How to play an archer in D&D (EVERY CLASS)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.ค. 2024
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00:00 Introduction
03:12 Feats
07:50 Races
10:00 Artificer
12:56 Barbarian
15:37 Bard
20:14 Cleric
22:38 Druid
25:27 Fighter
29:14 Monk
33:40 Paladin
38:18 Ranger
43:14 Rogue
46:49 Sorcerer
49:41 Warlock
52:04 Wizard
55:50 Tier List
Hope you enjoy this video! It took me an OBSCENE amount of time to make and edit, and I'm sorry for everything I missed or messed up! Let me know your preferred playstyle in the comments, and I hope I've at least provided some fun inspiration for your next archer character! - เกม
Download the game now to fight side by side with DND legends in Dragonheir: www.inflcr.co/SHJi7 #ad #dnd #dragonheir" Live now on Windows, Mac, Steam, Epic, Android and iOS!
Use the gift code for free in-game unlocks! Code: diceroll
Steam Link: www.inflcr.co/SHJiF
@dragonheirsilentgods (th-cam.com/channels/nD7Nyd9ALhjKImJfiz-DBA.html)
honestly, the wizard archer synchronizes really well with another crazy DnD idea of infinite AC where the way to never being hit is if you are faster than a speeding bullet not even a bullet will be able to hit you and how does one achieve such blinding blazing impossible speed increasing your dex as a lich
but without further ado, I'll let Blaine explain th-cam.com/video/pKxuStjRTxo/w-d-xo.html take it away Blaine Simple
One homebrew I added into my game was replacing the bonus action attack from cross bow expert to a readied attack. In essence when you roll initiative you can make a single attack against an enemy which falls inline with how crossbows actually work being able to load a bolt. I also added a speed shooter feat which lets an individual fire a ranged weapon without the loading property as a bonus action.
Where can I get the quiver you used in this video?
Crossbows being faster than bows? I am SOOOO glad I stopped playing back in 2E.
great video, but slight correction for 16:57 :
bow are string instruments. Therefore, you can already use them as your spellcasting focus.
This man is the peak nerd that we all strive to be
I try!
@@blumineck did you choose the elf twink life, or did the elf twink life choose you? curious minds wish to know 🤔
@@Srymak 😂🤣😂
Ja det er rigtigt! God jul
With extra charisma due to stripper pole proficiency
This guy was secretly born a Viking in 1180 and was transported here in 2023 and became a D&D nerd just for our entertainment and awe
shhh!!! They'll send me back if they find out!
@@blumineckyou do know for barbarian you could just use a finesse weapon right?
@@treekootsutsuki3168 The barbarian abilities he was refferring to specify that you need to be using your Strength modifer to use them. They work with finesse weapons, but not if you are using your dex for it, so you must choose between using those abilites (reckless attack & rage damage bonus), or using your dex
sorry to nit-pick but Vikings (or rather Nords or Norsemen who went on a "Viking" (meaning raid)) and their lifestyle weren't around anymore in 1180, they were around roughly between the time of the holy roman empire and William the conqueror
@@jubes1300 I assume you mean the founding of the Holy Roman Empire?
The Wizard build sounds like a really fun villain idea. On a virtual tabletop it could be really fun to have a horde of skeletons, but then one of the random skeletons token suddenly changes to a necromancer token
alright it seems my replies aren't sticking th-cam.com/video/pKxuStjRTxo/w-d-xo.html
I intend to help you realize that goal th-cam.com/video/pKxuStjRTxo/w-d-xo.html That video had a lich gaining a lot of dexterity and why they would do that together with this video that works for creating a bowman necromancer/lich seek a hearted comment in that video comments and have fun
Necromancers are always peak villain/encounter material just because of the epic setpieces you can make
We had an archer paladin: the DM allowed him to smite with a bow. He was an incredibly fun and over the top character, but we somewhat struggled without a proper frontliner 😅
I am taking this idea
My favorite archer build I've ever done was a half-elf Samurai Fighter. At level 10, the combination of Elven Accuracy, Sharpshooter, the Archery fighting style, the Samurai's Fighting Spirit ability, and her trusty +1 bow left her with a reliable +12 to hit on the best of three attack rolls on almost every attack, and let her quite comfortably drop down to +7 for greater damage without sacrificing much accuracy. It isn't a flashy build, but it was brutally effective.
Currently playing a drow gloom stalker assassin. Basically this except its an underdark campaign so umbral sight means im invisible 90% of the time. Elven accuracy is a helluva drug.
Also, i crit on all attacks turn 1.
