Having read Garah's guide and the comments on his forum post regarding the Arcane Archer, I was reminded that this Prestige Class archetype exists: The Deadeye Devotee. There is something about it that makes me want to play it.
Using the Elephant in the Room rules, I have put this together in the hope that one day I can print it out and get to experience it.
OUTLINE
Race: Human
Class: Cleric 10/Arcane Archer 10
Archetypes: Divine Paragon/Deadeye Devotee
Stats
Str: 10
Dex: 14
Cons: 14
Int: 10
Wis: 18+2:20
Cha: 8
ATTRIBUTE INCREASES
4,8,12,16,20 - WIS
TRAITS
(______) (Campaign)
Reactionary (Combat)
FEATS
Level 1 - Cleric - Level - Precise Shot
Level 1 - Cleric - Human - Deadeye's Blessing
Level 3 - Cleric - Level - Rapid Shot
Level 5 - Cleric - Level - Weapon Focus (Longbow)
Level 7 - Cleric - Level - Favored Prestige Class (Deadeye Devotee & Perception)
Level 9 - Deadeye Devotee - Level - Prestigious Spellcaster
Level 11 - Deadeye Devotee - Level - Manyshot
Level 13 - Deadeye Devotee - Level - Prestigious Spellcaster
Level 15 - Deadeye Devotee - Level - Quicken Magic
Level 17 - Deadeye Devotee - Level - Prestigious Spellcaster
Level 19 - Cleric - Level - Diverse Obedience
DIVINE BOONS
Level 5 - Sureshot (Sentinel)
Level 16 - Tough Hide (Sentinel)
Level 20 - Faithful Archer (Evangelist)
DOMAINS
Devoted Domain - Growth
Secondary Domain - Feather
I like it, for the most part...
I would consider lowering your Constitution to allow for a positive Stength modifier. You should be far enough from the front line to start with a 12 Con.
I would trade your Reactionary trait for Erastil's trait called Deadeye Bowman... especially since your proposed build lacks Improved Precise Shot in its current form.
Is it the Elephant in the Room feat tax rules allowing you to pick up Erastil's Blessing at level 1? Othetwise, I do not understand how it's possible for a Cleric to start with this feat. The prerquisite Weapon Focus requires a BAB of +1, which the Cleric does not start with. So even a Human Cleric cannot use their bonus feat to start with both Weapon Focus and Erastil's Blessing.
Are the lost spellcasting levels worth 4 feats? If you didn't spend those feats, at all, you would still have 9th-level spells. A single trait can give you back two of your lost caster levels, making the Additional Traits feat worth more than Prestigious Spellcaster... in my opinion. You're still better than a 6/9 caster, and higher BAB than one, too. I honestly don't know if I have a single character built using Favored Prestige Class and Prestigious Spellcaster... I don't think I do. Not saying those feats aren't worth it for certain things, I just don't think this is one of them.
I would consider lowering your Constitution to allow for a positive Stength modifier. You should be far enough from the front line to start with a 12 Con.
I was actually thinking for a positive strength score, dropping to 7 CHA may be the best option
I would trade your Reactionary trait for Erastil's trait called Deadeye Bowman... especially since your proposed build lacks Improved Precise Shot in its current form.
Never even knew of that trait so thank you for bringing that to my attention
Is it the Elephant in the Room feat tax rules allowing you to pick up Erastil's Blessing at level 1? Othetwise, I do not understand how it's possible for a Cleric to start with this feat. The prerquisite Weapon Focus requires a BAB of +1, which the Cleric does not start with. So even a Human Cleric cannot use their bonus feat to start with both Weapon Focus and Erastil's Blessing.
Blasted. Good catch. It is actually a leftover of when the build was a Crusader>Divine Paragon where I got Weapon Focus at Level 1. On that topic, I can justify going to a Sorcerer/Oracle level of progression, so 1 Prestigious Spellcaster could be lost, but I think anymore would be too much