Archer Build

[j_spencer93]

So I have a novice player wanting to play as an archer. Showing her the classes, she is either interested in a Ranger (but she doesn't understand the magic that well) OR the warrior from the middle earth guide with the weapon master path.
However I have never built an archer in 5th edition yet and have no clue what to tell her would be the better choice. I am leaning slightly towards the Warrior because of the lack of magic but it is just a fighter with two different paths. The hunter's conclave though looks pretty good on the ranger side.
Looking back over things and I also noticed the Wanderer from the middle earth book...

Waderer 13 and Warden 7 is what I was thinking. It makes her good with the bow, gives her a few unique things and allows for most of the features of the ranger she wanted. It is noticeably weaker though then just a ranger doing the same...
I hate making character builds for new players. She knows nothing at all about the game lol

[Naanomi]

I don't know anything about the middle earth warrior... but in 'normal' 5e stuff...

There are basically three ways to go with an archer in my mind...
1) Hunter/Ranger with spell supported archery; has more AoE support than any other option while maintaining decent single target damage
2) Assassin/Rogue (maybe with fighter dip); Focused on long-range devastating sniper shots
3) Battlemaster/Fighter; Many attacks with some combat control aspects, highest single target damage, least skill/utility

One has to decide whether you are going to use hand crossbows or longbows; the former wins out in most scenarios except for range, but requires another feat to come online (and isn't visually appealing to some players)

There are other characters that use a bow... some advocate for Valor bard poaching Ranger Spells... but most of them to me are 'something else first, archer second'

Sharpshooter is a must, Crossbow Mastery equally necessary if you are going to be using them. Other feats depend on the specific build goals (skulker and alert for the assassin, lucky never hurts, etc)

[Arcangel4774]

Battlemaster fighter is a fairly simple archer with the maneuvers serving as a good introduction to resource management.

Edit* ninja'd

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'd go for a Fighter, using the Scout Scout (Kits of Old UA (http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/04_UA_Classics_Revisited.pdf)) or Monster Hunter (Gothic Heroes UA (https://dnd.wizards.com/sites/default/files/media/upload/articles/UA%20Gothic%20Characters.pdf)) subclasses. Both get you plenty of skills and some nice, strong-but-simple superiority dice (especially the former: roll the die and add it to skills, attack, or damage) to add a bit of active choice to things. The former gets the wilderness feel of the Ranger via skills and Natural Explorer; the latter gives a bit more of a monster hunter feel. You might add two or three levels of Rogue to introduce a bit more tactics and choice of at-will abilities.

In either case, Archery in 5e is quite simple and very, very strong. The Archery combat style is a given; after that there are two ridiculousness amazing feats for it, Crossbow Master and Sharpshooter. The latter works for everything, lets you ignore a lot of penalties, and gives you a form of power attack; the former only works for crossbows but lets you make an extra attack as a bonus action. (You don't need to do some sort of goofy two-weapon fighting, either; you can attack with a Hand Crossbow (a one-handed weapon), then use the bonus action to attack with the same bow) Ideally you'd take both, at which point as a Fighter you're making three or four attacks a round at a slight penalty, each dealing massive damage.

[Specter]

Remember that you can also go Spell-lessRanger from UA.

[CursedRhubarb]

Hmm...

Perhaps a rogue, thief would fit mechanically but assassin thematically. Background of Spy and have a high Int, max Cha, using a hand crossbow and Proficiency+expertise in Persuasion and Deception? (Possibly in survival later?) Go with the Crossbow Expert feat and hand crossbow be the main weapon of choice with the occasional use of alchemist fire or oil flasks tossed from behind cover.

Mandatory to have a flask for boose at all times.

[Naanomi]

Lets look at a few shall we?

Stout Halfling
Fighter/Battlemaster 20
9/16/16/10/12/12
Class Features: Archery Combat Style; Goading Attack, Menacing Attack, Precision Attack; Disarming Attack, Trip Attack; Evasive Footwork, Pushing Attack; Commander's Strike, Maneuvering Attack
ASI: Crossbow Expert, Sharpshooter, +2 DEX, +2 DEX, Magic Initiate: (Mage Hand, Truestrike, Hex), Lucky, Alert

Shoots 5X for 1d6+15 at +8 to hit, more if you Hex first, with a variety of battlefield control options and can get 4 more shots in with Action Surge if needed

or...

Drow Elf
Assassin Rogue 3/Fighter 1/Rogue +16
10/16/14/10/12/14
Class Features: Expertise: Stealth, Perception, Archery Combat Style; Expertise: (whatever)
ASI: Sharpshooter, +2 DEX, +2 DEX, Skulker, (two more to taste)

Shoots for 1d8+10d6+5 with +13 to hit; potentially autocritical, potentially double damage, all at an impressive range and from impressive stealth

[j_spencer93]

Well to explain the Middle Earth stuff. Warrior is fighter (literally with just a different name) and has a path called Weapon Master which expands your fighting style. Wanderer is ranger with no magic. Thats all those are.

