Ranger Alternative?

[Titanium Fox]

I'm looking for an alternative to the ranger for an archery based character. The best I can come up with is a Bow Rogue or Beguiler, but if there's not another base class out there designed for archery, I'd be shocked.

[yugi24862]

Complete adventurer has the scout which is like a ranger, but gets bonus damage from moving rather that FE and combat style, plus other stuff.

[Talya]

Swordsage or Crusader!

Well, if you allow this nice one from Fax:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=633277#post633277

[Urpriest]

Even without actual Archery disciplines, Swordsages make ok archers. The boosts and counters really help versatility.

Clerics make very nice archers if you're willing to go for something more powerful. Seeker of the Misty Isle and the like help, and Divine Power+Draconic Polymorph(Arrow Demon) let you do pretty serious damage.

Bards can make a fun archer gish with something like Bard 8/Arcane Archer 2/Sublime Chord 2/Abjurant Champion 5/Sacred Exorcist 3 or the like.

[Eldariel]

Sublime Way Ranger (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19519074/Sublime_Way_Variant_Ranger) :smallwink:

Seriously tho, ToB does a good job there. Even without homebrew schools, Warblade Archer is exceedingly solid. Other good options include:
- Fighter (with enough support, 4 levels of Fighter are very reasonable; Dragon Magazine Targeteer Fighter has some really cool abilities and Ranged Weapon Mastery is good; Fighter can specialize in any weapon)
- Barbarian (Whirling Frenzy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#rageVariantWhirlingFrenzy ) is v. good)

Those 4 classes (Warblade, Ranger, Fighter, Barbarian) are what I use for a volley Archer alongside Eternal Blade [ToB]. 3.0 gives you some really good non-magical PRCs; Deepwood Sniper [Masters of the Wild], Order of the Bow Initiate [Sword & Fist - NOT to be confused with the Complete Warrior version] & Peerless Archer [Silver Marches].

Other classes of interest include Wildrunner [Races of the Wild] (Dex-bonus Rage-variant), Pious Templar [Complete Divine] (Weapon Specialization in 3 levels) & co.


Of base classes, best Archers are obviously Clerics though. Clerics can buff themselves up to stratosphere, have the option of tying archery and casting both to Wis with Zen Archery and so on. Cleric Archer is superb.

Rogues, Druids, Wizard-multiclasses, Scout/Rangers, Factotums, Ardents, Psychic Warriors, Archivists, Bards and company all are capable Archers when built as such too. Archery isn't really the focus of any class (even Ranger; they're split between TWFing and shooting) but many classes do it well.

[Kalaska'Agathas]

Archivists and Clerics (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=10961.0) can also make excellent Archers. I suppose PsyWars could too.

[Telonius]

Clerics make very nice archers if you're willing to go for something more powerful. Seeker of the Misty Isle and the like help, and Divine Power+Draconic Polymorph(Arrow Demon) let you do pretty serious damage.

Bards can make a fun archer gish with something like Bard 8/Arcane Archer 2/Sublime Chord 2/Abjurant Champion 5/Sacred Exorcist 3 or the like.

Cleric is a solid option.

Just remember that archers in D&D thrive best by two things: having a cornucopia of arrows ready for fighting particular weapons (adamantine, cold iron, silver, etc), and stacking on extra damage to the weapon. The second thing is usually accomplished either by levels of Rogue or Scout (for bonus damage on sneak attacks or skirmish respectively) or by stacking on weapon enhancements to your bow. There are other ways to help out, but the unfortunate fact is that D&D really doesn't give all that much love to archery.

[Draz74]

Factotum has become my favorite archer class. Knowledge Devotion, Manyshot ... you're gold. I also want to try building a Psychic Warrior archer sometime and see how good it turns out to be.

If by "archer" you mean "ranged physical attacker," not necessarily involving a bow, then Totemist can also be an option.

Of course with enough powergaming (Persisted Polymorph shenanigans and so on), Cleric or Archivist make the most powerful archers.

[Kalaska'Agathas]

You might also see if your DM is willing to allow a Pathfinder feat, specifically Deadly Aim (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/deadly-aim-combat). It's basically Power Attack for Archers.

[agahii]

You might also see if your DM is willing to allow a Pathfinder feat, specifically Deadly Aim (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/deadly-aim-combat). It's basically Power Attack for Archers.

Id just use the energy bow or another item to do that rather than a feat. In all honesty a ranger wont get much to help with archery that another class wont get in addition to other awesome(better) things. Id vote for cleric if you are not against having magic in the build.

I had a build laying around for non magic archer, i'll see if I can find it.