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I have not tried the Magus, as I only play Pathfinder in PFS but it seems to be everything the Arcane Archer should have been. It packs a lot of hitting power, and has some degree of defense as well. I know little about the druid archetype, but it seems to me that you would be better off playing a Hunter if you want a druid-ish archer. The free teamwork feats for you and your companion are great, you have access to utility spells, and precise shot for free is always useful. My first Pathfinder character was a hunter, and I love it. You can also look at various Druid guides to find a good companion, though I chose a Tyrannosaurus just for flavor and fun.
Arguably it's only the bonus feats from the warpriest class feature that you get to pick as if full BAB, not the ordinary ones from character level or those from the alt favored class bonus. If the latter are getting the full BAB effect then you also can only start applying the FCB once you get that class feature at level 3.
But yes, a warpriest is very very good in combat. Not so much outside combat. In some ways the druid archer will get a lot more chance to shine, it'd be my pick unless I had a concept which I wanted to make work with one of the others.
Left field idea bard had the arrowsong. minstrel you get a ton of skills, ability to buff and cmon you get gravity bow. Haven't planned it out but it seems like a interesting idea
Bards in general yes, but the Arrowsong Minstrel gets these:
At 2nd level, an Arrowsong minstrel gains Precise Shot as a bonus feat. In addition, any creature that is affected by any of the Arrowsong minstrel’s bardic performance does not provide soft cover to enemies against her ranged attacks with a bow.
...for the purpose of meeting the requirements of combat feats and prestige classes, an Arrowsong minstrel treats her bard level as her base attack bonus (in addition to base attack bonuses gained from other classes and Hit Dice).
Which makes for an excellent entry into arcane archer if you want a couple of levels to grab imbue spell there.
Ekibus is reffering to the Arrowsong Minstrel, whcih actually gets the Precice Shot feat for free at second level, can treat their Bard level as their BAB for feat prerequisites, gets the Magus' Spell Strike with ranged weapons, and gets to add spells from the Sorceror/Wizard spell list to assist their Archery.
But we are all forgetting one advantage the Arrowsong Minstrel has over ranged Magus Archetypes; Bards are spontanious casters and can choose spells to suit the situation, and can learn new spells as a Favored Class Bonus.
Arrowsong Minstrel Bards are my favorite Archers.
had fun playing a Archer Hunter
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A couple other possibilities:
1. Hunter. I recently played the PFS pregen hunter at level 7 in a 7-10 PCS game and was very pleasantly surprised. Very fun class and a very solid character. Hunters make great archers and have spells, a companion, and teamwork feats to make it more interesting.
2. I'll stick up for regular bards as archers here. Arrowsong minstrel is good, but if you want the regular bard features like versatile performance, etc, it's actually not all that hard to get the feats you want. If you go with human as your race: level 1: Point Blank and precise shot. Level 3: Rapid Shot. Level 5: Deadly Aim or Arcane Strike. Level 7. Whichever you didn't pick at level 5. Level 9. Clustered Shots or Lingering Performance or manyshot or whatever.
If you want, you can take arcane duelist to get arcane strike as a bonus feat. Either way, you have the basic three feats (point blank shot, precise shot, rapid shot) by level 3 and can have some of the most useful optional ones by level 7. That's pretty good. Your inspiration will apply to all your attacks which will help your personal damage output as well as your party, and you have lots of options when it comes to using your spells as combat buffs (haste), attack options, or focusing on swift action spells (gallant inspiration, etc) and prebuffs (heroism, etc) and relying on bardic performance and full attacks in combat.
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I'm a big advocate for Inquisitor archers. My profile has a build that doesn't full attack, but uses readied vital strikes to disrupt spells. If disarmed, you can choose plenty of great and fun spells. Plus the domain is pretty nice. Order Inquisition gets pretty fun.
The Initiative is amazing.
I just finished a homebrew campaign as a level 6 Sacred Huntsmaster Inquisitor and I quite enjoyed it. In combat you ride a mount and take full attacks while still moving at your mount's speed, because animal companion. Through the inquisitor's great self-buffs and teamwork feats, you can do some serious damage and still stay mobile. Plus, since you're a high-dex inquisitor, you can be useful outside of combat via scouting, not to mention a variety of utility spells.
The real fun of this class for me was in the crafting and the preparation. In combat you're just trying to safely full attack with bane as much as possible, but to do so optimally you need to have carefully chosen your spells each level, built your animal companion well, and be ready to calculate half a dozen combat modifier variable quickly and confidently. Additionally, you're always looking to get the drop on your opponents, as time to pre-buff is invaluable and thus promotes tactical play.
When we ended at level 6, using a meager +1 longbow, given three rounds to pre-buff, my attack varied from +11 to +16 (that's after factoring in a -4 penalty for Deadly Aim and Rapid Shot to both numbers) and my arrows hit for 1d8 + 2d6 + 10 each. Get someone to play a bard (which I was fortunate enough to have) and it just gets better. And all this is by no means min/maxing, it was just basic research of standard feats and spells.
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That's really nice archetype, but will require my dm approval.
Skills, good spells, bard boosting , and great archery base damage. Not bad at all and fairing well with the magus and druid options
Remeber to buy a Tuned Bowstring at your earliest convenience.
The Breadth of Experience can somewhat make up for the loss of Bardic Knowledge.
another cool option, but seem over powered a bit, is a archer warpriest.
i doubt my DM allow it...the fact all the feats are as if full BAB, WP SP, destruction blessing, swift +4 from divine favor etc is .... a overkill.
