Arcane Archer?

So Arcane Archer levels really can help bolster a wizard's crappy base attack bonus for any arrow. Cool. Shame I'm going to have wait until level 13 before I can take a level in it. And by then, enemy AC will have long surpassed the progression in Wizard BAB so I wonder if it will still be worth it.

PS - NWNWiki!? Whatever will they think of next.

 

Sorry, somehow I'd never noticed it before.

I am now having doubts again about the arcane archer concept given that I will not be able to take levels in it until 13th level and I wonder if by then whether a +1 or +2 here and there will really be able to compete with the AC of monsters at that stage. I'm wondering if I'll just end up missing with most arrows and be better off casting low level offensive spells instead.

What is the arcane archer's BAB progression, by the way?

 

Ah, that's good, so a few Arcane Archer levels will make a noticeable difference to the character's overall atrack bonus if you add the BAB and the Enchant Arrow amounts.

I wonder which HotU NPC would be the best complement to a character coming out of Undermountain at around Wizard 12 / Arcane Archer 4.

 

Deekin with a crossbow and/or the tiefling, I would think. Set the tiefling to attack nearest and Deekin to guard you (give him a melee weapon so he'll distract enemies who get to close range) and you'll be as set as you're ever going to be.

 

From what I remember, if you took 5 levels of wizard, shouldn't you be able to enchant an arrow with fireball?

 

that exploding arrow is incredibly nasty with a good blast radius.

 

Very powerful class .

D&D rules make it better for the wizard, since well... attach disintigrate to an arrow... and well... Ouch.

 

Yeah, but you have to reach caster level 6 first. Which sucks on your BAB. The only thing that assures you hitting the target then is True Strike.

A staggered spell casting progression would help.

 

Just realised if I take one level of rogue, that will actually delay my access to Arcane Archer as 1 level of rogue does not add to BAB.....

 

1 rogue level adds .75 to your BAB.

 

It adds nothing to your BAB. D&D doesn't work with fractions or partials, only absolutes . Thusly 1/2 damage from 33 damage fireball is rounded down to the nearest 1. 16 damage.

Back to the topic at hand, true strike = you don't need BAB when you can insta-kill . You may ask how that's insta-kill well let me just explain. The thing that makes a clever wizard so deadly, is his ability to prepare the right spell for the right circumstance. For example, a wizard fights a rogue, he uses spells that have fort/will saves, because rogues have weak fort/will saves.

Now, of course you won't use a disintigrate arrow against a fighter, but you might use a different spell, relying on reflex or will. There's no point in using a "domination" arrow, since you could just cast the spell at the fighter, but instead you can cast a lightning bolt, which would strike the fighter 100%, and it would be 1d6/level of caster + 1d6(for the arrow), and the fighter has a low chance of making it out of it. Even if the bolt doesn't kill him, he's hurting.

It's definately worth getting whatever caster level spell you might want, even if the BAB is a tad low. All you're really missing out is the number of attacks you have and that doesn't really matter for this style of play. Let your henchman tank the brute, while you dispatch the rest using spells that require fort or death. Then you can use the reflex save spells to help the Henchy.

 

If this would work, I'd be all over it. Thing is, there are often more enemies than the henchman can take or hold of. They avoid him and come after your Arcane Archer/Mage/Whatever.
This happens a lot. This is when a low BAB and fewer attacks per round hurt. Much. You have simply no time to cast True Strike, then shoot, then cast True Strike, and so on.

Except when you have a lot of Level 5 slot for quickened versions available.


In D&D, only a 2 level dip into AA is worth it. You get Imbue Arrow, and the rest is spellcaster levels all along (or suitable PrC-levels). There, you don't have to worry about you comrade's ablitiy to hold off attackers. You can cast True Strike, there are magic items which strengthen your BAB, and you can Imbue the arrows with every spell you want.

Well most of the time. If the party's only tank veers of to engage a rogue and lets those two pesky orc barbarians come right at you, you think about using the last shot before you die on him, not on the orcs.

Believe me, it was very tempting.

 

When you're that high a caster, I pray to god that's not such a big deal, especially with the stone skin and invisibilty spells. You shouldn't have to worry about requiring time. Likewise I'm not 100% sure on the usefulness of the imbue arrow, since I could just fling a fireball at someone or some group .

I was just sayin' that no matter the situation the high level wizard/level 2 AA can handle any single character at atime. It's also too bad that they didn't include Pearls of Power in NWN, then you'd have plenty of 5th level spell slots for a price .

 

Touch spells. Mage archers are perfect anti caster characters. 'Touch of Idiocy' and no more worries. Remember: No saving throw.

Even 'Touch of Fatigue' can effectivly weaken a melee opponent.

Also, many spells have close ranges. With a bows (or crossbow) you can shoot over longer ranges.

I wish there was a feat called 'Imbue Arrow' *sigh*

 

Uhm... we should remember we're talking about NwN Arcane Archer, yes?

Obviously, there's quite a bit of difference between the D&D and NwN variants

 

My character is now Wizard 9 / Rogue 1 so still at least 2 more levels until I get Arcane Archer, so probably not until the very end of SoU then.

Main reason why I really want some AA levels is because my spells all seem to run out within the first few minutes of the first fight so I end up having to rest continually (with all the related backtracking to find a safe place). Being able to supplement spells with reliably powerful arrow would be great.

Plus, there are so many enemies with spell resistance that half the time offensive spells don't even work anyway.