Archer Build

[the_mighty_agrippa]

A fighter is a good way to go if you want to stand still and pepper the enemy. Otherwise, you might want to look at multiclassing or taking different routes.

The best overall archer is the ranger. I say overall - as opposed to "most powerful" - because of the versatility of the class. You get nearly unsurpassed skills, two good saves and bonus weapon feats (kinda). In addition, the favored enemy bonuses and spells stack up over time. Of course, you are dependent on the DM putting in the favored monsters.

 

[2nd Ed Paladin]

If you combine scout and fighter you can get all the feats needed to make skirmish fun. The usual archery feats + dodge , mobility and shot on the run make it much easier to obtain skirmish bonuses. Then it is just one more feat to pick up spring attack and you suddenly don't suck at melee.

 

[Venator]

A fighter is a good way to go if you want to stand still and pepper the enemy. Otherwise, you might want to look at multiclassing or taking different routes.

The best overall archer is the ranger. I say overall - as opposed to "most powerful" - because of the versatility of the class. You get nearly unsurpassed skills, two good saves and bonus weapon feats (kinda). In addition, the favored enemy bonuses and spells stack up over time. Of course, you are dependent on the DM putting in the favored monsters.

This is true. The Fighter is the better archer in terms of combat potential, but the Ranger is most likely the better "all around" character. If what you are looking for is a fairly one dimensional character outside of combat and what will turn into a very powerful damage dealer at around 9-10th level I'd say go with straight Fighter.

The Fighter archer i play in the Age of Worms adventure path is built like this so far...

Wood Elf - gotta have the Str and Dex as high as possible.

1- Point Blank Shot
1- Precise Shot
2- Rapid Shot
3- Weapon Focus
4- Coordinated Shot (ignore cover granted to enemies by your allies)
6- Weapon Spec
6- Many Shot
8- Ranged Weapon Mastery

Focus on getting as much damage added to each arrow as possible. This means a very high strength, energy weapons, feats, ect. You'll full attack almost every action and you'll land most attacks due to your feats, high BAB, and high Dex.

Do not forget to help out your crappy Will saves with feats and items around the mid levels, Tome of Battle and/or Complete Champion can really help here if available.

Despite popular belief, the Fighter Archer has plenty of awesome feats to take all the way up until lvl 20, but somewhere along the line youll want to make sure you can make a Will save from time to time.

 

[Darklone]

EN world Publishing has a book IIRC "Three Arrows for the King" which has a bunch of archery stuff, but I didn't care for it that much. It's also 3.0 and I don't think it received an update though I could be mistaken.

If you bought the 3.0 version, they mailed you a 3.5 version for free.

At least I got one.

The archer class in there is nice, I like to use it as NPC. 3 arrows at level 4 makes more than up for medium BAB (though not with bows).

Focus on getting as much damage added to each arrow as possible. This means a very high strength, energy weapons, feats, ect. You'll full attack almost every action and you'll land most attacks due to your feats, high BAB, and high Dex.

Rangers favored enemy is really nice with archery due to the good bonus damage. Don't forget that most things a fighter can do better than an ranger-archer can be acquired with just four levels fighter (WS and RWM).

 

[Doctor DM]

Well, you can never go wrong with Improved Rapidshot from CW.

An extra attack with no penalties? Sign me up!