Years of monastic devotion coupled with rigorous arcane studies have molded this surprisingly versatile archer. He not only boasts a vicious arrow, but can easily confound all but the most powerful spellcasters with his beefy magical defenses, and can avoid melee battle with his tremendous speed. His greatest weakness, ironically, is to his fellow archer, but even there he can often shine with the aid of highly accurate crippling arrows. And though he generally frowns upon those who flee battle, the possibility is always within reach considering his speed.

Starting Stats (Ending Stats)
STR 10
DEX 20 (30)
CON 13 (14)
WIS 8
INT 12
CHA 8

1 Monk-Point Blank Shot
2 Monk-
3 Monk-Weapon Focus: Longbow
4 Monk-
5 Monk-
6 Monk-Toughness
7 Monk-
8 Monk-
9 Wizard-Rapid Shot
10 Arcane Archer-
11 Arcane Archer-
12 Arcane Archer-Improved Critical: Longbow
13 Arcane Archer-
14 Arcane Archer-
15 Arcane Archer-Blindfight
16 Arcane Archer-
17 Arcane Archer-
18 Arcane Archer-Called Shot
19 Arcane Archer-
20 Wizard-
21 Arcane Archer-Epic Weapon Focus: Longbow
22 Arcane Archer-
23 Arcane Archer-
24 Arcane Archer-Armor Skin, Epic Prowess
25 Arcane Archer-
26 Arcane Archer-
27 Arcane Archer-Epic Fortitude
28 Arcane Archer-Great Dexterity I
29 Arcane Archer-
30 Monk-21+ Discipline, Epic Skill Focus: Discipline
31 Monk-
32 Monk-
33 Monk-Improved Spell Resistance I
34 Monk-
35 Monk-
36 Monk-Improved Spell Resistance II
37 Monk-Max Tumble
38 Wizard-40 Spellcraft
39 Monk-Improved Spell Resistance III
40 Monk-Max Discipline
If you used your skills for 40 Spellcraft, 40 Tumble and 43 Discipline, you have another 86 skill points to distribute. It is your choice how you wish to do this: Spot/Listen? Hide/Move Silently?

Final stats:
HP: 428 [18*8 (monk) + 19*8 (arcane archer) + 3*4 (wizard) + 40 (toughness) + 80 (con)]
33 AC Naked
With a mundane longbow, AB: +50/+45/+40/+35, dmg: 1-8 + 10 (19-20 x3)
Fortitude: 29 (+8 against spells)
Reflex: 33 (+8 against spells, with improved evasion)
Will: 21 (+8 against spells)
Spell Resistance: 34
56 Discipline
+50% speed before even using a haste item.

Items to watch out for:
Robes with nice ac bonus.
Will boosting items, or WIS boosting items for ac and will.
Strength boosting items and a bow with mighty on it. (More damage output)
Dex boosting items (more AC and AB)

Pros:
Moderate HP for an archer.
Nice naked AC.
Better AB than most melee characters, with the ability to stay out of range due to monk speed.
Nice Fortitude and Reflex saves.
Improved Evasion.
Decent Spell Resistance–Enemy casters will need to have at least 29 pure levels to penetrate (with epic spell penetration for +6) (I’m under the impression that spell penetration doesn’t stack. If that’s incorrect, then at least 23 pure levels.)
Decent damage output. With strength boosting equipment and a mighty weapon, even better.

Cons:
While HP is good for an archer, it is still pretty low. But as outlined above, the various defensive capabilities of this build compensate for this very well. Nonetheless IGMS can be a real threat (although you may be able to run out of range of this... I’ve never had a chance to try it, but i somehow doubt it.). (Note that even with +4 con you can only soak up 2 max IGMS)
Damage output isn’t as high as some archers, and AC isn’t good enough to stop other archers. An archer with high discipline (can’t use called shot) would be a very challenging, if not devastating, foe.
Not immune to death magic/abilities.
Low will saves.

