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! :)
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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!
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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!
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*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.
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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.
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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.
No problem at all. And back to the topic at hand, if he DID have access to traits I'd still recommend the trait as it's a wonderful bonus.
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Alizor wrote:
"Fighter 4/Wizard (Diviner) 2/Arcane Archer 4"this only gives BAB +5 need +6 for Arcane Archer.
You know, this is why rushing an answer while at work doesn't work so well... yeah you're right, just have one less Arcane Archer level and one more fighter level (Fighter 5, AA3). While this takes out the 3rd level spells at level 10, you'd get it at 11.
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.
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.
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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.
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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...
Our group sees that prereq as an antiquated tradition that doesn't really make sense other than to give it some flavor, so we don't preclude other races from taking that PRC. Hooray for house-rules, right?
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.
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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.
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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.
Hmmm...yes...I see.
But since the arrows become "magical" from the Enhance Arrows ability, Arcane Strike's "treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction" bonus would become irrelevant. Instead, I would just receive the +1 dmg, and the feat would function like Weapon Specialization, right?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.
A human can become an arcane archer if he takes the Racial Heritage feat and chooses elf.
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Build: Human Fighter 1/Transmuter 5/Eldritch Knight 3/Arcane Archer 3/Eldritch Knight +7/Arcane Archer +1
Traits: Adopted (Elf) which lets you also choose an Elven trait...I'd go with Warrior of Old. 2nd Trait = Magical Knack.
Feats: 1 – Weapon Focus
1 – Point Blank Shot
1 – Precise Shot
3 – Rapid Shot
5 – Arcane Strike
6 – Craft Magic Arms and Armor
7 – Deadly Aim, Improved Initiative
9 – Manyshot
11 – Weapon Specialization
Bonded Object: Ring (A bow is just asking to be sundered, which would gimp you in every possible way...such a scary thought)
-Using Craft Magic Arms and Armor lets you make your bows at half price anyhow, as well as really benefits your entire group, money-wise.
-If your character was adopted and raised by elves (as your traits will both suggest), Arcane Archer isn't an issue to get into. Especially in your group.
-Opposed Schools: Evocation and Necromancy
-I'd put Int at 14, then rely on Int boosting items. You're not aiming for high DCs, you're buffing yourself. Primary is Dex, then once you have that jacked up and Int at 14, I would go Strength to get some more damage.
-The 5 levels in Wizard is enough to get a +2 enhancement bonus to a score through the Transmuter special ability. This lets you get a belt for Dex while still buffing Strength a little without having to buy one of the hugely expensive belts that buff all three scores. I'd drop your charisma to 10 or 8, then use those points to get Int to 14 and perhaps even buff your Wisdom to help with perception and will saves. Arcane Archers get Perception as a class skill, so you should have that maxed.
-This build eventually gets 9th level spells and full iterative attacks if you play to 20. It is a pretty powerful spellcaster, as well as a flat our damage hose.
Hope that helps with some ideas.
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One thing to keep in mind about the ranger the bonus feats he gets can ignore prerequisites. An Elven Ranger/Wizard would work well for this. This will also give you both divine and arcane spells. Wands of Cure Light Wounds baby.
STR 14, DEX 18, CON 12, INT 18 (+1 4th, +1 8th), WIS, 12, CHA 8. Ranger 6, Wizard 1, 3 Arcane Archer 3.
Magical Knack for sure. Feats, Point Blank shot, Precise Shot, Many Shot, Deadly Aim, Weapon Focus Longbow, and Point blank mastery. You will also get Endurance for free as a ranger so you can sleep in Medium Armor.
The Scribe scroll from the Wizard also means you can scribe Ranger spells. You will also have 96 points in skills at 10th level and a decent skill list.
As a fighter you will have a weapon specialization, and Rapid Shot to the mix. but your skill points drops to 67 with a much smaller list of skills.
What you have to ask yourself is are those two feats worth divine spells, Favored Enemy, Favored Terrain, Endurance, Wild Empathy, and 29 skill points.
One thing to keep in mind about the ranger the bonus feats he gets can ignore prerequisites. An Elven Ranger/Wizard would work well for this. This will also give you both divine and arcane spells. Wands of Cure Light Wounds baby.
STR 14, DEX 18, CON 12, INT 18 (+1 4th, +1 8th), WIS, 12, CHA 8. Ranger 6, Wizard 1, 3 Arcane Archer 3.
Magical Knack for sure. Feats, Point Blank shot, Precise Shot, Many Shot, Deadly Aim, Weapon Focus Longbow, and Point blank mastery. You will also get Endurance for free as a ranger so you can sleep in Medium Armor.The Scribe scroll from the Wizard also means you can scribe Ranger spells. You will also have 96 points in skills at 10th level and a decent skill list.
