Garahs's page

I've added every 1st party sorcerer bloodline review. Most don't really add much, but there are a few with some really nice synergy.

I'm undecided about the unicorn bloodline. On one hand, I like the idea of healing arrows and free heals whenever you cast a level 1+ spell, but it doesn't help your DPS aside from keeping your allies standing.

Since I can't edit my last post, I'll just add here the question about imbue arrow and vital strike came up before with the official ruling being "no".
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The Vital Strike feat chain also doesn't work with imbue arrow since imbue arrow uses a casting action.

A spell cast in this way uses its standard casting time and the arcane archer can fire the arrow as part of the casting.

Even if there's some errata somewhere that says you can, the full Arcane Archer 10 can duplicate that attack and spell completely except for a cheaper equipment cost.

Garahs wrote:

They might, or they might all hit.

That's kinda like saying "why should I try to get a job, I might win the lottery". Sure, it could happen, but it's just not a realistic expectation.

Depending on what you're fighting, it's a very realistic expectation. That's why I'm not applying AC. The AC target will vary wildly depending on who or what you're fighting as well as what the other members of your party can do, so I'm removing the bonuses and penalties away from other variables.

Garahs wrote:

So what is your unbuffed attack damage at level 20?

Assuming all attacks hit (for simplicity), an arcane archer can get 6d8 (arrows, BAB +17, rapid shot, many shot) + 6d6 (elemental) + 12d6 (alignment) + 30 (arcane strike) + 60 (deadly aim) +12 (weapon spec) you get an average of 180 damage.

The problem is that you cannot "assume all attacks hit," especially the latter iteratives. There are several damage calculators to estimate the average DPR, which is more meaningful than maximum possible DPR.

At higher levels, most of the time the -10 and -15 iterative attacks are misses against just about any level appropriate encounter.

They might, or they might all hit. I intentionally left equipment and spell buffs out because they have variable impacts.

Sorry, I meant what enchantments would you take over your weapon having a +5 enhancement bonus?

Really? What enchantments? Even with the damage reduction bypassing feature?

Its also the type of build most favored by the forums which heavily favor casters.

That does seem to make sense on why I see people dismiss the class without actually looking at the features. If people are so obsessed with casting purists, then they should just stick to base classes. They get more metamagic feats, after all.

I've never seen anyone do any kind of damage comparison between arcane archer and eldritch knight.

One thing I believe you may be overlooking is the class grants more than just discounts on your weapon enchantments. The maximum a weapon can be enchanted to is +10. You want to spend +5 (the max) of that on the enhancement bonus to make sure you hit, leaving +5 for other enchantments. This means an arcane archer can effectively have a +15 weapon. Warpriest is the only other class I'm aware of that can get this kind of weapon enchantment bonus.

Can my Arcane Archer outclass a vanilla Warpriest? We aren't even talking about an Arsenal Chaplain with a HornBow. Lol. Your average Warpriest can add elemental and alignment damage, and can even change which element pretty much on the fly.

Yeah, I do find it annoying the warpriest can customize their enhancements on the fly, but it's balanced with only having a max duration of 20 rounds a day.

Could be interesting to figure out damage output versus number of rounds self-buffing. Honestly, I think the arcane archer edges out just from Sense Vitals and greater invisibility, but I've never sat down and calculated how much buffing a cleric/warpriest can get.

So what is your unbuffed attack damage at level 20?

Assuming all attacks hit (for simplicity), an arcane archer can get 6d8 (arrows, BAB +17, rapid shot, many shot) + 6d6 (elemental) + 12d6 (alignment) + 30 (arcane strike) + 60 (deadly aim) +12 (weapon spec) you get an average of 180 damage.

IMO, most of the arcane archer class abilities after Imbue Arrow aren't that great.

Aren't that great? So you do admit they are great. :)

Meanwhile the Eldritch Knight class has virtually no abilities at all aside from spell critical at level 10.

Arcane Archer boosts your DPS before using spell slots. A decent AA will use divination spells to scout ahead and use those standard action abilities to make preemptive strikes. They are free attacks. Phase and Seeker arrows are good enough as is. They don't have to be completely broken by combining them with Imbue Arrow.

Thank you for the reponses! I can't think of every option on my own, so I need other views to make this a solid guide.

Can anyone tell me if the Arrow of Death doesn't qualify for the Arrow Eruption spell? It does appear to be an intrinsic magical property of the arrow.

Arrowsong Minstrel probably makes a better Bard entry than Arcane Duelist.

Thank you! I hadn't gone through every archetype before, but I just took a look and I like it. It's in.

just wanted to add this super-secret hidden class which is an almost unknown divine archtype to the arcane archer!!

That's fair, but I think that's too ambitious for this guide. I'm already considering splitting this for high and low caster builds.

Races: Half-Elf -- deserves a higher rating, because of ONE SPELL: Paragon Surge: Temporarily snag any feat you qualify for.

Thank you, I forgot about that spell. For Magus, should I rate down to orange? I haven't played around with Magus much.

My personal Arcane Archer build is fighter 1/wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 4/Arcane Archer 10. You get BAB +17 and a caster level of 15. With Prestious Spellcaster feat taken 3 times and the +2 caster level trait, you can have a caster level 20.

Hello,

I've liked the idea of the Arcane Archer for years now and after seeing a lack of any kind of guide (and hearing people say it sucks), I decided to start building a guide for it.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15-0g-h3hZGil1f2cEvCsEkHCp7QkXTKQ/edit?u sp=sharing&ouid=100530683349063083010&rtpof=true&sd=true

I welcome any feedback. I can't promise to make prompt updates to it, but I hope to add to it each week until it covers relevant options in every book released.