Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Hello builders,

i am not that familar with archers, so i need you help.
I want to build an elven char (non drow race) which is a priest (favored soul prefered).

How well does such Char play?
What stats should i aim for?
What PRC should i add (thinking of ShadowDancer or perhaps BlackFlameZealot(does extra fire damage works with longbow?)?
I also need to know what feats are a must for archers?
Will divine spells work on bows? like GMW, Favored Soul, Align Weapon e.g.
Is the damage sufficent enough?

I want a powerful char who is able to solo a lot of things.

Thanks.

FvS 22 / A8, CL26, but with hips.
FvS 18 / A8 / EA4, a bit more damage at the expense of caster level.
FvS 20 / OotBI 10
FvS18 / OotBI 9 / SD3
FvS12 / A8 / OotBI 10

Depending on how much CL you want... just enough for divine power or closer to full. Cleric might work better with Zen archer so you can use WIS for attack bonus, more spells and Beyer DC. If you go woods elf you could go FvS 14/R11/EA5. Again, probably better as cleric.

Away from computer, but if no-one else does I'll answer your other questions later.

Thanks for your quick response, Chad.

I should have stated that i would prefer a very high caster level, best CL 30.

I thought about Cleric route and WIS/ZenArchery combination. but decided against it and planned for a DEX build to be qualified for more archer feats.

Though your ideas were an inspiration, thanks.

Favoured souls aren't ordained. Not priests.

I might suggest a wood elf cleric14/hierophant10/ranger6. Leave dexterity at 15, pump strength to 16 or 18 wisdom the rest, and go zen archery. Divine power should get you the BAB you need. I think Divine favour works on ranged weapons, so you get damage from there and from mighty.

I don't think you can make particularly powerful divine cl30 archers. Not enough ways to synergise with the ranged PRCs, and you need wisdom or charisma for the spells, which detracts from strength for damage and dexterity for AB.

Ranger 6/Cleric 14/ Hierophant 10 Zen archer would be about as good as you can get.

Solonor Thelandira, if you were willing to change deity, gets Plant domain, giving you Woodland Stride (+10 movement speed outdoors, perfect to assist an archer with kiting) and Barkskin for +5 Natural AC at CL 12.

War Domain (Solonor & Shevarash) will give you Weapon Focus for free.
Fury Domain (Shevarash) will give you Enlarge Person to add +3 magic damage to your attacks (x3 on a critical)
Strength Domain (Shevarash) will give you lower level Bulls Str & Divine Power, as well as the Divine Strength domain power to allow you to make use of those rare +8 mighty bows, if you can get your hands on one. I think you could probably get away with 16 base Str + Divine Power to use up to +6 mighty bows. Divine Favour (Extended) + Enlarge Person + Manyshot adds so much irresistable magic damage to your attacks that such builds are very workable.

You could even consider throwing in 5 levels of Thaumaturge for the reliable, permanent cohort summon (+ 2nd buffed regular summon) to use as meat shields since you can't get Animal Domain for an animal companion. Thauma won't affect your final AB due to cleric spam of Divine Power, and the bonus DCs to Conjuration will only help spamming lvl 9 Storm of Vengeance to stun-lock swarms of mobs that you can ping from afar while your summons soak damage and distract.

If you are looking more for raw power with a splash of Priestly RP, I suggest:

Wood Elf
Ranger 24 Cave Stalker 3 Cleric 3

Go 21 Str 21 Charisma for Epic Divine Might + Bane of Enemies + Improved Favored Enemy (of course Elves for Drow)

Stay at 10 constitution and 11 wisdom (that with a +3 wisdom necklace you get level 4 spells).

I think you can only take up to 17 Dex at that point and some will say your AB will be too low but with HiPs, Spells and +4 EB Bow, you will be just fine, believe me.

The raw power you will generate against your favored enemies will be beyond anything any other archer can produce while you have "Epic Divine Might" working, believe me.

Honestly, if you One Shot a Drow Mage fully buffed, it might kill him outright.

If you don't believe me, you can ask Mrm3ntalist who can attest to a similar build I put together.

Thanks for your response.

I am sure thats a nice build. Can Cavestalker be taken by an elf? since it demands darksight and not low light sight.

So no realy good FVS archer build?

Does someone knows if GMW/Align Weapon works with bows? Can a whetstone make them keen or do i need the feat imp.critical?

Archer, priest of Shevarash, high cl, good fighting ability (solo a lot of things). It's a hard restriction isn't it? There's a build might match. Clr13(14)/Asn9(8)/Hierophant8. Cl28 or 29, 4/5 death attack dice, HIPS. And you'll get several spare feats to choose whatever you'd like such as Frontline Archer. Note that BFZ can not be the 4th class because of 3b20 rule. The only problem is HIPS coming late(24).


Fvs build is harder if you need high cl. No Hierophant means you can't spend much levels on those none-spellcasting class. You can try Fvs16/BG4/GFZ10, str14/dex17/cha22. Wear heavy armor and use Divine Might for higher damage. This will do some good damage also a good AC. CL28


Some weapon enchantment spell such like GMW or Weapon of Impact will only work for melee weapons. Others will take effect regardless of melee or ranged.

Thanks for the input.

Both builds sound awesome.

Do you know if the Sacred Flame from BFZ works on bows? The wiki states just melee weapons.

I did not built a BFZ since it was just adjusted. But I remember someone said on the forum that the flame is buffed on character not weapon. You can have a try like 2rog/3clr/4bfz because it's 100% rcr on lv10 character

Hendrak wrote:Thanks for your response.

I am sure thats a nice build. Can Cavestalker be taken by an elf? since it demands darksight and not low light sight.

So no realy good FVS archer build?

Does someone knows if GMW/Align Weapon works with bows? Can a whetstone make them keen or do i need the feat imp.critical?

Shoot, you are right!
Only thing I can think, so to then swap Cave Stalker with Shadow Dancer but that does starve you for feats:/

EDM archers without fighter8 and arcane archer9 are going to have a hard time hitting anything...

I´ve build the FVS/BG/BFZ variant for now.

Have a look:

http://nwn2db.com/build/?269228

Problem will be skillpoints and a bit feat starving. couldnt insert imp.critical Longbow.

Will try to build some cleric variants this evening....

Deathgrowl wrote:EDM archers without fighter8 and arcane archer9 are going to have a hard time hitting anything...

28 BAB + 6 Dex Bonus + 4 EB + 3 Spell Bonuses + 2 Bane of Enemies = 43 AB

That coupled with HiPs, you will hit just fine, believe me! Wear some haste clickable gear and you get one more AB and another chance to hit at your highest (44) AB.

This server is built on low AC, high HP mobs.

Only problem is 19 Dex Requirement is gonna cost you in constitution, probably down to 8

Tried to build the cleric/assasin/hierophant variant:

http://nwn2db.com/build/?269245

Here´s the blackguard/FVS/BFZ variant again for comparision:

http://nwn2db.com/build/?269228