As a fighter you will have a weapon specialization, and Rapid Shot to the mix. but your skill points drops to 67 with a much smaller list of skills.
What you have to ask yourself is are those two feats worth divine spells, Favored Enemy, Favored Terrain, Endurance, Wild Empathy, and 29 skill points.
Only if you take 6 levels in either Ranger or Fighter. I'll take higher level Arcane spells over ANY of the benefits you listed...pretty much any day. Also, sleeping in medium armor really isn't of much use if you're casting arcane spells...unless you burn feats and swift actions to make it work, which isn't optimal. Also, arcane archer gets stealth and perception so you can have those and work as a scout pretty darn well.
A big problem of the Arcane Archer seems to be that it doesn't quite synergize with anything. No matter how you build it, there are several strictly better options.
The Original poster wanted advice on how to build an Arcane Archer, not why not to build one. In some ways I can understand that this may not be the ideal build, but that is what he wants to play.
In order to qualify for the Arcane Archer a BAB you need the BAB of +6. The easiest and quickest way to get this is to take 6 levels in a full BAB class. The best choices will be Fighter or Ranger. Both of these classes offer extra feats that can help qualify for the class. If you maximize the Wizard class he will need to be 11th before he can become an Arcane Archer. At that point why bother just stay a Wizard.
Personally I think the Ranger offers more for this class then the fighter. Its abilities mesh nicely with the Arcane Archer. Kind of weird when a character suddenly becomes sneaky and stealthy ad mid level.
The APG gave a lot of nice spells to the Ranger. Many of them are not always useful, but being able to create scrolls during downtime is nice.
Sleeping in Armor at low levels is when it is most important. It can may help you survive long enough to actually get to play what you wanted.
@ steelfiredragon: One of the higher ups at paizo felt that the Arcane archer should not have had "elf or half-elf" as a prerequisite.
@ Shadow13.com: I would suggest sorcerer/2 Fighter/5 for a solid arcane archer build; BUT I also find this route a bit boring (IMO) so, I would suggest a Sorcerer/2 ranger/5 for a bit more interesting character, not to mention better utility. If you go skirmisher, a number of times per day, you can spend a swift action to not provoke AoO with your bow in melee for one round. A favored enemy is a nice little boost when you face them and provides role play opportunity. You would get 2 bonus feats instead of 3. And 6+int skill points per level.
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First up, you seem to be designing an Arcane Archer in, perhaps, the better way... that is to say, 'an archer with some magic tricks' as oppossed to 'a caster with a bow'. With that in mind, your BAB is the thing you don't want slipping (although you'll always take at least a 1 level 'hit' to get your caster requirement in).
You have two basic choices to get to Arcane Archer quickly: full BAB combat class 6 / arcane caster class 1, or full BAB combat class 5 / arcane caster clas 2. The former generally gives 2 more Hit Points than the latter (3 if you're going Barbarian, but they don't really work well as Arcane Archers), plus the combat class's level 6 stuff, whilst the latter gives more and better spells as you progress.
When looking at the arcane caster class you'll dip into, make sure to look at which low-level abilities give you some utility right off the bat, rather than those designed to scale with levels in that caster class. That's one reason why a familiar is a poor choice for an Arcane Archer - the familiar will, essentially, be stuck at level 1 or 2 for your whole career. The Witch's reliance on a familiar thus makes it a less than optimal choice as a caster 'dip class', same with the Summoner and his pet, etc.. Sorcerer and Wizard are your best bets, and whilst some of the Sorcerer Bloodlines provide nice arcana for an Arcane Archer, the faster spell progression of the Wizard, and the potential to expand his repetoire of spells outside of the level structure, makes him a more tempting choice.
In the end (based on the above reasoning and your already stated preferences) I'd go for...
Fighter (archer) 6 / Wizard (diviner [foresight] or [scryer]) 1 / Arcane Archer 3.
The 6 levels of Fighter (archer) give you:
Hawkeye +2 on Perception checks /+10ft to bow range increments
Trick Shot (chose one of: disarm, feint, or sunder you can do at range with a bow)
Expert Archer +1 on attack and damage rolls with bows
Plus 4 bonus Feats
The 1 level of Wizard (diviner) gives you:
Forewarned - the ability to always act in the surprise round, and a +1 to Initiative
and either...
Prescience (foresight school) - free d20 roll at the beginning of your turn which you can substitute for any other d20 roll in that turn, 3+Intelligence modifier times per day.
or..
Send Senses (scryer school) - scrying sensor at 110ft for 1 round, 3+Intelligence modifier times per day.
