3.5 archery expert

[donnerdrummel]

i m looking for a dnd 3.5 archery expert. as of now, i have 7 lvls available for building such one and i m running in a desert themed campaign.magical items are scarce - at least up to now.
oh and it wouldn t hurt if i still was able to do some meleeing ...

[W3bDragon]

What's the rest of your party playing?

What's your group's optimization level?

What are your stats?

Do you mind some spells involved in becoming a better archer?

[Fenryr]

This may help to narrow your interest. (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=642.0)

Archery is very wide. You should decide if you wanna be a Sniper or a machine gun guy. It seems your group is not very optimized.

[Randomguy]

I suggest cleric with at least 13 dex, high wisdom, decent strength and zen archery. Cast greater magic weapon on your bow and use a prayer bead of karma to make it last all day. If magic items are rare, take the craft magic arms and armour feat. Choose between raptor arrows (worshipping elhonna) and a force bow or an energy bow. Keep a hammer or something on hand so you can take advantage of your strength in melee. Make it a composite bow so that you can use your strength score at a distance.

If you want to throw spears and javelins rather than being an actual archer you can take levels in the stormlord PrC, but that doesn't really make that much sense in a desert. It's not that hard to qualify for, but you need to waste a feat and can only take it when you can cast level 3 spells.

You also have great spellcasting, for when the enemy is immune to arrows.

You might want to avoid DMM persist if your group is at a low level of optimization.

[hex0]

Lesser Drow, Thug variant Fighter 6/Exotic Weapon Master 1 (twin exotic weapon fighting stunt), wielding two Hand Crossbows

Feats:
Quick Draw
Crossbow Sniper
Two Weapon Fighting
Hand Crossbow Focus
Martial Study (any Shadow Hand)
Martial Stance: Assassin's Stance
Improved Two Weapon Fighting

Skill Tricks:
Hidden Blade

Goal: Maximize Sleight of Hand and Sneak Attack up to 60' away with a volley of bolts.

Full Attack: (Assuming 20 Dex) Primary +12/+7, Offhand +12/+7 each bolt dealing 1d4+2 19/20x2 and 2d6 sneak attack (most of the rime)

[donnerdrummel]

What's the rest of your party playing?
we have a dwarfen cleric lvl 7 (not optimized at all), we have an elven mage lvl 7 on his way to the master of the 7 veils prc (somewhat optimized) and a halfling rogue lvl 7 dex based (not really optimized)
what i m basically looking for is someone for physical damage and ranged is interesting enough
[QUOTE=W3bDragon;12284445]What's your group's optimization level?

i m the only one really caring for optimization - the DM does too but only so far as not to kill or overpower us. i m trying to help the other guys along as far as spellchoices and feats and stuff goes but its a slow learning curve.


What are your stats?

my stats will be 18, 17, 16, 14, 14, 8 + 1 for lvl 4.


Do you mind some spells involved in becoming a better archer?
nope, not as long as i m self sufficient.



Lesser Drow, Thug variant Fighter 6/Exotic Weapon Master 1 (twin exotic weapon fighting stunt), wielding two Hand Crossbows

looks very intriguing but i want to be able to keep the damge up where the rogue fails (as in constructs and especially undead)

thx for all the help and ideas so far. i looked a bit around and found the druid or cleric archer interesting, i d rather go druid for the different spells since we allready have a cleric.

edit: i have a favor to ask - please post the books in which i can find the stuff youre writing about... ;)

[Gavinfoxx]

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=10961.0

Play that if you want to be an expert. It might be too high power for your game, though...

[hex0]

thx for all the help and ideas so far. i looked a bit around and found the druid or cleric archer interesting, i d rather go druid for the different spells since we allready have a cleric.


If you are going this route and still want to be a decent Archer, then prestige ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm#prestigeRanger) is the go to choice. This will also get you the ranger spells on your list, including the powerful Hunter's Eye.

If you don't want to use wildshape, Swift and Deadly Druid (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#druid) works very well going into Prestige Ranger.

[donnerdrummel]

okay here i am still waiting for a reply from my gm - but if he allows it think i will be going swift and deadly druid with prestige ranger.
what would be an ideal feat setup for this endeavor ?
and what items should i be getting for my coins(5-9 k most likely 5k... ) ?

[Greyfeld85]

You could always run a Swift Hunter. (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872750/The_Swift_Hunters_Handbook_--_2007) To break it down simply:

You take at least 3 levels in the Scout class (Complete Adventurer, pg. 10), dump the rest into Ranger, then pick up the Swift Hunter feat (Complete Scoundrel, pg. 81), which lets your Scout and Ranger levels stack to determine your Skirmish damage/AC and when you get new favored enemies. In addition, it also allows your skirmish damage to apply to your favored enemies, even if they're normally immune to precision damage.

Then, what you do, is you pick up the Manyshot feat from the Ranger's Improved Combat Style class feature, and then immediately pick up Greater Manyshot (Expanded Psionics Handbook, pg. 47. It's a general feat, not a psionic feat). This way, you can shoot a number of arrows equal to the number you'd get from your BAB, but as a standard action instead of a full action. And since now you have a move action free, you can trigger your Skirmish damage every round, and Greater Manyshot allows you to apply that damage on every arrow fired.

It gets even better when you pick up a Splitting bow.

[donnerdrummel]

If you are going this route and still want to be a decent Archer, then prestige ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm#prestigeRanger) is the go to choice. This will also get you the ranger spells on your list, including the powerful Hunter's Eye.

If you don't want to use wildshape, Swift and Deadly Druid (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#druid) works very well going into Prestige Ranger.

how can i cast spells from the ranger list with this PrC ?
i couln t find anything in the text suggesting i can.

[donnerdrummel]

how can i cast spells from the ranger list with this PrC ?
i couln t find anything in the text suggesting i can.

still no solution for this.

and i m looking for some equipment advice i got 13 k . what do i get for it ?

[Daftendirekt]

You could always run a Swift Hunter. (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872750/The_Swift_Hunters_Handbook_--_2007) To break it down simply:

You take at least 3 levels in the Scout class (Complete Adventurer, pg. 10), dump the rest into Ranger, then pick up the Swift Hunter feat (Complete Scoundrel, pg. 81), which lets your Scout and Ranger levels stack to determine your Skirmish damage/AC and when you get new favored enemies. In addition, it also allows your skirmish damage to apply to your favored enemies, even if they're normally immune to precision damage.

Then, what you do, is you pick up the Manyshot feat from the Ranger's Improved Combat Style class feature, and then immediately pick up Greater Manyshot (Expanded Psionics Handbook, pg. 47. It's a general feat, not a psionic feat). This way, you can shoot a number of arrows equal to the number you'd get from your BAB, but as a standard action instead of a full action. And since now you have a move action free, you can trigger your Skirmish damage every round, and Greater Manyshot allows you to apply that damage on every arrow fired.

It gets even better when you pick up a Splitting bow.

This, but also starting off with a 1 level dip into Cloistered Cleric to obtain Knowledge and Travel Devotions, as well as your choice of a 3rd domain. There are a few tasty choices:

-Elf Domain gives Point Blank Shot, I believe
-Celerity Domain gives you +10 to base land speed.

I'm sure there are others, but those are the two most common. If you take this dip, also picking up Extra Turning would not be a bad move. Using Travel Devotion, you can move your speed as a swift action and still be able to full attack, getting skirmish the entire combat.