Help with Arcane Archer Build


Advice


Hey all. I've been away from the game for a long time but am about to start up what will hopefully be a lengthy campaign with a new group.

It will be my first PFS character and I'm a sucker for prestige classes. In particular the Arcane Archer has always been a really cool concept to me, so that's the route I plan to go.

I have dug around here and elsewhere looking at different builds and recommendations and I'm torn on which "base" to build my Arcane Archer upon.

It seems there are three major options:

1). 6 lvls of a martial class + 1 lvl of an arcane casting class into AA.

2). 5 or 6 lvls of arcane casting class + 1 lvl martial + 3 levels of Eldritch Knight into AA.

3). Some combination of Zen Archer Monk + Empyreal Sorcerer into AA.

I know there are other builds that use bard, but I'm not a fan of that class.

The first option is nice because it gains you entry into the actual prestige class the quickest, but at the expense of diminished spellcasting. It seems like this option would potentially hit the hardest/most often as well.

To me, the most attractive of these options is #2. You get the best balance of BAB progression and spellcasting. Later entry into the PrC, but it seems like a fair trade-off for what you end up with.

The final option seems the least optimal to me due to the slow BAB progression of both feeder classes and the even later entry into AA. The ZAM does have some cool abilities, flurrying with the bow sort of compensates for lower BAB and the sorcerer bloodlines could open up some interesting character options. Bbut all in all, I feel this "base" falls short of the first two.

As I said previously, I've never run a PFS character. So, longevity is an aspect where I'm not sure what to expect. If one of these builds makes more sense in PFS play, let me know. Thanks in advance for all of your help.


Pathfinder Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

If you go first option, your BAB is the same if you go 5 martial + 2 arcane or 6 martial + 1 arcane. I would suggest the 5 + 2 over the 6 + 1.

If this is for Pathfinder Society Organized Play, in general the characters are only played up to 12th level and there is very little choice on what to do in those last levels. Because of that, you generally want the fastest entry into the PrC you can get.


If I were you, I'd use early entry into Eldritch Knight. You can qualify for eldritch knight by being an Aasimar (with daylight), a Svirfneblin (with nondetection), or a scryer wizard (with clairaudience/clairvoyance). Not sure which of those are PFS legal.

So you could do something like this:
1: Arcane Caster
2: Arcane Caster
3: Martial Class
4: Eldritch Knight
5: Eldritch Knight
6: Eldritch Knight
7: Eldritch Knight
8: Arcane Archer


The other options you are missing:

Qualify for Eldritch Knight by level 3, by having a 3rd level SLA, as per this ruling: FAQ. This will allow you to advance your casting and your BAB, only taking a 2 CL and 1 BAB hit. You'll be able to take the first level of AA at lvl 8.

OR

Be a Bloodrager, who gets full BAB and Arcane Spells. Your first AA level will be at level 7, but your spell choices will be limited.


revaar, bloodrager is probably an awful choice. Once you go into arcane archer you'll only progress that extremely slow spellcasting, and you won't benefit from any of the bloodrager's other class features.


I should mention another option. Magus: take levels in Magus until your BAB is high enough, and then go AA. Personally, I like options 1&2 better, but I thought I should mention option #4.

BretI's suggestion makes sense.

But I think it depends on what is more important to you. Do you want to be a wizard who shoots arrows, or do you want to be an archer who casts spells?

If you go with option #1, it means 6 levels in Fighter or something by 1 level in Wizard or something, and then you have time for 5 levels in Arcane Archer by level 12. Your CL will be 4 (OUCH!). Your BAB will be +11.

If you go with option #2, it means 1 level in Fighter or something followed by 5 levels in Wizard or something, followed by 2 levels in Eldritch Knight, then you have time for 3 levels in Arcane Archer before level 12. Your CL will be 9. Your BAB will be +9. The AA Class Abilities you will miss out on will be Seeker Arrow (OUCH!) and Distance Arrow.

My favorite AA ability is Imbue Arrow, which Option #1 gives you at level 9 (OUCH!), but option #2 doesn't give you until level 11 (OUCH!).


Scott Wilhelm wrote:
But I think it depends on what is more important to you. Do you want to be a wizard who shoots arrows, or do you want to be an archer who casts spells?

I think this is the most important piece of the equation for me.

Personally, I'd like it to be as close to a 50/50 split of those two facets of the PrC as possible. It sounds like option #2 is the best way to accommodate this, albeit not until late game for PFS play...and at the expense of most of the AA goodies.

Re: the Magus option. I absolutely love the class, it is my favorite core class in the game. I'm just not sold on how well the melee-centric abilities of the Magus would mesh with the decidedly range-focused abilities of the AA. I really wish Paizo wouldn't have gimped the Myrmidarch so bad, b/c that could have been a really awesome arcehtype.

The Aasimar/Svirfneblin option is intriguing. Maybe Aasimar with a Divine Hunter Pally/Sorcerer build could work pretty well with that race. Does anyone know if Aasimar is legal for PFS play?


Aasimar currently requires a boon, unless you played a game with an Aasimar character prior to the cut-off date.

I would cast my vote toward a more magical Arcane Archer; it will be slightly harder to get along in lower levels, but at higher levels you'll be able to pull off much cooler tricks, such as shooting force bubbles into people.

And spells such as Heroism and Greater Magic Weapon will easily close the gap in to-hit compared to a primary martial AA.


I wish I'd got in an Aasimar Character before the Deadline. I did get in a couple of Tieflings.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Advice / Help with Arcane Archer Build All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Advice