**I'd like to give special thanks to Cinnabar Din for helping me with this build.
-------------
Cleric of the Bow Elf Cleric(20) / Wizard(1) / Arcane Archer(19)

Str 14
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 12
Wis 16(30)
Cha 8

Playable 1-40 PvM
Alignment: <any> <any>
Domains: Healing and Travel

(1) Wizard Point Blank Shot
(2) Cleric
(3) Cleric Rapid Shot
(4) Cleric (Wis)
(5) Cleric
(6) Cleric Zen Archery
(7) Cleric
(8) Cleric (Wis)
(9) Cleric Extend Spell
(10) Cleric
(11) Cleric
(12) Cleric Weapon Focus - Longbow (Wis)
(13) Cleric
(14) AA
(15) AA Improved Critical - Longbow
(16) AA (Wis)
(17) AA
(18) AA Empower Spell
(19) AA
(20) AA (Wis)
(21) Cleric EWF - Longbow
(22) Cleric
(23) Cleric
(24) Cleric Combat Casting (Wis)
(25) AA
(26) AA
(27) Cleric Toughness
(28) Cleric (Wis)
(29) AA
(30) AA Great Wisdom
(31) AA
(32) Cleric (Wis)
(33) AA Great Wisdom
(34) AA Improved Combat Casting
(35) AA
(36) AA Great Wisdom (Wis)
(37) Cleric
(38) AA
(39) AA Great Wisdom, Epic Prowess
(40) AA (Wis)

AB 50/45/40/35 (Mundane Longbow)
Damage 1-8 + 10 19-20x3
BAB 26
Base AC 16
HP 396(Max)


Saves:
Fort 24 (+8 vs Spells)
Reflex 21 (+8 vs Spells)
Will 32 (+8 vs Spells)

Concentration 40
Spellcraft 40
Tumble 20
30+ Extra skill points

This character's roll is to buff, heal, and res their party while adding decent damage with a bow. I've seen different builds of Cleric and AA but they seem to focus on damage and more AA levels. This seems like a nice split to me with 20 cleric levels. Healing domain gives you the heal spell at level 5 and 6 and travel for the ever popular haste.

With rapid shot and haste, you're looking at 48/43/38/33/48/48 which is pretty darn good. Add buffs, a good bow, and true strike for some serious damage.

I'd like to quote something Cinnabar suggested while I was making this build:
Quote: However, if you're comforatble relying on a spell for your AB, you could go with BAB of +15 or less and use Divine Power to get your 4th attack (at your highest AB, btw).

Just as an example, imagine a CLC 12/Bard 1/AA 7 build that has +16 BAB, so his attack schedule is +16/+11/+6/+1. (We'll forget about the factors that raise AB, as they'll be the same for both bulds in the comparison). He casts Divine Power and gets an attack routine of +20/+15/+10/+5.

Now, imagine a build such as CLC 15/Bard 1/AA 4. His attack schedule is +15/+10/+5. After casting Divine Power, he gets an extra attack, resulting in this attack schedule: +20/+15/+10/+20.

There's a definite advantage to having that lower BAB, but (as I mentioned) it relies on a spell, which you may not be comfortable doing.

Also, note that there are a few quirks with archers that are not mentioned in the manual:

*There is a -2 attack roll penalty on moving targets
*Point Blank Shot bonus does not affect moving targets
*Epic Prowess will not show up in your character sheet with a ranged weapon but has been confirmed as working

Link to the thread on Epic Prowess:
Click Here

Edited By griphook on 09/15/05 12:54

(quote)Posted 09/12/05 03:01:35 (GMT) -- Talamier

**Str 14
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 12
Wis 16(30)
Cha 8

AB 50/45/40/35 (Mundane Longbow)
Damage 1-8 + 10 19-20x3
BAB 26
(quote)

Being a cleric devotee, this build caught my interest. I have messed around with a similar idea in the past, and cleric aa is heck of alot of fun, THe thing I am trying to figure out is, where do you get the damage d8+10? The most I can see is +4 from str, IF you are using a composite bow. I am not very good with bowers so please enlighten me.

Peace It's from Enchant Arrow X.

I have a Wisdom-based archer somewhere too. It has no AA levels though, I didn't want to go the easiest route
_________________
Now is my day's work done;
I'll take good breath:
Rest, sword; thou hast thy fill of
blood and death. interesting spin on the cleric archer.

You might want some of these feats, although the build is trying to do alot, so feats are scarce.

Grab called shot if you get a chance (maybe with feats saved from removing combat casting line). This feat is very good for archers. Called-shot leg will slow enemies down so you can pelt them with arrows longer.

Silent spell is also vital for combat medic types, since it allows you to cast mass heal with your lvl 9 spell slots.

edit: duh, rapid shot is a combat mode feat... ignore comments about improved combat casting...

Edited By jjjhhhlll on 09/12/05 20:02

Avado, that is base damage from Enchant Arrow X. Grab a modest +5 mighty bow and it goes to 15(with str buff). It really is quite decent damage for a bow and you still have the wide range of ammo to chose from and the added damage there. I have this character at level 22 now in the PW I play on and she is really fun and just plain awesome.

Only thing to remember is, make sure you stock up on arrows because you go through them really, really fast!

The idea of using silent spell is great as well. You need combat casting on this character - I still get interrupted when trying to heal the tank so every bit helps. I would swap toughness out for it as HPs are not this characters top priority. I must say though, enemies seem to run after me quite a bit even when I'm way back plucking away. Must be something in the AI code about cleric/archers... Thanks for the info on archers! The only archer I ever built was a cleric 21/wiz/aa1 build (was gonna be 23/1/rest.. but I was having so much fun with the number of spell slots (yes you can get tons of spells hence the combat casting suggested) then the pw i was on had a restructuring and I lost the character so I havent worked on one since.

Peace Talamier, nice job. This looks like an excellent party support character. I think you nailed exactly what you were looking for in the build.
_________________
It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!! Thanks Cin, she turned out rather well. I'd like to make a few more comments on this build with a suggestion or two:

*Take cleric as the first level and then Wizard. All this does is make handling spells easier since when you open up your spell book, your cleric spells will come up as default. It can get annoying having the wiz book open up first all the time.

*Take a school as wizard, such as Illusionist, for a free spell slot. You won't use much save mage armor and true strike but you will get them 3x a day instead of two.

*You actually end up with 47 extra skill points so use them on whatever you like.

I did some testing on replacing Toughness with silent spell. At level 40 with no gear, I was able to mass these spells in my level 5 to 9 slots:

10x Mass heal
2x Storm of Vengence
3xRessurection
13xHeal
4xExtended Haste
1xTruesight

Now THAT is a lot of healing!