Pathfinder: Summoner Archer (Yes I know it's silly)

[mistformsquirrl]

Alrighty so... I'm (hopefully) soon to play a Summoner for the first time in what will also be my first Pathfinder game. I've already looked through the wonderful Summoner Handbook Saph wrote, and taken quite a bit of the advice therein - however I've (intentionally) discarded a few things in favor of flavor.

The biggest thing being: I want to be a modestly capable archer when I'm not slinging spells. So the obvious first step is getting Martial Weapon Proficiency: Longbow - got that. (And yes, before anyone says anything: I know a crossbow is probably just as useful for the same role; it just doesn't have the same stylistic appeal.)

Now comes the issue:

I have 10 strength (I am after all a Summoner first and foremost) - which means I can't do the obvious and get a Composite Longbow with a strength bonus to deal extra damage.

So... any ideas on how to get some decent (not stellar, not amazing, not even good, just halfway decent) bonus damage so that if I hit something it might tickle a little?

Like I said, I know this is silly - but while it's primarily a flavor decision I still want it to be the best it can be within that constraint.

Options I'm considering:

1) Get a Composite Longbow anyway, cast Bull's Strength on myself. - Little worried about it getting dispelled though, leaving me with an attack penalty and no bonus damage.

2) Stack elemental enchantments on my weapon - Easy enough to do, and certainly the simplest method... but I have to carefully balance my budget so I can buy my Eidolon gear too. Eidolon does take priority after all.

3) Stack Enhancement bonuses instead - same drawback as 2, and less potential damage per shot... on the other hand more guaranteed damage and better accuracy (good thing with lower BAB).

4) Feats - I'm willing (as crazy as it is) to put feats into this. That said none of the archery feats looked that appealing; so I haven't actually done so unless someone has a compelling reason to do so.

Any ideas? Again I know I'm being kind of goofy with this, but I like the idea and I want to make it work as well as it can, even if it isn't the best option.

*edit*

Forgot to add, I'm level 8 and have 16 dex; if that ends up being relevant in some capacity. Also it's a Pathfinder-only game, just in case that too is relevant.

[Dissonance]

if your willing, there are multiple paths you can take with this.

1st. Your a Summoner, one of the most bufftastic classes in the game. Enjoy it by casting some of your spells on yourself when you don't have a target and go nuts with the bow.

2nd. there is a spell on the wizard list that is called gravity bow. for 1min/lv you get a whole die increase to your bow dmg. that piddly 1d8 just became a scary 2d6. Start with a wand or a few scrolls of it if you can (UMD is a class skill and you can start with read magic).

3rd. Invest one or two feats into it. deadly aim will go a long way into making your damage stick, and is available almost right off the bat. point blank shot opens up a lot of options for your character, including a nice feat called focused shot which lets you add your int mod to damage rolls for ranged attacks.

4th. Enchant the heck out of the thing. Doesn't matter what you str score is when your slinging flaming arrows from a +2 bow.

combining any of these will do a lot for damage output with a bow. My personal suggestion is the gravity bow idea. It just works so well for so little cost (1st level spells FTW)

[Bearlock]

Buff yourself, pick up and adaptive bow, and use deadly aim. Now, deadly aim is pretty much power attack for archers, so using it takes away from your to-hit in order to boost your damage. with a 1/2 BAB, this is a hit that should not be underestimated, but it does boost your damage. When you hit.

That said, I've had an idea for an archer summoner in eberron for a while now. Elf, to get longbow prof, they were a noble cyran ex-pat. All for hunting and whatnot, dressed in the current hunting fashions, using their eidolon to flush out and pin down prey to be skewered with arrows. Optimal, no, but I would enjoy playing it.

[avr]

Well, if you want to kite the enemy you can do so from a phantom steed or from on top of an eidolon with the mount evolution easily enough. The mounted archery feat helps with this. This is only an option if your party is on board with the idea, there's no great use killing all the targets long after the party is dead or long after the party has already killed them.

Separate elemental enchantments on bow and arrows (or vicious if there's healing backup) would help. BTW, eidolons can do archery if you want; bipeds are the obvious way, but you're high enough level to start with a quadruped and add evolutions to turn it into a centauroid. It's not all about you if you're a summoner after all.

You can get the spell Obsidian Flow (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/o/obsidian-flow) to nail your enemies down for a couple of rounds. This is probably as useful to you as Haste, Heroism or Greater Invisibility, all of which you're high enough level to cast and all of which have archery applications.

[mistformsquirrl]

Some good ideas here, thank you! <o.o>b

@avr - Yeah, my Eidolon is a biped who uses a halberd and has a bow for backup situations, her strength score is quite high so her to-hit/damage I'm not worried about really at this point.

[lordmonty]

Um just to throw a wild card in the mix look at Samsaran(advanced race guide) as a race of option, with the alternate racial trait Mystic past life you could mix in a few good arcane spells from another class into your core mix, like Gravity Bow was mentioned above if you really wanted it and ofc a few more if you shoped around. Stats ain't perfect and you don't get longblow prof but its just a passing idea :)

Personally i'm considering an Asimar summoner, go heavy into its racial feats like flying and the magic racial spells, its got the +2 cha and kinda a nice theme with a flying Eidolon and summons. Not sure how it'll play but hey like you i think a character needs some character... althought i will always regret that wookie jedi consular some things just are not gonig to work ever :(

[mistformsquirrl]

I went Kitsune race-wise >.> +2 dex +2 cha works out pretty well for this kind of summoner I figure

But still, that's an interesting idea there and one I'll keep in mind for future characters!

[Sayt]

If you have access to 3.5 materiel, divert one or two evolution points to yourself, grow a third arm, and get a wand of wraithstrike, and care not an ounce for the deadly aim damage drop, as you are now shooting at their touch AC.