Cleric archer

[NightCrawler]

I ve heard lots about how good a cleric archer can be. The question here is:

1)What other feats except from zen archery and divine might he must take?
If i am right he still needs the PBS, Rapid shot feat tree right?

2)What makes him diferent from the classic archer?

 

[Nifft]

1)What other feats except from zen archery and divine might he must take?
If i am right he still needs the PBS, Rapid shot feat tree right?

The only feats he needs are PBS and Rapid Shot. Zen Archery and Power Attack + Divine Might are gravy.

Quicken Spell is important, so you can Quicken divine favor. That plus divine power are your bread & butter.

2)What makes him diferent from the classic archer?

The ability to self-buff, summon blockers, and heal. Also, gate.

Cheers, -- N

 

[s-dub]

Power attack?

I'm missing something I think...

 

[Zelc]

2)What makes him diferent from the classic archer?

The ability to give reality the finger when he wants to take a break from shooting arrows.

Fixed .

The key feats for a Cleric Archer are PBS, Rapid Shot, Zen Archery, and either Quicken Spell or DMM(Persistant Spell) and its 2 prerequisites.

Here is an archived thread on the official boards regarding building Cleric Archers.

Divine Might requires Power Attack as a prereq. I don't think it's worth it personally.

 

[moritheil]

Though trolls will flame the suggestion, Divine Metamagic: Persistent is worth taking for any fighting cleric. It allows you to keep a couple self-buffs up all day and thereby save precious time in each encounter that would otherwise be spent buffing up. It is notorious for being abused, so be aware that your DM may veto it.

Though not required, the Elf domain and being an elf are strongly suggested. This will allow you to take Cloistered Cleric instead of Cleric, which is good because what you lose (hit points, armor proficiency) you aren't about to use much as an archer anyway. (Archers rely on not being hit rather than heavy hit points, and armor interferes with their high dexterity anyhow.)

 

[Zelc]

This will allow you to take Cloistered Cleric instead of Cleric, which is good because what you lose (hit points, armor proficiency) you aren't about to use much as an archer anyway. (Archers rely on not being hit rather than heavy hit points, and armor interferes with their high dexterity anyhow.)

Actually, Cleric Archers usually don't have very high Dexterity, so being able to use Full Plate is definitely an advantage. Additionally, Cloistered Clerics only get 1/2 BAB progression, so your attacks will be worse if Divine Might isn't up (Dispel, perhaps). While the Cloistered Cleric is often a very good choice, I think the normal Cleric is better for a Cleric Archer.

 

[moritheil]

Actually, Cleric Archers usually don't have very high Dexterity, so being able to use Full Plate is definitely an advantage. Additionally, Cloistered Clerics only get 1/2 BAB progression, so your attacks will be worse if Divine Might isn't up (Dispel, perhaps). While the Cloistered Cleric is often a very good choice, I think the normal Cleric is better for a Cleric Archer.

You don't really need to worry so much about BAB due to Divine Might (though a determined DM can find ways to dispel it, they can't do so every fight or they'll lose a lot of credibility. You will, of course, be spending some of your gp to make it obnoxiously hard to dispel your persistent buffs.) Furthermore what I find appealing about cloistered cleric is the 6+Intmod skill points, something normal Clerics lack compared to their ranger counterparts. Choose an appropriate second domain and you can get useful in-class skills.

As an elf in light armor, you can pump dex and save the feat slot on Zen Archery. You can also pick up archery feats with dex requirements, something the low-dex archer can't do.

 

[Zelc]

Well, you definitely want a high Wis for the bonus spells and save DCs. Zen Archery gives you single-attribute dependency for a feat. Yes, having higher Dex can give you more feat flexibility (both in feats you qualify for and the feat saved in Zen Archery). However, I think feats that improve your spellcasting is better for those extra slots, and Zen Archery at high levels is a bargain if your Wis is higher than your Dex.

And Divine Might probably won't always be up. It's not available before level 7, and again if it goes down your BAB will really suffer (although I suppose you can always fall back to casting at this point).

 

[moritheil]

And Divine Might probably won't always be up. It's not available before level 7, and again if it goes down your BAB will really suffer (although I suppose you can always fall back to casting at this point).

I suspect we differ in principles of design. I don't really think it's meaningful to worry about what happens when your key spell is down if that spell defines your character - which is true for any reasonable martial cleric build. It's a bit like playing an evoker and continually running into things with SR of 20 + your level. Only a mean or incompetent DM frequently relies on not allowing your character to work to challenge you.

If you want to have high save DCs, that's perfectly fine - but are you playing an archer, or just a cleric who dabbles in archery? Yes, it's more powerful to emphasize the cleric side because that is more powerful to begin with, but I'm assuming the OP is really interested in archery - or he could play a straight cleric into some prestige class and be really powerful.

 

[Nifft]

Power attack?

I'm missing something I think...

Divine Might [Divine]
Prerequisites

Str 13, turn or rebuke undead ability, Power Attack.
Benefit

As a free action, spend one of your turn or rebuke undead attempts to add your Charisma bonus to your weapon damage for 1 full round.

Cheers, -- N