Description: (PRESTIGE CLASS) Master of the elven warbands, the arcane archer is a warrior skilled in using magic to supplement his combat prowess.
Hit dice: d8
Proficiencies: all simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor, and shields
Skill points: 4 + int modifier
Skills: craft armor, craft trap, craft weapon, heal, hide, listen, lore, move silently, ride, spot
Selectable class feats: ambidexterity, two-weapon fighting, weapon proficiency (exotic)
Primary saving throw(s): fortitude, reflex
Base attack bonus: +1/level
Requirements
To qualify as an arcane archer, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria:
Feats: weapon focus (longbow or shortbow), point blank shot
Spellcasting: ability to cast arcane spells (bard, sorcerer, or wizard classes)
Level progression
| Lvl | BAB | Saves | Feats | HP range | Arrow enchantment |
Imbued arrow explosion damage | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Ref | Will | |||||||
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +2 | +0 | enchant arrow | 4-8 | +1 | - | |
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +3 | +0 | imbue arrow | 8-16 | +1 | 10d6 | |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +3 | +1 | 12-24 | +2 | 10d6 | ||
| 4th | +4 | +4 | +4 | +1 | seeker arrow I | 16-32 | +2 | 10d6 | |
| 5th | +5 | +4 | +4 | +1 | 20-40 | +3 | 10d6 | ||
| 6th | +6 | +5 | +5 | +2 | seeker arrow II | 24-48 | +3 | 10d6 | |
| 7th | +7 | +5 | +5 | +2 | 28-56 | +4 | 10d6 | ||
| 8th | +8 | +6 | +6 | +2 | hail of arrows | 32-64 | +4 | 10d6 | |
| 9th | +9 | +6 | +6 | +3 | 36-72 | +5 | 10d6 | ||
| 10th | +10 | +7 | +7 | +3 | arrow of death | 40-80 | +5 | 10d6 | |
Tip: becoming an arcane archer
- Fighters, rangers, paladins, and barbarians become arcane archers to add a little magic to their combat abilities.
- Conversely, wizards and sorcerers may take this prestige class to add combat capabilities to their repertoires.
Epic arcane archer
The epic arcane archer is the living extension of her bow. Lesser beings can only gape in awe at the wonders she can achieve.
Hit die: d8
Skill points: 4 + int modifier
Bonus feats: The epic arcane archer gains a bonus feat every four levels. In other words, at levels 14, 18, 22, 26, and 30.
Epic bonus feats: devastating critical (longbow, shortbow), epic prowess, epic reflexes, epic toughness, epic weapon focus (longbow, shortbow), great dexterity, improved combat casting, overwhelming critical (longbow, shortbow)
Epic arcane archer level progression
| Lvl | Feats | HP range | Arrow enchantment |
Imbue arrow explosion damage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11th | 44-88 | +6 | 10d6 | ||
| 12th | 48-96 | +6 | 11d6 | ||
| 13th | 52-104 | +7 | 11d6 | ||
| 14th | bonus feat | 56-112 | +7 | 12d6 | |
| 15th | 60-120 | +8 | 12d6 | ||
| 16th | 64-128 | +8 | 13d6 | ||
| 17th | 68-136 | +9 | 13d6 | ||
| 18th | bonus feat | 72-144 | +9 | 14d6 | |
| 19th | 76-152 | +10 | 14d6 | ||
| 20th | 80-160 | +10 | 15d6 | ||
| 21st | 84-168 | +11 | 15d6 | ||
| 22nd | bonus feat | 88-176 | +11 | 16d6 | |
| 23rd | 92-184 | +12 | 16d6 | ||
| 24th | 96-192 | +12 | 17d6 | ||
| 25th | 100-200 | +13 | 17d6 | ||
| 26th | bonus feat | 104-208 | +13 | 18d6 | |
| 27th | 108-216 | +14 | 18d6 | ||
| 28th | 112-224 | +14 | 19d6 | ||
| 29th | 116-232 | +15 | 19d6 | ||
| 30th | bonus feat | 120-240 | +15 | 20d6 | |
Special
Enchant arrow: For every two levels beyond 9th, the potency of the arrows fired by the arcane archer increases by +1.
Notes
- Requires Shadows of Undrentide.
- Some documentation states that the ability to cast level 1 spells is required to be an arcane archer, but that is incorrect. Only a single level of any arcane class is needed. For example, bards don't get level 1 spells until their second level, but only one bard level is needed to become an arcane archer. The same applies to wizards with 10 or less intelligence and to sorcerers with 10 or less charisma.
- As the arcane archer can get a score of up to 52 for their dexterity. They should have no issue getting their armor class (AC) better than that of a warrior class. When combined with Mounted combat they can also get a huge boost to dodge AC seeing as just useing maxed ranks (43) and the +21 modifier an AA will get 11 to dodge AC even on the roll of a 1.