Building an Arcane Archer

[Ed Reppert]

I have in mind to build an Arcane Archer (AA) on a Ranger/Wizard base. Yes, I know there are other ways to go, some of which may be "better" for some value of that word, and if you want to suggest one of those ways, I'd be happy to read it. I have a more... fundamental question, though.

The requirements for the prestige class seem to imply that I would need at least Ranger 5 and Wizard 1 (edit: see below). That leaves a lot of room for choices, though. Assume you expect the campaign to go the full twenty levels (and no higher). That gives a wide range of combinations:

Ranger 5/Wizard 1/AA 1 at seventh level. You'll have thirteen levels to go, and assuming you want all ten AA class levels, that means you can put four levels into something else - presumably Ranger and/or Wizard. But when would you do it?

Ranger 5/Wizard 5/AA 1 at eleventh level. Now if you want all ten AA levels, that takes you to twenty and you're done.

Ranger 9/Wizard 1/AA 1 at eleventh level. Again, nine more levels in AA and you're done.

You will get seven levels of wizard spell casting from AA, so you'll end up casting like an eighth level Wizard (first and third options) or a twelfth level Wizard.

I suppose one answer is "do whatever you like". :-) That's fine, but I guess what I'm really looking for is some "optimization" guidance, although not a full blown guide (which I see we don't have yet anyway).

There are other ways to combine the base classes, of course, as long as you have at least five Ranger levels and at least one Wizard level - and enough room in your remaining levels for some reasonable number (would less than ten ever be optimal?) of AA levels.

Heh. I already missed a bet. I based the idea of five Ranger levels on needing five levels to get the required feats, based on the order Lastoth recommended getting them in his Ranger guide. But you could swap his level one and level five choices, taking Weapon Focus at level one and leaving Rapid Shot to level five. This gives you the required feats at level two so you could do four levels of Wizard (or some more Ranger and at least one Wizard) and then switch - but that would give up some good Ranger feats until later. Plus I'm not sure swapping like that is a good idea.

I think you can see the problem - there are a myriad of choices involved in terms of how many levels of each base class, and an optimized AA probably depends on optimizing those choices. Any suggestions?

Postscript: the requirements for the AA are: BAB +6, Precise Shot, Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus (Longbow or Shortbow) and the ability to cast first level Arcane spells.

[Ermehtar]

I believe the earliest you can get into Arcane Archer is 8th level, thanks to the BAB requirements. You won't have BAB 6 until you are ranger 5/wizard 2 in your earliest entry example.

Beyond that, it really depends on what you want to do with the character. If you envision a more spellcasting-focused character and want higher level spells, then I definitely recommend getting more wizard and possibly dropping some ranger levels before going into the class. If you're thinking more an archer who uses a bit of magic to enhance his or her skills as well as the occasional trick, I'd say go for as early an entry as you can (either Ranger 6/Wizard 1 or Ranger 5/Wizard 2 depending on your tastes for spell progression).

As far as optimization goes, Arcane Archer, while still a potentially potent combatant thanks to the strength of archery in Pathfinder, sacrifices some "pure optimization" for flavor and some cool toys. I'm actually playing a martially focused arcane archer right now (fighter/sorcerer combo) and have a BLAST with it. Again, a lot of this is personal taste, but I rarely use imbue arrow. Most of my damage comes from archery in general, with Multishot, Rapid Shot, Deadly Aim, etc. But I really love the additional utility I have, being able to use wands and scrolls, as well as spells like gravity bow or see invisibility. And things like seeker arrow have been occasionally useful and, again, TONS of fun.

Hope that helps!

[XMorsX]

By utilizing the early entry faq via spell-like abilities, the best probably AA build is a:

Divine Hunter paladin 1 (precise shot for free, so it is better than a fighter dip) / Wizard (Scryer) 1 (gives you a spell-like ability for entering EK)/ Eldrich Knight 5 / Arcane Archer 4 / Eldrich Knight 5 / Hellknight Signifer 4

This way at 20th lvl you end up having BAB 18 and access to 9th lvl spells.

Genrally speaking, the Eldrich Knight makes a better "arcane" archer than the AA PrC, becuase it does not lose caster lvls and it has bonus feats. However, the Imbue Arrow ability of the AA is marvelous when you can use it with Antimagic Field. This means though that you need to keep your caster lvl high, and exactly for this reason 5 lvls of Ranger are a deal-breaker IMO.

So, even if you are not willing to follow the exact above build, make sure that with your build you are able to have access to 6th lvl arcane spells as soon as possible. For a standard less optimised route (no early-entry access) utilizing ranger and as many lvls of AA as possibly as long as you do not drop below 11th caster lvl, a good possible choice could be:

Trapper Guide Ranger 2 / Wizard 5 (Enhancement) / Eldrich Knight 2 / Arcane Archer 10 / EK 1 (BAB 17, 7th lvl spells, 6th lvl spells at lvl 16 or so)
or for faster entry to AA:
Trapper Guide Ranger 6 / Wizard 1 (Enhancement) / Arcane Archer 8 / Eldrich Knight 5 (BAB 19, 6th lvl spells at 20th lvl)

[Ed Reppert]

Hm. I'll have to take a look at some EK builds, I guess, as well as re-thinking the ranger/arcane caster possibilities. Thanks, guys.

I wonder if Magus might fit in somehow?

[XMorsX]

Ed Reppert wrote:

Hm. I'll have to take a look at some EK builds, I guess, as well as re-thinking the ranger/arcane caster possibilities. Thanks, guys.

I wonder if Magus might fit in somehow?

You are welcome.

Magus can work, but it is not an optimal choice. Vanilla Magus cannot use spell strike and spel combat with bows, the myrmidach magus do not function as advertised. It needs GM ruling that you can use spellstrike with a bow, because by default you cannnot. Even then, it makes for a worse ranged gish than the early entry EK, as you still cannot use some kind of spell combat with a bow. And Spellstrike+full attack comes online at 11th lvl, so you will probably miss it if you multiclass.

Another negative of the magus is that it has great calss features that he is dependant on. This is anotehr reason why you should not dip out of the class.

Finally you do not get access to antimagic field with magus, invalidating your best trick as an AA.