So...no Arcane Archer in 4e D&D??

[drothgery]

In 4e PPs are tied to specific classes. Since I intended it to be a PP for the Artificer I didn't see the need to specify more requirements.

Err... the paragon paths in the Player's Handbook are all tied to specific classes, but we've seen racial paragon paths in Dragon, and many of the paragon paths in the FR Player's Guide apply to more than one class.

 

[Plane Sailing]

They are bringing in Swordmage with the FR books, but no Arcane Archer anywhere??

Swordmage isn't as unique as they want us to belive. Bladesinger, Spellsword, and a variety of others are all forebearers to what the Swordmage does...and they do it better.

Doesn't this illustrate the point though? The are lots of sword and spell guys, but only one bow and spell guy (arcane archer) which I've seen widely considered not all that great.

The arcane archer in 3.5 never really lived up to its promise in many ways so I guess it wasn't high on the list for the 4e developers.

Cheers

 

[ppaladin123]

It's really easy to morph the Artificer into an arcane archer. In fact I even wrote up a paragon path for doing just that. Enjoy.

[sblock=Arcane Archer PP]Arcane Archer

"The power of magic flows through me and into my arrows. Surrender now or it will flow into you as well."

Prerequisite: Proficiency with longbow or shortbow.

Arcane Archer Path Features
Infuse Arrows (11th Level): When making a ranged attack you can infuse the attack with magical power. You can add the fire, cold, force, lightning or psychic keyword and damage type to any ranged attack that uses ammunition.

Phase Arrow (11th level): When you spend an action point, ignore cover and concealment untill the end of your turn when making a ranged attack.

The Power of the Bow (16th Level): A bow or crossbow counts as an implement in your hands.

Arcane Archer Exploits

Arrow Storm Arcane Archer attack 11
Your arrow multiplies in midair until they fall on your foes like rain.
Encounter Arcane Weapon Zone
Standard Action Area Burst 3 within Weapon Range
Attack: Intelligence vs AC
Hit: 2[w] + Intelligence modifier damage
Effect: The area becomes difficult terrain until the end of your next turn.
Sustain: Minor the zone persists until the end of your next turn.

Conjure Arrow Arcane Archer Utility 12
An empty quiver is only a momentary inconvenience.
Daily Arcane
Minor Action Personal
Effect: For the rest of this encounter your ranged attacks no longer require ammunition. Add your constituion modifier as damage to all ranged attacks.

Bane Arrow Arcane Archer Attack 20
You infuse an arrow with energies particularly deadly to your foe.
Daily Arcane Weapon
Standard Action Ranged Weapon
Attack: Intelligence +2 vs AC
Hit: 5[w] + Intelligence modifier damage and if the target has any vulnerabilities the attack counts as that sort of damage.[/sblock]

I was going to say this actually. Many of the artificer's spells require you to load a cross-bow or sling with arcane reagents and fire them into crowds for area effects. One feat gets you bow (or great bow) proficiency.

You might aso try the "laser cleric" build....an elven cleric that fights with a long bow and a bunch of ranged, wisdom-based prayers.

 

[Larrin]

The Prc for Arcane Archer was pretty lack luster. You got the imbue arrow, from which you could fire several low level spells, and 4 once per day abilities. They never did the idea justice, IMO. You could make it work, but it really could have been better.

And while the concept is a good one, its towards the end of a long list of good concepts...somewhere after barbarian, druid, bard, monk, ninja. Sword mage got made first because the fighter/mage with sword is HUGE. Fighter/mage with bow never really worked. Plus no one at WoTC was writing a book about one.

It it pretty reasonable to assume we will eventually get someone who shoots magic using a longbow. With 4e its pretty simple, and the Artifacer kinda shows the way. Possibly arcane, possibly something else. Perhaps it will even be in the PHB2, who knows. Or perhaps you'll have to wait along with the psions for a later book.

 

[CormEvyrncrest]

Doesn't this illustrate the point though? The are lots of sword and spell guys, but only one bow and spell guy (arcane archer) which I've seen widely considered not all that great.

The arcane archer in 3.5 never really lived up to its promise in many ways so I guess it wasn't high on the list for the 4e developers.

Cheers

what really gets me though...and this is where I think that their teasing the hell out of all of us...or just weren't thinking...is that in the Races and Classes Preview book...there is artwork for an Arcane Archer...in fact...two pieces of artwork.

If it's not in the imidiate horizen, why bother putting it in the preview artwork?? Could it be something that their gonna do in PHB 2??

 

[Zsig]

Could it be something that their gonna do in PHB 2??

I think it's more likely that it's going to be a Paragon Path presented on Arcane Power (coming up april 2009).

The Swordmage fills a much needed gap, that of an arcane defender, whereas the Arcane Archer doesn't. Not to mention the popularity factor.

 

[Klaus]

what really gets me though...and this is where I think that their teasing the hell out of all of us...or just weren't thinking...is that in the Races and Classes Preview book...there is artwork for an Arcane Archer...in fact...two pieces of artwork.

If it's not in the imidiate horizen, why bother putting it in the preview artwork?? Could it be something that their gonna do in PHB 2??

Here's a question: what do you want out of an Arcane Archer? To cast special effect arrows? To cast spells with the range of a bow?

A 4e elf ranger/wizard multiclass can do something equivalent to all that.

 

[El Mahdi]

Arcane Archer in 3E wasn't the first time this concept appeared in D&D. There was a 2E concept from Dragon magazine (don't remember what issue) called the Spell Archer. Wasn't exactly the same as what became the Arcane Archer, but it was pretty close.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

Well there's an Against the Giants mini called Elf Arcane Archer, so I wouldn't be surprised if we saw one soon. (A paragon path in the Arcane Splatbook?)

 

[ProfessorCirno]

This problem with an "arcane archer" is that the wizard side doesn't gain anything from it. I mean, I'm the master of throwing arcane might and destroying things from a distance, so I'm going to tuck away my spell progression for...slightly better range weapons?

I think a much better idea for arcane archer is one that uses the imbue arrow idea WITHOUT the "has to be a mage first" idea. Let the martial class mix a little bit of magic into his arrows without making him wear robes. The wizard isn't getting anything out of it, so make it a class meant for archers to get more versatility.