Howdy! I've got a character that I feel isn't living up to his potential, and in looking through my available spells list I'm just not seeing how I can improve drastically without advice.
World description:
The old gods are all but abandoned, and a new god is rising. His religion is monotheistic. Kind of an unimportant detail. Wizardry and magic is ruled by a group that hunts down and judges practitioners who aren't part of the club. Basically they have to agree to the rules and play nice.
Character concept:
Son of a human wizard and elven sorceress, my father worked for the group that hunts down rogue magic users. He was betrayed and ultimately both parents were slain by the group that he belonged to.
My character is a half-elven arcane sorcerer/fighter (level 5/1) but I took a level of fighter at second level so I could enhance my ranged skills. I was raised in the house of a fletcher, and my primary skill is craft - bow (every level a point goes into there). In the beginning, I was told that it would be a low magic setting, so I wanted to be able to forge my own weapons.
My spells are
1st
magic missile
sleep
identify (arcane bonus)
gravity bow
2nd
invisibility (arcane bonus)
acid arrow
scorching ray
The only magic item I have is a crown of the kobold king. I'd love ideas to make my character a more powerful one, because I'm pretty much completely over-shadowed by the party druid in the damage department. I'd like to keep with my character concept of sorcerer/archer, but i'm just not sure how to do so without completely gimping my damage.
Feats:
Skill Focus (Craft - Bow) - half elf bonus
Weapon Focus Bow
Point Blank Shot
Precise Shot
I can't seem to find any feats that are in any way decent for a sorcerer, so I keep on building on my ranged feats with the hopes of one day being useful in combat.
Stats
Cha: 21 (23)
Int: 14
Dex: 14
Con: 14
Wis: 10
Str: 10
Shouldn't you have more feats at 6th level? All characters get feats at odd levels so you should have gotten one at 1, 3, and 5. You also get a fighter feat for fighter 1, and Eschew Materials as a sorcerer.
If I had been making your character I think I would have gone tattooed sorcerer. You would lose the extra spell feature at 9th level though.
I'm assuming you hadn't planned on making your bow your arcane focus. Most people prefer not to go that route with something like that if they go with the focus item.
If you go tattooed your familiar is as safe as he can be when he is not "out."
As far as feats go you absolutely have to get Deadly Aim. But if you look you really have no metamagic feats to apply to your Metamagic Adept feature.
I'm not sure arcane is really the best bloodline to go for this concept.
As far as spells go, I really think it is time to dump sleep. You probably don't fight too much it is useful on anymore. I'm not sure I get magic missile either, your bow is probably up there with the damage for it.
Which brings us to something else. Strength is important for an archer. It is a significant part of your damage. If you are going to really use the bow, I think you put too much in charisma. Your stats should be more balanced as far as the stats go. If you are making using a bow integral to your character, I don't think you can put that much in charisma.
True Strike is a good spell for you I think. Sometimes you don't want to miss, and also you can make some awesome long distance shots with it.
For second level spells I don' think you need both scorching ray and acid arrow. Personally I would go with flaming sphere and acid arrow. Invisibility is your bloodline spell but it is really useful.
Another thing I might have done is take Mirror Image and Arrow Eruption.
"Arrow Eruption
School conjuration (creation); Level ranger 2, sorcerer/wizard 2
CASTING
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (arrow or crossbow bolt)
EFFECT
Range long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Area 30-ft.-radius burst
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes
You create exact duplicates of the arrow or crossbow bolt you used to kill a creature in the previous round and launch one at enemy creatures within a 30-foot radius of the corpse. You can target one creature per caster level (maximum 15) within range of the burst and must make a single attack roll and apply it to each arrow. These duplicate arrows possess all the intrinsic magical properties of the arrow that killed the original creature as well as those passed on to it by your bow. They also enjoy the full benefit of any bonuses or modifiers you applied to the attack from other magical items, feats, and class or racial features. However, this spell cannot reproduce any spells or other limited-use magical effects that you used to enhance that particular attack. This includes such effects as the true strike spell, as well as any area spell you might have placed on the arrow by means of the arcane archer's imbue arrow class feature."
I realize you might not be able to "reroll" your character if the dm isn't willing, but you might also benefit from Bull's Strength if you can't. Your strength is really low.
As far as where you go from here, if you go mostly sorcerer, why did you take any fighter? I think you need to go Arcane Archer or Eldritch Knight, otherwise it doesn't make sense.
yeah, the plan was originally to go arcane archer. I hadn't heard of arrow eruption... I'll definitely look into that. I'd desperately love to swap out acid arrow for arrow eruption. It's a much better spell all around I think. I basically haven't played D&D in years and everything in the last decade has been a melee warrior. I thought that with the level of warrior focusing on ranged I could make myself more useful to the party when I ran out of spells and built that into my character concept. I honestly didn't figure I'd be as bad as I am at dealing damage, and when the druid (min maxed gnome pyro druid) hits, he destroys the opponents. I, typically hit for less than 20 points of damage a round :(
if you're going to go a melee route, unless you really need that featx2 from fighter, you could pick up two of paladin to get the synergy with the charisma bonus to saves.
