Best PrC Choice for an Archer-Focused Mystic Shooting Star Ranger [3.5]

[Tokuhara]

I finally decided on a Lesser Axani (dragon 297) Mystic (dragon 336) Shooting Star (Champions of Valor) Ranger who is Wis-centric, but with a good intelligence score to fuel my Wizard spells (Thank you Sword of the Arcane Order) and skills, and taking Zen Archery to turn my bow into a truly lethal weapon.

My big thing is that after 4th level, the class really peters off into meh territory, leaving much to be desired. So the plan of attack is to PrC out as quickly as I am able to. However, this leaves me with the issue of what PrC to choose.

As stated in my previous posts, I am in a Horror Campaign with a roughly T3/4 Party for what appears to be a game to break the traditional "15 minute Adventuring Day" formula. I kind of want to advance my Ranger-side as much as I can without sacrificing BAB and spells if at all possible.

Any ideas?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Maybe get Sacred Exorcist for access to DMM: Persist for choice buffs (Swift Haste).

You really aren't going to find anything that advances both casting and BAB at anything close to what you'll get from more Ranger levels.

[Tokuhara]

Maybe get Sacred Exorcist for access to DMM: Persist for choice buffs (Swift Haste).

You really aren't going to find anything that advances both casting and BAB at anything close to what you'll get from more Ranger levels.

What about Sacred Exorcist and Holt Warden in tandem?

[toapat]

Manditory Plug: Swiftblade (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/prc/20070327)

Sword of the Arcane Order never changes the Wizard spells from being arcane, but they are still cast as divine spells as well. It turns you into one of the only two Thurgic base classes, letting you qualify for Swiftblade.

As a Mystic Ranger, you have alot of space to just throw away caster levels

[Tokuhara]

Manditory Plug: Swiftblade (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/prc/20070327)

Sword of the Arcane Order never changes the Wizard spells from being arcane, but they are still cast as divine spells as well. It turns you into one of the only two Thurgic base classes, letting you qualify for Swiftblade.

As a Mystic Ranger, you have alot of space to just throw away caster levels

I see the appeal of Swiftblade, but I fail to see how it helps an archer.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I see the appeal of Swiftblade, but I fail to see how it helps an archer.

Once you reach its 9th level, you can make an extra (Greater) Manyshot in addition to your full attack.

Another option would be to multiclass a bit of Scout and get the feat Swift Hunter so you get Skirmish progression for your Ranger levels. Greater Manyshot (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#greaterManyshot) is the standard method of using skirmish with archery.

[Tokuhara]

Once you reach its 9th level, you can make an extra (Greater) Manyshot in addition to your full attack.

Another option would be to multiclass a bit of Scout and get the feat Swift Hunter so you get Skirmish progression for your Ranger levels. Greater Manyshot (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#greaterManyshot) is the standard method of using skirmish with archery.

My thought was to move to my location, haste up, and autoturret.

[Darrin]

Sword of the Arcane Order never changes the Wizard spells from being arcane, but they are still cast as divine spells as well.


That's not a widely accepted interpretation of how Sword of the Arcane Order works.

(Not that there *is* a widely accepted interpretation for how that feat works... like pretty much everything in FR, great idea, but poorly worded.)

If you want to focus on Archery, Swift Hunter is worth a look. This build is a bit feat-intenstive, but gets BAB +17, 7th level Sorcerer casting, and up to 8d6/10d6 skirmish damage:

Mystic Ranger 5/Scout 4/Dragon Devotee 4/Unseen Seer 4/Highland Stalker 2/Spellsword 1

If you want more powerful spells, then maybe pick up a level of Bard or Warrior Skald and maybe go into Sublime Chord.

Actually, I think I'd be much more tempted to slap on a few Warblade levels and then go Jade Phoenix Mage 10.

[Tokuhara]

So looking at the Suggestions,

Swiftblade - Powerful, yet badly worded (available to anyone who can cast Haste, yet subvertedly says "arcane only"

Sacred Exorcist- Probably the (respectfully, Flame Shield up) crutch of Divine caster advancement. No denying the power, but it's a crutch.

Swift Hunter build - My goal isn't to be constantly mobile. It's move when I need to, and otherwise shoot everything that breathes near me.

[toapat]

That's not a widely accepted interpretation of how Sword of the Arcane Order works.

(Not that there *is* a widely accepted interpretation for how that feat works... like pretty much everything in FR, great idea, but poorly worded.)

most people havent dug through that feat for 40+ hours to figure out what it does.

SotAO lets paladins and Rangers qualify for Wizard Specific, Arcane Specific, and a large number of spell specific PrCs that they shouldnt be able to get into

it lets you prepare spells from the wizard spell list in Paladin and Ranger Spell slots, and then they are cast as paladin/ranger spells, letting them qualify for battle blessing

for all intents and purposes, SotAO is extremely vaguely worded up front, and extremely broken in the back

[Tokuhara]

Well, my DM ruled pretty much how you say it is ruled. Faerun isn't the clearest crunch ever written