I read your comment and it kind of inspired me to also share an archer build I really like. I am currently playing this character in a campaign that is the longest one I ever played, so I grew really fond of her ❤
My girl is a battlemaster fighter aasimar (protector version). We are also level 10 right now, her dex is stil 18, but her current bow is +2, so with archery battle style it is +12 overall. Precision atack maneuver (and an occasional bardic inspiration) makes sure I hit almost all of the time, even with a sharpshooter active. And radiant soul gives her a flying speed which helps when I need to get some range. It does get a bit repetitive at times, but I do enjoy dealing some massive damage, especially when I can go all out, which would be something like d8 + 6 basic damage + d10 for a maneuvre + 10 for sharpshooter + 10 once per turn during radiant soul.
@@degreeskelvin3025yeahhh I'm probably going to go this route with my half drow gloomstalker/rogue (currently gloomstalker 5/rogue 1, and I'm not sure when I want to get rogue 2 just because we don't play higher levels than 5/6 often so I'd probably build differently depending on if it were a oneshot or ongoing campaign at certain levels level 7 oneshot would definitely be ranger 5/rogue 2 levels 8 I'd consider rogue 3 level 9 I'd go either ranger 8/rogue 1 or ranger 5/rogue 4 for that second feat depending on the theme of the oneshot if it was likely to be bright out definitely more rogue for the hide lol)
An important note for the caster builds is that flavor is free. It can be a lot of fun to describe your spells as magic arrows being fired from your bow. I’m an big fan of Magic Missile being a quick volley with seemingly impossible accuracy; Lightning Bolt is a close second favorite.
Yeah, this was my immediate thought for basically every caster build, though with different flavour and bow aesthetics based on class and sub class. I picture the bard as using a big harp as a war bow, shooting magic effect arrows as they play.
I played an archer warlock (and eventually paladin), I flavored my eldritch blasts as energy arrows I shot from my bow till I got enough levels to make the change to the actual weapon invocations to make the archery bit do enough damage XD Even after that, if I needed force damage, I'd still have my backup eldritch blast (even if I had no invocations for it)
i played a multiclass barbarian mage and my dm let me concentrate on my greataxe. My magic missiles were small axes, my firebolt also axes, it was amazing
3:14 Feats
7:50 Races
10:07 Artificer
12:57 Barbarian
15:37 Bard
20:13 Cleric
22:37 Druid
25:27 Fighter
29:13 Monk
33:40 Paladin
38:18 Ranger
43:14 Rogue
46:51 Sorcerer
49:42 Warlock
52:04 Wizard
55:50 Final Tier List
🙏
Thanks bro!
❤
It's in the video description too btw!
@@blumineckOh, ha. I guess I didn't check. Great video by the way! I love how you combine your archery skills with dnd.
I actually really like the idea of the cleric archer. I mean, does it not sound incredibly terrifying to just watch 3 of your best buds die as they're struck down by arrows that you have no idea where they're coming from, then suddenly get swarmed by a team of overprepared melee fighters that just WON'T FREAKING DIE because this powerful blur of motion keeps busting in to heal them, and your teammates are still getting picked off by arrows.
I also would love to play the wizard necromancer for the lols. I find that so funny.
glad you enjoyed those!
I once created an Orc War Cleric called Zugrug. Nothing holy about him. He worshipped strength, battle and was absolutely loyal to his party. The gimmick was to use Guided Strike for a +10 while using Sharpshooter for -5 and +10 to damage. Lots of fun!
I would like to note that another very useful trait of elves for archers especially is their access to the Elven Accuracy feat.
The +2 from the archery fighting style combined with triple advantage from Elven Accuracy can basically negate the -5 penalty from Sharpshooter entirely. It also helps if you have a floating ability score to increase.
Pair this with some way to get consistent advantage on your attacks like with the Samurai Fighter’s Fighting spirit and you have what is essentially a free +10 to all of your damage rolls.
If you really want to push it, you can multiclass into ranger or take fey touched/magic initiate for hunters mark, or multiclass somewhere else for Spirit Shroud.
The +2 from Archery coupled with regular advantage already negates the -5. Getting triple advantage is just dessert.
As far as I know, there is no more than simple advantage
@@erxy6646 Normally not, but Elven Accuracy is an exception to that:
"Elven Accuracy
Souce: Xanathar's Guide to Everything
Prerequisite: Elf or Half-Elf
The accuracy of elves is legendary, especially that of elf archers and spellcasters. You have uncanny aim with attacks that rely on precision rather than brute force. You gain the following benefits:
Increase your Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20
Whenever you have advantage on an attack roll using Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, you can reroll one of the dice once."
You are basically getting 3 dice rolls every time you have advantage instead of 2.
@@erxy6646With Elven Accuracy, each time you have advantage on a -ranged- attack roll, you can add another die and take the highest, so technically a super advantage.
