Arcane archer question

[Chocksa]

When i was browsing through books i found this alternate class feature for a fighter.

ARMORED MAGE

Class: Fighter.

Level: 1st.

Special Requirement: Knowledge (arcana) 1 rank.

Replaces: You lose proficiency with medium armor and heavy armor.

Benefit: Choose one arcane spellcasting class, such as sorcerer. You can avoid any chance of arcane spell failure for spells gained from this class as long as you restrict yourself to light armor and light shields. This training does not extend to any other form of armor or shields, nor does this ability apply to spells gained from other spellcasting classes. This benefit applies only to spells of a level equal to or lower than your fighter class level + 1.

I was wondering, are there any drawbacks when you choose this if you are going for an arcane archer build beside the obvious low amount of skill points? This just seems a bit 2 perfect for an arcane archer.

[eggynack]

Well, the big problem here is that arcane archers are really horrific. They don't advance caster level, and they only get one ability (imbue arrow) that's actually worth anything. The second issue is that you can already basically do this with ASF reducers. There's a whole list on the lists of stuff (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19871954/Lists_of_Stuff), so you should check that out.

[Chocksa]

It's not just about reducing the ASF. With the fighter/armoured mage you also get a ton of feats to increase your archery skills. A straight up 10 armoured mage fighter/ 10 arcane archer gets 6 bonus feats on top of his 7 regular feats.

[Scrapheap]

The problem I am seeing is that Armored Mage acf doesnt actually give you spell casting, just the ability to cast in light armor.
You could go Fighter(Armored Mage)1/Sorcerer 9/Arcane Archer 10 but it isnt all that great.

[eggynack]

It's not just about reducing the ASF. With the fighter/armoured mage you also get a ton of feats to increase your archery skills. A straight up 10 armoured mage fighter/ 10 arcane archer gets 6 bonus feats on top of his regular feats.
How does armored mage 10 get you into arcane archer? Arcane archer requires at least first level spells, and armored mage doesn't give you that. Also, if your spells aren't good, arcane archer's only real benefit doesn't do much for you. It's just a generally terrible prestige class.

[Chocksa]

How does armored mage 10 get you into arcane archer? Arcane archer requires at least first level spells, and armored mage doesn't give you that. Also, if your spells aren't good, arcane archer's only real benefit doesn't do much for you. It's just a generally terrible prestige class.

Ah y, i missread the alternate class feature i think

[nedz]

People have built reasonably good characters with Arcane Archer, but only using a 2 level dip, YMMV.

[Feytalist]

The key element is the fact that imbuing a spell with imbue arrow takes a standard action, always. This allows you to cast certain spells with casting times of minutes in a single round.

A previous Iron Chef competition had a build with an arcane archer element that could fire off Fimbulwinter with a single arrow. Add on things like Lord of the Uttercold and Flash Frost and it just becomes silly.

[The Viscount]

If you really want to cast spells in light armor you could always simply use one of the classes that can already cast in light armor, like duskblade, dread necromancer, beguiler, or warmage. Or you can always take the battle sorcerer acf. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#sorcererVariantBattleS orcerer)

[Fouredged Sword]

Or dip one level in spellthief and take the master spellthief feat.