Arsenal Chaplain - Archer Build Advice

[Nosta]

I'm Trying to optimize a War-priest Archer but not sure on a few things

What Race should I play?

What Favorite class Bonus should I take?

and if I should sacrifice some Feats for VMC Fighter?

[Falontani]

Is this pathfinder?

[Nosta]

Is this pathfinder?

Indeed it is

Can you give me some Advice?

[Florian]

Human will possibly still be your best option. Warpriests have the unfortunate tendency to run MAD like hell and going for archery makes it a bit worse, so your best bet is basically dumping INT and compensating that with the Human and FCB bonus.

Don´t go pure archer, tho. Your class is also a healer and buffer. I guess a good combination with that particular archetype would be Shelyn as deity, Bladed Brush and Combat Reflexes for the Glaive and focus on getting into Overwatch Style for some tactical flexibility.

[Voltage]

Warpriests rely on Fervor to swift cast Divine Favor to boost thier damage. The Fate's Favored faith trait is a must increasing Divine Favor and any other luck bonus such as War Blessing's bonus to saves by 1. Erastil has favored weapon Longbow for the free Weapon Focus and a religion trait Deadeye Bowman that is by RAW, very good, but some DMs don't apply the cover penalties which would make it unnecessary. Going Human also gives you +1/6 Bonus Combat Feat for your favored class bonus giving you an extra Feat at 6th, 12th, and 18th and allowing you to have the same number of feats as a fighter and can choose fighter feats with your bonus feats as if you had full BAB.

Here's a sample 20pt buy.
Human Arsenal Chaplain of Erastil
12 Str 18 Dex 12 Con 10 Int 16 Wis 7 Cha
Fate's Favored
Deadeye Bowman
Point-Blank Shot
Precice Shot
Weapon Focus
War Blessing

3rd Lvl: Rapid Shot, Deadly Aim
5th Lvl: Combat Reflexes
6th Lvl: Weapon Specialization, Multishot

So at 6th lvl, not including gear, you have up to 5 Divine Favor memorized and 6 Fervor.
With Divine Favor, and all of the feats applied without gear other than a basic Composite Longbow.
+ 10 2d8+24/+10 1d8+12

That's pretty good for not even including the masterwork bonus yet. You'll have 2nd lvl spells, 6 Rounds of +1 enhancement, and probably a Dex belt and at least a +1 Weapon. Unfortunately, Combat Reflexes is a dead feat for 4 levels, but everything else is taken at the earliest it's available and when you hit 9th...

7th Point-Blank Master
9th Snap Shot, Improved Snap Shot

You now threaten 10ft out and can melee with your longbow perfectly fine.

Take advantage of durable arrows so you don't have to replace them. Also blunt arrows, and weapon blanches for bypassing DR. Align Weapon memorized in a 2nd lvl slot is also handy.

[PrismCat21]

Best to update the title of the thread or at least the first post to say Pathfinder. That way people know what kind of advice you want and what they can give you.

[Nosta]

Warpriests rely on Fervor to swift cast Divine Favor to boost thier damage. The Fate's Favored faith trait is a must increasing Divine Favor and any other luck bonus such as War Blessing's bonus to saves by 1. Erastil has favored weapon Longbow for the free Weapon Focus and a religion trait Deadeye Bowman that is by RAW, very good, but some DMs don't apply the cover penalties which would make it unnecessary. Going Human also gives you +1/6 Bonus Combat Feat for your favored class bonus giving you an extra Feat at 6th, 12th, and 18th and allowing you to have the same number of feats as a fighter and can choose fighter feats with your bonus feats as if you had full BAB.

Here's a sample 20pt buy.
Human Arsenal Chaplain of Erastil
12 Str 18 Dex 12 Con 10 Int 16 Wis 7 Cha
Fate's Favored
Deadeye Bowman
Point-Blank Shot
Precice Shot
Weapon Focus
War Blessing

3rd Lvl: Rapid Shot, Deadly Aim
5th Lvl: Combat Reflexes
6th Lvl: Weapon Specialization, Multishot

So at 6th lvl, not including gear, you have up to 5 Divine Favor memorized and 6 Fervor.
With Divine Favor, and all of the feats applied without gear other than a basic Composite Longbow.
+ 10 2d8+24/+10 1d8+12

That's pretty good for not even including the masterwork bonus yet. You'll have 2nd lvl spells, 6 Rounds of +1 enhancement, and probably a Dex belt and at least a +1 Weapon. Unfortunately, Combat Reflexes is a dead feat for 4 levels, but everything else is taken at the earliest it's available and when you hit 9th...

7th Point-Blank Master
9th Snap Shot, Improved Snap Shot

You now threaten 10ft out and can melee with your longbow perfectly fine.

Take advantage of durable arrows so you don't have to replace them. Also blunt arrows, and weapon blanches for bypassing DR. Align Weapon memorized in a 2nd lvl slot is also handy.

I hate to ask but can you show me step by step how you get 2D8+24/1D8+12

[witcher_587]

I'm Trying to optimize a War-priest Archer but not sure on a few things

What Race should I play?

What Favorite class Bonus should I take?

and if I should sacrifice some Feats for VMC Fighter?


For race I would go with Half-Orc of course. Take the Sacred Tattoo and Fate's Favored trait and you have a +2 luck bonus to all saves for basically free (you should already have that trait for Divine Favor anyways, since it is the best lvl 1 buff you have). Since you go half-orc you have proficiency with the Orc Hornbow which imo is the best bow in the game (2d6 per arrow and acts like a composite bow!) and you still qualify for the human Favored class bonus of +1/6 extra feat.

Regarding the VMC Fighter I think is a bad idea. Instead, I would take a level of Brawler (to gain Martial Flexibility) and take the Arsenal Chaplain archetype so that at lvl 5 you can qualify for ADVANCED WEAPON TRAINING which is awesome. I dont recommend taking the feat. Instead you should use Martial Flexibility to learn that feat in combat and use it with Warrior's Spirit (bane + dmg against a type of enemy, and since you choose it with Martial Flex, you can adapt to every enemy you encounter :D) or Item Mastery which basically turns you into an Iron Caster(google it if you dont know what it is) which gives even more flexibility and some nice magic options like Lightning Bolt, Breath of Life, Dimension Door, etc) and you choose it whenever you need it. Moreover, you have lots of dmg with your arrows (bane, divine favor, deadly aim, etc) so that would be a nice optimized build for archer warpriest.

I played a character pretty similar to the idea I told you, and I just did insane dmg and basically hit every shot unless I rolled a 1 or 2.. Pretty good