I'm working on a Nature's Fang / Hinterlander character idea, and I'm curious what are some fun or interesting spells to use with imbue arrow - especially ones that an Arcane Archer wouldn't be able to do.
Basically short range area effect spells? Explosion of rot springs to mind. Obsidian flow to stop your targets running off. If you have rime spell assorted cold spells like frost fall work for you.
Control winds isn't short range, but occasionally it may be useful to center it on that army over there rather than right next to you.
Imbue arrow is usually taken to override 'emanating from you'; assuming that then antilife shell and source severance may be useful to imbue eventually.
. . . Or that ship over there -- becalm an enemy ship.
Another spell that isn't Close range but might sometimes benefit from this is Hungry Earth (also works for Arcane Archers), and it is just 1 level higher than Explosion of Rot, and has an area of effect 16X greater (but doesn't affect airborne creatures).
Entangle is a good one. Faerie fire is less powerful than glitterdust, but is only a 1st-level spell.
Some other spells on the druid list, but not on the sorcerer/wizard list: alluring spores, dousing rain, sickening entanglement, soften earth and stone, wilderness soldiers, winter grasp; burning entanglement, burst of nettles, flashfire, spike growth, thorny entanglement; explosion of rot, flame strike, spike stones, thirsting entanglement, zone of foul flames. The druid list also contains several Imbue Arrow staple spells.
Grab the feat Fey Spell Lore, and fire Confusion arrows...
Entangle is a good one. Faerie fire is less powerful than glitterdust, but is only a 1st-level spell.
Some other spells on the druid list, but not on the sorcerer/wizard list: alluring spores, dousing rain, sickening entanglement, soften earth and stone, wilderness soldiers, winter grasp; burning entanglement, burst of nettles, flashfire, spike growth, thorny entanglement; explosion of rot, flame strike, spike stones, thirsting entanglement, zone of foul flames. The druid list also contains several Imbue Arrow staple spells.
I was also thinking about suggesting the Entangle series of spells, and these are pretty good battlefield control spells, but they have such a long range to start with (Long = 400 ft + 40 ft/level) that usually you will be better off just casting them normally.
The difference between a 1100' range (2200' w/distant enchantment or far shot) and a 200' or 800' range is usually not that important in PF. Increasing range from ~50' might just matter which is why I was focusing on those spells with 'close' range.
The main advantage of Imbuing a spell with long range instead of casting it normally is that you deal arrow damage in addition to the spell effect. Basically, you're combining a single weapon attack with the spell; which is a net plus from an action economy standpoint (usually 2 standard actions as a single standard action), even if you don't gain a significant benefit from a range increase.
Getting arrow damage is an advantage, but when you are affecting several creatures with an area of effect spell, this is less of a big deal; then you also have the disadvantage of what happens if the arrow misses or is blocked by a Wind Wall or enemy with Snatch Arrows or something like that.
Basically, you're combining a single weapon attack with the spell; which is a net plus from an action economy standpoint (usually 2 standard actions as a single standard action), even if you don't gain a significant benefit from a range increase.
Is it? A single attack is pretty weak (at the level we're talking about, 12th the earliest), especially for archery which is based on making many individually weak attacks. An ~12th level Nature's Fang / Hinterlander should have five shot during a full attack, so yiu're not addign a turn or half a turn worth of attacks, but one fifth.
Meanwhile, there's a cost involved: "If the arrow misses, the spell is wasted." Is the damage of that one shot worth whatever miss chance the arrow has (which is always at least 5%) applied to the spell, multiplied by the affected targets?
If the 12th level character is shooting something like a +1 bane (opponent type) arrow or slaying arrow/greater slaying arrow Imbued with an area spell and taking advantage of available buffs (such as a samsaran with Mystic Past Life [inquisitor] to pick up true strike, greater magic weapon [1 hour/level on the bow], and heroism [10 min/level on the druid], plus the Quicken Spell feat to cast a Quickened true strike before the tougher Imbued shots), then the arrow damage and hit chance (on top of Studied Target and possibly Sneak Attack from the nature fang archetype) should be decent or better.