If your DM is allowing the optional class features from Tasha's, you can get easy Advantage by taking a 3 level dip in rogue. 3 level sounds like a lot but if you're not already playing a rogue, it can work wonders for an archery build because you get the best "Get me out of here" option: Cunning Action for BA Disengage, Dash and Hide at level 2 rogue. At 3rd level, if Optional Class Features are allowed, you can get BA Aim. Which, if you choose to not move on your turn, allows you to get advantage for a BA on the first attack you make on your turn. Combined with Sneak Attack 2d6, you'll do massive damage on the first attack of every turn.
If you want advantage on every turn though, Samurai fighter might be the way to go.
I definitely would never have considered most of these options. I really like that you talk about what it would all look like, too. Really adds some spice to think about.
I'm glad you enjoyed that! It was fun to do!
I absolutely love the trickery you came up with for the Necromancer Wizard. As someone who usually plays casters utilizing the transmutation, illusion, and enchantment magic to control the battlefield and act as a Loki-esque trickster, your idea is brilliant.
On my end, I've had a lot of success with an elven Shepherd Druid who uses a bow! Since you're primarily meant to summon other creatures with your concentration, this leaves your action open to make a weapon attack.
If you wanna get tricky with it, you can utilize the Martial Adept feat's Trip Attack to cause an enemy in your summons' midst to fall prone, allowing your summons to use various trample attacks when you command.
That's really cool! It's close to the vibe that I ended up going for with the wizard in the end!
Funny, that last trick with wizards is why I made sure to pick up _Disguise Self_ for the last necromancer build I did. It's really fun inventing ways to use utility spells in combination with your undead minions. Spells like _Longstrider_ in order to make your zombies faster stand out in ways they wouldn't have otherwise.
An option in Tasha's Cauldron allows for simple and martial weapon proficiencies to be swapped with other simple and martial weapons, which opens up a few more archery options. for example dwarves get proficiency with warhammers, so can easily swap that for longbow or a heavy crossbow.
Can I just say, THANK YOU for including subtitles to your videos. Lots of great information that everyone can hear/see ❤
Pretty sure the subtitles are auto generated, but it's definitely nice nonetheless.
@@Jono997The in-video subtitles, while probably some kind of autogenerated, are drastically better than YTs autogenerated! I suspect they're manually cleaned up a little to catch the worst errors even though some slip through.
Conversely if he'd just used CC the people who don't like them could turn them off and everyone would be happy.
@@iamirelandbut then he'd have to add subtitles to every platform individually, and some platforms don't even support subtitles. i think this iis overall the best way to add subtitles.
Feet
If you're playing a spellcaster archer the war caster feat is a solid choice. You can do somatic components even with a weapon in both hands, plus advantage on concentration checks and can use a spell for opportunity attacks
All of us liking before even watching it 😂
You got me
Worth it
Yes, yes I did.
Speaking of archers and character classes. I recently started a skyrim playthrough. Wanted to play as a pure mage. But no matter what I do, I always end up as a stealth archer! Every. Single. Time.
I’ll forget if I don’t
GENUINELY THOUGH, he's so great at what he does.
If I'm remembering correctly, the druids and scimitars thing is a jank holdover from previous D&D editions, where sickles and "curved swords" were some of the only non-wooden/natural weapon available to druids, and it separated them from the old school clerics that could only use blunt weapons.
Personally I'm with you, why not a druid with a bow?? Seems silly to me! Love this take on the different classes so much, thank you for sharing! I think I'm off to roll a new character or three, hahaha :D
The way around the "Old School" cleric Blunt weapons thing was to take an Elf. Auto longsword proficiency.
My lvl 1 Chaotic Neutral Female Drow Feylost background Death Domain Cleric sworn to the Raven Queen. She uses a Warhammer & Shield but also has a Spear backup. She also wears Scale Mail.
As for my lvl 1 Chaotic Neutral Female Sun Elf Gate Warden background Druid planning Circle of Spores. She uses a Great Club with a Scimitar backup. She wears Leather Armor.
Finally, my lvl 1 Chaotic Neutral Female Half-Sun Elf Half-Moon Elf Sage background Ranger planning Drakewarden. She has 2 Hand-Axes with a Longbow backup and wears Scale Mail. So I'm planning on "Duel-Weapon Fighting Style".
Admittedly, I don't have a group to play with:(
But, I have created 6 different lvl 1 characters in case I found a group.
Yes Archery is fun in real life, but mechanically in D&D Archery is problematic. With basically the only way it is useful, relies on Feats to be viable:(
In real life, you are highly effective in "Short/Melee Range" even with a Bow!
@@morrigankasa570 My halfling fighter/archer shoots into melee and might have a shortsword for backup if he can't fight with his bow...I haven't rewritten him for 5e yet. I am still trying to figure out how to transfer my Thief/Fighter with psionic powers to it (he is not a psionicist)
Rogue + Fighter is pretty much it. Consider Psy Knight subclass from Tasha's Cauldron
The idea that druids, a class that is supposed to be at one with nature and exactly the type of people to use every part of the animals they kill and otherwise live off the land, can't use a curved stick with an animal gut string that shoots pointy feathered sticks makes me irrationally angry.
Oath of the Ancients is my favorite Paladin oath.
I never considered trying to do an archer build with it until I saw this video title; and I was so glad you mentioned that oath.
OATH OF CONQUEST IS BEST!!!
Kensei archer monk... Makes me think of Legolas. Wild close combat attacks like kicking off of an enemy to jump back then shooting or flavoring close attacks as using arrows for rapid melee attacks then shooting
Tasha's Otherworldly Guise is a good alternative to Tenser's Transformation for wizards, and an option for sorcerers, and it lets you use your int/cha for your bows, along with giving you flight and a nice bonus to AC ( situationally, you could also exploit the immunities it gives )
mechanics AND narrative content, the holy matrimony
Ive always pictured the sharpshooter bonus as being something like aiming for a weak point like a headshot. More likely to miss or bounce off the rounded helmet, but guaranteed to deal significant damage if it penetrates
Yep. I just made a battle smith archer. It's really good and I love the flavor. Your mechanical helper is nice too. The fact that aren't a lot of archer themed magic items to replicate, you can use your infusions for repeating shot, enhanced weapon, and radiant weapon. Your attack cantrips become spell arrows and your arcane jolts can be force arrows. You get conjure barrage at level 9. It's just a great archer build.
You are such an inspiration, so many admirable qualities in one person. Today I was impressed by your D&D knowledge- obviously. You're clearly a fan and your ideas are creative and unexpected! I especially love how you made sure to include flavour ideas for every feature. It keeps everything feeling very evocative and immersive!
I also really appreciated the baked in captions they're a wonderful accessibility feature and I appreciate that you included them as baseline. It helps get people who don't need them get used to seeing them too so when they're with someone who dues need them, they're less likely to complain about them being distracting! (I did notice there were a few cases where your captions didn't match what you were saying though; I'm guessing that's because you deviated a little from the script you wrote in advance and based your captions on, which is fine, but just leaves a little room for polishing so people who rely solely on the captions aren't disconnected by only having access to a different version of the content than folks without difficulty hearing)
This was a tremendous video and well worth watching all the way through even though it's longer than many of your others! It does make me wonder though, were you into D&D before or after you were a celebrity archer online and people started commenting about your content with reference to DnD?
Recently me and my friends started to play DnD, I've chosen to play as a ranger and while we haven't had that many sessions it's been a blast ^^
Make sure you use the updated version from unearthed arcana. The original ranger from 5e is shit
It's fine. Reddit likes to exaggerate@@AllFlimmits
Sadly, the only good ranger class is the one found in Pathfinder 2e.
Tasha's Coe and xanthars have some great ranger options. I had a blast playing a gloomstalker
FIZBAN'S TREASURY OF DRAGONS!!!!!
DRAKEWARDEN SUB-CLASS IS F*"KING AWESOME!
Wow, these are clever concepts. I think my favorite one is the Barbarian because of how well I could envision it. I may need to save this video to reference when I'm making characters.
thank you! I hope they provide some fun inspiration!
i know you wanted to do only builds that use actual bows but an idea i love for a warlock is an archfey warlock with flavor for eldritch blast as conjuring an elegant silver fey bow that they shoot from and flavor most other spells as special arrows from that bow (its bcuz i love the flavor of the arcane archer but actually want to play as one of the sea archers from Giants: Citizen Kabuto)
Eldritch blast as bow flavour is a great concept! It just wasn't what I was going for here!
@@blumineck fair enough! I just wish there was more support for the arcane archer fantasy!
@@daloypolizei arcane archer as a concept really needs some love from D&D- there is so much potential for spellcasting archers to be awesome, but few ways that the rules actually directly support without having to get creative!
@@blumineck what i hate most about the subclass is other than the two magical shots you get, you have a basic cantrip and besides that, you’re not really like magic in any way! the psi warrior can cast telekinesis once per long rest, why not give the arcane archer some limited uses of things like swift quiver or lightning arrow!
Dang I haven't realised the Ancestra Guardian Barbarian ranged weapon combo! That is very good! I'd imagine you could do very well with crossbow expert/gunner and being a mix between melee and range
definitely!
