I'm working on a build for an Arcane Archer and I'd like your input/feedback/tips/suggestions/etc.

Here are the prereqs for the PRC:
1) BAB 6
2) Arcane caster lv 1
3) Precise Shot
4) Point Blank Shot
5) Weapon Focus (Bow)
6) Elf or Half-Elf (house rules ignore this prereq)

We're about to begin a campaign starting at lv 10.
Here's an incomplete build that I've been fleshing out:

6 lvs of fighter
1 lv of sorcerer (arcane bloodline, raven familiar)
3 lvs of arcane archer

Human (78 HP): Str 14, Dex 20, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 14

Current Feats: Toughness, Precise Shot, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Many Shot, Weapon Focus (Composite Longbow)

Starting money: $62,000

Current equipment:
MW Composite Longbow

I'll probably only add another 2-3 levels of Arcane Archer before the campaign wraps up. If we do end up going to lv 20, I'd max out Arcane Archer and then add another 3 lvs of sorcerer or fighter.

Play style:
I plan on using ranged attacks 99% of the time, only using offensive magic and melee attacks in emergency situations.

Here are my questions:
1) Armor: Right now, my AC is only about 16, which is my biggest weakness. Should I buy light/medium mithril armor and/or mithril buckler, AC items and get the Arcane Armor Training feat? Or should I just stick to Mage Armor and Shield spells?

2) Bloodline: I chose the Arcane bloodline for the Arcane Bond ability. Is there another bloodline that might be more beneficial? (keep in mind low-sorcerer lv)

3) Spells: What lv 1 spells would be most useful in combat? Possibilities include: Magic Missile, Summon Monster I, True Strike, Shield and Mage Armor (not necessary if I decide to wear armor).

4) Feats: I'm considering Dodge, Improved Precise Shot, Mobility, Shot on the Run, Weapon Finesse, Improved Familiar, Arcane Armor Training, Weapon Specialization.

5) Equipment: Any good enchantments I should put on my equipment? Any good equipment (offensive or defensive) that I should purchase?

6) Thrown Weapons: we're house ruling that thrown weapons can also benefit from the Arcane Archer's enhancement abilities. Any cool ideas for this?

Does anybody have any suggestions on how to make this build more fun, interesting and effective in combat?
I don't plan on playing with this character for more than a few months, so i'm willing to try anything! :)

I would argue a drastic overhaul, going Wizard/Ranger. But that's just me, and it's only a suggestion. Once we get past the classes, you can ignore that and focus on everything else I say.

The Wizard's Bonded Item is a rock-solid choice for an AA, since you can bond to anything, your bow seems the likeliest candidate, and offers an extra spell "just because." And its a class feature, leaving you the option to take a specialist school at your leisure without sacrificing the bond. Of course, if you want a familiar, that may get funky.

The Ranger grants those nice inherent bonuses, gives you favored enemies and terrain, eventually a pet or a group bonus, and combat style feats; truly, not as many feats, but really spiffy stuff nonetheless.

As far as a statblock, I'd say that your starting block should likely see you ditching STR (no more than 12), keeping CON where it's at, dumping CHA, and bring WIS to at least 12, shoot for an INT of 16*, and then focus on DEX for the rest, then pump Dex with your bonus ability scores at 4 and 8.

Wizard 1/Ranger 6/Arcane Archer 3 - you can mix and match/switch-off leveling Ranger and Arcane Archer classes, or just go pure AA.

The only real downside would be that if you went all the way to 20, Arrow of Death would suffer a -1 to its DC for dumping CHA.

*If you have access to Traits: the Magical Knack trait (I swear I'm like a spokesman for this trait) will net you +2 Caster Levels; 1 Wizard + 2 from Magical Knack + 7 from Max Levels in Arcane Archer = 6th level spells, nifty skills, and delicious cake. That's if you think the game can make it to 20.

Ok, I'm done there, feel free to consider or ignore it as you see fit.

Equipment should likely be what you asked about: Mithril (with Arcane Armor Training, its a win). A Magic bow of some quality, a few specialist arrows (tons of basic mundanes), and maybe a buckler and a weapon-finessable stabbing implement (in case of melee, plus, you can wear a buckler and shoot your bow at no penalty, you just don't get the AC if you're shooting), I would just try to balance the Max Dex Bonus of the Armor with your actual Dex score, unless you plan on "growing into" it.