This is a feature she wanted from the warrior (weapon master): Style Focus
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you become even more fearsome a foe with your chosen Fighting Style. The Fighting Style chosen at 1st level gains additional abilities.
• Archery- You may spend your action aiming. If you attack with your bow next turn, you gain a +2 bonus to the attack and do not suffer disadvantage for attacking at long range.

Masteries
Also at 3rd level, you have mastered a specific weapon. You gain another mastery at 7th , 10th, 15th and 18th levels. Choose from the following masteries.


This is a feature she wanted from the wanderer (hunter of beast): Swift Shot
Beginning at 7th level, if you have a ranged weapon to hand, you may make a bonus ranged attack before initiative is rolled. This applies even if you are surprised.

Volley
You can use your action to make a ranged attack against any number of creatures within 10 feet of a point you can see that are within your weapon’s range. You must have ammunition for each target, as normal, and you must make a separate attack roll for each target. You must finish a short or long rest before you can use this ability again.


Ok so now knowing the features she was most interested in, is there a way to build that into a concept that really is about as straight forward as you can make it? She doesn't mind superiority dice though.
Ranger (Hunter's Conclave gets volley at 11, same as middle earth counterpart however there is no real substitute for swift shot. and the "warrior" doesn't really have a substitute either. I know I sound to be leaning more towards the "Middle Earth" stuff, but only because those are the feature she was interested in. HOWEVER she wouldnt even get her abilities until 18th level which is pretty lame.

[danpit2991]

the answer is warlock the answer is always warlock

seriously though re-fluff warlock as "arcane archer" and come up with a new description of the powers

[Grod_The_Giant]

The Deep Stalker Ranger (Underdark or Revised Ranger UA) gets an entire extra attack during the first round of combat...

[Mongobear]

This is a feature she wanted from the warrior (weapon master): Style Focus
When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you become even more fearsome a foe with your chosen Fighting Style. The Fighting Style chosen at 1st level gains additional abilities.
• Archery- You may spend your action aiming. If you attack with your bow next turn, you gain a +2 bonus to the attack and do not suffer disadvantage for attacking at long range.


This is basically what the Archery Fighting Style does for Fighters/Rangers, but it is entirely passive, no Aiming or Action commitment required.



Masteries
Also at 3rd level, you have mastered a specific weapon. You gain another mastery at 7th , 10th, 15th and 18th levels. Choose from the following masteries.

This is a feature she wanted from the wanderer (hunter of beast): Swift Shot
Beginning at 7th level, if you have a ranged weapon to hand, you may make a bonus ranged attack before initiative is rolled. This applies even if you are surprised.


What does Weapon Mastery actually do? allow you to use these abilities with that weapon? or special things?

Afaik, nothing emulates the Swift Shot as far as out of initiative attacks. Assassinate is the closest I can even think of and all it does is Auto-Crit things if they're surprised.



Volley
You can use your action to make a ranged attack against any number of creatures within 10 feet of a point you can see that are within your weapon’s range. You must have ammunition for each target, as normal, and you must make a separate attack roll for each target. You must finish a short or long rest before you can use this ability again.


Was this from your Middle Earth class or the Hunter Ranger? Because Hunter Rangers get this exact ability at level 11.


Imo, you should let her make a Ranger/Rogue multiclass.

Hunter Ranger 11 gets her the Volley ability. And either Colossus Slayer (extra damage vs targets already injured) or Horde Breaker (fire two arrows at once at seperate targets) as well as fighting style and tracking/naturey skill sets. If you are against the complexity of spells, use the Spell-less Ranger Variant from one of the Unearthed Arcana releases.

Assassin Rogue gets her the "Suprise!" triggers which are as close as possible to the Middle Earth ability, and also adds some skills and action economy abilities, and Sneak Attack which hopefully helps her learn how to make tactical choices for later games once she is more seasoned.

Most games usually peter out around this point, but for the sake of completion, I would say fnish out the last 6 levels with +1 Ranger, +1 Rogue, and then dip into Battle Master(or the previously mentioned Monster Hunter) Fighter for 4 levels for Action Surge, Superiority Dice (Monster Hunter makes this very simple to figure out how to use them), another Fighting Style (Defense or Dueling if she has a sword and runs out of ammunition) and another ASI/Feat.

End of the day, she will look like this: Hunter Ranger 12/Assassin Rogue 4/BM Fighter 4 She gets all of the ASIs you'd get staying single classed, would have great damage output and ability to "Nova" very well especially if she has a surprise round, and is deadly at range if she takes Sharpshooter and uses a Longbow.

[j_spencer93]

I like that actually. Also i forgot hordebreaker. I think the player will like that too.

[djreynolds]

I find the way to make a good archer... is what else do you do for the party when you are not making porcupines out of monsters.

Stealth
Healing
Buffs
Debuffs
Back-up melee

Bard and ranger can do a lot, so can arcane trickster.

If you want no magical build, battlemaster/any rogue is just fine, very gritty type of scout.

I like ranger, his spells come in quite handy