No, I'm not going to go a melee route this time, I'm definitely sticking with the arcane archer route. I'm trying to avoid doing anything melee at all with this character (my apologies if that didn't come across clearly in the previous post - gin and tonic is evil stuff)
Your problem is that your character concept is diluted by your build. A sorcerer is not a good archer, and one level of fighter makes him a worse sorcerer, but will not make him a good archer.
Archery and sorcery are both powerful, so basically you cannot have them both in full strength in the system, so you are going to have to prioritize. And you have to know the system quite well to make it work. Also, you don't have the action economy to be both. You need to chase swift actions, like Quickened Spelllike Ability, Quickened spell, etc to compensate. These are high(er) level options.
Another thing that is crucial for an archer is some kind of mount. You can make full round attacks while the mount moves its base movement.
Also, you of course need to focus on Rapid Shot and Manyshot, as well as get Haste effect as soon as you can.
Also, it is very heavy statwise, so maybe bloodlines that can help with that. A build could be cross-blooded orc/draconic, with 4 levels of dragon disciple, for a really good strength development. When you choose to nuke, you will be dealing good damage. Also, you will be able to fly later on, which is always good for an archer. Also, Fire Arrow will give a D6+2, if you choose Fire as your draconic element. Acid is less resisted, but it is always situational. If you change the Fire Arrow to be acid based with Metamagic: elemental, your DM should allow you to stack them on your arrows for 2D6+3. Get the metamagic as a lesser rod, it is a 3000 gp item.
Statwise, you need to focus a lot on dex, because your BAB will suck until you can cast Transformation.
Keep the Char moderate, and don't use spells that allow for save. Instead ranged touch attack will be good debuffing options for you. Ray of Enfeeblement is your friend. There are traits that can lower the spell level if you combine with metamagic. Take two of those, + Metamagic: empower, and a rod of quickening, and cast empowered Ray of Enfeeblement as a swift level 1 spell. You WILL make enemy melees suck, while still having your full round attack.
Sorcerers multiclassing is not a good idea unless it is a specific build drawing on the strengths of the sorcer bloodline powers. Is there a reason you did not use your half-elf racial options to be proficient with bow? Have you considered bard? They make quite decent arcaneish archers.
The prestige class Arcane Archer does nothing for me, but If going that direction, I would suggest wizard 2, fighter 5, and magical knack trait. You would have a very good BAB, and magic would be more of an addition to your Archery, which would be much much better than a caster-based build. You would gain access to weapon specialization, much earlier Manyshot, access to Gloves of Dueling (duelist?), all really helping your build. And it would only cost you 1 BAB (wizard 2 gives 1 BAB and 2 spell progression, better than fighter 1, wizard 1)
You are a little off-track to become an arcane archer. You are well on-track for becoming an Eldrich Knight. You see, the requirements for Arcane Archer include a BAB of +6 and the ability to cast arcane spells, say level 6 Fighter/Level 1 Sorcerer at minimum. The requirements for Eldritch Knight include the ability to cast Level 3 arcane spells and and proficiency with martial weapons, say level 6 sorcerer/level 1 figher. That's the window that's about to open. As an Eldritch Knight, your BAB, hit points, and caster level all go up very quickly every level, and it's a good choice for combining fighter and sorcerer, and it's a most efficient way for you to become an Arcane Archer.
Take 1 more level in Sorcerer, the take levels in Eldritch Knight until your BAB is high enough for Arcane Archer.
Level 6, Sorcerer5Fighter1: BAB +3
7S6F1: BAB +4
8S6F1Eldritch Knight1: BAB +5
9S6F1E2: BAB +6
10S6F1E2Arcane Archer1
You didn't mention what your sorcerer bloodline is, but if it is draconic, then your next level can probably be Dragon Disciple. The prereqs include the ability to cast arcane spells without preperation and 5 ranks in Knowledge Arcana.
6S5F1: BAB +3
7S5F1Dragon Disciple1: BAB +3
8S5F1D2: BAB +4
9S5F1D3: BAB+5
10S5F1D4: BAB +6
11S5F1D4Arcane Archer1
Dragon Disciples see their caster levels rise quickly, their BAB increases a little slower than Eldritch Knights', but they get d12 for hp instead of d10, and Dragon Disciple levels stack with sorcerer for bloodline powers.
You should be wearing armor: are you? Wear an Armored Kilt: +1 AC, 0% chance Arcane Spell Failure.
Some feats for you:
Arcane Armor Proficiency, decrease your Arcane spell Failure chance by 10%; you can upgrade to a Mithril Chain Shirt and have 0% arcane spell failure chance. Arcane Armor Mastery: decrease by another 10%; you can upgrade to mithril chain or a mithril breastplate.
Master Craftsman: pick a craft skill you have 5 ranks or more in, and you can make magic items as if you had Craft Arms and Armor AND Craft Wondrous Item.
