D&D 3E/3.5 Whats a good 3.5E Archer (Level 10+) build?

[Aus_Snow]

Extended Precision from Complete Warrior might be handy, if you're doing Skirmish + Greater Manyshot. Some psionic feats are useful - e.g., Psionic Shot, Fell Shot and Psionic Meditation - (IME) so a 2 level dip into PsyWar mightn't be out of the question. Then again, if you're set on Fighter/Scout/DS, maybe not.

Haven't delved too far into the whole 3.5 archer thing, so sorry if that was totally off the mark.

 

[Runestar]

Try this article.

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=642.0

 

[Humanaut]

We don't use all 3.5 books, but many. A guy in my game has a straight up fighter 9 he made to replace his previous PC... with a Holy Bow, that is also mighty to whatever his str bonus is, he does some damage. With PH2 feats like weapon mastery included, he has high BAB, HP, uses Manyshot or Rapid Shot (with Impr RS there is no more penalty for the extra shot).

He's not all that stealthy, but he dishes out the damage.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Only up to his allowed alotment of discretionary points. So, yes, when he can imbue the bow to a +3 equivalent, he can have a +1 Acidic Sonic bow. But this is only (roughly) equivalent to what the character at the level would have anyway.

The Eldritch Knight, can have his +1 Acidic Sonic bow, and then cast greater magic weapon and flame arrow, and has instead +3 Acidic Sonic bow & flaming arrows.

And when the EK is out of spells, the Kensai will still be waving his Acidic Sonic Bow, possibly with a +8 Str bonus factored in.

The Kensai also doesn't have to prepare and cast those spells before firing- he's good to go at any time.

They're both good builds, with different strengths and weaknesses, which boil down to: the EK has flexibility where the Kensai has reliability.

One thing is for sure, if both were in a party, there wouldn't be many opponents making it into melee combat range...

 

[Shin Okada]

If you need a stealthy archer, I'd go for Scout/Ranger.

Paladin/Kensai, Elven Cleric, Eldritch Knight are all good. But far from stealthy (maybe except for EK with appropriate spells).

Edit: Would you please give us more information about that ongoing campaign? If the campaign highlights some specific type of foe or specific type of environment, other builds (say, Dark Hunter) may become more potent. Also, I want to ask. Do your party already has someone who can deal with traps? If not, scout-based build is the way to go without question.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Just because a Paladin can wear heavy armors, doesn't mean that he has to.

Of course, he's going to be waaaaaaay short some ranks in Move Silently.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

For a completely different take on an "archer," try playing a Warlock.

 

[Shin Okada]

For a completely different take on an "archer," try playing a Warlock.

Ah. That's right. Warlock is more like an alternative archer than to be an altenative spellcaster. And with appropriate invocations, they can be sneaky, too.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

For that matter, the Kineticist PrCls are just as "archer-y" as the Warlock, and almost all you need to qualify for those is the Wild Talent Feat.

"Sneakitudinousness" is variable, dependent upon underlying build.

 

[Runestar]

Alternatively, a warmage also makes an interesting archer alternative.