IIRC correctly, warpriest count their HD as BAB for qualifying for feats but not how the feat operates. So you wouldn't for example use Deadly Aim as though your BAB were equal to your HD, you would use actual BAB. Of course, that's really the only archery feat that has a BAB dependency once you have qualified for it so it doesn't make a huge difference.
Warpriests are brutal as archer's because of all the bonus feats they get, the ability to get normally fighter only feats, the ability to qualify for feats as full BAB, and the ability to self buff like crazy with no loss of action economy.
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archers are deadly. no doubt about that part.
how ever, they sometime seem a bit narrow - doing the same action over and over, and if disarmed they sit aside.so, here are 2 options :
MAGUS (archtype Eldritch Archer)
druid (nature fang )1: the magus:
well..... it's like a nice arcane archer. you fire scorching ray arrows, and more.
at level 9 you can cost any touch spell with your bow (arcane by of the magus).
good AC, saves, nice buff and defence spells.
the only CON is no "bonus, free feats". so cover is going to be a real problam...
but, it's a nice safe , full attacking machine without AOO (NImbel shot )
INT based caster with human or 1/2 orc offer a lot of skills, and decent knowledges.
although, with spell combat, rapid shot and deadly aim the to hit might be a bit lowish.2: druid, nature fang.
full, 9 level caster, full mount (flyer.... or a wolf)
no wild shape, but in return free feats or abilites at lvl 4,6,8,10 etc.
lvl 4,6,10 = free combat style (archery) feats from ranger.
low to hit abit, with deadly, rapid and 3/4 bab.
the free feats are great - and a full caster to asssist the party is never bad.
can aslo gain trapfinding with a high perception and stealth. less damage but nice.overall, the magus seem a real fun playing character, full of options and quite deadly.
thoughts?
Don't forget about the ranged Ranger combat style.
I quite like Sohei switch-hitters. You don't need wisdom, so you can focus on strength and dexterity and get longbow flurry at 6 (that works with Manyshot, unlike Zen Archer), while also being able to use flurry normally with a sword in two hands. Eventually you can grab Weapon Training and Gloves of Dueling with both bow and sword. Very Mongol.
Sohei mounted bonus feats and Monastic Mount also cross very nicely with Animal Ally if you want to go really Mongol. Unload ranged full attacks, until it's time to suddenly bust out the Mounted Skirmisher...
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Ranger are the problem, not solution .
They are super good, but all they ever do in combat is attack and damge . no tactics, no thought. And if sundered they stand still.
How do you figure? If you're playing the character without tactics or thought, that's the fault of the player, not the class. Don't blame rangers for shitty players.
Rangers gets, spells even if they aren't crazy awesome. They can also be fully capable of strategy, setting ambushes, or traps or other things.
And, what do you mean if sundered they stand still?
Most characters if they lose their main weapon "stand still" because they don't have backup weapons. That is again a problem of players, not the class.
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If your bow is sundered, you take out the backup bow and resume firing. Also, if your GM keeps sundering your bow and doesn't do the same to the other players (melee weapons, spell component pouch, wands, metamagic rods etc), then he's a jerk. Actually, if you GM has sundering enemies all the time, he is a jerk no matter who gets targeted.
People seem to really like Zen Archer.
That's because the only things a Zen Archer doesn't get for free are Deadly Aim and Clustered Shots. Literally everything else you could ever need for a straight archer is provided: Bonus attacks, PBS, Precise Shot, Weapon Focus, Point Blank Master, Weapon Spec, and even Improved Precise Shot.
archers are deadly. no doubt about that part.
how ever, they sometime seem a bit narrow - doing the same action over and over, and if disarmed they sit aside.
I agree. Most archers are locked into the same feat path, namely Point-BlankS, PreciseS, RapidS, Deadly Aim and ManyS.
Archers lack the variety of builds that melee can offer, with most combat maneuvers out of reach from them. (However, disarming/sundering is a problem most weapon users face.)
That's why the Magus is a new breath of air since it changes the usual way of playing an archer.
There's also Strength Patron Witch and Eldritch Knight, which can stack up some significant buffs along with other abilities and which qualifies for Fighter feats. Getting the good old '+6/+6' by level 9 ain't bad at all for archery, and then there's Named Bullet...
There's also Strength Patron Witch and Eldritch Knight, which can stack up some significant buffs along with other abilities and which qualifies for Fighter feats. Getting the good old '+6/+6' by level 9 ain't bad at all for archery, and then there's Named Bullet...Sound intresting enough, how would you build one ?
Probably with a level of Inspired Blade for the martial level, since that makes it quite easy to be an effective switch-hitter. You can go from spell-buffed archery to spell-buffed rapier and buckler panache fighting very easily, and Divine Favor makes both pretty solid.
Maybe a Small-sized mounted archer?
You might need a GM that uses fun terrain so you're encouraged to move around the battlefield and be more dynamic.
Archers kind of trade consistent damage for a lack of dynamic options.
I guess you have to do a cost/benefit analysis and decide if you want to cause lots of consistent damage, but pretty much do the same thing every round ("I 5 foot step and use Rapid Shot") or have more variable damage, but do different things every round ("I'm going to aid another/attack/bull rush/charge/dirty trick/disarm/drag/feint/flank/full attack/grapple/overrun/reposition/steal/trip/vital strike this round!")