Character help

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Doesn't INT also affects XP gained from killing monsters?

 

Nope, I'm afraid not (unless this is some little known fact that I've never come across, which I doubt).

 

I'm having some problems with the creation of the Arcane Archer. The requirements were:

Elf or half-elf
Weapon Focus on Longbow or Shortbow
Point Blank Range
Arcane Casting level 1
BAB +6

I've done bard 3/fighter 4, sorc 4/fighter 3, wiz 4/fighter 3 and still couldn't get the AA class. BAB had already reached +6, even +7, both required Feats were already taken. And I think I've already achived Arcane Casting level 1 already. But making a bard 4/fighter 4 with Weapon Specialization on longbow does gives me AA. Unforfunately, I've no plan on reaching level 40. So I'd like to have more AA earlier and fewer levels of bard/sorc/wiz/fighter. Any help?

 

You aren't gonna save all that many levels 'cause of the BAB +6 requirement.

The first three examples you gave all had BABs of +5. Remember, arcane classes gain +1 BAB every second level while Fighters are every level.

IIRC, Arcane Casting level simply means the maximum level of spell you can cast.

Therefore, how about:

1 - Fighter (Weapon Focus, Point Blank Shot)
2 - Fighter (Doesn't matter all that much)
3 - Fighter (Again, your choice of feat)
4 - Fighter (Weapon Specialisation)
5 - Bard (No feat here)
6 - Bard (Feat selection up to you)

After this you will have 1 BAB of +6 and can begin to progress in AA levels.

 

Be sure and look at BASE attack bonus, not attack bonus. BAB is listed at the very bottom of your character sheet.

 

Is the order of level up important? Because my initial example bard 3/fighter 4 was created in this manner...

1 - Bard
2 - Bard
3 - Bard
4 - Fighter
5 - Fighter
6 - Fighter
7 - Fighter

...but no access to AA.

 

The order of level up isn't important- I just put them that way so that you'd start off as a fighter, which is a decent base class.

The problem with what you did was with the Bard levels- as the +1 BAB occurs every second level, you only had a BAB of 5 (in a way, it was kinda 5 and a half). I'll illustrate the point:

1 - Bard (BAB 0)
2 - Bard (BAB 1)
3 - Bard (BAB 1)
4 - Fighter (BAB 2)
5 - Fighter (BAB 3)
6 - Fighter (BAB 4)
7 - Fighter (BAB 5)

To maximise your BAB, only take even numbers of arcane-casting classes. If you take an odd number, then you will have gained a level without gaining any BAB bonus.

Hope this helps you.

 

Fighter/bard/AA is IMO the most perfected archer. He does incur 20% experience penalty (who wants to be a half-elf anyway??) along the way, but it can be minimized. Fighter for WS and EWS longbow, bard for superior buffs to that of a wizard/sorcerer. Bard song in one word. Cat's grace and Bull's strenght can both be cast as well. Fighter 5/Bard 6/AA 29 seem the most logical course, but when we take a look at Bard song level, the only difference between lvl3 and lvl6 song is +1 reflex save (which you really dont need) and +1 to skills (not worth much either).
lvl3 bard doesnt have lvl2 spells though, which is a factor, unless you're in a high magic world where it's relatively easy to get +12 to attributes from items. It also means you're living with XP penalty all but the first few levels.
Fighter 5/bard 6/ AA 29 it is then

from wikipedia:

An interesting fact. I wonder if it's still true

 

No: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/prestigeClasses/arcaneArcher.htm

It states that you need to be able to cast 1st-level arcane spells.

 

Yes in the SRD it says that an arcane archer needs to be able to cast lv 1 spells but the designers of NWN may not have actually done that. They may have gone with caster level 1 rather than spell casting 1. Someone needs to try it to see for sure.

On a side note I like my arcane archer to use rouge and bard levels rather than fighter. I love the rouge goodness such as sneak attack and evasion which are both amazing to have. I think I went rouge 8/bard 2/arcane archer 10 and I ended up with 4 attacks per round and a fist full of d6s on my sneak attacks which happened more than I thought. Another aspect is that you can have an amazing amount of skill in tumble and use magic device which are two very strong skills.

Edit: it also has some fun story potential because as we all know rouges and bards always have the most fun adventuring !

 

@Decados, thanks for the illustration.

 

I just checked the AA requirements, using only a single level of Bard so that I would not be able to cats first level spells. After gaining that one Bard level, I could select AA. Therefore, oyu only need one caster level, rather than the ability to cast first level spells.