Shattered Kingdoms

Could you just concede that you might be wrong, or at least, not entirely accurate, Edoras? Geez.

I for one have noticed that ranged combat just plain works different. For example, I don't ever really recall properly dodging a ranged attack.

Yeah you get shot by a centaur/giant scout with frenzy and haste and you tell me if they need a buff.

Just my two cents not directed at anyone.

That's an absurd argument. The fact that ranged damage becomes completely useless against someone who's fully decked out and on mood defensive is a pretty good sign that ranged combat is weak. Sure, it's gonna own your run of the mill cloth wearing necro/sorc, but on the other hand you'll have people like Baba who won't even be phased by it. Do you see people go mood defensive and completely negate the damage from spears, or swords or pikes or whatever other melee weapon out there? I don't think so.

I actually proposed an idea a while back, a skill for scouts called Precision which would allow them to "find chinks" in the armor of their enemies and ignore part of their AC. It wouldn't boost the base damage of ranged combat, but it would make it more effective against the lol mood defensive shield tactic.

You'd be surprised how much damage you can negate from physical sources. It's not exactly on the same level as arrow damage, but it's pretty dang close. Crap, Zancore went 10 or so rounds against 5 PCs plus guards, and he was wearing crappy armor.




Besides the fact that I think such claims of completely negating ranged damage as a caster are ridiculous, you're missing half the argument. Just because something has countermeasures doesn't mean its weak, especially if those countermeasures affect more drawbacks for the person using them.

Bard songs can be completely ignored by deafness, but bard songs are DEFINITELY powerful, if not overpowered, because going around deaf all the time is both A) not always possible, and B) carries additional negative side-effects of its own for most characters in addition to just making basic communication annoying.

In the same way, going around in mood defensive with a shield out isn't always possible, and even if you do that, you still take damage from arrows if the scout knows what he is doing. As for your statement that ranged damage is more easily avoided than melee damage, I agree, and I also feel that's a good thing, because ranged damage can reach across ranks and rooms while keeping the person using it out of harm's way, not to mention you can even quaff potions and eat herbs while shooting, unlike spellcasting or circle stabbing. In addition, going around in mood defensive limits one's available options, especially in the case of casters.

I mean, can't ranged attackers just aim lower to deal with shields, like everyone else does?

The only buff I can really say ranged combat could stand to gain, simply from an annoyance standpoint, is to be able to shoot while in melee.

Not if the person is on mood defensive.

This right here makes any further discussion quite useless.

I'll just retreat.

Snuffles is correct that a caster can completely negate damage from arrows. High AC armor with a high AC shield, mood defensive, and appropriate buffs will allow a caster to simply not have to worry about people targetting him with arrows, even if we're talking about a properly buffed scout.

one of hte main things is that Scouts can't exploit racial weaknesses at ranged as well as say a merc or so can. Iron arrows and stuff degrade far too quickly and you can't really fletch them.

that and of course the mood defensive bonuses are far too great. My bard was tanking things in the outland without buffs in mood defensive..In crappy dragonscale armor with 0 enchantments. I think that says somethin there.