Partially Used: item suggestion -- angel feathers

DESCRIPTION
"These feathers, reputedly from an angel's wings, may be used to fletch arrows and bolts. Arrows and bolts fletched with angel feathers will temporarily have the power to harm very evil beings with their divine energy, but after a day and a night, this power will fade, and arrows and bolts fletched with these feathers will be as normal ammunition."

GAME MECHANICS
a character may use these items to apply a temporary divine-type damage bonus to arrows or bolts. the damage is v. evil-aligned opponents only.

there are 3 types of feathers -
- deva feathers, rare
- planetar feathers, very rare
- solar feathers, extremely rare

WHY THIS ISN'T LAME
ammo w/elemental damage is currently not plentiful. furthermore, as characters get more powerful, they encounter certain opponents which have much stronger immunities to elemental damage, and physical DR as well. at epic levels, ammo w/elemental damage proves absolutely useless against many opponents. however, a number of these epic opponents aren't immune to divine damage, so this item would give archers and crossbowmen a chance to remain on par w/melee combatants, or at least give them a chance to contribute to the damage tally.

WHY THIS ISN'T OVERPOWERED
- the items have charges, to emulate a finite number of 'feathers'.
- the ammo bufs are reasonable, being 1d6 / 1d8 / 1d10 for the 3 types of feathers [deva, planetar, solar] respectively.
- the bufs last only 24 hours.

DISADVANTAGES
- on-activate code [included in the erf] would need to be integrated into the module's global on-activate script.
- whatever mechanism is currently used to determine specifically what items drop from defeated opponents may have to be modified to allow the items to drop. additionally, there's nothing inherent in the items except their gp value that would determine rarity.

to see the items and test them, you can download the demo.

Interesting idea, and relatively simple to implement, based just on your description here. I wouldn't even need to add a new script, just modify one I'm already using in the module and drop a few feathers into the random loot drop system.

I like the sounds of this, I can think of a few ranged weapon users that would really enjoy this lil bit of goodness

ammo w/elemental damage is currently not plentiful

Actually, are you aware that you can apply the elemental damage crystals to an Endless Quiver? My toon has such a Quiver and each arrow does five types of elemental damages each times 1d4.

But I do like this idea, for as you said once the epic enemies become resistant to physical and elemental damage, archers are pretty much out of the game.

My current toon is primarily an archer, not a great meleer being only hit-and-run, so the only thing she would have left would be traps, like deadly Holy traps.

Kinda Related Note: Before I started playing NWN1, in the realms of PnP where Elves were considered to be Immune to Petrification, my Elven archer used cockatrice fletchings. Some vics had to make ST if they lived; assumed they would try and remove the arrows.

This might be a nice ammo add for Arcane Archers; would help beef up the class a bit, and the Arcane nature of the archer would help explain any such Immunity. Nothing major; just the same sort of DC that one encounters hunting them on Deathwater might do.

Aa's already have a VC command to create magical arrows of various types including petrification among others.

However, I do agree the current options for boosting ranged damage are substantiLly subpar compared to melee damage. Unless someone had designed better, my current conclusion is that the best damage-optimized build for a ranged combat PC is a heavy AA build with paladin or cleric added to gain access to turn undead and divine might.

Between high enchant arrow bonus and a good bonus from high charisma, the build would be competitive.

Sadly, without these specific features, for instance a pure fighter or rogue archer, they simply cannot handle epic level combat with ranged attacks.

My sneaky hit-and-run Elven Ranger/Rogue/SD concept makes bow and traps her primary weapons (and dual-wield melee secondarily). But I'm apprehensive that at upper levels --that I've never before been to with this combo-- she won't be able to make it solo but only be able to even visit the epic bosses by being in the back row of a group.

If I could only take or four or five classes instead of only three! I'd put in AA there for sure, and of course have to take an arcane caster class to even make that happen. (If only Ranger would qualify as a caster class for AA.)

Ramana Jala wrote:My sneaky hit-and-run Elven Ranger/Rogue/SD concept makes bow and traps her primary weapons (and dual-wield melee secondarily). But I'm apprehensive that at upper levels --that I've never before been to with this combo-- she won't be able to make it solo but only be able to even visit the epic bosses by being in the back row of a group.

If I could only take or four or five classes instead of only three! I'd put in AA there for sure, and of course have to take an arcane caster class to even make that happen. (If only Ranger would qualify as a caster class for AA.)

A trap master PC can handle anything in Aenea if they take enough time, and invest enough money to prep.

Manny proved this by making the arguably toughest boss in the whole game world virtually explode in less than 2 seconds with a horde of layered divine traps.

It cost a ton of myoney, took a lot of time, and wasnt super-easy to set up, but it killed the boss in no-time flat (one combat started) , and his PC was in practically no danger after the traps had been set.

Thank you so much for telling me that, Dave! It's cleared my apprehension that the way I want to play my PC will still work at higher levels. She lives by her wits and smarts, her reflexes, and her stealth/planar-travel gift. Being as she's not non-believably impossibly strong for being a petite delicate little elf girl (who spent her childhood as a soft aristocrat young lady). So I am reassured that sneaky cleverness can still win out over brawn and whatever may come.

Thanks again, that was very kind of you !

Added, with some minor modifications based on how easy these will be to acquire and use. Added in the toolset for the next module update:

deva feather - +1d4 divine damage vs. evil
planetar feather - +1d6 divine damage vs. evil
solar feather - +1d8 divine damage vs. evil

Single use items, rather than charged items. Fewer scripts to modify to add them. Can be used on both arrows and bolts.

These will start showing up in a few loot drops and in several shops.

I'm also going to start adding some celestial creatures for evil beings to fight that may drop said feathers, and I may add the option for good PCs to negotiate with said creatures for a spare feather or two. These beings will be added in the near future.