[3.5] Mount/Archery Help

[IM@work]

For my next character I am thinking about playing a Ranger2/Ftr?/PrC? Focused on maximizing the amounts of attacks
I am trying to decide whether or not to 1. actually play it 2. use a mount
I am overall unfamiliar with mounts, is it really worth it?
Also at this point in time I am just planning on going Ftr 18 unless I find a prestige class of value. The only ones I can think of are arcane archer, for a two level dip, and an Order of the bow initiate. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

[Epinephrine]

Wild Plains Outrider (C.Adv.)? If you are thinking of mounted combat it's a decent 3 level prestige class, stacks with mount or animal companion, grants a movement bonus, lets your mount use your ranks in Move Silently and Hide (handy!) and gives a full melee attack on a single move by the mount.

If you are willing to go with a halfling (or want to rewrite/get DM approval for a non-halfling), the halfling outrider is pretty decent too, advancing mount/animal companion abilities, getting full attacks on a move, and getting to fire with no penalties even when the mount is making a double move or running.

[Person_Man]

What books are available? What ECL are you playing at?

The key to archery is not a specific PrC. All you really need out of your class is a high To-Hit and respectable BAB. They key to archery is magic items. If you have a +1 Flaming Longbow, and fire a +1 Frost arrow, and have a 12th level friend cast Greater Magic Weapon on your longbow, now you're firing +3 Flaming Frost arrows. There are various obscure feats to help you with this (Mercantile Background, Ancestral Weapon, Item Familiar) or you could head into Kensai. If you want a strait core class, your best bets are Cleric (to gain access to buffs and summons) or Ranger (Tumble, Animal Companion, and archery-centric spells in the splat books). Having precision damage (Sneak Attack, Sudden Strike, Skirmish) also helps, but it comes with much greater restrictions.

The main benefits of a mount are Spirited Charge and superior movement. An archery build isn't going to use Spirited Charge. Superior movement is helpful (especially if your mount has flight or a climb speed), but not really necessary. As a non-Precision archery build, you're not going to be on the front lines anyway. So I wouldn't bother with a mount.

[Signmaker]

Be sure to buff up your ride checks. If you can reliably make a DC 40 check, you can pretend to be Legolas as you shoot arrows while standing on a running mount.

[Eldariel]

Person: The thing about mounted archery is having a full move and a full attack each turn. Since you can shoot while the mount is moving (at least with a feat, I forget if you need one for it), you can take a full attack each turn with it. Further, your mount can also perform attacks/effects of its own, like casting spells (say, Pegasus or Dragon), attacking (any), Trample (walkers), etc. while at it. Much depends on how much you want to invest in your Mount though; a Supermount could be a 50 HD Dragon. That's very much worth it for anyone.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Mounted Archery? Full attack+Move? Did someone say Scout? Dip Ranger for Combat Style and Favored Enemy, go Swift Hunter, and proceed to Rapid Shot anything into oblivion. Maybe use Natural Bond to boost your Animal Companion and make that a mount.

Also, Mounted Combat is almost always best with a Small race, so you can take your mount places where a Large creature(like a horse) can't fit.

[RTGoodman]

Full attack+Move? Did someone say Scout?

Nope, they didn't. Scout's Skirmish ability was errata'd to not work while mounted.

Also, Mounted Combat is almost always best with a Small race, so you can take your mount places where a Large creature(like a horse) can't fit.

Yeah. And actually, if you're looking for a Dragon mount as Eldariel mentioned, Small riders are the only characters that can use the Dragon Mount feat (or whatever it's called) to get a real dragon (as opposed to things that are just dragon-ish) at earlyish levels.

The only other PrC I can remember off the top of my head (other than the Wild Plains Outrider and Halfling Outrider) is the Cavalier, but I think it's rather Paladin-based. Of course, if you're doing a mount-based build Paladin could be decent, but maybe not so much for Archery.

[Eldariel]

More important is the fact that Halfling is the only race that gets access to Halfling Outrider PrC, which is by far the best way to pimp your Mount (it advances Druid, Paladin and Ranger Companion/Mount - combine that with Devoted Tracker to combine them into one creature and suddenly you're getting advancement to one creature with both; tons o' HD for your Dragon, which is awesome since Dragon HD kicks so much ass - 2 levels of Prestige Paladin, 1 of Beastmaster, Fey Bard gets you all the advancements in few levels). Strongheart Halfling is the race for these to get as you tend to have too few feats with these builds.