| Constatine |
Curious what the communities thoughts are on the elven archer. It seems an like an awesome class alternative to an archer ranger. Mostly comparing to a Ranger.
1) I get fighter feats (improved weapon foc, weapon spec, greater weapon spec). 7 total bonus feats (yum), ends up being 2 more than a rangers style feats.
2) I still get a favored enemy and ranger spells. I feel overall thats enough since you get spells to make things into your favored enemies.
3) I get a little less than 1/2 a rogues sneak attack damage scaling (good enough? not a main source of damage for archers, just nice for alphas or with invisibility later). However once I hit 16th I can go into melee and sneak attack with my bow by flanking. Thats free 4d6 damage at that point.
4) I get enchant arrows (+4) and can ignore the base +1 on arrows. That Means I can prep fire or ice or whatever elemental or alignment damage is needed on my arrows and keep my bow for raw magic bonuses and 'speed'.
5) I get close combat shots and threatening, ala the zen archer
6) I get a super alpha strike ability at 13th (spend a round aiming from hiding, next round i hit on a 1)
Still get Trap and Wild Empathy, Swift Tracker. I gain light foot. I keep the ranger skill list and 6 + Int a level.
So...what do I loose?
Animal Companion (enchant arrows/fighter feats I feel make this a non issue, although fighting low ac monsters an animal companion might give more DPR for the group)
Additional Favored Enemies (Meh. Spells kinda make this a so so later on)
Favored Terrains (nice to have)
Evasion/Improved Evasion (the former i believe can still be gotten via a ring, although that does eat up a ring slot)
Quarry/Improved Quarry (Take Aim fufills a similar role and I feel is better for the alpha)
Capstone (Elven Archers dont have one)
Medium Armor Prof (pointless. Armor Master Trait + Mithral Breast Plate, dont even need medium armor prof).
d10 vs d8 health (I'm an archer..non issue).
+4 bonus to preferred/favored enemy (+6 vs +10
So I feel within combat the Elven Archer is simply the better Archer (which probably makes sense given the focus of the class!). A fighter
has weapon training over the Elven Archer, but thats more or less it. I feel between the spells, precision, preferred target and melee archery the Elven Archer is just better at the role of high dex damage dealing with a bow.
Thoughts?