Trying to help a friend (Archer Build)

[Shadoobles]

Alright, so. I've been playing for years, but the vast majority of that, I had no idea what the hell I was doing. I recently convinced my neighbor to join our next game (We've got a few months, but I wanted to help him build a character and fully understand it.)
This would be his first game. He's told me that he wants to play an archer, and that he wants to do something semi-native americanish in flavor. This is a high power campaign (a start at level two, play until you're gods type thing)
No psionics, but the DM allows pretty much anything else.

[ExLibrisMortis]

I know what I mean by 'high-power', but what do you mean by 'high-power'?


Archery has to deal with low base damage and significant feat taxes. Typically, the solution involves bonus damage from skirmish and sneak attack. For a relatively straightforward build, try something like scout 4/ranger 16, using Swift Hunter (CAdv) and Travel Devotion (CChamp), with a +1 splitting (collision, seeking, whatnot) Hank's energy bow as end-game weapon.

[Naez]

If your DM will allow Dragon Magazine material Mystic Ranger 20 w/ Sword of the Arcane Order is a pretty solid archer choice and gives you casting to boot.

[Menzath]

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

This may help. Also the link in the first post.

And I agree, what do you consider high powered.

But as for native American Archer build... You could go the totemist route with manticore belt. Or would more "traditional" bow and arrow be the theme? Might need some more info on that side as well.

[Grod_The_Giant]

As noted, the biggest consideration for an archer is damage-- anyone with a good BAB can fire a lot of arrows, but without easy boosters like stat-to-damage and power attack, it's hard to rack up the damage you'd want. Classic "good" archer builds are

The Swift Hunter-- Move and shoot and add a bunch of bonus damage to each shot. ExLibrisMortis' build is the basic form, though I'd drop a cleric level in there to pick up Travel Devotion and the extra daily uses. More details here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?473666-New-Scout-Handbook).
The Soulbow-- Generate your own arrows that deal bonus damage based on Wisdom. Take Zen Archery and you can shoot with Wisdom too, making it really nice for an armored warrior. (Or, with a Monk level/Monk's Belt, an unarmored one). Requires two levels of a crappy class (Soulknife) to enter. Because of the Wisdom focus, you'll often see it paired with Wis-based casters like Cleric or Ardent and/or with a Shiba Protector dip for Wis-to-attack-and-damage a second time. (Ardent is fun because you can take Practiced Manifester to make up for all the dips and still wind up nearly a full caster)
The Dragonfire Bard-- Dragonfire Inspiration plus a little mild Inspire Courage optimization adds a bunch of damage to every attack; archers can make lots of attacks. Charming the Arrow lets you use Cha for ranged attacks if you can pull off the right race combination.
The Manticore Belt-- The Totemist class from Magic of Incarnum gets to bind various magical beast themed "soulmelds," which are sort of like temporary magic items that you can power up by investing "essentia"-- you have a limited amount that you can shift around at will. One of them, the Manticore Belt, lets you shoot spikes as a standard action, each doing 1d6+1/2 Str. Which doesn't sound like a lot until you realize that you can shoot three at level 2, and up to nine by endgame if you work at it. And if you have a familiar, animal companion, or mount, it can do the same. And if you have Bard levels for Dragonfire Inspiration...


For a new player... I'd suggest Swift Hunter. Totemist is possibly my favorite class, and if you're familiar with Incarnum it might be worth suggesting, but it's somewhat more complicated than a basic ranger, and the complexity hits you all at once-- there's no slow buildup, just dozens of options as soon as level 2.

[Manyasone]

Yes. Manticore belt. The chaingun porcupine, a very nice build combining totemist, rogue and scout. Too bad it was nerfed due to 'rules compendium' ruling on not being able to add the skirmish/sneak attack because it only takes a standard action to fire your volley

[Grod_The_Giant]

Yes. Manticore belt. The chaingun porcupine, a very nice build combining totemist, rogue and scout. Too bad it was nerfed due to 'rules compendium' ruling on not being able to add the skirmish/sneak attack because it only takes a standard action to fire your volley
Eh, you really want to add eight levels of Bard, DFI, Find Familiar, Share Soulmeld, and Words of Creation.

[Rebel7284]

Just want to offer a gentle reminder, if your friend is not native, to respect and learn more about the various native cultures before making a character like that. Cultural appropriation is bad.

Some mechanical ideas:
- Soulbow is an interesting prestige class.
- Clerics with Zen Archery tend to be very good due to being powerful casters.
- Aim to get a Splitting bow as soon as possible. Doubling your attacks is pretty great.
- Swift Hunter based builds have already been mentioned, but I want to second that.
- I feel that Factotums make pretty great archers with manyshot+extra actions+Int to attack/damage.

[Shadoobles]

I know what I mean by 'high-power', but what do you mean by 'high-power'?

Sorry for the confusion. By high power, I mean greater than any game I've played with other DMs. Magic items aren't quite handed out like candy, but close. The party regularly directly communes with gods/has their D.I. answered. The party (of 11) is able to take out city-killing creatures/literal armies without a single casualty.
Does that help?


Just want to offer a gentle reminder, if your friend is not native, to respect and learn more about the various native cultures before making a character like that. Cultural appropriation is bad

My friend is Native. It's why he wants to play a Native-inspired character. To stick with what he knows.