How to archer

[Rainy]

I'm trying to figure out how to build a nice (most likely drow) archer. Reading an older thread it seems there used to be some issues with OOBI, but what I was thinking would either be OOBI 10 Fighter 7 Wiz 3 AA 10 for a long ranged archer, or a closer range hips build combining sneak attack and OOBI damage (if that even works). I would avoid divine classes and go for either sniping, stealth of a combination of the two. Or is it the case that OOBI is a terrible idea and I should be doing something completely different?

Also, it seems to me that other than elemental storm EA would only add a couple of points of damage per arrow, is it really worth it?

[Tekill]

I am shocked and outraged that none of the first grade character building pros did not offer suggestions on Arching!
Unacceptable!
Your all fired - turn in your badges!

I am far from a pro but I will take a whack at it. I am taking an unauthorized break from work so this will be rushed.

First you should decide if you are going Sneak attack or not. Range is a PITA to use SA as you have to constantly search for the sweet spot to strike from.
If you go SA route you may be thirsty for arching feats but I think it is doable. Plus your AB will not be as high which will hurt using many shot

You can go the Ranger or Fighter route for all them juicy feats and high ab. Ranger is nice because you will get the feat One Shot twice. So instead of a 1 min cool down you are looking at 30 cool down of one shot. Fighter is nice because you can get epic focus and epic weapon spec.

Regardless of your path you want to take Imp rapid shot, many shot and point blank shot and one shot. Imp crit and weapon focus is nice too.

Bows have mighty which includes your strength bonus into your damage. Its almost easier to get your end game bow first - find out what mighty it has and then arrange to have your strength bonus match that mighty weapon bonus. The point here is that every point of damage matters when using the bow, for one reason because it doubles using many shot.

XBows - have another feat instead of rapid shot...rapid reload? - watch out you are picking the right one.

If OOBI initiate can add a point or two of damage without sacrificing damage/feats in other areas then take it. Elemental archer is 5 levels max and will give you +2 to hit and damage....even that is worth it imo. Arcane archer is nice because it can get enhanced arrows....

Get HIPS- then you will be OP and you will have players like me demanding Archers be nurfed!

I think that is it. What did I miss?
Maybe if we are lucky we can have one of the lazy assed archer pro's respond and tell us to ignore everything I have said and then explain how they are creating builds that are causing triple digit damage with mere flimsy'friggin'stinkin arrows!

A one-shot-multi-shot?

*rage quits, throwing his computer off the balcony*

[Riddance]

I'm not a pro-archer, BUT

On elf, I would look at the Arcane Archer PRC, since it's kinda OP for ranged builds as fas as I heard
Pros: you literally can fireball things through arrows
Cons: you need either wizard either bard levels since AA requires arcane spells (not sure that racial spells qualife)

Also, as stated before, you probably need HIPS, which can be acquired by Shadow Dancer
Pros: cool abilities like stunning enemies
COns: requires 2 feats that are, by community, considered pretty weak (Dodge and Mobility)

ALSO (x2), I would suggest cavestalker for underdark, that PRC was initially made for that region, if I recall that correctly. Can't say much about it, never tested

Also (x3) Elemental Archer is good if you don't want to go Arcane one, +1 to attack and damage is not bad at least plus it have AoE of sorts on lvl5
Cons: situational, especially his lvl3 shield ability

For base levels: Ranger, Rogue or just Warrior with dip in Wiz/Bard if you need AA. Ranger have +AB and DMG to certain creatures and some divine spells/ traps if you go with hunter kit, Rogue gives you sneak attack and lockpicking, which is extra utility out of combat and Fighter is just.... Fighter. Who can take feats like Improved Weapon Specialization or how it was called (other classes have acces only to standart one)

[Hullack]

Assassin also qualifies you for Arcane Archer (per info on discord) and is another pathway to HiPS.

[Tsidkenu]

I have played Rogue 17/ SD 3/ OOBI 10, a build which included One Shot and Epic Dodge. That was well before the revamp of OOBI, back when one could slam out 180+ damage critical-hit OOBI attacks. The changes to OOBI to give it damage at the expense of attack makes it synergise poorly with sneak attack builds, who want to focus on dumping out a large number of attacks before repositioning/HIPSing. OOBI sneakers are thus a poor choice unless you have a team tank buddy to maintain mob aggro for you so you can pluck away with impunity.

Ranger 30 is always solid; Ranger 21/ Assn 9 also solid (did anyone ever fix the death attack multishot 'feature'?) and well suited to drow RP.

Fighter/assn/elemental archer (ea)/oobi is decent. People forget the feat Frontline Archer (Req. Lightning Reflexes) with Fighter-archers which lets you use your bow & dex mod to knockdown melee targets, making it a brutal addition to a non-HIPSing archers arsenal. Thus, even Fighter 20/OOBI 10 can dish out the dps and have a solid melee/control KD option if required in a pinch. Frontline + HIPS results in incredible 1v1 combat control, because you can break stealth on a target, then KD their ass when they reach melee range, then HIPS is off cooldown to rinse and repeat. So if there's two spare feats in your build I would definitely take it. Air genasai fighter-archers also go great with Frontline.

I once theorycrafted the "PRC archer" for giggles: Bard 7/ EA 4/ AA 9/ OOBI 10. I'll let you figure out if the build is any good or not; it never went past an idea for me.

Pew-pew makes for some great RP. My halfling rogue/sd/OOBI once beat a Thayan Knight (Boris) in an orc-hunting contest, which led to some highly amusing banter in the aftermath. Have fun!

[Kitunenotsume]

Ranger 30 is always solid; Ranger 21/ Assn 9 also solid (did anyone ever fix the death attack multishot 'feature'?) and well suited to drow RP.

I do not think the Death-Attack double-stacking bug was fixed, but was mitigated as on BGTSCC only the first level of Assassin grants any Death Attack dice and thus the death-effect. All other progression levels are normal Sneak Attack, so you receive, at most, a single doubled d6.

[DMTalize]

Fighter/assn/elemental archer (ea)/oobi is decent. People forget the feat Frontline Archer (Req. Lightning Reflexes) with Fighter-archers which lets you use your bow & dex mod to knockdown melee targets, making it a brutal addition to a non-HIPSing archers arsenal.

This is good to know thanks. Currently playing around with Fighter/EA/AA/ASSN for a character and I find it a lot of fun. Doing research on archer builds have also made me realize that crossbow lacks in terms of feats compared to bow users.