[3.5] What is your favorite Ranged/Archery build

[ExLibrisMortis]

Swift Hunter. Simple and clean.

This.

If you're putting a +4 enhancement on ammo, it'd better be on a raptor arrow or one made from unbreakable riverine, or repairable shapesand or aurorum.

No sense wasting really expensive ammunition, after all.

Perhaps you can enchant a quiver of Anariel to provide brilliant energy arrows. The description doesn't outright say you can, but the prices follow the usual progression for magic weapons (though prices are doubled, and there's a 28 000 gp base price for some reason--way too expensive for plain arrows).

[MaxiDuRaritry]

This.


Perhaps you can enchant a quiver of Anariel to provide brilliant energy arrows. The description doesn't outright say you can, but the prices follow the usual progression for magic weapons (though prices are doubled, and there's a 28 000 gp base price for some reason--way too expensive for plain arrows).

It'd be how many times the price of a single brilliant energy raptor arrow that can be reused ad infinitum?

[Quertus]

Standard Archer: Fighter 2/Ranger 11/Rogue 7, plenty of bonus feats and decent damage output (depending on when the Rogue levels are mixed in). Also has skill points to spare, which is something I always find myself wanting more of. I've played this build or minor variations thereof in three different low-OP campaigns (not all to 20+). It works fine, it's not complicated, and it's fun.

I take it you don't play with XP penalties?

[nijineko]

Get an elvencraft bow of the wintermoon and take strength of my enemy. Fire your mind arrows from it.

I'm not sure that works, since mindarrows come from the hands. But it's a great idea, and I think that mind arrows should be able to be fired from a bow in addition to independently....

[ExLibrisMortis]

It'd be how many times the price of a single brilliant energy raptor arrow that can be reused ad infinitum?

That depends on how many arrows you fire per round. A quiver that provides infinite +4 arrows costs 92 000 gp. A raptor arrow costs 6006 gp, of which 46 gp for the enchantment (1/50th of 300 gp masterwork cost + 2000 gp enchantment cost). Adding brilliant energy would take that cost up to to 6606 gp. So if you fire 14 arrows per round, the quiver of Anariel is cheaper.

[Soranar]

A warlock is probably my favorite ranged build. Unlike a ranger the damage is always ok and almost always hits (touch attacks). It doesn't need a workaround for DR or sneak immune creatures (which is a far too common combination in DnD monsters)

And you have abilities to help outside combat. With the right race and/or template + magic items you can be a fairly versatile character without spending all of your abilities on ranged damage

Finally you don't need a high STR and DEX to make it work and being small doesn't change your damage output (which also provides a bonus to hit and bonus AC.)



In the same vein , a factotum makes a surprisingly decent archer because manyshot + cunning insight + cunning surge

Obviously knowledge devotion has a lot of synergy in this too

cunning insight can give you +INT to hit and/or damage (affects every arrow in a manyshot as it's not precision damage and it only counts as 1 attack)

cunning breach also lets you ignore DR but that only comes on at level 11

and none of it relies on cheese of any kind and ignores precision damage (so crit immune creatures still get your full damage anyway)


finaly a swift ranger build is definitely a decent option if you pick the right creatures to bypass precision damage

[Buufreak]

Before the Rules Compendium nerf, the Chaingun Porcupine, no doubt. Especially potent in gestalt because one full side can be Totemist, letting you access Totem Embodiment and fling a ridiculous 14 spines all with tons of rider damage.

Help me out, which nerf in particular?

Swift Hunter. Simple and clean.

Yea. I love how simple ranger 1/scout 19 can be. If I wanted to get tricky with it, I think I did ranger 4/scout 5/bard 2 to get into foluchan lyrist, but that is less archer and more jack of all.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Help me out, which nerf in particular?

Volley rules, probably.

Because martial characters need more nerfing.

[SLOTHRPG95]

I take it you don't play with XP penalties?

Not for a while, now. Also, although XP penalties leave a bad taste in the mouth, it's not actually that big a difference for a three-way split if one of the three is a favored class. Between casters probably spending a moderate chunk on crafting (esp. at higher levels), and slightly faster XP gain when a level behind, you're at worst a level behind and even then only for like 10-20% of the time. But I digress. If I were playing that build in a campaign with XP penalties, I'd probably just drop the two initial Fighter levels. So then Ranger 12/Rogue 8, since I don't want to lose a third point of BAB.

[bean illus]

I've been doing A LOT of archery builds lately. Here's one that goes Chameleon, for Craft Wand and Extraordinary Artisan, turning him into a utility and buff machine, and giving access to Greater Magic Weapon, Haste, Magic Vestment, Ranger Spells, Greater invisibility, etc, etc, etc.