... both of which can be a great help to an Arcane Archer - the first just to help make those tricky shots, the second to help you glimpse targets round corners, over walls, etc. so that you can then target them with your Seeker arrow when you hit Arcane Archer 4.
In any case I'd recommend you take your bow as a bonded object - magic weapons are notoriously hard to sunder, and the bonded object perk means you have a 'security lock-out' on any enchantments you place on the thing, so that they only work for you - and as an Arcane Archer you'll be enchanting that thing through the roof, right? ;)
For armour you have three basic choices: Mage Armour (which costs you at least one spell per adventuring day, and you don't have many spells), Bracers of Armour (which are expensive for the return), or Arcane Armour Training. AAT is really your best bet, since you've already got the Armour Proficiencies due to your Fighter levels, and adding magical bonuses to actual armour is much cheaper than buying bracers of armour... the downside is that whilst you qualify for the Feat at Fighter 6 / Wizard 1 / Arcane Archer 3, you don't have a spare Feat slot until level 11... so, if you're going the armour-wearing route, then it's probably worth switching round a little to Fighter 5 / Wizard 2 / Arcane Archer 3, since then you'd have qualified for the Feat when you were level 9 and had a Feat spare. You miss out on +1 Perception and +5ft of the Hawkeye feature from the Fighter (archer) archetype, and one bonus Feat, as well as those 2 (on average) Hit Points, but it's probably worth it if this is where your armour is going to be coming from. You can then wear a mithral chain shirt with no chance of spell failure, or a mithral breastplate with just a 5% chance of spell failure.
The throwing weapons idea is a weird one, in a way, as your bow is usually going to be a better option... but a couple of spring-loaded wrist sheaths with daggers in them could make for a nice surprise if the need arises!
Spell-wise, the Imbue Arrow class feature only functions for area spells, so you'll want lots of those. Grease and Obscuring Mist are good first level choices for 'effects', Colour Spray and Burning Hands for straight combat-bonuses, True Strike for your divination bonus spell. Glitterdust, Web, and Darkness are all good 2nd level 'effects', and See Invisibility is a good choice of bonus spell for a ranged attacker. From the APG Gravity Bow is a must, Arrow Eruption is nice, Stone Call rocks as an Imbue Arrow effect, Dust of Twilight is nice too, and Create Pit may qualify to be imbued, depending on how your DM reads the 'area' requirement for the class feature.
All IMHO, as always... ;)
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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, as cool as this is in concept, it just doesn't work. You cannot cast somatic components and have a bow as your bonded item because your hands are full with the two-handed weapon. The operative term in this case technically is "wielded".
Weapons acquired at 1st level are not made of any special material. If the object is an amulet or ring, it must be worn to have effect, while staves, wands, and weapons must be wielded
Since bows are two-handed weapons they must be "wielded" in two hands, therefore you cannot cast spells with a somatic component because you have no free hand. Staves and the like are technically "double weapons" and therefore can be wielded in one hand, thus why the staff, even though it appears to be a two-handed weapon, can be used with the bonded item. I'm too lazy to dig up the thread where James Jacobs originally addressed this.
Aaah, here it is straight from the dino's mouth.
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SRD wrote:
Weapons acquired at 1st level are not made of any special material. If the object is an amulet or ring, it must be worn to have effect, while staves, wands, and weapons must be wielded...
You cut off the quote before the next sentence, which states the object needs to be 'worn or in hand'. 'Wielded' must mean holding it in hand... if it meant actually attacking with the weapon, then you couldn't cast any spells with a casting time of a standard action or longer either... which seems a pretty huge limitation they might have mentioned in the rules...
EDIT: ... checking your link to what JJ says... well, that strikes me as crazy. Then again, the designers also said that reach weapon have the grid physics 'corner holes' in their threaten area which you can just walk past diagonally without triggering an AoO, so I choose to take some things with a pinch of salt... ;)
But you're an archer, not a barbarian with a two-handed axe. If your DM brings this one up, just tell him you're holding your bowstring in your teeth as you wiggle your other hand for the gestures... it makes about as much sense... ;)
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You cut off the quote before the next sentence, which states the object needs to be 'worn or in hand'. 'Wielded' must mean holding it in hand... if it meant actually attacking with the weapon, then you couldn't cast any spells with a casting time of a standard action or longer either... which seems a pretty huge limitation they might have mentioned in the rules...
I cut it off where it made sense. Here is James' Jacobs' take on it.
An arcane bonded weapon must be wielded in order for it to have effect. This, unfortunately, does mean that two-handed weapons make for relatively poor bonded objects, since they'd limit your spellcasting to things without somatic components. Carrying a 2-handed weapon in one hand isn't "wielding" it... you're just carrying it. You have to have both hands to cast spells with a two-handed weapon bonded object.
