Typical newbie needs class advice

[Namesdontexist]

We can assume it will start at level 1. No clue who I am playing with yet.

What I really need is a character where I can be as active as I want (or don’t) without being a detriment to the team. Being the “face” feels like too much pressure. Just don’t like doing it because I work in sales and feel like I’m at work trying to sell someone on how great my sword looks in a bandit’s face.

I know I’m rambling a bit, but to make things less vague I had been interested in a mage archer. The arcane archer has few of its shot from what I understand, and I would like the option of being active (not just auto-attacking). As well, the Eldritch Knight seemed like fun, but War Magic comes so late (not sure how high we go in CoS, but this seems like substantial progress). Do you folks have any other suggestions, or affirmations for the aforementioned?

Thank you for reading.

[ad_hoc]

Don't worry so much about it.

You're going to have the most fun playing the class you want to play.

It sounds like you want to play an Eldritch Knight. While War Magic (and 2nd level spells) is a huge gain at 7th level, they get spells at 3rd which is very strong.

Arcane Archer is good too. You get to choose to use the arrow after the result of the attack so you don't waste them. It depends on what you mean by 'mage archer' though. They don't have the feel of a mage to me because they aren't casting spells.

[firelistener]

If you want to avoid being the face, just give yourself a lower charisma and avoid proficiency in persuasion or deception. Your party will probably have zero expectations for smooth-talking from your character with that.

Your class ideas sound okay. Just pick whatever sounds fun mechanically. 5e is good about making pretty much any build viable.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Ranger also has some nice archery related spells and class abilities. Ask your DM what enemies/terrains you can expect if you want to actually get any use out of Favored Enemy/Terrain.

[TalksAlone]

I think you already gave yourself good advice. EK is a good pick for this concept.

You could do it with the wizard or the warlock too, but the bow will start to feel redundant rather quickly.

[Eldariel]

One fairly amusing, if not entirely optimal build is Fighter (Arcane Archer) 3/Wizard (Bladesinger) 17. Gets you two arcane shots (they're pretty redundant) and an extra attack and 9th level spells for a rather nice whole package (though obviously it's not as strong as a straight Wizard). Now, Bladesinger is there mostly to be a Wizard that gets Extra Attack; Song of Victory is entirely wasted and Bladesong in general is mostly defensive for you (though that's not really a bad thing; it makes you incredibly hard to hit if desired). But Wizard gives you a lot of cool toys to play around with and makes you way more arcane. Fighter doesn't really give you anything of note beyond level 3 before level 18 so you'll be fine in that regard. Though obviously you'll never have quite as many attacks as a Fighter 20 nor as much damage; but you've got a lot of cool spells to make up for it. Banishing Arrow and either Seeking, Grasping or Piercing Arrow are nice additions to your toolbox. Not that amazing but eh, they do something.

Banishing Arrow is by far the best of the pack, targeting an often weak saving throw and having a brutal effect. Seeking and Piercing Arrow can hit targets that might be inaccessible otherwise, which can have some value even if the damage is generally insufficient. Shadow Arrow and Grasping Arrow are probably the second best effect arrows, but Shadow is generally worse than Banishing (Wis-saves are usually better than Cha and the effect is less potent) and Grasping is basically just damage - the movement debuff is annoyingly small (though of course, it can still matter and if they're forced to try an action to remove it, the effect is actually quite good).

[Namesdontexist]

Thank you everyone for your input, this has been illuminating. I have since made a decision and am confident in it thanks to your words.

[ad_hoc]

One fairly amusing, if not entirely optimal build is Fighter (Arcane Archer) 3/Wizard (Bladesinger) 17. Gets you two arcane shots (they're pretty redundant) and an extra attack and 9th level spells for a rather nice whole package (though obviously it's not as strong as a straight Wizard).

Bladesinger can't use 2 hands to make a weapon attack.

So it's out for shooting.

[NNescio]

Bladesinger can't use 2 hands to make a weapon attack.

So it's out for shooting.

Bladesinger gets Extra Attack. Attacking with a 2H weapon just ends Bladesong. So, yeah, anti-synergistic since Song of Victory becomes useless and Bladesong gets delegated to defense while spellcasting (both are noted by Eldariel), but it still works, even if it's less than optimal.