Best Archer Build?

Legildur · Aug 15, 2006

Personally, Human (or maybe half-orc for darkvision and Str bonus) Ftr12 is hard to beat and using (mostly) core feats:

Wpn Focus/Spec (longbow)
Greater Wpn Focus/Spec (longbow)
Ranged Weapon Mastery
Point Blank Shot
Precise Shot
Improved Precise Shot
Quickdraw
Iron Will
Manyshot

Gives you (with say 20 Str and Dex and +3 bow) an archer with full round attacks of +25/+25/+20/+15 at 1d8+15 within 30ft and no attack penalties from cover. Saving throws are main vulnerability and lack of skills reduces the out of combat experience.

<edit> throw in Improved Rapid Shot to get the attack bonuses above, or subtract 2 from all.

mattcolville · Aug 15, 2006

Dammit, I know there's a feat that lets you fire in melee without provoking AoOs and I'm not thinking of the special ability from the Order of the Bow Initiate.

Maybe it's built into a tactical feat...

szilard · Aug 15, 2006

mattcolville said:
Dammit, I know there's a feat that lets you fire in melee without provoking AoOs and I'm not thinking of the special ability from the Order of the Bow Initiate.

Maybe it's built into a tactical feat...

There is the Ranger spell Arrow Mind (which also lets you take AoO's with a bow in melee) - the archery-buffing swift spells Rangers pick up can arguably make them better archers than Fighters.

I might go Ranger/Fighter 8/4 or 10/2...

-Stuart

mattcolville · Aug 15, 2006

szilard said:
There is the Ranger spell Arrow Mind (which also lets you take AoO's with a bow in melee) - the archery-buffing swift spells Rangers pick up can arguably make them better archers than Fighters.

I might go Ranger/Fighter 8/4 or 10/2...

-Stuart

I was certain that I found a feat that would do the same thing. I thought it was in either the PHBII or the Book of Nine SWords, but I can't find it in either place. It's possible I thought of Arrow Mind.

I wonder if you can get a Bow made with Continuous Arrow Mind?

Question · Aug 15, 2006

Deepwood sniper is 3.0 though, and it has a problem with the % cover rules, which no longer exist.

I would recommend using the targetter class from dragon 310, it has a class abiltiy letting you use dex for damage instead of str, but only if the target is susceptible to critical hits.

MarkB · Aug 15, 2006

If your build involves Ranger levels, look at the variant class feature in the PHB II that lets you distract opponents with your ranged attacks. The party rogue will thank you for it.

The Penetrating Shot feat has good potential as an archer feat.

green slime · Aug 15, 2006

mattcolville said:
Dammit, I know there's a feat that lets you fire in melee without provoking AoOs and I'm not thinking of the special ability from the Order of the Bow Initiate.

Maybe it's built into a tactical feat...

I've seen something I think was called Combat Archery, but I couldn't tell you where I've seen it. Might have been in the NBoF.

two · Aug 15, 2006

Equipment

Don't forget at that level some of the basic items.

+1 Holy Sonic bow is a good start, or just +1 Holy.
Then have your pal make you 50 bane arrows of bane - X and 50 bane arrows of bane - Y.

Where X and Y are common types of enemies in your world.

Undead and Human might be typical examples.

Also get 20 seeking arrows and 10 bane arrows of a few other types.

Bane arrows obviously pump up your damage dramatically.

The seeking arrows are mirror image killers. See a wizard with mirror image? Close your eyes after targeting the right square, and fire using the seeking arrows. There is no miss chance from Mirror Image that way, nor from being blind.

Ranger allows for bonuses to types of enemies as well.

If your campaign has a common "big bad type" a build with Ranger2 and bane arrows might be useful.

schporto · Aug 15, 2006

If allowed I would also suggest goliath, half giant or something along those lines. Larger weapons and higher strength is good for those mighty bows.
-cpd

Pinotage · Aug 15, 2006

I agree that fighter is one of the better ways to go. The Weapon Specialization feats help a lot with upping the damage. You may also want to consider using a greatbow (exotic weapon for 1d10 damage) and then take a level or two in Exotic Weapon Master. This also gives you Close Combat Fighting or something like that which allows you to fight with a bow without drawing an AoO.

Pinotage

Best Archer Build?

Legildur

First Post

mattcolville

Adventurer

szilard

First Post

mattcolville

Adventurer

Question

First Post

MarkB

Legend

green slime

First Post

two

First Post

schporto

First Post

Pinotage

Explorer

Similar Threads