Archer?

[Mallerick]

Hey I need a good hard hitting archer. 9th level. Nothing based on magic items.

I'm not sure how to build the best one. Good bonuses to hit and damage are the way to go. Not worried if it is a little munchkin. O and it must be human.

 

[Ravellion]

Core 3.0 rules only:

Human Rogue3/Fighter6. Primary score: Dex, secondary: Strength

Feats (9, 4 of which fighter feats): WF Comp Longbow, WS Comp Longbow, Imp Crit Comp Longbow, Point Blank shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Far Shot, Improved Initiative, *one more, anything you want really*.

Has nice 2d6 sneak attack per shot in the surprise round when within 30 ft. Also the rogue skills increase spot and listen, hence more chance of acting in the surprise round.

Alternatively, go Psionic Warrior 9, take all of the above feats as well as pisionic shot and the arrow version of deep impact (forgot the name). Use animal affinaty to gain DEX and greater metaphysical weapon for nice +3 arrows as soon as they become available.

 

[Mallerick]

anything else

Idling wondering what would have the best damage output. Does anything stack upto a straight melee-er?

 

[Numion]

Elf Cleric 9

The big thing is that you can cast Greater Magic Weapon on both the weapon and the arrows. Take Quicken Spell as a feat, and Quicken Divine Favor, and you get +9 / +9 to hit / damage total, with the GMWs. With empowered STR you'll get some +3 / +4 to damage with Bow of Might so...

You'll get 1d8 + 14 damage if STR 18 and point blank shot, plus the above spells. Most of the time you'll only have +11 though, because the Divine Favor is short duration.

To-hit total bonus will approach 20, depending on Dex and boosting spells.

Good feats are Rapid shot, Point blank, quicken and maybe empower.

PS, I'm playing this kind of character now, and it rocks! My DM doesn't allow the stacking of arrows and weapon plusses, but thats only his houserule, the above is all legal, and without magic items.

Edit: it must be human, ok. Still workable, just spend the extra feat on martial weapon proficiency, if you don't find a deity with suitable favored weapon.

 

[Mallerick]

cool

I hadn't ever thought about a cleric archer. That is pretty zany. Anything else?

 

[DM_Matt]

Elf Cleric 9

The big thing is that you can cast Greater Magic Weapon on both the weapon and the arrows. Take Quicken Spell as a feat, and Quicken Divine Favor, and you get +9 / +9 to hit / damage total, with the GMWs. With empowered STR you'll get some +3 / +4 to damage with Bow of Might so...

You'll get 1d8 + 14 damage if STR 18 and point blank shot, plus the above spells. Most of the time you'll only have +11 though, because the Divine Favor is short duration.

To-hit total bonus will approach 20, depending on Dex and boosting spells.

Good feats are Rapid shot, Point blank, quicken and maybe empower.

PS, I'm playing this kind of character now, and it rocks! My DM doesn't allow the stacking of arrows and weapon plusses, but thats only his houserule, the above is all legal, and without magic items.

Edit: it must be human, ok. Still workable, just spend the extra feat on martial weapon proficiency, if you don't find a deity with suitable favored weapon.

Not necessarily human, if you can find an elven deity with the Elf and War domains and bow as a favored weapon. That will give you a free weapon focus and point blank shot, as well as access to true strike....Then as feats, take prescise shot, rapid shot, far shot, and something else (either imp init or metamagic like extend, quicken or empower.)

ELven Clerics are broken archers.

 

[Numion]

Not necessarily human, if you can find an elven deity with the Elf and War domains and bow as a favored weapon. That will give you a free weapon focus and point blank shot, as well as access to true strike....Then as feats, take prescise shot, rapid shot, far shot, and something else (either imp init or metamagic like extend, quicken or empower.)

ELven Clerics are broken archers.

Nah, stay away from the war domain, and take something better like Time. You already have weapon proficiency from Elf racial traits, and trust me you don't need the +1 to hit from weapon focus. Attack bonuses are through the roof anyway.

Far shot is also a waste. Usually you try to stay within 30 ft of enemy, and really, Far shot just gives you a bonus to hit in extreme ranges that a) are quite rare b) you don't need because of your high attack bonus. IMHO, YMMV.

 

[Ravellion]

Depends on the campaign. I sometimes start encounters at 300 feet.

In any case, Sharp Shooting from S&F might be useful. The higher your attack bonus the less likely that you hit allies when they do provide cover. You can even negate this chance entirely if you get your Attack bonus high enough.

In any case, Archers deal more damage than sword and board fighters, but not as much as Two handed weapon fighters on average.

 

[Numion]

Depends on the campaign. I sometimes start encounters at 300 feet.

I wouldn't wanna be the meleer in that case

Actually that distance is just bonus for the archer - free rounds of shooting before the meleers encounter. Just wait and shoot.

In any case, Archers deal more damage than sword and board fighters, but not as much as Two handed weapon fighters on average.

Not if the encounter starts at 300ft

Calculations may favor the twohander dude, but if you take into account that the archer can benefit from his full attack rate much more often than the meleer its not so clear. At least my cleric archer uses full attack every round after the surprise round while the meleers have to move sometimes to the next target.

 

[David Argall]

whoops

"Elf Cleric 9

The big thing is that you can cast Greater Magic Weapon on both the weapon and the arrows. Take Quicken Spell as a feat, and Quicken Divine Favor,"

PH, p. 84. "A quickened spell uses up a slot 4 levels higher than the spell's actual slot."

A divine MW would be 8th level slot and we are talking a cleric who just can cast 5th.


Oh yes, we should ask how generous your DM is with magic. If he is tight, the Arcane Archer does very nicely.