Full BAB classes for gestalt dryad archer

[Jeff the Green]

In an upcoming game I'm going to be playing a Dryad (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8131810&postcount=243) 3/Cloistered Cleric 2/Holt Warden 2/Livewood Daughter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=253755) 1 (finishing up Livewood Daughter and another 5 levels in Holt Warden or another full-casting PrC). Basically your garden-variety cleric archer except Charisma-based with Charming the Arrow (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fey/20030815a) instead of Zen Archery.

I just found out the game's likely to be gestalt, and I'm having a little trouble figuring out what to put on the other side. Full BAB or close would be very useful since on the other side I'll start off with a BAB of 3 and won't get 6 until level 11. Passive abilities would be nice too. Ideally any prestige classes would have easy prerequisites.

I was thinking Battle Dancer (DrC) 1/Fighter 4/Ranger 1/Witch Hunter (OA) 1/<something> x. That would net me Charisma (23 or 27 without items) to AC and saves*, three archery feats I sorely need, and a favored enemy. I don't know what <something> might be, though, or if there are any better options. Is there a template worth taking? Maybe Draconic? (+2 Cha would offset the loss of BAB)

All 1st party sources are available, as well as Pathfinder classes (which I know nothing about). Dragon Compendium and homebrew are allowed on review, as well as 3rd party if it's online somewhere.

The parts of the build that are basically set in stone are:
Dryad (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8131810&postcount=243) 3/Cloistered Cleric 2/Holt Warden 2/Livewood Daughter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=253755) 1
Feats: Charming the Arrow**
Quicken Spell
Knowledge Devotion (from cloistered cleric)
DMM Quicken
Craft Magic Arms and Armor
1 open, possibly Nymph's Kiss

STR 14; DEX 10; CON 14; INT 10; WIS 6; CHA 23 (increases to 27 1 min/day with Charm domain)
Domains: Plant and Charm

*For RP reasons, I'd rather be lightly-armored or unarmored and not a paladin of any stripe.
**This is a fighter bonus feat and so taking levels in fighter will give me a bonus non-fighter feat.

[sonofzeal]

How does your DM feel about going Swift Hunter up one side, if you can spare the feat? Ranger/Scout would help your archery tremendously, it's RAW-legal since it's not a PrC, and it's not abusive since it's all up one side. Should be fine.

[hex0]

Prestige Ranger, Swanmay, Fochularan Lyrist?

[avr]

Binder/Knight of the Sacred Seal is close to full BAB and gets use out of CHA, and gets passive abilities.

[docnessuno]

I'd go Ranger 2 (instead of 1) to grab a free bonus feat. Be sure to grab weapon focus and specialization, to open up ranged weapon mastery.
Then, if you are going the manyshot route, a Scout dip followed up by swift hunter and ranger progression works like a charm and is well worth the single BAB loss.
If you plan to take the rapid shot route, ranger or warriors are your best bet. Remember ranger spells are divine, so also elegible for DMM.
If your DM is willing to slightly alter it to work with ranged weapons, some Duskblade levels could pull out a couple really nice tricks.

[dantiesilva]

Church inquister and fighter Fighter for the feats, church inquister for the domain and all the nifty abilities it grants you. Immune to charm for example, pierce illusions I am playing a Cleric3/ Church inquisitor 3/RSoP 4 right now and nothing can get within 100ft. of me without me knowing. And with knowledge devotion and Sun devotion your damage outputs could be up there saying you took the cloistered cleric.

But the three levels of Church inquisitor get you +3 to your spellcasting of your choice, Detect evil at will, The inquistiation domain, Immune to charms, and Pierce illusions. Though not Full BAB it is only a 1 point loss. Just a suggestion though. Death delver and extra turning would work to if you wanted to make spells last all day.

[dspeyer]

How do you (or your dm) feel about Homebrew ToB Archery?

[Jeff the Green]

Church inquister and fighter

Unfortunately, I can't use the spells on the cleric side to qualify for PrCs on the other.


How do you (or your dm) feel about Homebrew ToB Archery?

Fine, I think.

[Talya]

Fine, I think.

Fax Celestis has a "Falling Star" archery TOB discipline somewhere around here...

[Eldariel]

Age of Warriors (http://age-of-warriors.appspot.com/schools) site has some decent archery schools (though they could warrant slight reworking; there are a few typos and some maneuvers are inconsistent with the established power level). Still, they're definitely usable as is.

[Randomguy]

Have you considered the tome of Magic witch slayer prestige class? It doesn't do much for archery, but it has nice charisma synergy and it gets you mettle, slippery mind and momentary disjunction, which are all decent abilities.

[Thomasinx]

Have you considered going Mystic Ranger 20? It still has a full hit-die, and it has a lot of really good swift-action spells for archers. Plus, any wis you have for cleric helps out the ranger as well.

It doesn't do much in the CHA department... but it's full BAB with favored enemy and combat styles for ranged feats (albeit slower than standard ranger).

[Jeff the Green]

Fax Celestis has a "Falling Star" archery TOB discipline somewhere around here...

Ooh, that's nice. I found the desert warblade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8887672&postcount=11) that allows the use of standard disciplines with bows; that will complement it well. Too bad it's based on Spot and my Wisdom modifier is -2. I'll just have to take the strikes that don't rely on it.


Have you considered the tome of Magic witch slayer prestige class? It doesn't do much for archery, but it has nice charisma synergy and it gets you mettle, slippery mind and momentary disjunction, which are all decent abilities.

Alas, the only binder I'm likely to encounter is my ally, so most of the class features are likely to be useless.


Have you considered going Mystic Ranger 20? It still has a full hit-die, and it has a lot of really good swift-action spells for archers. Plus, any wis you have for cleric helps out the ranger as well.

It doesn't do much in the CHA department... but it's full BAB with favored enemy and combat styles for ranged feats (albeit slower than standard ranger).

Actually, Wisdom is my dump stat. The dryad monster class I'm using lets me use Charisma to cast cleric spells as long as I have the Plant domain.

[Talya]

Say, you're not by any (very slim) chance the Jeff Green that used to be editor of the now-defunct Computer Gaming World magazine, are ya? Damn I loved that magazine...

[Jeff the Green]

Say, you're not by any (very slim) chance the Jeff Green that used to be editor of the now-defunct Computer Gaming World magazine, are ya? Damn I loved that magazine...

Nope. I was still in high school when it shut down.

Thanks everybody! I've decided I'm going to go with the desert warblade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8887672&postcount=11) with the Falling Star discipline.