Half-elf paragons: worth it for an archer?

[Votan]

That qualifies me for the supposedly powerful Arcane Archer (and others, I think?), provides 3 levels of spellcasting advancement (for 5 levels? not terrible), and lets me pick two bonus feats.

Okay, just to finish this argument off dead; the problem with Arcane Archer in 3.5 is that bow and arrow enhancement bonuses do not stack. This is a major problem because of one spell:

Magic Weapon, Greater
Level: Clr 4, Pal 3, Sor/Wiz 3
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Target: One weapon or fifty projectiles (all of which must be in contact with each other at the time of casting)
Duration: 1 hour/level

This spell functions like magic weapon, except that it gives a weapon an enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls of +1 per four caster levels (maximum +5).

The earliest you can enter Arcane Archer (which requires 3 feats, +6 BAB and 1st level arcane spells) appears to be 8th level. At this level, the cleric can have 50 arrows that are +2 for a single spell while you have a +1 on all arrows. At level 10 you catch up. At level 12 you get +3 arrows (so does the cleric). At level 14 you finally edge ahead of a simple 3rd or 4th level spell.

All of this assumes the cleric (or wizard -- we'll ignore the Paladin option) does nothing to boost caster level; of which there appear to be many tricks to do so.

Now, your BAB will be okay as you probably are one below +1 BAB (for the dip to get arcane spells -- you could do it a level faster with Hexblade but gosh would that hurt the little casting that you do get; some options with Duskblade exist that might be worth exploring). However, this will tend to make your spellcasting just darn awful (6 or 7 levels of arcane caster at the end of level 17 is nothing to be proud of). So your level 2 ability is weak because of the lack of spells. Your level 4 ability looks a lot like Improved Precise Shot (which, coincidentally, the Ranger is getting for free about that level) with few cases where it is better.

Phase arrow is cool but once per day is looking rather sad at that level. Hail of arrows is very cool except that it happens to be beaten routinely by a 3rd level Spell Compendium Ranger Spell (which can often let the Ranger hit more targets).

That leaves Arrow of Death. You pretty much need to be 17th level to use this (6 levels to get +6 BAB, plus one level with no BAB to get arcance spells plus 10 levels of Arcane Archer). This is competing with 9th level Spells. :\

It takes one day to make. You can only have one. You force a target to make a DC 20 Fortitude save or die. A cleric, with the correct domain choice, has Wail of the Banshee. The DC for saving from this spell is 10 + spell level (9) plus wisdom bonus (minimum +4 to cast a 9th level spell) = 23 +. Or consider Destruction -- ranged touch attack, 10d6 damage on save, it's pretty much got to have a DC 20 save as well, if not higher.

That is the pinnacle ability of the class.

Now, just to rub salt in the wounds, I looked at this as if the cleric was the competing class. But you know what -- any arcane or divine caster (except a Bard or a Druid) could cast this spell on your bow or arrows as a ranger (for example). Meaning that having a friend willing to cast a 3rd or 4th level spell for you {once per day} can mimic the best feature of this prestige class.


Except for the Ranger spell, I am crushing this class using core-only material (Greater Magic Weapon, Standard Save or Die spells, Core Feat for which anybody entrering the class has the pre-reqs for -- improved precise shot). The ability to send a spell via arrow is rather unique and would count for a lot more if Spell Reistence and low caster level didn't make this routinely underpowered as an option.

No, it is just a bad class.