Single shot archer

[Archae]

So i've decided to make a Eldritch archer Hexcrafter Magus

I know the typical archery feats make you a bullet hose, that concept doesn't really help the eldritch archer who much like the base magus uses the spells to do most of the damage.

side note the hexcrafter part is for a bit of versatility, i hear good things about it.

What feats could apply to do a Single shot archer, to help work with Eldritch archer better. Also any magical feats to increase the damage from spells or something are appreciated as well.

[Quentin Coldwater]

The Focused Shot feat gives you INT to damage, but it requires your standard action, meaning you won't be able to use Spellstrike or Spell Combat, as that's a full-round. It's still great to have if you don't want to use spells, for instance.

Maguses have a lot of swift actions, but if you're not using one that round, [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/arcane-strike-combat[/url]Arcane Strike would be pretty cool. Especially since you can fire off multiple arrows in a round, so that could rack up quite some damage.

No clue about spell damage. There's metamagic feats to add damage dice, but those are usually for higher level, not if you're starting out.

[Archae]

yea i'll probably get more damage from the spells than my int, it might be worth picking up in case i run out of spells.

also briefly considering empty quiver style as i'm going for kind of a master of the bow theme

[Mathmuse]

Another feat that would be useful is Bullseye Shot. Spend a move action to get +4 to your next ranged attack roll that turn. One disadvantage of ranged spellstrike compared to regular spellstrike is that ranged spellstrike does not hold a charge for another attempt on a miss. Thus, your character will want at many bonuses to hit as possible. Bullseye Shot requires Point-Blank Shot and Precise Shot, but I presume your character would learn those anyway.

And like any magus, increasing your chance of a critical hit is a good way to increase spell damage. Your magus can do that with by spending an arcane pool point to grant keen to his bow.

[ChaosTicket]

My basic understanding of the Eldritch Archer archetype is that the bow is just a delivery system, and not much good at that. You also need the magus Arcana' Reach Spellstrike and Distant SPellstrike to actually let you use them in conjunction to get equal range as your weapon or to use touch spells at range.

I dont see much use out of just using an actual attack spell which uses either Touch AC or doesnt require a hit roll. If anything using a bow is a drawback and you have to take feats to make you have a higher chance to hit.

You would also have to choose, do you want to make a Full round attack with 2-5 attacks or one attack with a bonus spell damage limited to a single target.

I know of few feats that benefit from taking one shot witha ranged weapon. those are Focused Shot and Bullseys Shot. For an Archer build those are terrible, but for a Magus, maybe?

[Archae]

From my understanding the Eldritch archer is pretty good actually, i didn't really plan on build this as a sniper just more to work better with the spell strike part and actually connecting since in general a magus's damage comes from spell strike.

i figured i should focus on connecting so as to not waste a spell Right?

[ChaosTicket]

Ignore some of what I said previously. The wording is confusing on whether the spellstrike is a bonus to a full attack or single only.

Weapon focus, point blank shot, precise shot, magus arcane pool use, potion of true strike, several hexes make the target easier to hit.

Youre really looking for a challenge, eh? Its a conflict of interest to try using a hit chance on spells that dont even roll to hit. bullseye shot and focus shot are the only feats i know(that the magus can get) that make you want to only fire single shots.

Neither of those feel worth it.

[Archae]

yeah i figured, i guess i'll just have to be content with the normal archery feats

[Paradozen]

Rime Spell can help you land more hits. Tack it onto a snowball with ranged spellstrike, and now the enemy AC could be lower, plus it gives some support for the party. Throw Intensify on top, and now with a 3rd level spell you do d6/level (up to ten)+1d8+STR+Weapon bonuses damage and you entangle for a round and then the target gets to try a save or cannot full attack. With the right traits you can do this with a 1st level spell, and use higher slots for persistent spell.

[Kurald Galain]

Archae wrote:

From my understanding the Eldritch archer is pretty good actually, i didn't really plan on build this as a sniper just more to work better with the spell strike part and actually connecting since in general a magus's damage comes from spell strike.

Eldritch Archer is great.

Its ranged spellstrike ability is not, because of what Chaosticket said. If you don't mind using thrown weapons instead of a bow, the Card Caster archetype is a good alternative. Notably, it allows you to attach a melee spell to a ranged attack, which EA does not.

[Lemmy]

One problem you might encounter is fighting enemies with Deflect Arrows or things like Snake Style. Admittedly, these aren't common feats... But they aren't all that rare either, depending on setting.

Besides, concealment will make you downright useless 50% of the time, while a more orthodox archer will at least deal some damage most of the time.

[Archae]

i should mention i am an elf and have access to the elven accuracy feat if that helps

I was considering the empty quiver style feats as a melee aside, not set on those though.

sticking with eldritch archer no matter what, and am now considering the normal archer feats for bullet hosing

[Kurald Galain]

Well, if you're sticking with eldritch archer, a nice trick is to use spell combat to cast True Strike, and then fire your arrow at a +20 and ignoring concealment.

Use your spells for buffs or area control, not for attaching ranged touch spells to ranged non-touch arrows.

[Backlash3906]

One level of Gunslinger (Bolt Ace if you're open to a crossbow instead of a bow) or three levels of Weapon Master (Fighter) opens up Impressive Grit. (Or any other way of getting Weapon Training for a ranged weapon.)

Quote:

Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +11, weapon training class feature with a ranged weapon.

Benefit: Select one of the following gunslinger deedsUC: dead shot, startling shot, or targeting. You can perform the selected deed a number of times per day equal to your highest mental ability score modifier (Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma; minimum 1). You can use this deed with an appropriate ranged weapon. If you also have the selected deed as a class feature, reduce the number of grit points that you need to use it by 1, as per the Signature DeedUC feat.

Special: You can select Impressive Grit up to three times. Each time you select it, choose a different gunslinger deed. A gunslingerUC can ignore the weapon training class feature prerequisite of Impressive Grit.

Does deadshot work with any of the Magus' usual tactics? A spellcasting class like them should have plenty of daily uses of this ability. Siege Gunner will also net an Int-based grit pool, which can still fuel the first-level Gunslinger Deeds.