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Fhaolan
2008-03-21, 05:27 PM
Hi all,

Out of curiousity, what build advice would you give to someone wanting to create a character who's primary focus is archery off the back of a flying creature?

Personally I've gone over various build ideas, and for some reason I'm fixated on the image of an arabian nights-type character on the back of a dire bat. Don't ask.

The primary focus I'm going for here is a mix of archery, and animal companion boosts. I started with Ranger going to Beastmaster and then to Wild Plains Outrider and the Natural Bond feat, but that meant missing out on a lot of the archery feats.

I tried working out what would happen if I subbed Fighter for Ranger, and while I got a good number of the archery feats, I had a hard time getting into the two PrCs due to the skill requirements and the Fighter's parcity of skill points.

Then I did something weird, and went Ranger/Fighter going up evenly until I got the prereques for Beastmaster and then Wild Plains Outrider. I haven't completely worked this one out, but I'm sure I've done something wrong because this is getting far too complex for my liking. :smallsmile: Just to make it more fun, I decided to make it a Desert Elf from UA for the fluff, and use the Elf Ranger Substitution Level at 1st level for the extra skill points, and there was the temptation to throw in the Planar Ranger Substitution to make the dire bat Celestial or Fiendish or something. Way more complex than my builds normally are...

So, what would *you* do?

dman11235
2008-03-21, 05:37 PM
Profit. That's what I'd do.

But seriously, what I'd do is get a cohort instead, and drop the animal companion. Take Leadership. That way, you can have an intelligent mount, and have it take levels in a spell casting class to give boosts (I recommend cleric). If you want to use your AC though, ignore AC boosts like Beastmaster. You should focus on making your archery awesome, and just use your mount to stay away from everything. Get you and your mount Rings of Entropic Defense and a speed boosting item. For your mount buy the Anklets of Swift Flying I made, just for this purpose. Link in my HH. If you do it right, it won't matter that your AC sucks. Or your AC. That's Animal Companion and Armor Class, respectively.

However, what I'd do for a flying archer is Raptorans, but that's something completely different. BTW, Shadow raptorans=win sauce.

For more info, give me more info.

Frosty
2008-03-21, 05:43 PM
Take paladin levels until you qualify for Beastmaster, then go into Wild Plains Outrider and finish out with ranger levels. If you're a halfling, take that halfling only rider PrC as well. Your mount will be tougher than you, so you don't have to worry about it being shot from the sky. Take the feat that let's your animal companion gain the ebenfits of both Special mount and Animal Companion