Martial Options for an Eldritch Knight Archer.

[Pupsocket]

I'm looking to make an Eldritch Knight archer, starting at level 3.

On the arcane side, I'm using Scryer Diviner, and still undecided between that tempting arcane bond (bow) and a familiar. I'm kinda committed to being an Elf.

On the martial side, there are many options:
*Magus. Arcane Pool kinda-sorta compensates for the lack of BAB, but it doesn't really bring anything to the table. Although I could take the Soul Forger archetype, and have both a bonded item and a familiar.
*Monk (Sohei) doesn't synergize well with an archer-wizard.
*Fighter gets me a bonus feat, but that's it.
*Cavalier, Samurai, Gunslinger, Brawler, Bloodrager: Like Fighter, but worse.
*Skald is so terrible, it gets a line all to itself.
*Paladin (Divine Hunter) is a pretty sweet dip for Precise Shot, but then I'd have to be a Paladin.
*Barbarian (Urban) gives me +2 to hit for a few rounds everyday; not terrible.
*Ranger doesn't get me a bonus feat, but I get Favored Enemy, which is nice, access to Ranger spells, and a very nice array of skills.
*Hunter or Swashbuckler don't synergize well
*Slayer gives me nice skills, but I'd rather have FE than Favored Target.
*Warpriest looks very juicy. Free Weapon Focus, effectively full BAB, fort and will saves, blessings and access to the Cleric list. I can still dump Cha, because I'll only be taking one level.

[Imbicatus]

Warpriest of Erastil or Ylimancha would be nice. Free Weapon
Focus with longbow, and the blessings are a big boon. Ylimancha is better than Erastil for the Air Blessing.

[Gilarius]

Gunslinger is only worth it if you take 5 levels.

Otherwise I would tend to agree with Imbicatus and go for warpriest, particularly if you will be doing any crafting or just to be able to use wands of CLW.

[williamoak]

I would probably take the ranger. Boost to saves, favored enemy, access to ranger spell wands.

[XMorsX]

*Skald is awesome, just not for your build.

Warpriest and Divine Hunter Paladin stand for the best choices. Figheter and Ranger take the second place, even though I believe that the bonus feats of the pala, wp and fghtr are much better bonuses for an archer than the goodies of the ranger.

[Pupsocket]

I found another option - Battle Oracle. Not going to happen either.

[XMorsX]

Battle Oracle is good, but the other options are better.

I actually suggest warpriest so that you can make a build like this:

Warpriest 1 / Wizard (Scryer) 1 / Eldrich Knight 5 / Arcane Archer 4 / Eldrich Knight 5 / Mystic Theurge 4

[williamoak]

Every time I see this thread come back up I read "marital options for an eldritch knight archer"... urgh.

[Imbicatus]

williamoak wrote:

Every time I see this thread come back up I read "marital options for an eldritch knight archer"... urgh.

Well, Golarion is plot-sexual, so the field is wide open. :)

[Pupsocket]

I ended up with (Beastmaster) Ranger, because I really, really wanted those class skills.

[Argus The Slayer]

I just wanted to resurrect this thread to throw in a kinda weird option for a 1-level martial dip leading into Eldritch Knight:

Cad fighter archetype gives you the standard fighter feat, but trades med/heavy armor and shield prof for a handful of useful added skills:
Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Sleight of Hand (Dex), and Stealth (Dex).