Crossbow master, what is it, and is it really so good ?

[Twotricks]

So I have been hearing about this crossbow master build, that is supposedly very good. Levels very fast and easy ?

Can someone explain me what is so good about it ? ( I know maximum attacks per round crossbow can make is 3, even with rapid reload feat )


Second question, provided this crossbow master is good. Would it fit Bard class ? And how would you make this crossbow bard ?

[Arn]

Bards can cast Haste, raising the maximum number of attacks per round to 4. So Bards can be very effective Crossbow Snipers.

[Twotricks]

Its pointless. I dont want to make him human because of RP reasons. And there is no way to make him effective at crossbow with limited number of feats without taking multiclass and suffering harsh penalty. I might go for straight bard ... any good build for that ?

[Calodan]

Its pointless. I dont want to make him human because of RP reasons. And there is no way to make him effective at crossbow with limited number of feats without taking multiclass and suffering harsh penalty. I might go for straight bard ... any good build for that ?

This is certainly just not true. Crossbow snipers are good enough that even with a XP penalty you are going to do just fine and the whole needing that one extra feat from human is not true either. You may have to sacrifice something like luck of heroes or able learner if you are one of those players that simply must have one or both of those feats in every build.

Now asking for a good straight bard build? UMMM yes there is a good pure bard. Get curse song and hymm of requiem. There done. If you are willing to go 27 bard or 26 bard with either cleric or blackguard you could build a EDM bard which would slay in the epics for sure and will slay through the content 1-20.

It seems to me that you are looking to just learn so here is the basics. End game AB with items should equal out to 38-50 AB to be effective. End game average damage per hit you are aiming for is 25-50 AVERAGE. End game AC when not a magic user or Hide in plain sight sneak should be around 50 at the low end. A bard can get away with having 45ish ac or so and this is easily obtainable.

[Sun Wukong]

Second question, provided this crossbow master is good. Would it fit Bard class ? And how would you make this crossbow bard ?

I would go for 4 levels of fighter just to get some extra ranged feats, but you can make a crossbow bard without. I suppose.

Note though: if you go to Ulgoth's Beard, there is a merchant that sells 'Knight's Crossbow' for about 70-130k, and it comes with the Rapid Reload feat. It also has +3 EB to it. But getting the Rapid Reload feat is the better course of action in the long run, because who knows what kind of crossbow you can get your hands later on from random loot generator.


As for the single class bard, you could do something like this: http://nwn2db.com/build/?282613

And here is example of it with 4 levels of fighter: http://nwn2db.com/build/?282615 (It is better in every way.)

[Slunko]

I suggest going a mixture of 21ranger9assassin. It's amazing at what it does, and it does safe ranged damage and a lot of it.

Pick your favorite enemies well and enjoy the buffs. Grab all the crossbow feats, and ranger's ranged weapon focus thing gets you a lot of em for free.

Barring that, if you don't like the ranger goodies, something along these lines is also a safe bet:

http://nwn2db.com/build/?250728

(Just mind the empty spots and pick crossbow master that the builder doesn't have as a feat, as well as weapon focus: heavy xbow)

[TeoDeathDealer]

"And here is example of it with 4 levels of fighter: http://nwn2db.com/build/?282615 (It is better in every way.)"

What does manyshot do for xbow sniper?

[flipside43]

"What does manyshot do for xbow sniper?

Everything. All that damage from crossbow sniper feat is multiplied by manyshot.

[Arn]

Every attack you make with a crossbow sniper should be made with Manyshot. Or at least, that's how I played it when I had a crossbow sniper.

[Thorsson]

Second question, provided this crossbow master is good. Would it fit Bard class ? And how would you make this crossbow bard ?

I would go for 4 levels of fighter just to get some extra ranged feats, but you can make a crossbow bard without. I suppose.

Note though: if you go to Ulgoth's Beard, there is a merchant that sells 'Knight's Crossbow' for about 70-130k, and it comes with the Rapid Reload feat. It also has +3 EB to it. But getting the Rapid Reload feat is the better course of action in the long run, because who knows what kind of crossbow you can get your hands later on from random loot generator.

There is a Quiver (Belt) that comes with Rapid Reload and Improved Critical. I think this is a better idea.

[Sun Wukong]

Where can you get one of those quivers again? Many years ago it was basically a DM only drop - and people RCR-ed if they managed to get it.

[Twotricks]

Second question, provided this crossbow master is good. Would it fit Bard class ? And how would you make this crossbow bard ?

I would go for 4 levels of fighter just to get some extra ranged feats, but you can make a crossbow bard without. I suppose.

Note though: if you go to Ulgoth's Beard, there is a merchant that sells 'Knight's Crossbow' for about 70-130k, and it comes with the Rapid Reload feat. It also has +3 EB to it. But getting the Rapid Reload feat is the better course of action in the long run, because who knows what kind of crossbow you can get your hands later on from random loot generator.

There is a Quiver (Belt) that comes with Rapid Reload and Improved Critical. I think this is a better idea.

I have heavy crossbow that has rapid reload, but not improved critical ...

[Twotricks]

Second question, provided this crossbow master is good. Would it fit Bard class ? And how would you make this crossbow bard ?

I would go for 4 levels of fighter just to get some extra ranged feats, but you can make a crossbow bard without. I suppose.

Note though: if you go to Ulgoth's Beard, there is a merchant that sells 'Knight's Crossbow' for about 70-130k, and it comes with the Rapid Reload feat. It also has +3 EB to it. But getting the Rapid Reload feat is the better course of action in the long run, because who knows what kind of crossbow you can get your hands later on from random loot generator.


As for the single class bard, you could do something like this: http://nwn2db.com/build/?282613

And here is example of it with 4 levels of fighter: http://nwn2db.com/build/?282615 (It is better in every way.)

Thanks

I went human, and added level of shadowdancer , to make sniping easier

[electric mayhem]

Where can you get one of those quivers again? Many years ago it was basically a DM only drop - and people RCR-ed if they managed to get it.

Only seen one on Auction once...

[Thorsson]

Where can you get one of those quivers again? Many years ago it was basically a DM only drop - and people RCR-ed if they managed to get it.

Only seen one on Auction once...

Generally they're trade only and probably most are private trade. I'm sure that if you let it be known that you want one and have something worth trading a deal can be made. At one time there seemed to be a spate of them; perhaps the changes to loot have made them rarer?