What an amazingly fun and useful video! Always a pleasure, but an unexpected one, with this comprehensive hour of great thoughts well-expressed. Thought-provoking, too, as now I'm gonna look at methods of shoring up the weak options (sorceror, wizard, druid) with small multiclass dips
last week I was building a DEX based Sorcadin, I love goofy builds
Kensai monks make great archers. Don’t forget if you simply add the damage that costs a ki from the subclass, you get that bonus weapon attack. Couple this with being able to grab arrows shot back at them. It’s honestly very good
I've loved watching your Shorts for a while now. This is a great video! I love seeing your in-depth approach to it
thank you!
HOUR VIDEO FROM BLUMINECK‽‽‽‽ HOLY SHIT!! BLESSED BE MY SUNDAY! I mean I also caught my cat bleping on camera after months of trying but this is pretty great too.
Oath of Devotion Paladin can use Sacred Weapon and Divine Favor. Slight boost to damage and accuracy as long as you use your first action and bonus action in combat to set it up. I’ve played a Dex Charisma Paladin archer with this build and the Interception fighting style to reduce damage our other backliners would take.
Oh let's go! Always been wanting a more long form video from you 👀
For the Cleric: My first D&D character was a tall Dragonborn Death Cleric Soldier.
His casting of Sacred Flame was an energy bow that would release the arrow at the enemy *stupidly fast*, necessitating the Dex save to avoid.
His casting of Guiding Bolt, however, was him basically pulling out the divine energy equivalent of a Dark Souls Greatbow, and yeeting one of those "ballista bolt" arrows at his enemy.
He was a lot of fun to play. And fondly remembered as an NPC in a later campaign.
I am genuinely such a fan, thank you for such a consistent flow of amazing content!
thank you so much! That means a lot to me!
Pathfinder 2e: A lot of the guides for most classes outside Fighter, Rogue and Ranger will just end up being "Take the Archer archetype" or "Multiclass into Magus" respectively lol.
Thank you for the comprehensive list of build options for the archer. Very well thought out for some of these concepts!
That barbarian concept is sheer genius.
I like flavoring the *Guiding Bolt* from Circle of Stars as an arrow from the celestial bow.
10 minutes in and loving this long form content! Bravo good David
Omg thank you so much for the captions!
I'm playing a college of Swords bard in Balder's Gate 3. I find myself using the flourishes with my bow way more than with my daggers.
Also that Barbarian build sounds super fun!
I played a Ranger as my first ever D&D character, and one of my absolute favourite things that only Ranger gets is the spell Zephyr Strike, from Xanathar's Guide. For any race that doesn't have some builtin get-out-of-melee-range ability, it's a blessing.
For the cost of a level 1 spell slot, your bonus action, and your concentration: your movement doesn't provoke opportunity attacks for up to a minute, and you can empower one of your attacks, attacking with advantage and getting an extra 1d8 force damage on that attack. You also get a bonus 30 ft of movement speed the turn you make that attack, so you can really zoom.
I would have it in my back pocket whenever I got rushed down, safely stepping outside of melee range, and then smacking someone with a Sharpshooter-boosted empowered arrow for some insane damage. The concentration requirement is annoying if you're casting other spells, but I was getting great use out of it even using its effects for a single turn. It's also sadly *only* for ranger, which really sucks, though you could always ask the DM to allow it on another class.
I have also had a lot of use out of zephyr strike on some builds! It's a great little spell
One thing to remember with bards is that they can somewhat disregard the magical focus because many bard spells have only verbal components
You are a legend, this video is fantastic and it's long overdue that I subscribe to your channel, not the least because I gotta remember to finish watching it when it is not 1am
Been playing my dragonborn Drakewarden ranger for a couple months now, and I'm having so much fun! These videos encourage me to be more creative with the ranger class.
I love how much effort you put into this video. Glad you’re not just doing shorts!
Thanks a lot for the extra effort in making sure you have captions of your own creation!
Thank you for the long form content!!❤
1:30 did... did he just shoot an arrow with a guitar?
I think it was a ukelele?
Barbarian is in a very interesting position as an archer, as it follows my general creed for what's really really strong in this game: High survivability and versatility. D&D is a game ruled by defense and options and Barbarians give themselves every chance at using both. They're going to have decent to good Dexterity due to it being their tertiary stat, so combine that with a shortbow and maybe the mobile feat and what do you get? A Barbarian harasser. Basically turning you from a mere muscly mongoloid, into a Mongol without need of a horse. Any subclass will do. Ancestral Guardian clearly gives more benefits than others, but you're going to be use your bow as either an opener or a closer, taking advantage of your group's superior range and stealth to chip away at or finish off fleeing foes. Free damage is free damage. My favorite subclass to use for it is the Giant subclass, because you open with many arrows and spells at a range and then switch to a hybrid thrown/melee style when either your enemies or you close the distance. Turning you to a walking piece of area denial, aka: The ultimate breed of tank.
This gave me. So many ideas for characters for a story I'm writing.
Many thanks for the closed captions!
Doesn't really affect anything, but these would actually be open captions because they're unable to be removed. Just worth noting if you ever see the term anywhere. :)
good to know!
I actually have a warlock archer! she's going to be fun as hell when i play her. I did lean crossbow for some flavor reasons but she can still use a longbow and her magic item(the string that doubles distances) she infused into her pact weapon is usable in both crossbows and bows! It's in a seafaring campaign so i like to imagine her using a longbow at 300 ft range!
I love my harengon ranger and I was so glad you mentioned them!
I enjoy our visits as well.
In all honesty, you gave me a great barbarian concept to try out
as a fantasy archery enthusiast i am very grateful for this video. i have an archer rogue planned for an upcoming oneshot and im really excited to try her out :)
Thank you for mentioning the swift quiver part for bards. I was starting to wonder if you missed it. One thing you can also do, is get the paladin's Find Greater Steed Spell and choose a gryphon mount, for constant fast fly speed while shooting down on your opponents. You can also cloak yourself and the steed with greater invisibility to be able to shoot down while invisible, which is totally broken. I got both of those with my ranged bard I played a few years ago, and it was unbelievably strong. Easily my most mechanically powerful character yet.
Talking about keeping in mind how it'll look I once played an artificer/ranger. I used a gun in one hand and flavored my shield as an electrical focusing device that shot lightning. My subclass as the artificer was an armorer and I ended up flavoring my character as a "fleshomancer". I had an adaptable flesh armor that the reason I didn’t need to reload my guns is the flesh would simply adjust to create hardened flesh bullets. For the lightning shield I basically created an industrial power cable from the flesh and attached it to the shield
incredible flavour!
So clad your shorts found me, absolute banger content
This is why I love archery and your channel! So many great builds with all different flavors. My personal favorite combo of mechanic and flavor is fighter samurai. Traditional kyudo style archer with a shortsword as back up (which is historically accurate). Sharpsooter, archery fighting style l, plus free advantage on everyshot 1 per rest is pretty op
Okay, weirdly enough, I did have a similar character concept to your Wild Magic Sorcerer Archer.
Their backstory is they grew up hunting, so they're pretty good with the bow. But when their magic showed up, they got curious.
And then, as happens in all PC backstories, something REALLY bad happened on the wild magic table that alienated/hurt/killed their family.
So now they're a sellsword (read: bow) who is trying to make a new life for themselves, and denying their own magic.
Depending on the campaign type, might lead to some interesting roleplay and character development!
This is some good flavoring for the classes and is a good showing that flavor can go a long ways to making a character
Absolutely awesome seeing our bow in action. Thank you for letting us send you one of our bows! ❤
This is amazing!
Finally, somebody who's read (and remembers) more DnD rules than I have!
The ukulele had me 😂
I'm glad you brought up my favorite Ranger subclass, Swarmkeeper. I usually go melee with it, but archery works well for it
The longbow bladesinger option actually is effective, the condition that bladesingers can't use two hands to make an attack only applies in bladesong. The bladesinger extra attack does not require bladesong to be active. So you can start the battle with a bow, then drop it (free object interaction) activate bladesong, and then switch to your one handed weapons. This is a pretty good way to get the d12 damage from the toll the dead cantrip too I think, as it gives you good range and you can fire your bow and then immediately cast toll the dead thanks to bladesinger extra attack.
Really love this breakdown. I play a rogue archer in one of the campaigns I'm in, and it is very much like you described: slower, methodical, focused. I love using the Steady Aim feature to get advantage on my shots (thus also providing Sneak Attack damage) when I don't have an ally near my target. It *usually* doesn't bite me in the ass by making me unable to move on that turn, lol.
Clicked on the wrong video, barely understood what you were infodumping about, but I too enjoyed the visit.
Thanks!
I've seen a lot of your shorts...didn't realise you were a fellow full TTRPG DnD dude as well. Liked and subscribed!
What a fantastic, well researched, fun video. It really refreshed my "elderly nerd" interest in DnD, I gotta put more effort into finding a fun group - thank you! You rock !
You've given me an idea for a subclass for wizards, thank you
I've got an artificer that I haven't played yet who sometimes clicks clockwork gadgets to a crossbow to produce ranged spells (so it's technically just flavor for those). It could be a flamethrower-esque device that shoots Fire Bolt when the crossbow trigger is pressed, or setting a clockwork egg filled with acid in the bolt slot (probably clip a back plate onto the bow string to hold the egg) to launch it as an Acid Arrow.
