AA Death Arrow

[Amoenotep]

dc 42

[cRaZy8or5e]

dc 42

So yeah it was a 27th level AA then. But was it changed to not have a spellcraft check included? Saw that it incorporated a ranged touch attack too, which I thought Death Arrow was an automatic hit? You stated earlier that it included spellcraft in the save check, but it didn't there, so . . .

Your comments?

[Amoenotep]

the spellcraft check issue is being worked out..and its always been a ranged touch attack. which makes it a little risky to use because it doesn't always hit. which means you have to plug their bodies with many holes instead of just one .

[arvut]

Haha! Well said tep =) It's not like AAs are perfect assassins, only almost :p

[MLoki]

The biggest issue is making a huge change like this just before a major PvP event when one faction has been forewarned of the changes and has time to maximze the benifits before the event. If the DMs can check kills by character for this event you will find a high volume of these kills come from the new Death Arrow ability. Bugged or not it's dropping people far more effectively then any other insta kill effect.

it takes more than a single round...and you can close the distance on someone in a round.

the ab is nice but so is an assassins when you take into account they can sneak a flat footed char and negate a large amount of their ac...

is it really so different?

Yes it is different. An AA already has a high AB and when you don't have to put any points into Int then you can make it even higher with more Dex. The only way an Assassin can get more DC is to raise Int along the way which will drop AB for the final build. Not to mention an AA simply has to click on the target regardless of range where an Assassin has to close on a target and remain unseen while they do. Even if you do hit the target the poison doesn't always work due to combat having been started by trying to hit them in the first place. Most Assassins don't go with 30 Assassin levels because the extra 1 round of Etherealness doesn't really help. If etherealness was more then once a day it MIGHT be worth it. Or let's see assassins get an additional 5 DC to the DA if they take 30 levels.

[mgrjebbo]

So death ward would negate this correct?

[Nyeleni]

Death ward adds a bonus to the save against death effects, doesnt it, it doesnt ward from death anymore. Besides death arrows wouldnt be spells.

[ashsagoon]

Death ward isn't immunity to death but a +4 save vs death now.

[VagaStorm]

but since death ward is +4 vs deth, would it help vs the aa arrow and or assassin?

[arvut]

Doesn't death ward and shadow shield give save vs death magic? Cause "death" itself is unavoidable unless you are immortal....

But I agree on the death arrow, as death magic immunity used to protect from it (it is an arcane spelllike ability afterall). While the assassin is the expert in dealing a deathblow in physical means, by combining stealth and illusions to trick its victim first. He does nothing magical with his art of assassination, just have a great knowledge of anatomy and where to strike to deal a devastating blow.

[Bargeld]

Actually, its a divine poison granted by Lolth.

[Bargeld]

I'm only chiming in at this point to provide clarification about assassins for the peanut gallery.

Assassination attempts also require a 'ranged touch attack'. Except we don't have the AB that an AA has... we have the same chance of 'bugginess' as an AA, but a lesser chance at hitting.

And death ward/shadow shield are vs spells, same reason you wouldn't get +8 from protection from spells to count towards them. Although, from a balance issue (not trying to be biased), this seems like another good means of separating the 2 abilities... let some of these types of defensive spells effect the AA, but not an assassin.

[Amoenotep]

don't they already?

[MLoki]

Doesn't the most recent change to AA Death arrow actually give you a chance to make the DC even higher? Given that adding Dex doesn't take anything away from an AA if you max out dex you could get DCs over 50 easily. What about making the DC based on a non combat stat like Cha or Int would make more sense since they have to take Bard/Sorc or Wiz. This precedence has already been set for other prestige classes like Assassin. If you want a good DC then there should be some kind of sacrifice.

[LinuxPup]

Before the DC maxed at 50...

Now if you have a dex of 50 on a 30 AA your DC should be 40. Am I missing something?