Your feats look about right, though I'm not a fan of familars, so I would ditch that for Arcane Strike. As far as spells go, if you're going to avoid offensive casting, I would stick with Illusion and Abjuration.

Otherwise, it looks good mang. Do what you will and have fun in the game!

My suggestion would actually be to use wizard instead of sorcerer and have more wizard levels.

Fighter 4/Wizard (Diviner) 2/Arcane Archer 4

This would actually give you a CL of 5 compared to the 3 that you have in your build. The key difference is that this character would have access to 2nd and 3rd level spells whereas the sorcerer would only have 1st. You wouldn't have as many per day, but you'd definitely have a very large selection.

I'd also suggest doing Elf in spite of the house rule as the bonuses to an elf fit right in with an arcane archer. Not sure how you'd want to distribute your stats differently because of that, but it would keep you at 20 DEX but also allow you to have a 15 or 16 int (instead of 14 cha as you currently have).

Spell selections should be for utility, not damage. At that level something like magic missile should be in a wand and it's only used as a last resort for something you can't physically damage.

Feat selection it looks like you only have 6 selected, the build I'm using has access to 8 in total, yours would be 10. I would recommend to add Deadly Aim to the list, as Weapon Specialization. It also would be good to get Arcane Strike in, but you'd have to take it from one of the other feats. Later on you could get 1-2 of the critical feats as well.

Don't have time for more suggestions, but I hope it works out!

*If you have access to Traits: the Magical Knack trait (I swear I'm like a spokesman for this trait) will net you +2 Caster Levels; 1 Wizard + 2 from Magical Knack + 7 from Max Levels in Arcane Archer = 6th level spells, nifty skills, and delicious cake. That's if you think the game can make it to 20.

Just as a quick response to this: Magical Knack does not work that way. It increases your caster level for spells you can cast, however it will NOT give you access to more spells. Also by the math 1+7+2=10, 10th level casters only will get access up to 5th level spells, you need 11th for 6th level spells.

Well, not so many words to eat as I thought, looks like my math was off, and in my favor, to boot, two mistakes in one day. Regardless, again, tanks for the heads up.

Alizor wrote:

Just as a quick response to this: Magical Knack does not work that way. It increases your caster level for spells you can cast, however it will NOT give you access to more spells. Also by the math 1+7+2=10, 10th level casters only will get access up to 5th level spells, you need 11th for 6th level spells.

After reading what you said I was incredulous, no way could I be wrong, and then after reading through it just to be sure... Oh crap - I've got a lot of words to eat and posts to edit. Thanks for the heads up.

Well, not so many words to eat as I thought, looks like my math was off, and in my favor, to boot, two mistakes in one day. Regardless, again, tanks for the heads up.

Alizor wrote:
"Fighter 4/Wizard (Diviner) 2/Arcane Archer 4"

this only gives BAB +5 need +6 for Arcane Archer.

Alizor wrote:
"Fighter 4/Wizard (Diviner) 2/Arcane Archer 4"

this only gives BAB +5 need +6 for Arcane Archer.

1) I'm obsessive about feats, so I chose Human as the race because of the bonus feat. I agree that the extra INT from the elf would be nice, but I'm not sure I like the idea of losing my extra feat. I'll do some number crunching and see what kind of benefits the extra INT would provide.

2) I chose fighter as the primary class because of all the feats. Ranger was my 2nd choice, which would offer some fun options. My GM also suggested Bard, but F* that. Bard isn't my cup of tea.

3) I agree that the wizard class makes much more sense than Sorcerer. I like the benefits granted by the Abjuration, Divination and Transmutation schools. The bonded object is also a good idea. I definitely think I'll change this. This is a good move because it also allows me to focus on INT rather than CHA.

4) I like the idea of a decent Strength score because it adds additional damage to the composite longbow and always helps with melee or CMB/CMD. Why raise WIS? Aside from increasing Perception and Will Saves, what benefit would an Arcane Archer gain?

5) I do have access to Traits, but I totally forgot to choose one! D'oh! Magical Knack sounds like a winner.

