This build has amazing power at level 30. The best thing about it is that it can switch from bow to melee if things get too close for comfort.
Race: Elf Stats: Starting Ending Str 17+7+2 26 Dex 16 16 Con 12 12 Int 10 10 Wis 10 10 Char 9 9
Leveling: Pre-Epic Levels 1-7 are fighter levels. Make sure you take all your requirements for Arcane Archer (weapon focus longbow/shortbow and point blank shot). Level 8 is a wizard level. After that levels 9 through 18 are Arcane Archer levels. Then, the last two levels are fighter. So you should have 9 Fighter/1 Wizard/ 10 Arcane Archer. All ability points so far have gone into strength and the skill points have been divided between Spot (during Arcane Archer levels) and Discipline (during fighter levels). Any spill over skill points save, but you shouldn't have too many. Epic: Alternate leveling between Arcane Archer and fighter, starting with AA (take it a level 21). Feat progression is natural. Make sure to take two Great Strength feats at level 24 and 27 so you have enough strength to take devastating critical at level 30 (with all the fighter levels you should have enough feats to get all the requirements in). Skill points should be used to max out Discipline and Spot, with Listen being a good 3rd skill.
Finished product (at level 30) Pros: AB of 40+ easily 4 attacks per round + haste+ rapid shot Devastating Critical Longbow Arrows that EASILY pierce through any damage reduction that isn't Epic Warding Possibility of multiple weapon specializations Longbow damage of 1d8+18 with a Taralash (mighty +4)
Cons: Low AC when using a bow Fairly low saves Being a little ugly (only 9 Charisma) Possibility for some experience penalties in non-epic career.
If this build was to continue to level 40, I would take 10 more Arcane Archer levels and some Great Dex feats. At level 40, with a Taralash, this build does 1d8+23 damage with normal arrows. Not bad for an archer.
Edited By Bromium on 02/28/08 19:34
It's noprmal to post things like AB without any magical items (or even buffs), so that one can compare like with like.
This character appears fairly good at melee and range attack without being particularly good at either. Generally in NWN specialists rule...
Well, sometimes there is a need for flexability. What happens when a normal archer faces a character with lots of piercing resistance? That archer has nothing better to do then just shoot useless arrows at a target that then proceeds to tear the archer limb from limb. My Amazing Archer, as soon as he realizes arrows aren't what is needed, can switch to another weapon like a heavy flail or a warhammer and be useful again.
A specialist is wonderful as long as there is another specialist waiting to cover the first's back.
Also, I'd say that 1d8+18 at level 30 and 1d8+23 at level 40 is pretty good. In fact, it's better then pretty good. And those numbers are only for a Taralash (Mighty +4). Give the archer a better composite bow (like Composite Bows +4 and +5) and the numbers go even higher. This isn't the case with *other* archers. 5 attacks at range with a damage potential of 18-26 damage a hit? Thats between 90 to 130 damage per round when an enemy hasn't even closed to hit you yet. And that's only at level 30. Plus, if they do hit you, you have enough fighter levels and the toughness feat (if you take it) to have enough hit points tough out 3-4 more rounds or so (because it won't take too long to wipe out the competition).
The problem is that as an Archer you have only Dex 16, which makes your attack bonuses quite low. Against Monsters that may be quite enough, in PvP, if you have a mighty bow +5, your opponent has Dex +12 in items, Armor +5, Natural AC +5, Dodge +5, etc.
If he's a caster he has Epic Warding and maybe Improved Invisibility, if a Barbarian or a DD he has DR, if a Rogue/SD he has Epic Dodge and maybe SC, and if a Monk he not only has a blindingly high AC but he'll also reach you before you've loosed your fourth arrow.
No Tumble means your AC is low, and against any dedicated melee character you are at a disadvantage. I don't think you have actually tested this character.
I have and here are the bare facts:
Base AC13, with plain Platemail AC19, with Tower Shield AC22.
With Longbow (no point in taking shortbow feats as well) AB 38/33/28/23 Damage 1-8+14
With Longsword & Shield AB 36/31/26/21 Damage 1-8+10
A mighty bow would swing it even more in favour of using the bow.
