you've only got one character charms aren't much of a problem, usually. For beholders, you can use the shield of Balduran, provided you have downloaded the bonus merchants, but I consider that item to be as cheesy as the cloak of mirroring, if not more so.

As for armour, Shadowdragon armour is probably one of the best you can wear.

Boots of Speed with an extra pair of Gargoyle Boots always come in handy

A girdle of Firegiant Strength should make sure you have no problems in the strength department

Cloaks can be anything you like, though I prefer the cloak of non-detection (if you're hiding in the shadows, not even truesight will reveal your position). If you want, you can use the cloak of mirroring to deflect spells, but that one is officially cheesy, like I said.

For bracers, take the improved gauntlets of weapons expertise

Leaves you with helmets, amulets and rings. The ring of free action is always useful, especially since it doesn't collide with the boots of speed like it should, but for the rest, it's up to you and your exact character.


On character creation, I'd pick an elf with a dex of 19, and take grandmastery in the longbow, specialise in the halberd, doublehanded sword and two weapon fighting. Constitution is the next most important stat, and you'll need a reasonable strength, but here the girdles can help you. The rest is plain decoration, as long as you keep them above 10 you won't get any negative modifiers.

That's it for now [img]smile.gif[/img]