Undying Bowmaster (Wiz 37/AA 2/WM 1)

[dodrudon]

This is a remake of my original Bowmaster done with the Undying subby.

Quick points:
* lots of Wizzy levels give powerful buffs, making up for lack of shield
* as a Staffmaster you get +10% conceal and a turn/level duration Tenser's Transformation (which you're gonna NEED for 8 the HP and AB)
* AA levels allow use of AA bows
* 85% Conceal
* +15 Premonition
* great saves
* final buffed Dex of 50
* three epic spells (Epic Barrier, Starfire, Contingency)
* 8 attacks per round
* 84 AB (? needs confirmation)


Undying (Elf): +2 to all stats, Luck of Heroes, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Dodge, Elf Weapon Proficiency (includes Longbow)

Levels
1-12 Wiz
13-14 AA :: For the BAB to get 3 attacks/round.
14-39 Wiz
40 WM :: Discipline dump

7 Pre-epic General Feats
Blooded (for Tumble)
Rapid Shot
Point Blank Shot
Weapon Focus: Longbow
Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff
Mobility
Spring Attack

3 Wizard Pre-epic Bonus Feats
Spell Focus: Illusion
Greater Spell Focus: Illusion
Spell Focus: Divination

7 Epic Feats
Epic Prowess
Epic Weapon Focus: Longbow
Armor Skin
Expertise
Whirlwind Attack
Blindfight
Toughness

6 Wizard Bonus Epic Feats
2x Great Int (take early as possible for max skill points)
ESF Illusion
GSF Divination
ESF Divination
Combat Casting

7 Legendary Feats
L. Skill Affinity: Tumble
L. Luck
L. Divination
L. Illusion
LWF Longbow
Improved Critical: Longbow
Improved Combat Casting

Starting stats are 16 Dex, Con, and Int, boosted +2 to 18 by subby. All point go into Dex. The AB, as established by the linked thread above, is sufficient.

Attacks per round:
3 (base) + 1 (haste) + 1 (rapid shot) + 1 (AA bow) + 2 (Tenser's) = 8

Ethereal Visage gives 85% conceal, for an effective 72.25% conceal vs enemies with Blindfight. Base EV from wizzy levels gives 75% conceal, and a Staffmaster with at least one WM level gives +10% conceal.

LSF Illusion gives you 5 rounds of Etherealness (GS) effect with no cooldown timer when you cast Ghostly Visage.

LSF Divination boosts Premonition to +15 soak, and also gives you Moment of Prescience from Legend Lore (not yet implemented).

For Epic Spells, you get Starfire and Contingency, read a book to get Transmute Barrier.

AC
10 (Base) + 20 (Dex) + 17 (Defl) + 20 (Dodge) + 18 (Armor, Prescient's Guard) + 18 (Natural from Tenser's) + 12 (Tumble) + 2 (Armor Skin) = 117 AC.

You can max almost 8 skills: Concentration, Discipline, Tumble, Parry, and Craft Weapon for the extra AB (every point counts in this build). You can pick up Lore, Heal (for Guild Events =/), Spot, Pick Pocket....

ALWAYS keep Tenser's on! That gives you +10 legendary AB. Not to mention you really need the extra HP (614 with +12 Con at level 40).

Keep ALL your buff spells in your autocaster, even the round-based ones. Contingency will fire off your autocaster, so you want every buff in there. Put less important buffs in the back of the queue, so you can cast the first few then strafe sideways to cancel the rest.

Listen dump at 40 with AA isn't worth it. Let's call it 50 points with stat inclusion, +50 buffs is 100, which is 80 effective points, which only drops an 80% concealed mob to ~60% vs Blindfight which drops it to 64%. 5% difference, but that's with a FULL +50 boost to Listen. Not feasible imo. Better Disc from WM (though that's not really worth it either....). So, Disc or Listen dump? Remember if you do Listen dump then take a level each of AA and WM pre-epic to get the third attack.


Possible Variations
Possible feats to drop:
* Combat Casting, Improved Combat Casting (you live on buffs though)
* Legendary Luck (your lowest save, Will, is at 58 with L. Luck, 55 without, fort is close behind at 60 and 57, but note that crossing Styx with less than 58 Will is risky) (but you also have Moment of Prescience (again, not implemented yet))
* Blooded, LSA Tumble
* Illusion (pick up Transmute with feats instead, and choose another Epic you'd like, maybe Evocation for the better Bigby spells, or Conjuration for the teleporting Gate spel and bigger Wall of Fire stone wall (not yet implemented))

Possible feats to pick up:
* Epic Mage Armor (Epic Dodge (not yet implemented), nice bonus to Parry/Disc/Conc, and lotsa Dodge AC to offset Hell penalties)
* Legendary Skill Focus (don't need Disc or Parry really if you're staying back and avoiding getting hit, also Disc vs Slag isn't an issue in Robes with a Bow, but a bonus to Craft Weapon would be nice for the extra AB, you might even want it for Concentration)
* Great Dexterity (wasn't really worth it to me to use 2 feats for 1 AB/AC on such a feat-tight build)
* Another Epic (Abjuration's Mass Spell Destruction would ROCK)
* LSF Transmutation (pass out +15 Stoneskins for the tanks, though any pure 60 bard can do it with their song)
* LSA Parry (for the crits that DO get through)


Thoughts?

