Deadly Archery+AC

[cuthalion]

So, I hate to stir a hornet's nest, but Deadly Archery is looking a little more effective with the new called shots in the AC, no?

An elf, with Deadly Archery and choosing Rain of Arrows, using a Woodland Bow, could deal some serious damage--four attacks with major endurance loss from each, plus chance for wounding of course. Even more if more than one opening volley is allowed. And chances of making the called shot are increased further if Mastery Dice are added.

Just thinking out loud . . .

And loving some of the new combat options.

[Falenthal]

I think only the Combat Task Harry Foes could get benefited from Deadly Archery, and simply because the Virtue allows to hit even extremely high Parry monsters if necessary (at the cost of 1 Hope point, of course).

For the rest, neither Combat Tasks nor Called Shots can be done during the Opening Volleys, so they don't stack with the Woodland Bow.
And Called Shots require a 6 in the roll, which isn't granted by the Deadly Archery and is, usually, the major hindrance to try a Called Shot.

My opinion, thus, is that the Deadly Archery thread still deserves 5 more pages to discuss after the release of AC.

[cuthalion]

Ha ha

Confused tho--is there a clarification somewhere that called shots can't be made on the opening volley? Agree that combat tasks couldn't be used in the opening volley of course.

Also, Deadly Archery only affects the damage dealt, not the chances to hit, no?

[Glorelendil]

This does suggest a solution to Deadly Archery: instead of changing the virtue, create a combat task (or other variant rule) that benefits from extraordinarily high rolls.

[cuthalion]

Oh, got it now, I was reading it wrong. Been a while since I looked at it. So chances to hit increase when spending a point of hope--still think that pairs pretty well with Rain of Arrows, and it also works with the combat stance Harry Foes. The only thing it doesn't work great with is Pierce, but that might be a bit too deadly anyway . . . (chuckles to self)

[Falenthal]

You're right, cuthalion, that Called Shots can be used during Opening Volleys. My mistake.

Still, a Called Shot needs a 6, and Deadly Archery doesn't provide any higher chance of it.
Also, adding the Heart Attribute of an elf means adding 2 to 4 points to the roll, depending on the Background of the archer. A good bonus, but I wouldn't call it "extraordinary" (specially if your Heart is 2).

With the new rules, if I had an elven archer character that just increased his Wisdom, and wanted to improve my Bow skill, I'd pick up the new Mastery Skill Mastery (Bow) [Add 1 Mastery die to a favoured skill (Common or Weapon
skill). The same skill cannot be chosen twice]. I think the numeric bonus would be similar to that 2 to 4 points of adding Heart, without having to spend Hope, applying to every attack, and increasing the chances of rolling a 6.

IMHO, Deadly Archery is getting worse by supplement...

I still think Glorelendil's option is better, both mechanically and thematically:
"If succesfully ambushing your enemy, for the first shot with a Bow or Great Bow during the Opening Volleys, you may re-roll one Succes die. If you do so, you have to keep the rerolled result".

[spivo]

My biggest problem with Deadly Archery is that:

1) It costs hope (well, only has effect when hope is spend), on a culture with low hope.
2) Has small effect.
3) Does not scale with the character development (experience).


When my group started, one player wanted to make an elven character with healing abilities and bow as weapon. Two skills most associate with elves, so no surprise.
But it did not take much research in the rulebook for him to see Woodmen were a much better choice for healing, and a better choice for bow as well. Did not mater much to me really, but looking at it I'm having hard time seeing what Mirkwood elves does better than other cultures, while the other starting cultures all seem to have some thing that they do really well.

[Falenthal]

I'm having hard time seeing what Mirkwood elves does better than other cultures,

Regarding combat, their high Battle and Stealth skills allow them to ambush the enemies, and with a high Awareness they avoid ambushes.
The (Spear) ability allows to carry one Spear for the Opening Volleys and a Great Spear for the melee combat, and be equally proficient with both for the same XP expenditure (i.e. both use the same skill). Also, during melee, you can choose the Spearman's Shield which, combined with a high Wits, allows the elf to stay in Forward or Open Stance and still have a high TN to be hit. And the Great Spear is one of the powerful weapons of the game.
The Shadow Bane Virtue, combined with the Great Spear+Spearman's Shield mentioned above, helps greatly with trying Pierce Called Shots every turn and forcing Protection tests on the enemies constantly.

The Mirkwood-lore trait, bearing in mind that lots of adventures tread Mirkwood, can help a lot (although Woodmen also have it).
I love The Speakers Virtue, and Elven Magic is very useful, too, specially once the Elf-lights spell is learned.
Personally, I find Deadly Archery and Elvish Dreams unnecessary and uninteresting in an elven character.

[Rocmistro]

I am vindicated.