An Eldritch Archer Magus can fairly easily meet the prerequisites for the Arcane Archer prestige class. If one were to do so, could the Ranged Spell Combat ability be combined with Imbue Arrow from the prestige class?
Imbue Arrow says that the spell uses its standard casting time and that the arrow can be fired as part of the casting.
Spell Combat says that a magus can make all of his iterative attacks and cast a single spell with a casting time of one standard action.
It seems to me that if the Imbue Arrow is a replacement for a standard casting, then it couldn't be combined with the separate action of Spell Combat. But if it works more like a alternate way of using the same action it seems that it would work, with whatever penalties would normally be associated with that attack.
need to know that, too
At 2nd level, an arcane archer gains the ability to place an area spell upon an arrow. When the arrow is fired, the spell's area is centered where the arrow lands, even if the spell could normally be centered only on the caster. This ability allows the archer to use the bow's range rather than the spell's range. A spell cast in this way uses its standard casting time and the arcane archer can fire the arrow as part of the casting. The arrow must be fired during the round that the casting is completed or the spell is wasted. If the arrow misses, the spell is wasted.
To be honest, it's table variation. I think it's plausible, but some GMs can argue that you have to spend an action for specifically casting a spell (and nothing else), as that's how the ability was designed.
Even if it can work, remember that Imbue Arrow only works with Area spells. So you can't, for example, cast Slow and expect it to work against all enemies within range of the creature you targeted.
You'll also be delayed on Caster Level, Spellcasting Progression, and so on with taking levels in Arcane Archer, so you'll be losing out on slots and spells known and so on.
Not necessarily, there are feats in the Paths of the Righteous he could take to up his caster level while taking AA.
I'd think it could, mostly because one could deliver a spellstrike with their spell combat. In both cases you're casting a spell with a standard action that's modified in some way (spellstriking allowing you to make the ranged touch attack with your weapon, imbue arrow allowing you to use your weapon's range in place of the AoE's normal range).
One could easily argue that "as part of spell combat" qualifies for "a spell cast in this way uses its standard casting time".
One could easily argue that "as part of spell combat" qualifies for "a spell cast in this way uses its standard casting time".
Which essentially limits a spell combat imbue arrow to AoE spells from the magus list (or taken through spell blending or broad study) that cost a standard action or less.
The iconic use for imbue arrow has always been Antimagic Field. Techincally doable, but very late.