It should be clear from the above that what this build needs is:
a) To concentrate on the bow b) An improved AC
This can be achieved by substiting Bard for Wizard and taking a second level at 30, taking Tumble as a skill, and also by taking more AA levels instead of wasting fighter feats on the melee weapon.
Bard for Wizard? Okay, sounds good. But wouldn't that give the build a big xp penalty for the majority of its career? Then I guess I got to be half elf then. But then that would mess with the stats....
Actually, the Arcane Archer levels really do help out the attack bonus (to hit) numbers. The numbers aren't all that different then a normal archer. They are a little lower in the beginning, but it becomes more equal as you get higher in levels.
Yes the AA levels help enormously. That's why I suggested taking more. What Fighter levels help with is feats - you'd want to take one post epic to get EWS, but you probably get more out of the extra AA damage (and Bard Tumble/Spellcraft/UMD) than you would from another two fighter levels (= 1 extra feat).
So probably optimal is Fi10/Bard2/AA18. The tumble adds 6 AC, the spellcraft 6 to saves gainst spells, and UMD gives you a bunch more options.
For some reason most people haven't cottoned on how useful a Bard level or two is in many builds.
This build will have major problems hitting anything with epid dodge and self conceal. It'll work just fine for PVM, but for pvp you might have a bit of a rough time.
You really may want to look at swapping the wizard level for a bard level for extra HP and skill access. It's a toss up between an xp penalty and access to tumble and use device.
Either way you go, this build could definately make a great benefit from taking a lot more AA archer levels and less fighter. If stickign with wizard, I'd off a level split of 10 fighter/3 wiz/27 AA. This will get you a much higher AB as well as several bonus feats to make up the loss of the 2 fighter bonus feats. It will also allow you access to 2nd level wiz spells which there are some ncie ustility ones like invis and ability buffs. Just take the first 20 like you already planned with a 9 fight/1 wiz/ 10 AA and then take the 10th fighter level epic to get EWS.
Also for clarity your future builds perhaps lay them out along the lines of other builds posted. It is very hard to follow when it's all clumped together. _________________ Come visit the Epic Builders Guild for all the character info you could ever want or need: Click Here
Edited By Emrill on 11/01/04 23:09
Emrill, m8, it's a level 30 build, not 40. Any class will have difficulty hitting a char with Epic Dodge and SC5, and I already pointed out the benefits of Bard opposed to Wizard.
Apart from that a great post...
I understand it being only level 30 as posted, but what's the point of not doing the full 40 of a potential build? There are some easy tweaks I mentioned to get a lot more out of this build, even before 30. I mention the SC/ epic dodge because as a STR build he will always have that issue where as with a DEX build he probably could easily get his AB to a point where the first attack missing won't matter because his second is also extremely high. Most AA builds can get an AB in the 70s-80s easy and some in the 90s. This one is selling itself short by maxing at around 60s from the looks of it. All archers have woes vs. concealment though as they can't blind fight through it. _________________ Come visit the Epic Builders Guild for all the character info you could ever want or need: Click Here
Okay, bard instead of wizard and drop 4 fighter levels. Thanks for the advice! I'm still kinda new at this so its all been very helpful!
Quote: Posted 11/03/04 22:21:39 (GMT) -- Aligory
Okay, bard instead of wizard and drop 4 fighter levels. Thanks for the advice! I'm still kinda new at this so its all been very helpful!
Hmmm..you might wanna take a couple more fighter levels past lvl 20, to get epic weap spec feats.
I understand it being only level 30 as posted, but what's the point of not doing the full 40 of a potential build? There are some easy tweaks I mentioned to get a lot more out of this build, even before 30. I mention the SC/ epic dodge because as a STR build he will always have that issue where as with a DEX build he probably could easily get his AB to a point where the first attack missing won't matter because his second is also extremely high. Most AA builds can get an AB in the 70s-80s easy and some in the 90s. This one is selling itself short by maxing at around 60s from the looks of it. All archers have woes vs. concealment though as they can't blind fight through it.