For the barbarian example, I could see it flavored as your bow doesn't actually have a string. You just hold the arrow at the back and thrust it forward in the standard motion. You used to have a string, but it broke during one of your rages, and you never bothered to fix it. You rage and you instinctively get into the proper motion, so you can't throw something using normal throw rules with the same damage/distance as when you "shoot" an arrow.
For the bard flourish that hits a melee enemy too, it could be residual magic coming off the arrow that lashes out as it passes the closer target. Just a delayed bit of flair that radiates off a few seconds after you fire, to smack someone in the face as it passes.
A barbarian (especially one with fire resistance) can use alchemist's fire to light themselves on fire so they don't have to worry about thier rage ending early when using ranged attacks.
I appreciate the attention to detail with the fighter example shooting all those shots in 6 seconds
Ahhh I love this kind of videos I love hearing different ideas about builds!
I'm playing a barbarian Archer right now, I used an homebrew subclass called path of the feral archer that lets me add Str to attacks made with ranged weapons and lets me use my barbarian abilities on ranged attacks (but I can only reckless attack withing 15 feet of the target). The concept came to me from seeing the Oversized Longbow in Waterdeep Dragon Heist, I absolutely wanted to make a character that could wield that effectively. It requires a Str of 18 to wield and deals 1d12 damage.
I took the Piercer feat right away, then the Fighter Initiate feat and I chose Closed Quarters Shooter. So now i can always effectively target you even up-close. I multiclassed rogue for efficiency reasons in abilities (the campaign is very narrative and focusing on combat only wouldn't have payed off) and took the Scout subclass. I also intend to multiclass 1 level in warlock and get hexblade. At some point in the story my character should ascend to valkyrie, changing her race to Aasimar, I'll pick protector.
As for the feats I'll probably take sharpshooter as my next one for the fixed +10.
So with brutal critical and all the abilities that last one minute that I can activate, I should be able to always have advantage (by either reckless attacking or standing still or having the target cursed), crit on 19, if I crit I'll roll 4d12+6d6+29.
Not to mention that not only damage dealing matters, I'll be resistant to Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing, Necrotic and Radiant damage and I'll be able to halve all of them with unganny dodge or, for the first three ones, pair Rage with Uncanny dodge for a quarter of the damage.
Your dice look like mint chocolate candy! Thank you so much for this awesome vid :D also thank you SO MUCH for the captions!
aside from tenser's transformation, there's also tasha's hideous guise - both of these spells can transform a full caster into a martial-lite, but tasha's guise lets you still cast spells in your transformation.
I love the dhampir echo knight concept, one of my favorite races and one of the coolest subclasses in my opinion.
but my favorite is that you chose the swarmkeeper, I absolutely love my fey archer girl and her swarm of butterflies 🦋
These are great ideas, I'm going to steal one the next time we start a campaign.
One of my favorite archer characters I've played was an Aarakocra Kensei Monk I used in a campaign with a heavy emphasis on survival. While I made the character with the intent to use polearms, I found myself gravitating heavily towards using bows because much of the campaign took place in open fields and forests. I did have to consider conserving arrows at times, but being able to fly made hunting for stray arrows as well as scouting for resources to make new arrows easier. I would take potshots at enemies and then swoop down like an eagle, talons primed to deliver a painful bonus action dive kick. The following turn if I decided to continue firing on my enemies I typically used Step of the Wind to Disengage while leaping into the sky, either making an unarmed attack on the way up, or shooting another foe after creating some distance. By the time I got Extra Attack, my "combo" began to get even more stylish as I'd kick and springboard off of an enemy's face in order to gain height and then nail them with an arrow after a backflip, because rolling Acrobatics just to flex is optimal.
If your DM doesn't ban flying races outright (which is valid because they completely breaks encounters and area design) then I would highly recommend trying it out yourself with a Monk and getting creative with the ways you can flow in and out of melee and ranged combat with archery.
I'm surprised by how much I love your Wizard concept. I think I may use it as a villain in the nex campaign I DM.
The third flourish for swords bard actually works damn well with crossbow expert, firing at a farther enemy, giving an evasive spin as you reload before giving a point blank shot to the closer target.
Great video! No one else would enjoy this like me, but you should make a couple archers in burning wheel and see how that changes things.
When I played Artificer as my first ever DnD character, I leaned into the crossbows quite a bit (rather than bows - mostly for the extra damage thar comes with a heavy crossbow while able to ignore the loading feature of it), but I now understand that these 2 points of damage I win over a longbow aren't a huge benefit, really - and since the Artificer-infused weapon gave the option of not using ammo at all, every time I _did_ use physical projectiles, some magic would always be involved.
