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- June 22, 2015 at 7:55 pm #268688AnonymousInactive
Also, ranged should not match melee damage per tick as there is no risk. If the opponents can’t get past your friends, you are just doing free damage with no risk.
The simplest way to do sustained damage per tick with a flintlock is to have multiple and don’t reload them except between combats. This obviously has a significant up-front cost (though an Altherian Val could start with 2 pistols free and buy more for not too ridiculous a price).
I’ve thought about creating a marksman/triggermage but I prefer the melee play-style.
I see your point, but to play infernal’s advocate, if I’m sitting there with no armor and a big flintlock (or multiple flintlocks), I think that’s making me a high priority for my GM and any of the opponents who also has ranged weapons or spells.
June 23, 2015 at 12:06 am #268695AnonymousInactiveSome sort of ranged capacity is a must for all characters (even if they rarely use it).
Due to the way the skills work, you can ‘make do’ with only one melee skill (and use all the others at -5, or -3 with a Talent). You can’t do the same with ranged.
Ranged (Marksmanship) is useful for several spells or casting talents, so its not unusual for ranks to be thrown at it (val with their free flintlocks usually have a rank as well). Unless you use a shield (and I see very few PCs that do), it would be useful for all PCs to carry a Heavy Crossbow, open with a volley and then change to melee/spells where they specialise. Even with no ranks, the Attribute die may explode for a hit.
For 2 ticks (+quickdraw or draw or Cautious Advance+draw), while the enemy are also flat-footed (for Combat Advantage!) that volley can efficiently clean out chaff or throw a wound or two on the bigger targets. (One reason its use by Minion level threats has been curtailed; see above BI comment).
The unmentioned advantage of Exceptional ranged weapons, is the Rune space. Better Runes require Better Weapons.
Sure, you could use that crappy inferior crossbow you picked up from the Milandisian peasant you slaughtered one time, but that is all it will ever be.June 23, 2015 at 12:28 am #268697AnonymousInactiveI disagree that “some sort of ranged combat is a must for all characters”. It is definitely good to have but it is not a requirement. Having it will make some encounters much easier. Ss’kethis closest thing to ranged is Guarded Charge. G’hyu’thyh has a bola but his thrown ranks are about half of his melee.
I certainly haven’t kept exact count but I think shields are pretty common (at least among melee characters).
June 23, 2015 at 12:32 am #268698AnonymousInactiveI certainly haven’t kept exact count but I think shields are pretty common (at least among melee characters).
Not around here; I have yet to encounter another shield user of any sort. The other Martials are all using 2h weapons. Well, that an Martials are fairly sparse to start with (lots of Experts and Arcane casters).
June 23, 2015 at 12:47 am #268699AnonymousInactiveI certainly haven’t kept exact count but I think shields are pretty common (at least among melee characters).
Not around here; I have yet to encounter another shield user of any sort. The other Martials are all using 2h weapons. Well, that an Martials are fairly sparse to start with (lots of Experts and Arcane casters).
Interesting. Both of my characters are casters but primarily just for buffs.
Ss’kethis has a tower shield and tail bracer – he casts and then draws his tralian hammer if needed for the hard hits.
G’hyu’thyh has a small shield and Kio sword. With one with the blade, drawing is a free action so casting and then drawing isn’t an issue.
I’ve made some characters that don’t use shields but haven’t played them much (except Horst who is now semi-retired).
June 23, 2015 at 4:44 am #268705AnonymousInactiveInteresting to hear how everyone’s groups are.
Hood is a lonely expert. His group has one martial, one sorcerer priest, and the rest are psions.
Here’s how I view Arcanis character design in a nutshell; you can either pick one area to focus on and be extremely good in just that one area, or pick two areas of focus as still be pretty good, or at most, three areas, and you will probably be at least competent. If you try to do any more than that, you just won’t be able to consolidate enough skill ranks and complementary talents to have a major impact on gameplay.
So if you do the melee/ranged combo, that’s pretty much going to be the main definition of your character. If that’s that character you want to play then that’s cool. Personally, this doesn’t really appeal to me, because that character will be pretty pigeon-holed as a combat specialist, and I like characters that can contribute to investigation/research/conversations/etc and other “soft” skills.
For example, Hood’s primary contribution to combat is high base damage and murderous precision. But his soft skills include larceny, streetwise, stealth, etc. So I pretty much run the information gathering aspects of the modules for my table, and that gives me a lot of opportunity to roleplay.
June 23, 2015 at 5:27 am #268706AnonymousInactiveSs’kethis isn’t much good in a city. He has no social or city-oriented skills but I knew that limitation when I created him. He’s good at buffing (mostly self) and can heal in a pinch but is mostly melee (the idea for him started when I ran across the Huge talent in CoH and grew from there).
G’hyu’thyh is much more refined. He doesn’t hit as hard but has more knowledge and social skills. He can be his own worst enemy though (he has very fixed ideas about honor and nobility).
Ironically, Ss’kethis is my Expert and G’hyu’thyh is my Martial…
The local group I run has 1 Ssressen Expert (probably should be Martial but she really wanted Quick), 1 Elorii Elder caster, 1 Gnome (templar? divine caster at any rate) of Cadic, 1 Val’Emman (can’t remember if he’s Expert or Martial but does have some psionics), and 1 Val (Abebbi I think – the face of the group with less combat skills and no psionics (yet anyway)).
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