6) Regarding Arcane Strike: would the benefits stack with the Arcane Archer's arrow enhancement ability? I considered arcane strike, but I was worried it might be repetitive and/or rendered obsolete by the archer's abilities, which already turns arrows into "magic" weapons.

7) Any ideas for thrown weapons?

Thanks for all your great comments so far!
I'm really learning a lot.
Keep the cool ideas coming!

FYI: this is going to be a jungle campaign. So probably lots of scaly monsters. Fun!

1) I'm obsessive about feats, so I chose Human as the race because of the bonus feat. I agree that the extra INT from the elf would be nice, but I'm not sure I like the idea of losing my extra feat. I'll do some number crunching and see what kind of benefits the extra INT would provide.

Arcane Strike (Combat)
You draw upon your arcane power to enhance your weapons with magical energy.
Prerequisite: Ability to cast arcane spells.

Benefit: As a swift action, you can imbue your weapons with a fraction of your power. For 1 round, your weapons deal +1 damage and are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. For every five caster levels you possess, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Enhance Arrows (Su): At 1st level, every nonmagical arrow an arcane archer nocks and lets fly becomes magical, gaining a +1 enhancement bonus. Unlike magic weapons created by normal means, the archer need not spend gold pieces to accomplish this task. However, an archer's magic arrows only function for him.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Other than using your swift action for the extra damage I see nothing that won't stack together.

I would go with a bonded item of the bow. That gives your AA whatever enchantment he wants at half costs with no feats. If you loose the bow it will be very hard to cast but that isn't a huge deal since this guy is an archer not a wizard.

Human is a good choice except that humans can't be arcane archers. Only elfs and half-elfs can. Our halfling ranger was devastated after finding this one out. I think he'll become an assassin instead...

Arcane Strike (Combat)
You draw upon your arcane power to enhance your weapons with magical energy.
Prerequisite: Ability to cast arcane spells.

Benefit: As a swift action, you can imbue your weapons with a fraction of your power. For 1 round, your weapons deal +1 damage and are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. For every five caster levels you possess, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Enhance Arrows (Su): At 1st level, every nonmagical arrow an arcane archer nocks and lets fly becomes magical, gaining a +1 enhancement bonus. Unlike magic weapons created by normal means, the archer need not spend gold pieces to accomplish this task. However, an archer's magic arrows only function for him.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Other than using your swift action for the extra damage I see nothing that won't stack together.

I would go with a bonded item of the bow. That gives your AA whatever enchantment he wants at half costs with no feats. If you loose the bow it will be very hard to cast but that isn't a huge deal since this guy is an archer not a wizard.

Unfortunately, since my growth plan would only allow for an arcane caster level of 4, I wouldn't receive the dmg increase every 5th lv.

Still not a bad feat, but I wouldn't receive the full benefit.

Bard 8, Arcane Archer 10, Bard 2 is a powerful (and simple) build. Add Combat Expertise and you have a "traditional elf" if you choose spells to that end.

A buckler applies to bow and longsword. Arcane Strike is worthwhile and adds to damage for bow and longsword (better than specialisation as this build has a fair few casting levels) as does bard peformance.

Melding art and magic to weave a patten of death 'bladesinger' style is perfectly covered thru arcane strike and the ultimate grace and art of bards.

Also bard area spells are more often short range and benefit from IMBUE ARROW (silence, sound burst, glitterdust, pyrotechnics (great on a flaming arrow), daylight, fear, invis. 10ft rad, crushing despair, haste, slow, shout, mass cure light wounds, song of discord etc is a more elf like artistic/subtle/effective style and unique benefit than the standard arrow nuke of a long range nuke). Silence alone makes your readied action vs a caster combat ending yet satisfying!
(how I miss the bard 7, occult slayer 2, arcane archer 2 of 3.5.. skill for low level and then a good pay off twice, just as the average campaign ends).

Makes you wonder why people want a specific class for it really. To lazy or biased to see the obvious perhaps or in my case I am an elf hating elf lover so have issues.

As a cosmology point. CHR casters make for better elf traditionalism. The wizard builds have dump chr wich makes for basically an ugly, anorexic emo looking character where an exotic, beautiful, perfect character is imagined.