R 4/ F 4/ CC 1, OCh 2/ DwS 2/ Cham 8

ABLE LEARNER
R 1 Arcanist, PS
R 2 RS
R 3 PBS

R4 FS
F 1 Arrow Swarm
6 F 2 MS, IRS

CC War = WF, XX = TD
F 3
F 4 WSp, WA

OCh XX = RWM, XX = Dead Eye
DwS 1 Keen, range +10/lvl
12 DwS 2 Magic weapon, imp range crit, IPS

Cham
Cham 2 Holy Warrior/ Extraordinary Artisan
15 Cham 3 Craft Wand

Cham 4 Ability Boon +2
Cham 5
18 Cham 6 Master Wand

Cham 7 Ability Boon +4, Double Aptitude
Cham 8 Rapid Refocus

Spoiler: Feats and Pertinent Abilities

Show

Ranger Champion of the Wild
Fighter Targeteer
Cloistered Cleric
Ordained Champion

ABLE LEARNER
R 1 Favored Enemy Arcanist, Precise Shot
R 2 Rapid Shot
R 3 Point Blank Shot

R4 Far Shot
F 1 Exotic Weapon (Elvencraft Bowstaff), Arrow Swarm
6 F 2 Many Shot, Improved Rapid Shot

CC War = Weapon Focus, XX = Travel Devo
F 3
F 4 W Specialization (bowstaff) Woodland Archer

OCh XX = Ranged Weapon Mastery, XX = Dead Eye
DwS 1 Keen, range +10/lvl
12 DwS 2 Magic weapon, imp range crit, Improved Precise Shot

Cham
Cham 2 Holy Warrior+ Extraordinary Artisan
15 Cham 3 Mimic class feature 1/day (TU), Craft Wand

Cham 4 Ability Boon +2
Cham 5
18 Cham 6 Mimic class feature 2/day(TU), Master Wand

Cham 7 Ability Boon +4, Double Aptitude
Cham 8 Rapid Refocus

It's quite possible to start Chameleon 3 as early as 6th (7th is much better), for wand making at 9th level, and 4th level wands at 11th. In fact that's probably better.

At that point one might as well drop the fighter levels, and treasure hunt that juicy chameleon spell access.

Spoiler: Faster Wand Use

Show

Ranger Champion of the Wild
Fighter Targeteer
Cloistered Cleric
Ordained Champion

ABLE LEARNER
R 1 Favored Enemy Arcanist, Precise Shot
R 2 Rapid Shot
R 3 Point Blank Shot

R4 Far Shot
F 1 Exotic Weapon (Elvencraft Bowstaff), Arrow Swarm
6 F 2 Many Shot, Improved Rapid Shot

Cham
Cham 2 Woodland Archer, Holy Warrior, Extraordinary Artisan
Cham 3 Mimic class feature 1/day (TU), Craft Wand

CC War = Weapon Focus, XX = Travel Devo
Cham 4 Ability Boon +2
12 Cham 5 Create Wand 4th level, Woodland Archer

DwS 1 Keen, range +10/lvl
DwS 2 Magic weapon, imp range crit,
Cham 6 Mimic class feature 2/day(TU), Improved Precise Shot

Cham 7 Ability Boon +4, Double Aptitude
OCh XX = Ranged Weapon Mastery, XX = Dead Eye
18 Cham 8 Master Wand

Cham 9 Mimic class feature 3/day
Cham 10 Ability boon +6, aptitude focus 3/day (+4)

[Him]

Well, I will mention 3 builds, high-lighting one. The first build was when I was running a game and threw in an "NPC" to make up some numbers. Archer bard , no real fancy stuff but at the low levels we were playing, suprisingly useful. But my pc bard is a diff build. Second was a build made someone else that was aimed at being a survivor/kiter involving theif acrobat prestige class. He made the character to piss me off, he was a doosch, but must admit, the character was effective.(at both ranged combat AND pissing me off, or was that just cause he had mental spasms at the sight of me*shrug*)

But the fave ranged character I want to play? Cleric, war(longbow obviously) and air domains, could switch air for fire, but I wanted chain lighting. Custom magic items? 2 rings one of constant Produce Fire ( spend the cash to up caster level to 5, maximize and enhance). The other ring (or whatever) constant Divine Power, for the extra BAB. I think i ended giving this build to someone else to use as a henchman because I wasn't really interested in playing a cleric. Feats and stats, you have to make some hard choices, namely will you be taking this character epic? My answer was well, let's build this character like he would go epic, so archery feats at epic need a high dex, so don,t need Zen archery. The normal archery feats with spell focus:conjuration and augment summoning. The produce fire ring is op until around 15th level due to it being a ranged touch attack, when fire didn't work, enchant arrows with a spell and use them. There may have been a 2 level splash of fighter just for extra feats, I forget. But that was the general idea using just the core rule books. Fire chucker/archer/healer/summoner with a few offensive spells. As a healer/summoner don't need a high wis, but again check those epic feats as I remember there were some requirements for some awesome feats.

Honarable mention: A mad scientist friend(And fiend) of mine played a eldritch knight archer. Twas cool, but the power gamer in me yearned for the pure mage fire power. How I miss the days of 2nd ed fighter mages.

P.s. the DM let me gradually increase to ring of produce fire enchantment from 1st level caster spell effect up to what I described. And no, I didn't give you my exact build break down as I thought you wanted to play your own. Smell the inspiration *brvvvvp*.