A good Archer build?

[ihaveaquestion]

Hello...the guys i game with seem to think playing an archer is no fun it doesnt deal out enough damage or whatever..but i want to prove them wrong, and i like the idea of a really cool archer, so could you smart Dnd guys possibly tell me a good class build? i assumed first that youd start with ranger...useing the new abilities from PH2, this would at least give you skills...but of course a fighter gets plenty of feats what do you think? i like the peerless archer PrC, but wasnt sure if it or if one of the other ones would be better like order of the bow?

 

[BASHMAN]

Dude, take Fighter till 4th (for weapon specialization and a couple of bonus feats), and pair it with scout.


You want to get the manyshot and shot on the run feat.

You can then move, fire a manyshot, and add hordes of damage to the roll from the Scout's skirmish ability.

Scout gets even more skills than a Ranger (so make sure you take Scout at 1st level).

 

[szilard]

Dude, take Fighter till 4th (for weapon specialization and a couple of bonus feats), and pair it with scout.


You want to get the manyshot and shot on the run feat.

You can then move, fire a manyshot, and add hordes of damage to the roll from the Scout's skirmish ability.

Scout gets even more skills than a Ranger (so make sure you take Scout at 1st level).

If you go that route, I'd recommend playing a Human and mixing in two levels of Ranger:

1 - Scout 1 (Point Blank Shot, Dodge))
2 - Fighter 1 (Precise Shot)
3 - Fighter 2 (Weapon Focus, Mobility)
4 - Ranger 1
5 - Ranger 2 (Rapid Shot)
6 - Fighter 3 (Shot on the Run)
7 - Fighter 4 (Manyshot)
8+ Scout 2+

something like that...

-Stuart

 

[Legildur]

...You want to get the manyshot and shot on the run feat.

You can then move, fire a manyshot, and add hordes of damage to the roll from the Scout's skirmish ability.

Can't do that. From the SRD Manyshot says "As a standard action,.." whilst Shot on the Run applies "When using the attack action with a ranged weapon". The attack action is a Standard Action, and so is Manyshot. You can't use two Standard Actions in the same round.

 

[hanniball]

Human Saint Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Order of the Bow Initiate 2/Peerless Archer 10

Make full use of Power Shot even in melee thanks to OotBI.
Get a wand of Hunter's Mercy to auto-threaten a critical on your next shot.
Grab Bracers of Archery and a +5 Shocking Burst Oathbow and you're good to go.

Either way...just my 2 cp

 

[Gerion of Mercadia]

Arcane archer PrC ?

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Where is the Peerless Archer PrC from? And the Order of the Bow Initiate PrC? Complete Warrior? Complete Adventurer?

As for me, I would suggest Fighter then into Deepwood Sniper (MotW). It is a 3.0 PrC but it doesn't really require many changes to make it 3.5.

As for the Arcane Archer, I found it was not as good as it looked to be at first.

Olaf the Stout

 

[hong]

There don't seem to be any really good archer PrCs in 3.5. Of course, this is with reference to just a regular, base-class-only archer, who is already pretty good.

 

[Haloq Jakar]

If you go that route, I'd recommend playing a Human and mixing in two levels of Ranger:

1 - Scout 1 (Point Blank Shot, Dodge))
2 - Fighter 1 (Precise Shot)
3 - Fighter 2 (Weapon Focus, Mobility)
4 - Ranger 1
5 - Ranger 2 (Rapid Shot)
6 - Fighter 3 (Shot on the Run)
7 - Fighter 4 (Manyshot)
8+ Scout 2+

something like that...

-Stuart

I think the 2 levels of ranger are wasted since you don't get the rapid shot until the 2nd ranger level. Better to use those 2 levels as fighter levels since you can take rapid shot feat as the bonus fighter feat or better still weapon specialization plus you get the d10 for hp and you will not take the exp penalty in levels 6 and 7 for having your levels not match up. Another option is you could just use those 2 levels as a scout and once again use the bonus feat for the 4th level scout to gain shot on the run and then get rapid shot from the fighter 3. Just my humble 2 cents

 

[Machiavelli]

I'm playing a Barbarian1/ Fighter2/ Ranger4 right now. I like the uninterrupted BAB progression, because I'm having a hard time hitting the big, important targets as is (we just nailed a CR 14 red dragon, so our encounters may be a bit non-standard).

I've found that Woodland Archer (TACTICAL, RotW) is absolutely great, because if a shot misses your target, you get a +4 bonus against that target on any other shots for the rest of the round. This build focuses on lots of attacks in a full attack action (Whirling Frenzy, Rapid Shot, BAB+7/+2), so that bonus is useful very often. I had considered Deepwoods Sniper, to get that sweet, sweet x4 critical for use with a wand of Hunter's Mercy (it's a 1st-lvl Ranger spell), but the Far Shot feat is essentially a waste of a feat unless using throwing weapons, so I took Woodland Archer and continued with Ranger.

As a bonus, at 9th level I'll get Manyshot from the Ranger level, and Greater Manyshot from the 9th level feat. Greater Manyshot with a shocking burst bow and favored enemy damage is simply... PRICELESS. I'm looking forward to that. I'll throw in arrows with specific types of extra damage, to really boost things.

A tip that may not work for you, but was fine for me:
Get a composite bow with a strength rating well above your base, then get buffs from allies and/or use your Whirling Frenzy (UA varient Rage) to bring your strength up and eliminate the -2 attack penalty for being under-strength. Remember, your bow's strength rating is set in stone unless you buy a brand new bow. Carry a spare shortbow of the correct rating, if you're worried about burning buff spells and rages too quickly. I've gotten good mileage from Extra Rage (CW).

I managed to convince my DM to give me a variable-strength bow as a +2 enhancement (expensive!), with a discount of 500gp for the +5 strength rating I started with. That would nullify the above advice, of course.


I've played this archer since level 3, and he's been fun at every level. He's not the best damage dealer in the party (that would be our ridiculously optimized fighter, with the grey elf wizard a close second), but he's perfect for offing the enemy's mook reinforcements or scaring away flying opponents when the fighter's scrolls of Fly have run out.

And remember: YMMV.