Can somebody please calculate the AB for me?

My AB calculation is:
21 (BAB) + 15 (LBAB w/ Tenser's) + 20 (50 Dex) + 20 (Buffs) + 8 (Foci and EP) = 84
I'm not sure if that's right or not, I think I left something out.

[the1kobra]

No great dex feats?
I think you might want to drop one of your LSFs to get your dex a little higher, probably div, maybe both if at all possible. Having a 50 dex, especially with a BUR sub, is a pretty low number.
I also think you miscalculated your AC, I computed it to be 114 with the same numbers. Keep in mind that wearing armor will not allow you to use premonition or EV.
As for AB, in your builds current state, you get:
11(BAB)+10(epic)+15(legendary in tensers)+6(foci) = 52 without buffs and with a +0 bow.
With +20 from buffs (tensers should hit that easy), you get 72, i'm not sure if the bow counts towards that limit, but you get 86 if it does stack.
I really think you should get your dex a little higher though.
Other thing is if you start with base 16(18), you should be able to get 6 skills/lvl, and part of another once your int hits 20.

[dodrudon]

114 AC? Can you give the numbers you used?

BAB is 21 not 11, and LWF gives +3, with another +1 from Epic Prowess, so foci give with feats give +8.

The Spell Foci feats are taken with Wizard bonus feats, so can't be Great Dex. I know 50 is a low number, but compared to mid 60s for casters, you're only losing 5-7 points of AB and AC, which is losing one hit per round.

CBC gave me 283 skill points at level 40, about 6.7 skills to max. Hrm, wondered how I screwed that one up. Guess you can grab Lore and bank too, or Spellcraft for scrolls.

My AB calculation is:
21 (BAB) + 15 (LBAB w/ Tenser's) + 20 (50 Dex) + 20 (Buffs) + 8 (Foci and EP) = 84
I'm not sure if that's right or not, I think I left something out.

[the1kobra]

For AC:
10(Base) + 20(Dex) (30) + 17(Defl) (47) + 20 (Dodge) (67) + 18 (Armor) (85) + 17 (Natural) (102) + 12 (Tumblac) (114)
I think you get 18 from tensers though, maybe 19, which will then give you 115/116. Either or, its not great.

[dodrudon]

Oops. Pressed a wrong button on my calculator =P

Thanks.

[diemex]

* 90% Conceal

OK....

I have to ask... because the allure of 90% conceal is so strong. I've played a few dexer builds with 50% conceal and I love them. The only build I found that could measure up without conceal was tin can as it resisted the damage instead.

I've found though that I just dont play casters very well, this build however seems a bit more suited to my playstyle. ie. not an offensive spellcaster but rather a self buffed archer.

What I need to know is how easy is it to get buffed and stay buffed ? I've heard that its near impossible in many areas to be buffed as they get stripped fast with breaches. How accurate is that ? I wouldnt mind trying a new build but I'd find it very frustrating if I worked my way up there to find that the 90% conceal isnt going to be on me most of the time due to breaches....

[Acaos]

dodrudon said:

* 90% Conceal

You can only get 90% conceal by being a pure Staffmaster (only Wizard and WM levels). Your build can get 85%, though.

Acaos

[dodrudon]

but... but.. but...

Staffmasters with at least 1 WM level get a 10% bonus to the concealment granted by the Ethereal Visage spell.get a 10% bonus to the concealment granted by the Ethereal Visage spell.

Are you sure about that? I've never heard of that anywhere...

[Acaos]

dodrudon said:

but... but.. but...

Staffmasters with at least 1 WM level get a 10% bonus to the concealment granted by the Ethereal Visage spell.get a 10% bonus to the concealment granted by the Ethereal Visage spell.

Are you sure about that? I've never heard of that anywhere...

From the class edits document:

* Ethereal Visage

Add +1%/+1%/+3% concealment for GSF/ESF/LSF Illusion (stacking, max of +5%),

will respect absolute cap of 85% EXCEPT for pure staffmaster 90%

Acaos

[dodrudon]

Oh okay =X.

So... guess LSF Illusion isn't needed, unless one wants to hand out 55% Displacements...

[bhao]

illusion focus feats would counter concealment reduction. (no, not from blind-fight)

[dodrudon]

Huh? Why would my concealment be reduced?

With 58 effective casterlevels for EV, that gives 75% concealment. Going Staffmaster with at least 1 WM level gives +10% concealment for a final 85% concealment, the max on a non-pure SM. Or am I missing something?

[Acaos]

bhao said:

illusion focus feats would counter concealment reduction. (no, not from blind-fight)

Correct, from the Staff of Amarcoi or from breach boots.

Acaos

[dodrudon]

*scratches head*

Soooo many details to keep track of...

Thanks!!! I'll stick with LSF Illusion after all then.

[ilovedietpepsi]

ill get illusion foci just for the ghostly visage spell, cant survive nearly as well without it in hell in my opinion, especially when nasty stuff drops on top of you every step, sometimes something just hate you and won't let go, especially if you die and lose you buff.