A feat or class ability that lets you use a 2H weapon's swings and stabs and motions as your somatic component would be pretty interesting... but nothing in the core currently lets you do that. Your best bet in this case is to only cast Still spells or spells without somatic components.
The operative term here is that holding a 2-handed weapon in one hand is not "wielding" it, you're just holding it (per official rules interpretations).
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The operative term here is that holding a 2-handed weapon in one hand is not "wielding" it, you're just holding it (per official rules interpretations).
Yeah - I followed your edit with one of my own above... and I still think it's a crazy ruling, since it's not like you'll often get the chance to both cast and attack at the same time anyway, right? ;)
An Arcane Duelist Bard can use the hand holding his bonded weapon for somatic components. Requires 5 level of Bard though.
There was a feat called somatic weaponry in 3.6 (Complete Mage, I think).
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This is absolutely a house rules issue. Games that run 3.5 and/or are subject to house rules to get bypass whatever rules they don't like. This one is a prime example of goofy mechanics that should be second guessed.
I play a lot of PFS though, and per RAW, there's no effective way to use a 2-hander as your arcane bond. I wish it weren't so, but them's the rules.
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If wielding a bow requires two hands, you could never draw arrows to shoot them. That's just the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Seriously, is anyone arguing that a bow must be wielded in both hands even THINKING? I understand it's listed as a two-hand weapon, because it requires both hands to fire. But if you've ever seen a bow fired, you know that it only takes one hand to hold while the other works independently. This would make it easy enough to cast spells.
Also, as Dragonborn said, just say you're using it as an improvised club and your fine.
If wielding a bow requires two hands, you could never draw arrows to shoot them. That's just the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Seriously, is anyone arguing that a bow must be wielded in both hands even THINKING? I understand it's listed as a two-hand weapon, because it requires both hands to fire. But if you've ever seen a bow fired, you know that it only takes one hand to hold while the other works independently. This would make it easy enough to cast spells.
Also, as Dragonborn said, just say you're using it as an improvised club and your fine.
Yeah that makes no sense to me either.
A big problem of the Arcane Archer seems to be that it doesn't quite synergize with anything. No matter how you build it, there are several strictly better options.
Arcane Archer synergizes well if you never go past level 4 in it. If you want to play a decent archer with a lot of versatility and tricks up his sleeve, then you can certainly do so. However, the build is going to be more Eldritch Knight than Arcane Archer.
The build I posted earlier (Fighter 1/Wizard 5/EK 3/AA 3/EK +7/AA +1) is really the best way to approach making an AA, I feel. Of course, that's just my opinion, but getting almost full wizard casting with almost full BAB (9th level spells and full iterative attacks) is certainly a viable build. You're not going to be a Wizard, but you'll be better than a fighter. Not to mention you can hose wizards with AMF imbued in an arrow.
Apart from that build, though, I think you're right. Usually you're much better off just staying ranger if you're already taking it to 6. Same with fighter. Unless you really focus on getting your casting up, then you're better off staying in your regular class and just being an archer.
I found arcane archer meshing quite well with Magus, though it may be questionable if you want to do that when the revised Magus is about to be published and you have to redo your character 3 or 4 sessions in (plus it may not mesh quite as well then).
Magus 8 qualifies you for AA with decent spell casting and decent AB, 9th magus level for the next step in magus abilities.
yeah sorc > wizard for multiclassing so Sorc 1/Ranger 6/AA 3.
get rapid and manyshot as combat style feats, PBS and Precise with lv 1 and 3 feats. Toughness is a must ofc.
You can take Arcane Armor Training so you can use your swift action to cast with no AFC
Arcane Strike helps add a lil more damage when you attack
After you do your 8-10 levels in AA, top it off with Eldritch Knight for full BAB and as much casting as possible.
Also, get Greater Magic Weapon as your first lv3 spell ftw.
6) Elf or Half-Elf (house rules ignore this prereq)
This was removed, see here. It is no longer a house rule!
I found arcane archer meshing quite well with Magus, though it may be questionable if you want to do that when the revised Magus is about to be published and you have to redo your character 3 or 4 sessions in (plus it may not mesh quite as well then).
Magus 8 qualifies you for AA with decent spell casting and decent AB, 9th magus level for the next step in magus abilities.
Revised? will this be a new book or a reprint of UM? Anyway I like the idea of a Myrmidarch magus to 8th, say8-10 levels AA and the rest Magus. I like the ranged spellstrike feature and better armor and weapon training of the myrmidarch, they can be awesome at range and pretty darn good melee too methinks.