Arcane Archer

[Grayson01]

How much better would the AA be if it advanced full Casting?

[paperarmor]

Quite a bit I'm sure it'd open up a niche for ranged gishes that aren't Divine casters.

[StreamOfTheSky]

It would be a legitimately good PrC then. You don't even have to lose a CL dipping fighter to enter if you just wait till you have BAB +6 (so, enter at 13th), or you could dip and be down only 1 CL. It'd still be far from the best caster PrC...there's just so much broken-ness out there, but it would be a solid choice, 2nd best caster PrC in core.

I mean, even w/o casting some people consider taking a 2 CL hit just for Imbue Arrow. It lets you shoot people with Antimagic Field. It lets you turn long cast time spells into standard actions, they just have to be an AoE spell. Guards and Wards in under 6 seconds is snazzy.

[Grayson01]

It would be a legitimately good PrC then. You don't even have to lose a CL dipping fighter to enter if you just wait till you have BAB +6 (so, enter at 13th), or you could dip and be down only 1 CL. It'd still be far from the best caster PrC...there's just so much broken-ness out there, but it would be a solid choice, 2nd best caster PrC in core.

I mean, even w/o casting some people consider taking a 2 CL hit just for Imbue Arrow. It lets you shoot people with Antimagic Field. It lets you turn long cast time spells into standard actions, they just have to be an AoE spell. Guards and Wards in under 6 seconds is snazzy.

I honestly like the class now Fluff wise and also if used just as an Archer not a Magic Archer PrC I have had fun with it mostly ignoring Imbue Arrow. I also think that shooting someone in the chest piece with an arrow that burst in to flames should have a sercumstance penelty to your reflex lol.

But I am of the same mindset as you two that it would be a Balanced viable class with just that small tweek. (if you count fullcaster progression as a small tweek).

[holywhippet]

I've read one posting a while back suggesting using a standard AA as a high damage build. Since the AA gets enchantment bonuses for their bow for free they don't need to use up enchantment slots other than the mandatory +1. So they can use those slots to add on extra damage enchantments. It isn't a bad class if you approach it from a ranged attacker point of view, but less so from a caster point of view.

[paperarmor]

you could always just ask your DM to approve it as a houserule. Because it make a lot more sense even if it was something the swiftblade that loses like 4 cl maybe?

[Grayson01]

I've read one posting a while back suggesting using a standard AA as a high damage build. Since the AA gets enchantment bonuses for their bow for free they don't need to use up enchantment slots other than the mandatory +1. So they can use those slots to add on extra damage enchantments. It isn't a bad class if you approach it from a ranged attacker point of view, but less so from a caster point of view.

Yeah That is what I did with my build. It was a Duskblade AA. I was going for that exact concept with a little magic thrown in. Plus DB gets all Knowledges so Knowledge Domain was a great help. I had two magic Quivers filled with "Trick" arrows w. various enchanments and a Bane ElvenCraft Long Bow, mixed in with the Storm gauntlets from the MIC that made all my attacks shocking.

[holywhippet]

I'm looking at the MiC right now and I don't see how that would work. Storm gauntlets have 4 charges per day and none of the powers allow ranged shock attacks with a bow. Unless it was a class feature of duskblade?

[ericgrau]

PF does advance casting but I do dislike this when I want to be primarily an archer. The buffs are nice on an archer, but it becomes a bit of trap bait for caster entry, b/c besides a 2 level dip for imbue arrow on a limited number of spells you can't cast and shoot in the same turn.

It does sound like a nice idea for duskblade entry so in that particular case I'd say go for it. Assuming you found some way to make duskblade work with ranged. For others I'd probably want something that makes magic and archery blend better. Some of the duskblade features as part of the PrC like putting magic onto attacks (beyond the effect of a 2 level dip) or quick casting, for example.

[Grayson01]

I'm looking at the MiC right now and I don't see how that would work. Storm gauntlets have 4 charges per day and none of the powers allow ranged shock attacks with a bow. Unless it was a class feature of duskblade?

Maybe it was a differnt Item (It was about 3 years ago) I am AWB at the moment I'll look at it when I get home. It was part of a set that included a ring that Cast Firefire but also delt damage.

[Grayson01]

Holywhippet Bracers of Lighting pg 206 MiC not Storm Gantlets my bad.

[Vaz]

I've read one posting a while back suggesting using a standard AA as a high damage build. Since the AA gets enchantment bonuses for their bow for free they don't need to use up enchantment slots other than the mandatory +1. So they can use those slots to add on extra damage enchantments. It isn't a bad class if you approach it from a ranged attacker point of view, but less so from a caster point of view.

However, if it advanced casting, you could just GMW it anyway. If on a melee, you should be paying for a GMW anyway.