Whats so good about a Cleric Archer?

[Tatuage Bleu]

i hear people ranting, but i don't get it.

can someone please elaborate?

 

[Ogre Mage]

Cleric Archer

i hear people ranting, but i don't get it.

can someone please elaborate?

The main strength of the cleric archer is playing an elven cleric archer with FR domains available. Elves are automatically proficient with bows which is good because the cleric isn't. The Elf domain in FR gives the point blank shot feat for free and grants some good spells for an archer (Cat's Grace). The bonus feat means an elf can start off with PBS/Rapid Short or PBS/Precise Shot right at level 1. Time (from FR), War and Travel Domains are also good for cleric archers. Elven +2 to DEX doesn't hurt either. Start adding buff spells like Divine Favor, Cat's Grace and Divine Power and things can get sick fast. The cleric archer is generally not quite as good with a bow as a fighter-archer or a ranger-archer, but the fact that the cleric-archer is a full-blown divine caster on top of her archery cannot be overstated. In terms of overall power and utility, this is one of the best archetypes in existence.

The only downfall of the cleric archer is multiple stat dependency, and non-archer clerics already suffer from this. Adding DEX as a necessary stat is really painful. Many cleric archers are forced to make both INT (painful because of already low skill points) and CHA (painful for turning) dump stats.

 

[Felon]

Well-said. That's the truth of it.

 

[Cerubus Dark]

i hear people ranting, but i don't get it.

can someone please elaborate?

First thought would be: Arrows of cure light wounds!

 

[mmu1]

The "archetypal" one is 3.0 and has the Elf and War domains. He gets Weapon Focus and Point Blank Shot for free, so by 3rd level he can take both Rapid Shot and Precise Shot, and be set as far as archer feats go. He uses War domain for Magic Weapon, Elf domain for Cat's Grace. You can easily have a 28 point buy one with +10 to hit at 3rd level. (within 30 feet, for 3 hours a day)

In 3.5, the build loses much of its appeal because the buff spells don't last.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Since nobody else has mentioned it, even without specific domains there are some spells which work very nicely thanks.

GMW (used to be on bows and arrows, this is thankfully toned down a little now)
Divine Favour (bonus to hit and damage on all attacks)
Divine Power (if you have been allowed a very mighty bow, all the better)
Righteous Might (bigger bows do bigger damage - 2d6 per arrow I believe)

and the real killer

Anti-life shell. Keep them all away from you while you blast away

 

[Particle_Man]

Another point. If clerics have any weakness, it is that their heavy armour makes them slow. Being an archer allows one to do something to foes that are far away, without using up one's healing potential in spells.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Another nasty combo is the Halfling Slingmaster. Back in SpiderQueen we had a small Cleric with the Halfling domain and a sling. Despite his negative strength, he was doing something close to +20 to damage each hit. He used a sombination of Persistant Spell, Bead of Karma, Empower Spell, Extend Spell, Cat's Grace, GMW, Divine Favor, and a Luck Stone (and problably some other spells I'm forgetting). Really sick when the Half-Dragon/Half-Dwarf Fighter/Barbarian did much less damage then the little guy.

Course, the player was pissed when we switched to 3.5 and 'made his character completely ineffective.' (paraphrased to remove things Piffany would blush at).

 

[scholar]

diab did become completely ineffective after the 3.5 quake hit faerun, I agreed with kevin on that
<and for those of you that don't know me, I'm not the player of the cleric archer...way too boring for my tastes;-)>

 

[Saeviomagy]

Another nasty combo is the Halfling Slingmaster. Back in SpiderQueen we had a small Cleric with the Halfling domain and a sling. Despite his negative strength, he was doing something close to +20 to damage each hit. He used a sombination of Persistant Spell, Bead of Karma, Empower Spell, Extend Spell, Cat's Grace, GMW, Divine Favor, and a Luck Stone (and problably some other spells I'm forgetting). Really sick when the Half-Dragon/Half-Dwarf Fighter/Barbarian did much less damage then the little guy.

Course, the player was pissed when we switched to 3.5 and 'made his character completely ineffective.' (paraphrased to remove things Piffany would blush at).

You mean with that ridiculous rule that suggests that:

Pulling an arrow out of a quiver, fitting it to the string, and drawing and raising a bow takes a free action

while

Dropping a stone from your hand into a sling takes a move equivalent action