There was an option to use them to send voice messages, the option to use them as a "tracking bolt" by casting light on the bolt before sticking it into the enemy, and, of course, they were my number one option for Catapult projectiles (which I very much did flavour as a sort of gravitational magic bow type weapon that worked with some runes and stones infused into my character's bracers.)
I feel you could have a lot of fun with the Artificer archer, especially when you get the Spell-Storing feature at level 11...
My only disappointment is that you can't attach Glyphs of Warding to arrows - though perhaps you could reason with the DM to create your own version of single-use magic-storing arrows you have to manufacture in advance...
I'm so glad that you *also* appreciate Twilight Cleric Archer. I've actually given mine the gunner feat which means that if there's a sniper rifle you basically get to use all 300 ft of that nightvision.
I love the Edna reference at the end man!!
Very fun and I loved all the one-liners! It appears we have a similar sense of humour 🤣
I love the mastermind rouge making a shot then using you bonus action to help an Ally like shooting an enemy to open up their defenses for an ally.
That was a great video David! I did try D&D in the early 80's but unfortunatly at the time wasn't able to find anyone in my friend circles who was interested. I did read A LOT of Forgotten Realms and Dungeon and Dragons novels though. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. (and I hope you didn't catch pneumonia videoing the Barbarian class . . .)
My favorite ranged character I’ve ever made, but haven’t had a chance to play, is a tortle beastmaster ranger. He uses a regular crossbow and whip as his main weapons, and a heavy crossbow for when the enemies are smart and don’t want to get close. He has an otyugh runt who accompanies him, and can conjure up a healing spirit, great owl, frog or crocodile with Summon Beast, can use conjure animals, become a guardian of nature, and even summon an elemental. A walking zoo of a tree hugging turtle. He’s sworn an oath to never kill an intelligent or non-evil beast, and so has a store of bolts coated with cave crawler mucus or oil of taggit, to act as either paralitic or tranquilizer rounds to end combats without killing. Since meeting his otyugh buddy, and learning some of his language, the ranger has extended his oath to include aberrations as well as beasts, and some of his spells, namely animal friendship, speak with beast and dominate beast, have also extended to effect aberrations, with the same restrictions like willingness or maximum int scores. His name is Niwri Evets, and he’s one of the first characters I’ve made that I’m genuinely sad I haven’t gotten to play, and I make a lot of characters just for fun.
I’m gonna cheat for Wizard. There’s a subclass in Solasta for Wizards in there called Greenmage. It’s fully 5e compatible, though may be a bit strong so some tweaking may be good for your game. They get proficiency with light armor, short bows, and even the archery fighting style. As well as the Forest natural explorer feature from the Ranger class, all at level 2. At later levels (6) they can try to entangle a creature that they hit with their ranged attack and even reduce damage (10). It’s a really cool subclass. They also can add Hunter’s Mark and a bunch of other Druid and Ranger spells to their spellbook as they level up past level 2. If you can get your DM to allow this, all the better. I’d even go so far as to give this to the Druid.
I actually have a warlock character with her Eldritch Blasts reflavored as a magical longbow made of pure eldritch energy firing off arrows of force.
She’s young. She’s a 12-year-old water genasi whose ‘patron’ is her father, a genie, allowing her ‘spells’ to effectively be figments of her imagination come to life. She’s lived on the streets for most of her life, and only really discovered her powers when she was under pressure.
Any archer worth their bow would immediately notice that she has never fired a bow before just by watching her cast Eldritch Blast (firing her bow) as she doesn’t let the arrow fly, she lets it go, jerkily releasing her hold on the arrow which would absolutely reduce a normal bow and arrow’s precision to almost nothing, but since it’s her imagination, the arrow still flies straight.
that's some incredible flavour! I love it!
Well I am an example of this, I am currently playing a warlock that really likes to use a bow. As she can manipulate water into freezing in different shapes, a thing she got from her patreon,and she always has a water bottle on her back. She uses it to make arrows for her bows. However, if I ever knew her to have a melee weapon, I can just make one, and as a further plus, you don´t have to count arrows.
It´s very fun trying to cheese a known encounter in the city just by getting on top of buildings and how the dm deals with it.
One of the first characters I played was like the Sorcerer you made. Arthur Emerson was an elven archer from nobility. I can’t remember if it was Gunner or Sharpshooter, but I was able to make ranged attacks with my bow. But I also flavored the spells as throwing the material components (if there is any) into the air, and then drawing the bow back as the material components disappear and an arrow-shaped spell materializes.