Blesses and ranged weapons

[legowarrior]

What kind of bless is best for ranged sacred?

[Bwaha]

I've never bothered with a blessing for sacred archers...

Air blessing maybe? It seems that it would be kinda a waste to devote a blessing made just for archers...

My two cents worth...

[shatner]

A water-9 bless will get your archers to fire 50% more often (3 times every two combat rounds) so that's something. A death bless will have their arrows causing more afflictions. That's actually very synergistic with LA T'ien Ch'i since their sacred mounted archers cause AoE fear with their arrows, which stacks nicely with the common affliction of Battle Fright. Air can help since it'll make your archers more resistant to enemy archers, but it's a pretty tepid bless overall.

And that's about it. No other bless directly helps sacred archers. Of course, everything loves a little regen (nature), reinvig (earth), MR or twisted fate (astral). Note that a bonus to attack does nothing for ranged attacks and fire weapons only apply to melee, so a fire bless does literally nothing for sacred archers.

[BewareTheBarnacleGoose]

Quickness is good for archers, helps them get more volleys out faster. But quickened archers also annoyingly move between shots, so they will always get into melee. But that isn't a problem with LA Tien Chi, if that's what you were thinking of, since they do fine up close. But TC can also cast quickness, so you aren't getting much for your design points.

[Kobal2]

Originally Posted by shatner

A water-9 bless will get your archers to fire 50% more often (3 times every two combat rounds) so that's something.

Actually it will get them to fire once, then move forward. It's a terrible bless for sacred archers.

[thejeff]

They do fire more often, but they also move forward. I've not quite figured out the pattern behind it.

It's really only worth it when the sacred archers are also melee capable. Which probably means LA TC.

[Olm]

Originally Posted by thejeff

It's really only worth it when the sacred archers are also melee capable. Which probably means LA TC.

LA Man, wardens are rather capable in melee Or does it not work well with x-bows?

[Kobal2]

Originally Posted by Olm

LA Man, wardens are rather capable in melee Or does it not work well with x-bows?

They also have high encumbrance so speeding them up might not be the best idea

[JonBrave]

Originally Posted by shatner

[...] and fire weapons only apply to melee, so a fire bless does literally nothing for sacred archers.

I assumed a level-9-Fire-blessed ("Flaming weapons") sacred archer would mean "Flaming arrows". Am I thinking too literally? Is that not the case?

[thejeff]

No, doesn't work. Flaming arrows only comes through the spell.

The fire bless only works on melee weapons.