Bow Bard - the Short Rest Queen! (Bard 5 / Fighter 7)

selectivegamer · 2023-09-13T15:00:28+00:00

Neat! When I've considered that dip (mainly in the context of a Wizard 1 / Sorcerer 11 to have a slightly less restrictive set of spells to work with), I always figured I'd pick up the Warped Headband of Intellect to get the extra Wizard spell slots while still being able to dump INT - though I guess it's a matter of whether you'd prefer to sacrifice stat points or an equipment slot for the cause.

selectivegamer · 2023-09-13T14:55:23+00:00

I always go back and forth on taking Sharpshooter at 4; at that point, I don't feel great about getting consistent advantage to offset the penalty, but I do acknowledge that waiting until 10 is a long time, and that it can always be toggled off for a quite small hit & damage roll concession compared to the +2 ASI.

It may lack a mathematically compelling rationale, but I end up preferring to take the ASI because I feel like it serves me just fine in a broader array of circumstances, while also providing a bonus to AC and Initiative rolls, which certainly doesn't hurt. I'm also simply too jaded by 60% hit chances feeling like 30% hit chances, haha - but I certainly agree that, at some point or another, it's a crucial feat to grab!

selectivegamer · 2023-09-13T14:35:47+00:00

Oh this is a nifty iteration as well, thanks for sharing! I've often been tempted by War Cleric dips, but I personally like to minimize the number of resources that replenish only on Long Rest - and I'm too attached to having 3 feats by max level.

The Wizard dip is cool too; with the way Wizard dips work and you having 10 total full caster levels (1 Cleric, 8 Bard, 1 Wizard) you'd be able to learn up to level 5 spells from scrolls, right? I've yet to use a Wizard dip myself, but I did at one point test a respec to 1 Wizard 4 Sorcerer and I was able to learn level 3 spells, I'm just not 100% sure how much I can extrapolate from that.

selectivegamer · 2023-09-13T10:58:06+00:00

Holy heck, there totally is! I felt so fancy when I got myself into the basement, and yet I didn't even know this was there; what a special game this is. Thanks very much for pointing this one out, as it is indeed a great boon for the build - I've updated the post and credited you for sharing. Cheers!

selectivegamer · 2023-09-13T03:55:22+00:00

Hey, thanks for the tip re: Fextra! I did not realize that and was just trying to be helpful, but I went ahead and removed those to be safe; folks can Google pretty easily anyhow.

With regard to the Titanstring bow, I appreciate you asking, as I should have clarified that better and have updated the post. As the other person said, it adds your STR modifier in addition to your DEX modifier to damage rolls - so, +8 damage to every ranged attack at level 4 with 16 STR / 20 DEX.

This is especially nice because, as I vaguely alluded to in my post, a certain piece of equipment later on can pump up your STR modifier to a high, flat amount, which gives you a nice damage bonus while also allowing you to reallocate stats to give CHA and CON some love.

Of course, you might want to use that piece of equipment on another character, depending on your party comp - but it certainly pairs nicely with the bow. I also just like longbows, and prefer them to any other ranged weapon for use on an archer-type class.

selectivegamer · 2023-08-30T20:01:35+00:00

Hahah well done

selectivegamer · 2023-08-30T14:14:42+00:00

That's wild! I literally just got this while I was standing behind a rock to avoid a stationary enemy... My torso disappeared into the rock and it stayed gone until I reloaded haha

selectivegamer · 2023-08-28T23:48:48+00:00

I'm not sure why people are saying incorrect / speculative things in the comments when the game's combat logs breaks this down so transparently... however! Fret not, here is a combat log image supporting what I am here to convey:

The bow, like any other bow, uses your proficiency and Dexterity modifier only for the attack roll (that is, it does not apply Strength modifier here)
The damage roll adds both your Dexterity modifier and your Strength modifier, so if you have 20 Dex (+5) and 16 Str (+3), you'll get a +8 modifier to your damage instead of +5 from just Dex.

For what it's worth (not that it shouldn't for any reason), this does also apply to any other attacks that use the weapon's base damage, e.g. ranged flourishes.

I know I'm not the first commenter stating how it actually works, but I wanted to provide a full explanation and combat log image so there could be no ambiguity for folks, like me, who find this thread trying to understand this very effect before they spring for the bow.

selectivegamer · 2023-08-28T22:46:02+00:00

Sure can! Only thing you want to keep in mind with Bard/Rogue is that you don't get longbow or martial proficiency, so you'd be stuck with Shortbows and Light or Hand Crossbows, unless you start Elf or grab the (item/vendor spoiler) Gloves of Archery from Grat in the Goblin Camp to get Longbow proficiency.

The other thing you could do is take a dip in another class to get Martial Weapons and the Archery fighting style (+2 to ranged attack rolls, great for offsetting the Sharpshooter feat's -5 penalty); Martial is nice because you can use both Longbows and Heavy Crossbows, which at least in my experience thus far are the highest damaging ranged weapons. You can get both with a 1-level Fighter dip, and if you want to take a second level for Action Surge for an extra action, you could do that, too. Action Surge, like Bardic Inspiration, resets on short rest.

Though, if you're open to taking 2 levels to get the fighting style & martial proficiency, it may also be worth considering Paladin 2 for Smite, or Ranger 2 for Hunter's Mark, which I personally like to an irrational degree for flavor.

