D&D 3E/3.5 3.5 Archer help.

[Sekhmet]

I'll be playing in a game tonight where I've been tasked with making an Archer.
With a relatively small amount of time to get my things together, my build so far is Ranger 6/Deepwood Sniper 2/Peerless Archer 3.

The increased range, critical, and power shot applying to Greatbows will help the rather small amount of damage I can actually do with a bow, but I'll be picking up Manyshot and Splitting to allow for a large number of attacks per round.

I've been grappled into picking an LA3 race (instead of just grabbing a Wild Elf), so I picked Fey'ri for their natural flying and bonuses. If you guys can think of a non-anthropomorphic race that allows flying with better bonuses, it would be appreciated.

So, for the next 9 levels of my build, I'm really quite confused as to what I would do. Ranger abilities really don't progress well, and Peerless Archer and Deepwood Sniper are really best for small dips.

What can I do to pump up this character's damage without compromising him into a gish?

Game starts at 1800, but since this is the end game build I'm trying to finesse, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[emoplato]

I'll be playing in a game tonight where I've been tasked with making an Archer.
With a relatively small amount of time to get my things together, my build so far is Ranger 6/Deepwood Sniper 2/Peerless Archer 3.

The increased range, critical, and power shot applying to Greatbows will help the rather small amount of damage I can actually do with a bow, but I'll be picking up Manyshot and Splitting to allow for a large number of attacks per round.

I've been grappled into picking an LA3 race (instead of just grabbing a Wild Elf), so I picked Fey'ri for their natural flying and bonuses. If you guys can think of a non-anthropomorphic race that allows flying with better bonuses, it would be appreciated.

So, for the next 9 levels of my build, I'm really quite confused as to what I would do. Ranger abilities really don't progress well, and Peerless Archer and Deepwood Sniper are really best for small dips.

What can I do to pump up this character's damage without compromising him into a gish?

Game starts at 1800, but since this is the end game build I'm trying to finesse, it shouldn't be a problem.

You are given a level 3 adjustment for free? Are templates game? Finally what material is allowed? The Fey'ri really stink for that price.

 

[Sekhmet]

Not "for free", but the rest of the group has LA3 characters and the DM has decided that everyone must be LA3, or he will buff their race to LA3 if they do not meet that requirement.
I'm fairly sure templates are fine (there is a Dire Werewolf, a Scorpionfolk, and a Rakshasa), and all official Wizards source books are game.

I agree that Fey'ri are terrible for the LA, but archery really shines with Flyby Attack and Flying readily available, and being able to Alter Shape into one of those four armed, two bow wielding demons is nifty.

I could also choose to use the +2 LA Fey'ri with the Lolth Touched template (+6 str/con).

 

[Nezkrul]

Scout 3 / Ranger 8 // +Ranger to infinity

Take the feats Swift Hunter @ 6th level, Greater Manyshot (XPH) @ 9th level; give up your crappy animal companion for Solitary Hunter (dragon magazine; lets you add your favored enemy bonus on attack rolls); Get a +1 bow of Splitting, Be Neutral Good and worship Ehlonna, take True Believer (Ehlonna) @ 3rd level, buy yourself a few Raptor Arrows (MIC); take Improved Skirmish @ 12th level, buy yourself a 5x5 carpet of flying to ride on (move it with a free action on your turn to activate skirmish and be flying), have fun doing crazy amounts of bow damage so long as your target is within 30 feet.

 

[Sekhmet]

[MENTION=6682154]Nezkrul[/MENTION] I don't care for precision damage bases, as you can tell by my not adding Order of the Bow Initiate or Swift Hunter at any point in that build.
Being effectively negated half the time, and having to remain within charging/grappling/tripped/disarming/sundering range is a waste of archery.

 

[LiL KiNG]

Everything that Nezkrul said except the carpet part - at least in our group mounted movement won't work for activating Skirmish. So for that I used one level of Cloistered Cleric and the Travel Devotion feat to get swift action movements and still be able to full attack with my swift hunter archer with Skirmish bonus damage.
Strongarm Bracers from MIC would even let you use a bow larger then you (ridiculous? yes, but it works nonetheless).
[MENTION=97602]Sekhmet[/MENTION] - the Skirmish is precision damage so it has a range limit like ranged attacks with Sneak Attack. There is a Crossbow Sniper feat that extends this range to 60' using a crossbow, and I think there is one that would work for bows but don't know it off-hand.

