Okay, so I have a player who plans to play a Ranger, but plans to take levels of Arcane Archer later on. Due to the racial bonuses of his race (+2 Dex and Cha, -2 Wis), wouldn't it technically be better if he took a level of Sorcerer instead of a level of Wizard to qualify for the Prestige Class?
Thanks in advance. Also, I think he plans to take the Arcane bloodline if he goes Sorcerer instead of Wizard, optimization be damned.
It's set in stone. I doubt he'll change back to elf now that he has a whole concept and back-story ready for this new character.
...you're missing the point, blackblood. We both agreed he'll play a Catfolk. If you want to say you hate the race (which is the vibe I am getting from your posts), go ahead and say it. It's not contributing to this topic in any way. (And he actually plans to play it looking more like a human with cat ears and tail than an anthro, if that's what you were worrying about)
Now, anyone with actual optimizing in mind got a say about the options of Wizard or Sorcerer?
Yes sorcerer for two reasons. First he get's the bonus to the sorcerer's main stat, but also because he can choose the bloodline that makes his main casting stat Wisdom.
One of the requirements of becoming an Arcane Archer is being either elf or half-elf. Were you ignoring this and letting him take levels in it anyway or did you forget about that?
That "Elf or Half-Elf" requirement was removed from Pathfinder rules.
Oops sorry.
I kinda figured that he'd rather keep the character with the Arcane bloodline so we don't have to go with the whole "your grandpa ****ed an *Insert magical being here*" crap. Then again, now I'm starting to think that he should just pray he rolls really damned good stats so none of the caster stats will be problematic. Still not sure whether he should be a Wizard or a Sorcerer.
...I guess that can be arranged.
But if hypothetically speaking he had all stats around 15 ( as in, 14-16 ), how would you go about building the levels, up until he gains one level of Arcane Archer?
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I kinda figured that he'd rather keep the character with the Arcane bloodline so we don't have to go with the whole "your grandpa ****ed an *Insert magical being here*" crap. Then again, now I'm starting to think that he should just pray he rolls really damned good stats so none of the caster stats will be problematic. Still not sure whether he should be a Wizard or a Sorcerer.
Arcane and Destined are both easily justified without that. As are Dreamspun, Accursed, Maestro, Starsoul and Verdant. And that's just going flat-out by their descriptions without even the slightest reflavoring.
Out of curiosity, why does he want to go arcane Archer? Straight Ranger's probably better, and even for a magic-using archer Eldritch Knight's debatably better. Or archer Paladin.
...I guess that can be arranged.
But if hypothetically speaking he had all stats around 15 ( as in, 14-16 ), how would you go about building the levels, up until he gains one level of Arcane Archer?
Honestly? I'd go Ranger 5/Sorcerer 2. Maybe even in that order, from a mechanics perspective. Thematically, he might want to take some Sorcerer earlier than that, in which case I'd go Ranger, Ranger, Sorcerer, Sorcerer, then Ranger again until he's qualified.
Quit punching the damn furries. If someone wants to play an anthro race, they can play an anthro race. Why is it acceptable to want to be an green-haired gnome who turns into a leopard, but not acceptable to play a snow leopard?
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Quit punching the damn furries. If someone wants to play an anthro race, they can play an anthro race. Why is it acceptable to want to be an green-haired gnome who turns into a leopard, but not acceptable to play a snow leopard?
It is most likely the result of a few easily offended, and very vocal members of the group. Those select few are advent trolls.
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Might also help the fact that sorcerers have more spells per day, and arcane archers aren't really built for, as far as I know, for using a broad variety if spells rather than a few select spells VERY often. A blast-sorcerer or battle sorcerer combined with spell-less ranger might be a good idea. As for the furry thing...that strip should really not be used as defense, it really doesn't help their case as effectively considering the punchline...bah, whatever
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As I stated earlier, though turned down, an alternate tiefling can resemble a catfolk in all ways, and with a added bonus, can have catfolk parents, and may not even know they are something else. Sorry I repeated this.
They'd probably need to be Rakshasa blooded to do this believably...and Rakshasa blooded Tieflings get +2 Dex, -2 Wis, +2 Cha. So why are you reccomending this again? I'm a bit confused.
Why are you guys running in circles over what the character's race is instead of the stats?
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Why are you guys running in circles over what the character's race is instead of the stats?
You haven't told us stats. :)
Also, it's basically just blackbloodtroll, I just thought someone should respond to him diretly after his, what, 4th post saying the exact same thing you probably don't care about or intend to do. So his posts on that subject can stop cluttering up the thread (his posts on other subjects being perfectly reasonable).
I would suggest sorcerer also (for the reasons listed above). Regarding Wisdom stats I do not personally feel that a -2wisdom is a game breaker for a poor spellcasting class (ranger). Depending on the build (how many Arcane Archer levels he takes etc) the most he will likely get to is 3rd level ranger spells.
To be honest, if the player isnt majorly attached to Ranger then I would suggest a Fighter-Sorcerer-AA instead. Gravity bow is in the sorcerer list too so he wouldnt need to have ranger to take it.
I would also look for frontloaded (as much as there are any) Sorcerer abilities since there wont be alot of advancement there. (Reminder, AA spell level gains do not increase sorcerer nonspell abilities.) One of the elemental bloodlines would allow the PC to change spells type for free. (Example, fireball becomes iceball). It really depends on what your player wants to do with his character.
Ultimately, the sorcerer type is more flavor for a character that wont stay sorcerer long.
Hope this helps - Gauss
I would hit up sorcerer for the arcane portion. I would suggest taking eldritch knight rather than Arcane Archer (or only grab the first few levels of arcane archer).
It would be helpful to know what the players goal(s) with the character are. There are some really neat eldritch knight builds that add in a few levels of arcane archer. But if your player wants to use the bow with spells as a secondary thing it might change suggestions.
Just my 2 cents.
If the catfolk's -2 wisdom penalty is being problematic for the character build, you could do what I did and simply throw in a racial for catfolk that makes their wisdom count as two points higher for purposes of ranger spells and abilities. I always thought it made sense for catfolk to have a racial like that since they're supposed to be hunter/gatherers, and it doesn't greatly unbalance the race, at least no more than the tiefling's fiendish blood does for tiefling.
Ranger (Guide - Trapper) 1/Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 10/Arcane Archer 4
Is a solid build. You don't need more than 14 Int to start with to be effective at what you want to do (be a damage hose with good buffs and out of combat casting). You'll also have trapfinding and perception as a class skill.
One downside to starting with Ranger, though, is that you miss a bonus feat. This might be hard, especially missing out on the Human bonus feat as well. It'll take the archery aspect of the build longer to get up and running, as you really need 3-4 feats to truly get going with archery. (One houserule way around this is to allow the character to play a martially focused wizard, and let him sub out Scribe Scroll for a bonus combat feat. It was a legal option in 3.5, but hasn't made its way to Pathfinder as they tend to discourage multi-classing and "dipping" classes thus far).
You could go Sorcerer, but if this is a long term campaign that may get to high levels, Sorcerer falls behind because it misses out on 9th level spells at the very end...AND it puts you another level behind in terms of casting progression. That really hurts in a hybrid build that is already two levels behind for most of the build (and 3 at the end).
I'd go Dex > Str and Int > Wis and Con > Charisma (dump it)
If you're rolling for ability scores, the penalties and bonuses will probably matter even less (if you are rolling 6 and then assigning to the scores you want, at least). They mean more in point buy, in my experience.
Hope that gives you an idea to build off of.