Rangers Exacting Strike?

[Ahku]

Hello,

I recently dusted off an old character, a ranger that uses 2 clubs (Gaharu) in combat.

And i for the life of me cannot remember if the 'Exacting Strike' spell/feat works as intended?

I guess it's supposed to add +2d6 to one rounds worth of attacks vs chosen enemies?

Does this work? I ask as i cannot see the damage on the sheet when in combat...

thanks - a club wielding ranger!

[YourMoveHolyMan]

I'll try and take a look at it, will take some time to test because of all the random numbers involved.

[Ahku]

THANK YOU.

[YourMoveHolyMan]

Appears to work better than advertised, creates a temp clone that can get 1-3 attacks off on a target with the bonus damage.

[YourMoveHolyMan]

Further note, it takes up your action for that round, so not as effective as initially percieved. You get 1-2 attacks at a higher damage rate, however, it takes you about a round to be able to re-enter combat so you're losing the rest of your 'flurry'

[sir_blacksoutalot]

You get 1-2 attacks at a higher damage rate, however, it takes you about a round to be able to re-enter combat so you're losing the rest of your 'flurry'.

I'm noticing these same underperforming results. I really appreciate that the dev team added the ranger custom spell feats. But as currently implemented, none of them perform effectively enough to load into my build. So I just end up sticking with standard ranger spells, leaving these custom spell feats untouched.

Seems like a missed opportunity to add some flare to the ranger's spell list. Do you think we can pump the damage a wee bit, or make the bonus apply to all attacks per round? Or add a wounding effect? Nothing too overpowered, just something to make these spell feats actually worth using.

Are you other rangers experiencing the same lackluster results?

[Snarfy]

Are you other rangers experiencing the same lackluster results?

It's really tricky to time, but the best way to use this is by clicking it at the end of/near the end of your flurry. Between the clone and your own character, it can really pile on the damage to FE's, but figuring out the timing is a real PITA.

[sir_blacksoutalot]

Thanks Snarfy, I appreciate that insight.

Can you clarify what you mean when you write "Between the clone and your own character"? I'm not seeing any clone. When I trigger the feat, it seems to activate a disk-like target that I believe I need to click on the enemy and then wait for feat to inflict damage. Is that not correct?

It's been--as you say--a real PITA trying to figure out how these dang feats are supposed to work. Any tips, for either Exacting Strike or Bladethirst, would be greatly appreciated.

[chad878262]

The 'clone' is an invisible stand in actor which is used to trigger the attacks against your targeted enemy. With all of the spells/feats which use a stand in actor you want to attempt to time the feat click for the last flurry in the combat round, near the end, but careful not to be at the end which could use up the entirety of your next round if your timing is 'wrong'. Basically the way that most/all of the reserve spell-feats work is to create an actor 'clone' of your PC to perform the action.

[sir_blacksoutalot]

Thanks guys, I'll start paying closer attention to the timing. It does really help knowing how the mechanics work behind all this.

[sir_blacksoutalot]

I'm seeing some good results for both Exacting Strike and Bladethirst when I properly time the activation until end of round. So thanks for the tips above, definitely helped.

In follow-up, I just want to confirm that the correct way to use these two spell feats is to tab-target the enemy, then activate my hot-keyed feat, then let it go off and inflict damage. Is that right, mainly the part about targeting the enemy with the spell feat? All this talk about a clone made me wonder if I need to target the ground next to the enemy, but that just doesn't seem right.

[chad878262]

you're doing it right.