I would like to build a character whose major way of doing damage is through archery and using magic to buff. Is that viable? How would I do that. I'm new to PF but what first jumps to mind is a ranger multiclassed into Wizard with Magic Weapon and Haste but I'm sure there are better ways to do it.
Pathfinder 2E Magic Archer
payn
He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
So, achieving this as soon as possible can be kind of tough. One route is to take the Eldritch Archer archetype at level 6. This is the most custom way designed, but you do have to wait a bit of time to do it. You could take a caster class and also the Archer archetype either at level 2 or as a free archetype variant if your GM uses that optional rule. Finally, yes doing a multiclass wizard with ranger, or ranger with wizard is possible too, but more of a blending the bow combat with magic and not quite using magic with the bow if that distinction matters?
JThursby
Adventurer
The simplest solution is to play Magus, choose Dexterity as your key ability score, and choose the Starlit Span hybrid study which focuses on bows. Magus' entire shtick is weapon attacks, self buffs and using spells/cantrips to make your attacks stronger. The Magus class is in Secrets of Magic, but you can use all it's rules for free on Archives of Nethys.