If you're focusing the character around Imbue Arrow, then make sure that you're effective at it (and not using it against enemies that have Snatch Arrows and/or wind wall); the buffs generally make the character a better archer in general, as well as with Imbue Arrow. If you're going to cast the spell anyway and you have a good chance of hitting with your ranged attack, then getting that extra damage from a single arrow can be something worth taking the calculated risk for; but no more than facing foes with SR, high saves, or freedom of movement instead of Snatch Arrows/wind wall, etc. It's an option for scenarios that happen in many combats, not necessarily something that needs to be attempted every round of every fight.
Compare it to arcane spell failure from armor. It's rare for a wizard or sorcerer to have any, though it's in the rules. I saw a case of 10% ASF once but it's generally considered to be shooting yourself in the foot.
If you're shooting an arrow imbued with a spell and you get the roll required to hit down to a 5 that's the same failure chance as a 20% ASF. If the enemy has a 20% miss chance from concealment then even if you've got the roll required to hit down to a 2, the failure chance is 24% before saves etc. Dunno that I'd go for this personally.
Another reason why (IMO) an Imbue Arrow character wants true strike and Quicken Spell: Not only do you get a +20 insight bonus on the next attack roll (shooting an arrow with an Imbued spell), but "you are not affected by the miss chance that applies to attackers trying to strike a concealed target."
Also, for spells with shorter ranges, "the spell's area is centered where the arrow lands" so you should be able to target a grid intersection (AC 5) if you're worried about an attack roll vs. a creature.
It's not useless for simply extending a spells range. Which is why I noted some close range spells above. It's targeting an enemy (with an AC you might miss) to add the effect of a single arrow attack to a spell that is dubious-to-useless.
By the time you can casually throw around 5th level spells (which aren't on the druid list either!) to aid a single arrow attack, that single arrow attack is looking especially unimpressive. Even if it's bane or slaying.
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If the 12th level character is shooting something like a +1 bane (opponent type) arrow or slaying arrow/greater slaying arrow Imbued with an area spell and taking advantage of available buffs (such as a samsaran with Mystic Past Life [inquisitor] to pick up true strike, greater magic weapon [1 hour/level on the bow], and heroism [10 min/level on the druid], plus the Quicken Spell feat to cast a Quickened true strike before the tougher Imbued shots), then the arrow damage and hit chance (on top of Studied Target and possibly Sneak Attack from the nature fang archetype) should be decent or better.
Bane as a non-temporary weapon enchantment? Mystic Past Life, the racial trait equivalent of Sacred Geometry? Seriously?
If you're going to cast the spell anyway and you have a good chance of hitting with your ranged attack, then getting that extra damage from a single arrow can be something worth taking the calculated risk for
Can be. But your statement of "which is a net plus from an action economy standpoint" is just not nearly as universally true as you phrased it, because you always have at least a 5% chance to waste the standard action - if you gauge the action economy, you need to include that!
By the time you can casually throw around 5th level spells (...)
Well, by the time a character gets Imbue Arrow from Hinterlander (7th class level, with minimum entry level 6th), they have a spell casting level of at least 11th (without Prestigious Spellcaster). Of course, it de facto also costs two feats (Quicken Spell, and not having a bonus feat from the race), and there a lot of feats you'll want.
@avr and Derklord: Please go back and read the entire comment before trashing it, OK?
Basically, you're combining a single weapon attack with the spell; which is a net plus from an action economy standpoint (usually 2 standard actions as a single standard action), even if you don't gain a significant benefit from a range increase.
(emphasis mine)
Even with a 20% miss chance, that's (20 x .8) = 16 successful actions for every 10 standard action attempts.
Trying to make this an argument about "it sucks when you miss" or about "you need to choose certain options to be good at a specific activity" is misleading (moving the goalposts or possibly even strawman).