Scott Wilhelm wrote: You are a little off-track to become an arcane archer. You are well on-track for becoming an Eldrich Knight. You see, the requirements for Arcane Archer include a BAB of +6 and the ability to cast arcane spells, say level 6 Fighter/Level 1 Sorcerer at minimum. The requirements for Eldritch Knight include the ability to cast Level 3 arcane spells and and proficiency with martial weapons, say level 6 sorcerer/level 1 figher. That's the window that's about to open. As an Eldritch Knight, your BAB, hit points, and caster level all go up very quickly every level, and it's a good choice for combining fighter and sorcerer, and it's a most efficient way for you to become an Arcane Archer.
Take 1 more level in Sorcerer, the take levels in Eldritch Knight until your BAB is high enough for Arcane Archer.
Level 6, Sorcerer5Fighter1: BAB +3
7S6F1: BAB +4
8S6F1Eldritch Knight1: BAB +5
9S6F1E2: BAB +6
10S6F1E2Arcane Archer1
You didn't mention what your sorcerer bloodline is, but if it is draconic, then your next level can probably be Dragon Disciple. The prereqs include the ability to cast arcane spells without preperation and 5 ranks in Knowledge Arcana.
6S5F1: BAB +3
7S5F1Dragon Disciple1: BAB +3
8S5F1D2: BAB +4
9S5F1D3: BAB+5
10S5F1D4: BAB +6
11S5F1D4Arcane Archer1
Dragon Disciples see their caster levels rise quickly, their BAB increases a little slower than Eldritch Knights', but they get d12 for hp instead of d10, and Dragon Disciple levels stack with sorcerer for bloodline powers.
You should be wearing armor: are you? Wear an Armored Kilt: +1 AC, 0% chance Arcane Spell Failure.
Some feats for you:
Arcane Armor Proficiency, decrease your Arcane spell Failure chance by 10%; you can upgrade to a Mithril Chain Shirt and have 0% arcane spell failure chance. Arcane Armor Mastery: decrease by another 10%; you can upgrade to mithril chain or a mithril breastplate.
Master Craftsman: pick a craft skill you have 5 ranks or more in, and you can make magic items as if you had...
My comment to this is that you should take an even number of Sorcerer levels
, it gives same bab but better spell level progression. So, for example if building for arcane archer, that could be sorc 6 (bab 3, CL 6) fighter 3, netting you a BAB 6 and CL 6. If you take sorc 5, fighter 4, you will have same bab, but one CL lower.
I think the above poster is right about taking Eldritch Knight when you hit 6 Sorcerer/1 Fighter.
But if you take any Draconic Disciple you need to have a Draconic bloodline, and he has Arcane.
That said, Eldritch Knight might be a better idea than Arcane Archer anyway. Been a while since I've looked at those.
I think the original poster has a problem of sorts. Being an archer with good supporting magic can work really well. Being a caster with good supporting archery is a lot harder to pull off.
Hmmm just took a look at AA. If I were building your character I would have gone 4 Ranger or Fighter, 4 sorcerer to get into Arcane Archer.
Probably Fighter to get Weapon Training. Gloves of Dueling are the cheesiest item ever.
Crap, got to have 5 Fighter for that though. And if you do that, might as well go 6 fighter for another feat.
Long story short, if archery is important to you, I think it has to be the center of your build as regards combat. I guess you can always plink arrows, but archery seems to take too many feats for you to be much good at it if you go mainly caster.
If his bloodline is not draconic, then that rules out Dragon Disciple. Vis a vis the point about taking "an even number of Sorcerer levels," recall that while taking levels in Eldritch Knight and Arcane Archer, the CL level keeps going up quite steadily.
Even though archery has not been the center of this character's attention, it still might be worthwhile to take levels in Arcane Archer. Arcane Archers have pretty sweet abilities. The one that sticks out in my mind is Imbue Arrow, which allows you to cast spells centered on the arrow instead of on yourself, including range 0 spells. If the purpose of shooting your arrow is really to cast a spell, you can use marker dye arrows that do no damage and hit as a ranged touch attack. And you can do things this way that can't be done any other way, like use an imbued arrow to cast True Strike on a Fighter so he can use Power Attack. It's actually the only way I can think of to cast True Strike on somebody else.
He already has Precise Shot and Weapon Focus,
7S6F1: BAB +3, Point Blank Shot, Arcane Armor Proficiency, CL 6
8S6F1Eldritch Knight1: Deadly Airm (Power Attack for Archers), BAB +4, CL6
9S6F1E2: Master Craftsman, I recommend Armor. There are lots of Wondrous Items that come in the form of bits of armor: gauntlets, bracers, belts, helms, etc.,so he can make things like Belts of Dexterity and Bracers of Archers; BAB +5; CL7 (8, kinda).
10S6F1E3: CL 8/9; BAB +6
11S6F1E3Arcane Archer1: CL8/9, BAB +7, Reckless Aim or Arcane Strike maybe?
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