Best way to play character

[Mulletman258]

My character is level 14 elf: a ranger-4, sorcerer-6, arcane archer-4. I've never played a spell caster or an archery character. Our campaign is mostly dragon hunting. It's 3.5e, and a fully flushed out character. So what is the best way to play this character?

[Zrak]

Are you playing 3.5 or Pathfinder? How far along in the character build are you? Have you picked spells and equipment yet?

[Milodiah]

...the..err...way that's fun?

[(Un)Inspired]

Play it like Snagglepus.

Every time a dragon appears yell, "Exit, stage left!" cast Expeditious Retreat and run away.

[Gnome Alone]

Well, buff your self up and then shoot arrows I guess. I am going to go out on a limb and guess that your main favored enemy is already dragons. If not, take favored enemy: dragons.

Neat trick alert: you can imbue arrows with Antimagic Field. Side note: you can do this with only two levels in Arcane Archer, to get Imbue Arrow. It might be hard to lose so many caster levels between Ranger and Arcane Archer. I'd suggest some more sorcerer levels; gotta make sure you still have some spells left to shoot at people. This advice does not apply if the DM is using a fixed, non-sadistic Arcane Archer class that does not lose so much casting.

[Zrak]

You're going to have a harder time in 3.5e, since the 3.5e version of Arcane Archer is frankly kind of a mess. Do you have a link to the sheet of the fully made character? It's hard to give specific advice without seeing things like spells and feats. The standard Arcane Archer "move" is to imbue arrows with nasty spells that normally have a range of touch or an area of effect centered around the caster so that you can use them without having to get up close or center them wherever you like. Between using the version of Arcane Archer that doesn't advance spell progression and four levels of ranger, though, you're not going to have a lot of spells to work with, but you're also going to have problems trying to focus more on combat where you have enough levels of sorcerer that your BAB is low for a combat-focused level 14 character and archery has some serious damage problems regardless. Especially if you're not familiar with this kind of character, you could have a really hard time going up against dragons.

That doesn't mean it's impossible, or anything. Challenge is part of what makes the game fun. What it does mean is that we're going to need to know more about the specifics of the character to help you play to its strengths and overcome its weaknesses. :smallsmile: