Does Vital Strike(bow) work with rapid shot,/manyshot ?

[DarkOne]

The question is in the tittle.
I am at a loss on how to make a character, It will be fully buffed and it will have plenty of attacks per round. I don't know if Vital Strike is worth it, but if rapid shot/manyshot work with it, then there's no question about it.

[ttv-r0b0c0p87]

The way I understand it, Vital Strike is only based on your Base-Attack-Bonus, not on your number of attacks per round. You can find info about Base Attack Bonus at this link (scroll down to the section on Attack Rolls): https://pathfinderwrathoftherighteous.wiki.fextralife.com/Stats

For example, a 6th level Fighter has a "Good" BAB, so they would get 1 attack at +6 and a 2nd attack at +1, while something like a Rogue or other Average BAB class would only get a single attack at +4.

A Vital Strike Bow on a Good BAB class can deal a ton of damage, but honestly you're usually better off going with multiple attacks. If you kill a target with Vital Strike, any additional damage is lost, whereas if you're making 6 bow attacks and kill a target with your 1st attack, you'll continue to attack any other targets that are within range.

[DarkOne]

Originally posted by ttv-r0b0c0p87:

The way I understand it, Vital Strike is only based on your Base-Attack-Bonus, not on your number of attacks per round. You can find info about Base Attack Bonus at this link (scroll down to the section on Attack Rolls): https://pathfinderwrathoftherighteous.wiki.fextralife.com/Stats

For example, a 6th level Fighter has a "Good" BAB, so they would get 1 attack at +6 and a 2nd attack at +1, while something like a Rogue or other Average BAB class would only get a single attack at +4.

A Vital Strike Bow on a Good BAB class can deal a ton of damage, but honestly you're usually better off going with multiple attacks. If you kill a target with Vital Strike, any additional damage is lost, whereas if you're making 6 bow attacks and kill a target with your 1st attack, you'll continue to attack any other targets that are within range.

That settles it, thank you!

[DarkOne]

Btw, do they stack with each other ? Can I use both rapid shot and many shot in the same round ?

[ttv-r0b0c0p87]

Yes, I believe Rapid Shot and Many Shot can both be used, though the -2 penalty to hit from Rapid Shot would apply to the extra attack from Many Shot.

[tassadarsf]

Rapid shot and many shot modify full attack actions, and do stack, while vital strike is a single action, so doesn't benefit from modifiers to full attacks. Greater Vital Strike is kind of absurd with the mythic feat, and is very good if you're on the move a lot, as it's only a standard action.

I'd say for a bow person it might not be as good just due to the significant range on a longbow, making it easier to stand still and just shoot a bunch, but if you've got a thrown weapons character, it might be better, especially as manyshot only works with bows.

[Erei]

Vital strikes is the alternative of lots of attacks. You would likely be gimping yourself if you picked vital strikes on a monk with flurry of blows for example.
On the other hand, a martial warpriest will have it better since they don't get much bab anyway.

Greater vital strikes multiply a full BAB attack by 4, and do it all at once. Which mean that, essentially, GVS gives you 4 full bab attack at once, per round. (IVS is 3, and VS is 2). If you have less than 4full bab attack per round, that is a net buff. If you have more, that's a big nerf.

It is also interesting if you can have free true strikes somewhere, so it's unavoidable. But fairly niche.

So, on a cleric, that's good (for example, my sosiel have 4attack at 20, and they are not full bab). So GVS would be an improvement for him. Not saying it's worth taking it on him, but in theory, it would be a buff to his martial attacks.
On the other hand, for example, my MC has 7attack/round. 4of them being at full BAB. Which mean I'd "miss" 3attacks if I did it, for little gain.

If you go Legend mythic, vital strikes are a major nerf, since you get 40lvl worth of BAB, and it's going to be tremendously better.

[ttv-r0b0c0p87]

Originally posted by Erei:

Vital strikes is the alternative of lots of attacks. You would likely be gimping yourself if you picked vital strikes on a monk with flurry of blows for example.
On the other hand, a martial warpriest will have it better since they don't get much bab anyway.

Greater vital strikes multiply a full BAB attack by 4, and do it all at once. Which mean that, essentially, GVS gives you 4 full bab attack at once, per round. (IVS is 3, and VS is 2). If you have less than 4full bab attack per round, that is a net buff. If you have more, that's a big nerf.

It is also interesting if you can have free true strikes somewhere, so it's unavoidable. But fairly niche.

So, on a cleric, that's good (for example, my sosiel have 4attack at 20, and they are not full bab). So GVS would be an improvement for him. Not saying it's worth taking it on him, but in theory, it would be a buff to his martial attacks.
On the other hand, for example, my MC has 7attack/round. 4of them being at full BAB. Which mean I'd "miss" 3attacks if I did it, for little gain.

If you go Legend mythic, vital strikes are a major nerf, since you get 40lvl worth of BAB, and it's going to be tremendously better.

The other thing to keep in mind about Vital Strike is that you can use it after a move action. For full-BAB attacks, you need to devote a full action just to attacking, so you usually aren't able to do it on the first turn of combat or after killing an enemy and moving to a new target. But, with Vital Strike, you can move and attack, take a potion and attack, or cast a spell and attack depending on your class. It also makes it very easy to trigger Cleaving Finish, since you'll usually 1-shot your target, resulting in an additional attack at full BAB.

[Dalnar]

Loremaster offers some creative approach with vital strike as you can get greater vital strike as secret and since it works with ranged it offers option for some fun crossbow builds.