 

[Sekhmet]

Everything that Nezkrul said except the carpet part - at least in our group mounted movement won't work for activating Skirmish. So for that I used one level of Cloistered Cleric and the Travel Devotion feat to get swift action movements and still be able to full attack with my swift hunter archer with Skirmish bonus damage.
Strongarm Bracers from MIC would even let you use a bow larger then you (ridiculous? yes, but it works nonetheless).
[MENTION=97602]Sekhmet[/MENTION] - the Skirmish is precision damage so it has a range limit like ranged attacks with Sneak Attack. There is a Crossbow Sniper feat that extends this range to 60' using a crossbow, and I think there is one that would work for bows but don't know it off-hand.

60' is still well within the range of a charging opponent. You'll be lucky to beat their Initiative, and then have to fight a losing battle to gain ground against them - making you more or less useless for that battle.
Likewise, any number of methods are available to ignore precision damage entirely, and it is standard fare for any high level player to have Heavy Fortification at their disposal.

 

[LiL KiNG]

60' is still well within the range of a charging opponent. You'll be lucky to beat their Initiative, and then have to fight a losing battle to gain ground against them - making you more or less useless for that battle.
Likewise, any number of methods are available to ignore precision damage entirely, and it is standard fare for any high level player to have Heavy Fortification at their disposal.

I would hope being archery focused that the PC would have high Dex, making winning initiative more likely.
Carry items or have a Ranger spell ready to hamper enemy movement, there are ways around this. Scout's have Hide on their class skill list, boost that as high as possible and snipe, combined with trackless step and invisibility potions what is your target going to charge? I actually find invisibility to be more useless at higher levels then precision damage as nearly everything can either see invisible or has a magic item that will let them...
As for precision damage, that's a risk Rogue's have been dealing with forever and yet they still seem to do just fine as no one really thinks of their class as a trap.
You can defend against or counter anything if you have prior knowledge of what you're facing. I dealt with heavy fortification once with a simple paralysis poison, removed the target's armor, and coup de grace him. Granted it took two doses before he failed his save, but it worked.
It's just the nature of the skirmish build, you need movement (which higher levels of skirmish boost your AC bonus as well with movement, add in the ring of entropic shield from MIC and a +speed item like the armor crystal for +5' speed, and you now have a very effective defense against any ranged attacks including rays; 50% miss chance).
Also, not every class should be able to counter every single situation on their own, otherwise you wouldn't need a party. I know there are builds that do, or try to do this, but it gets boring being a party member with one of those player's. Wizards and Clerics have great spell access, but they still need to prepare the right spells and without prior knowledge of what they are facing this is pretty hard to do, you can counter most challenges but there will probably still be one or two that you rely on your party to handle while you wand (or reserve feat) it up a little.

 

[Sekhmet]

I agree with you that every character shouldn't be able to counter everything, but they should all be able to do their job without being easily countered by the majority of the opposition. Just about any creature/enemy can charge you and thereby threaten you 'till you die, with you being relatively useless in melee, especially at low levels.

The major issue isn't high level play, when you can countercounter with enough forethought. Early and mid-level play is the real issue with precision damage (and one that isn't relevant to the thread).

My desire to refrain from Skirmish (an ability I don't particularly care for at early/mid levels) and GISH rules sort of pidgeon holes me into volley archery, which sounds fun, but lacks damage against higher level monsters with high DR. I guess I'll have to carry a lot of different arrow types.

 

[emoplato]

Not "for free", but the rest of the group has LA3 characters and the DM has decided that everyone must be LA3, or he will buff their race to LA3 if they do not meet that requirement.
I'm fairly sure templates are fine (there is a Dire Werewolf, a Scorpionfolk, and a Rakshasa), and all official Wizards source books are game.

I agree that Fey'ri are terrible for the LA, but archery really shines with Flyby Attack and Flying readily available, and being able to Alter Shape into one of those four armed, two bow wielding demons is nifty.

I could also choose to use the +2 LA Fey'ri with the Lolth Touched template (+6 str/con).

I ask that because the Winged Creature(Savage Species) gives a far better fly speed that has maneuverability that scales with dexterity on a fast scale. As such you could take a Goliath and would have vastly better stats to work for an archer and a bigger bow. Knowledge Devotion actually is one of the few if not only Devotion feat that doesn't have limited uses as such bonus to attack and damage from a skill check is always welcome. Ask your DM if you can qualify for the Justice of Weald and Woe with a great bow as it gives back some casting and other stealth/archer abilities. I know you said you want to refrain from a gish but let point you to a couple of spells that can really help. The Dark Flame Arrow adds durational burn damage that actually isn't considered fire, no save. The shadow arrow is a touch attack that deals strength damage. These spells are cast as swift actions.