Archery help

[danielxcutter]

Thought exercise. While this may be used for a future character, it certainly won't be anytime soon.

Anyone have good advice for an archer build that isn't either cheese-dependant or a Zen Archery cleric? The Archery Handbook on BrilliantGameologists is woefully incomplete, and most of the archery-based prestige classes I've seen don't really seem that good. I suppose Soulbow is good, and Psychic Warrior makes a pretty good one with Zen Archery and the right powers, but there isn't much more than that. The Swift Hunter build(Scout/Ranger with the Swift Hunter feat) is more like a ranged Rogue than a martial archer, and while Barbarians are surprisingly nice for the role, they kinda pale when compared to even moderatly optimized melee builds.

So, does anyone have anything else? If someone has a link to a handbook or something, that would also be appreciated.

[Troacctid]

Archery Handbook (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=jkmjb1if14610t258ojkh74l64&topic=2892.0)

[danielxcutter]

Archery Handbook (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=jkmjb1if14610t258ojkh74l64&topic=2892.0)

Ehrrrr... sorry, that was the Archery Handbook I was mentioning. It does have pretty much everything you'd need in terms of feats and items, but it lacks information of classes and prestige classes, which I was looking for as well. It's still a great guide, though.

[Menzath]

Have you checked out
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?284283-Piggy-Knowles-Archer-Build-Thread

[danielxcutter]

Have you checked out
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?284283-Piggy-Knowles-Archer-Build-Thread

No I haven't, and yes that's what I needed. Thanks!

[DarkSoul]

BG and Minmax boards are basically the same site, so that link is likely less than useful.

One of my players is playing an archer right now and I've steered him toward a few different classes. Deepwood Sniper, from Masters of the Wild (3.0) was never updated to 3.5. Two levels gives keen arrows, +20' range increment, -10% miss chance from concealment, and x4 damage on critical hits. Seven levels gives another +50', another -10% miss chance, and x5 damage on critical hits, along with other minor bonuses. He's also planning on taking Peerless Archer to at least level 3 for power shot, which is power attack with a bow.

Mystic Ranger, from Dragon Magazine, makes a great base because of the accelerated spellcasting combined with the ranger/archery spells in Champions of Ruin and the Spell Compendium. Even without taking specific builds into account, it's a really good class.

Personally, I prefer this style of archery over precision damage styles like swift hunters or bow initiates.

[danielxcutter]

BG and Minmax boards are basically the same site, so that link is likely less than useful.

One of my players is playing an archer right now and I've steered him toward a few different classes. Deepwood Sniper, from Masters of the Wild (3.0) was never updated to 3.5. Two levels gives keen arrows, +20' range increment, -10% miss chance from concealment, and x4 damage on critical hits. Seven levels gives another +50', another -10% miss chance, and x5 damage on critical hits, along with other minor bonuses. He's also planning on taking Peerless Archer to at least level 3 for power shot, which is power attack with a bow.

Mystic Ranger, from Dragon Magazine, makes a great base because of the accelerated spellcasting combined with the ranger/archery spells in Champions of Ruin and the Spell Compendium. Even without taking specific builds into account, it's a really good class.

Personally, I prefer this style of archery over precision damage styles like swift hunters or bow initiates.

I'd prefer not to use 3.0 material, but Mystic Ranger sounds interesting.