Edited By Kail Pendragon on 10/10/07 13:12

(quote)Posted 08/18/04 19:34:49 (GMT) -- yrtsns
Decent Spell Resistance–Enemy casters will need to have at least 29 pure levels to penetrate (with epic spell penetration for +6) (I’m under the impression that spell penetration doesn’t stack. If that’s incorrect, then at least 23 pure levels.)
quote]
I just realized this is false. I forgot to factor in the +10 in favor of the caster, so enemy casters need at least 19 pure. However you should note that even at 29 pure, they'd only be penetrating with roughly 50% of their spells. With only 18 levels of monk is it really worth 3 epic feats to get +3 spell resistance? I'd just leave it as it is and get great dex or blinding speed etc. Either way you can only resist spells from low level mods or something like the undead lord(the build). its actually +6 Sr...
Quote: Posted 08/19/04 07:39:32 (GMT) -- evo_dragon

With only 18 levels of monk is it really worth 3 epic feats to get +3 spell resistance? I'd just leave it as it is and get great dex or blinding speed etc. Either way you can only resist spells from low level mods or something like the undead lord(the build).

I consider it worth it, if nothing else because the feats weren't really needed anyways. There are many many "spellsword" builds out there, and those few ranks make this build all the more effective against them. Lose that +6 SR and you'll only have 28, meaning that casters will need to be over 12 pure as opposed to 18 pure to begin penetrating (except on rolls of 1 of course. And at 19 you'd still only penetrate on rolls of 1, so really it starts at 20, which is the whole point). Those builds with 25 or less caster levels will land less than 1/5 of the time, as opposed to about 1/2. That can make or break you, and the point of this build was to have that kind of versatility. I think he is trying to point out that most buildswith over 20 caster levels usually have 30-40. That being the case, those three feats may be better spent. Wasnt it decided that BlindFight does not work with archery?

Being so hard to catch and all, why did you want Epic Skill Focus Discipline? They have to catch you to knock you down. Or are you worried about spells?

As for replacing the Spell Resists; I'm about 50-50 on it. An alternative feat you might like; Blinding Speed (seems to go with the theme). Also, given the strength of your fists with 18 levels of Monk, I wonder if maybe some feats to allow you to enter melee if required would be good (goes with the versatiity aspect).
_________________
Normal kids play rock-paper-scissors.
Shifter kids play IronGolem-RustMonster-MindFlayer. . . Does blindfight really not work on archers? That's disappointing. You could replace that feat then I guess. And as far as discipline, I think it's always a good idea to have a high discipline, even if you can run away from most, if for no other reason than that sometimes you may not feel like running.
As far as blinding speed... you can take that if you like it, but I don't, because it doesn't last very long at all, and I consider temporary spells/skills worthless (the best reason being that people can run away, something which this build obviously takes advantage of). If you're on a server without haste items though, it would definitely be a good idea to trade at least one of those SR bonuses for it.
And there's the question of whether or not he should use his fists... I'd say it would be a bad idea. Even at close range he'll always be considerably superior with the bow. He won't have any damage bonus and will have considerably lower AB with his fists--and we're talking a good 10-15 points lower. One thing I forgot in that last reply, and it goes back to the SR issue. Two things:
1. Some of the most powerful builds are spellswords, and having a good defense against _both_ of their forms of offense is a huge deal.
2. There are a good number of caster builds that take 29 pure and then go for a prestige class, one of the better examples being PM builds. Immune Critical can really hurt when combined with high AC and especially with a spell like premonition or even worse epic warding. But at least with the +6 SR, spells will penetrate 50% of the time instead of 80%. It makes a very noticeable difference. I just realized I've been using the wrong math for Spell Resistance entirely.. I've been giving a roll in favor of the defender instead of the caster, which drastically reduces my expected effectiveness of SR. Also I gave +10 in favor of the caster... I'm not sure where the hell I got that from, but it's not right. So actually anything level 15 or higher can land, and something level 25 would land 50% of the time. Level 29 would land 70% of the time. With this in mind I would say definitely drop the 3 Spell Resistance feats in favor of something else. Probably Epic Reflexes, Epic Will, and something else. You can try going for more monk levels. By taking more monk levels, it will increase your SR.

You gain spell resistance equal to your class level +10.

Right now, you have 18 monk levels, you will have 28 SR. But if you increased the amount of monk level. For example... 20, the SR now would be 30. Along with Spell Resistances, if you took three, that will farthur it to 36 SR.

However, it is not good idea to use Spell Resistance with this type of build.. You don't have enough monk level to take Spell Resistance. If you did Level 40 Monk, pure monk there is, you would be able to get 50 SR, then add in 10 SR, you will have 70 SR... extremely tough for the spell caster to defeat. But weak against melee.

Correct me if I am wrong about the SR above.

Anuis