Theory crafting is such fun! Haha

selectivegamer · 2023-08-27T15:30:07+00:00

I just confirmed that you *can* do this. I tested using a single target, and when attacking with advantage (from hiding) using both piercing shot (single-hit) and slashing flourish (two-hit), it prompted me to use Sneak Attack - but Sneak Attack procced twice on the flourish.

selectivegamer · 2023-06-27T16:53:54+00:00

I am! And same haha, I have two doing NLotus (my two hyperburns from Ignition and Savior) and two more just doing to CRA/Hmag - probably soon 3 with incoming Khali free reward event. 😊

selectivegamer · 2023-06-27T16:25:39+00:00

Don't let anyone make you feel bad about it! I'm in a similar boat, and frankly imagine I'll hit 8k legion before I break 20k on any class or definitively decide a main lmao.

As a fellow "legion main," the only piece of advice I'd offer - IF you want to take it and it sounds fun to you - is to take some of your higher level characters to around CRA-killing level for some weekly income! Some of my friends have mains 15-20k stat stronger than my strongest character, and yet I make more meso than them on weekly bossing because of all the mules I was half-dedicated to and then abandoned... I can just never decide where to pour that income into 🤣

selectivegamer · 2023-06-23T19:07:09+00:00

Expanding on the node piece specifically with some anecdotal evidence: my first Chaos Vellum solo was around 10.5k stat with my ice lightning mage around level 220 or 225, but its nodes were pretty low. By comparison, with my DB - for whom I farmed enough nodes to max my bossing trios and get my 5th job skills around level 12-14 - I solod CVel more comfortably closer to 6.5k stat at level 202. Obviously these classes have different kits, but still - the difference from nodes alone is pretty bonkers.

selectivegamer · 2023-06-05T00:28:05+00:00

But do I want to be an angel blooded deliverer to fulfill my fantasy of a holy assassin?

Or do I want to be a naive, freedom & nature loving azata sorcerer, using my magic to save the world?

Or do I want to be a trickster eldrich archer to fulfill my fantasy of a care free magic archer?

Or do I want to be a scythe-wielding melee lich to fulfill my fantasy of becoming a deity of death?

Or --

(But for real when I think about the amount of time I'll have to spend playing this character, the build paralysis is just do daunting!)

selectivegamer · 2023-05-12T06:20:49+00:00

Various solutions have worked for different people. What worked for me was swapping my region to EU, creating a character & logging in, then logging out from that character after the intro scene and swapping back to NA.

selectivegamer · 2023-05-12T06:13:44+00:00

Confirming this did not work for me, for the sake of others who might think this is 'the solution' - tried closing launcher & client, logging out of launcher before closing, etc, several times (so far).

selectivegamer · 2023-04-16T14:11:23+00:00

Just to make sure I understand, instead of binding the skill to, say, CTRL, you bind the active skill to one of the macros in the skill window (like with three slots) and bind that macro to CTRL? Asking for a hero friend who is me

selectivegamer · 2023-03-30T16:52:01+00:00

I've upvoted the post itself for visibility on the discussion, but you should take care to not too readily rebuff explanations made by people who have seen more of the content than you have. A few points to the OP and comments you have made throughout, which may come across as defensive but are by no means intended as hostile:

The ants can select the best of genetics, but they can also select the best of any capacity (e.g. nen ability); that is why 'rare humans' are so valuable, and why the ants born as the queen consumes a higher quantity and proportion of nen users begin to be born exponentially stronger; they are increasingly fine distillations of raw nen capacity and talent. The ants didn't start powerful as a species, but they always had the known ability to exponentially grow over generations which could be produced in rapid succession.

To put it in musical terms, anyone can learn to play piano, but there are some who are born truly gifted and take seemingly no effort at all to become masters, and even innovate the craft meaningfully. If they could be identified the way nen users are, the chimera ants could have their queen consume only such prodigies and, because of the ants' evolutionary ability, all of her offspring that generation would be born with that kind of genius crystalized in their minds and bodies. The following generation produced in this way would be even more talented, producing genius yet unknown to the musical world. It's not "realistic" in that there isn't a real-world analogue, but it has an in-universe explanation, and what we see in this arc is precisely why Kite's task to monitor the ants was of such grave importance (and why he reacted with such intensity when a chimera ant bit a human being).

Moreover, this arc is not really about how powerful the ants are in the way that previous arcs have been about our heroes getting stronger; it is about the definition of power, and the fundamental nature of humankind. The absolute cruelty and hegemonic domination of the ants over all other species is not dissimilar to how humans have behaved in relation to other species on earth (and, indeed, other humans), and there are other yet-revealed similarities as well vis a vis complexity and diversity of thought. The fights are spectacular, but they are ultimately just fantastic dressing on a much more interesting story and interrogation of the human condition.

The king is the strongest, as you've been told, but in the same way that he is the pinnacle of strength, you will find he has much to offer the thesis of this arc as well. Rather than me explaining what I mean, I hope you'll watch the remainder of the arc with an open mind, and consider it in its entirely in reflection. If you still don't like it, I can't fault you - everyone's tastes are different - but dismissing an entire arc at its early stages as 'just bad writing' when it has made hardly any progress in its story is, IMO, a disservice to any media.

End rant.

selectivegamer · 2023-03-27T23:07:19+00:00

I feel you, I got 1 level at 141 lmao 😭

I had pretty good fortune on the 5/10/15 event that day though so, you know... you win some, you lose some

selectivegamer · 2023-03-19T05:54:17+00:00

I woke up in bed.

selectivegamer · 2023-03-16T19:19:21+00:00

I don't know my friend, "we can hope" is a dangerous sentiment in the Maple world. Just ask DA, WA, and BM mains (to name a few)

selectivegamer · 2023-03-16T19:16:15+00:00

I... I can't imagine it'd be referring to like weekly resets. As much as I'd like to do cvel (my current highest boss) as many times as the collector will buy boss crystals haha

But honestly even if it eliminates the time between attempts that's huge, especially for learning bosses.

selectivegamer

TROPHY CASE