A True Arcane Archer. Mod 6 Style

[Impaqt]

Heres my first attempt at an Arcane Archer. Since there appears to be nothing significant in the works for Ranged feats beyond l11 right now, I've decided to bump up the wizard levels and gain some pretty nifty spells to aid in performance of this build. Hit points are alittle low, but when you consider the low melee focus, you should do quite well. Add to that Stoneskin wands, Quickened Displacement casting, constant Blur, and other self buffs. 30 Point resists come from your Ranger side, along with a few other andy spells, and your wizard buffs will benefit from 5 Levels and Extend.

I threw Weapon finesse in there for the ability to melee when you want to as well.

Saving throws came out quite high as well. I think this looks like a solid build for the next mod.
Level 16 Elf Male
(11 Ranger \ 5 Wizard)
Hit Points: 202 + Boosts

20 Heroic Durability
88 L11 Ranger
20 L5 Wizard
64 CON Bonus (18 CON)
10 Dragonic Vitality
---
202
Spell Points: 656
80 Magical Training
150 L5 Wizard
97 L11 Ranger
30 Elven ARcanum
50 EotS
84 Wizard INT Bonus
80 Ranger Wis Boost
---
571
85 Mental TOughness
---
656
Ranger Spells:
L1: Rams Might, Resistance L2:Barkskin, ? L3: Wild Instincts
Wizard Spells:
L1: Jump, Nightshield,Tumble, Shield
L2: Blur, Melfs, ?
L3: Haste, Displacement

BAB:

11 Ranger L11
2 Wizard L5
12 Dex Bonus
1 Weapon Focus Ranged
2 Elven Longbow Enh
3 Average Bow/Arrow
--
+31 First Arrow Unbuffed
3 Divine Power Clicky
1 Haste
4 Greater Heroism
2 +5 Arrows
--
+41 Self Buffed

Saving Throws:

Fortitude: 20
Reflex: 28
Will: 19

7/7/3 L11 Ranger
1/1/4 L5 Wizard
4/12/4 Attribute Bonus
4/4/4 Resistance Item
------
16/24/15 Unbuffed Saves
4/4/4 Greater Heroism
------
20/28/19


Starting Feat/Enhancement
Abilities Base Stats Modified Stats
(32 Point) (Level 1) (Level 14)
{20}Strength 14 Divine Power Cicky as needed
{34}Dexterity 18 +4 Levels +2 Ranger +2 Elf +6 Item +2 Favor Tome
{18}Constitution 12 +1 Tome +5 Item
{22}Intelligence 14 +1 Wizard +1 Tome +6 Item
{18}Wisdom 12 +6 Item
{14}Charisma 8 +6 Item as Necessary

Level 1 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Reptillian - Switch to Undead around L4
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Finesse

Level 2 (Ranger)

Level 3 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Extend Spell
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Ranged Weapons

Level 4 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: DEX

Level 5 (Wizard)

Level 6 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Point Blank Shot

Level 7 (Ranger)

Level 8 (Wizard)
Ability Raise: DEX

Level 9 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Mental Toughness

Level 10 (Wizard)

Level 11 (Ranger)

Level 12 (Wizard)
Ability Raise: DEX
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Ranged Weapons
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Quicken Spell

Level 13 (Ranger)

Level 14 (Ranger)

Level 15 (Ranger)

Feat:
(Selected) Open Feat

Level 16 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: DEX
Enhancement: Ranger Skill Boost I
Enhancement: Ranger Skill Boost II
Enhancement: Ranger Skill Boost III
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost I
Enhancement: Elven Arcanum I
Enhancement: Elven Arcanum II
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity I
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity II
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Attack I
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Attack II
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Damage I
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Damage II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Attack I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage III
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar I
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar II
Enhancement: Ranger Dexterity I
Enhancement: Ranger Dexterity II
Enhancement: Wizard Intelligence I

17 Action points Left Over for Arrow Enhancements

[~Jules921]

I've been mulling over this type of multiclass, but I'm thinking of throwing in 2 levels of rogue and only 1 of wizzy. I never can get the hang of playing mage focused characters, got plenty of bards and clerics, but my wizzy and sorcs never last beyond level 4 - if that. I would only have enough mana for self buffing, but I would be deadly with a longbow.

Jules

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 2.75
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Arcanearcher Elspeth
Level 14 Neutral Good Elf Female
(2 Rogue \ 11 Ranger \ 1 Wizard) 
Hit Points: 138
Spell Points: 350 
BAB: 12\12\17\22
Fortitude: 8
Reflex: 14
Will: 6

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 14)
Strength             14                    16
Dexterity            16                    18
Constitution         12                    12
Intelligence         16                    16
Wisdom               12                    12
Charisma              8                     8

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 14)
Balance               6                    11
Bluff                -1                    -1
Concentration         1                    10
Diplomacy            -1                    -1
Disable Device        7                    26
Haggle                3                     6
Heal                  3                     8
Hide                  7                    12
Intimidate           -1                    -1
Jump                  6                    17
Listen                3                     5
Move Silently         7                    13
Open Lock             7                    22
Perform              n/a                   n/a
Repair                3                     3
Search                7                    25
Spot                  5                    22
Swim                  3                     4
Tumble                5                     6
Use Magic Device     n/a                   n/a

Level 1 (Rogue)
Feat: (Selected) Point Blank Shot
Enhancement: Elven Perception I
Enhancement: Elven Keen Eyes I
Enhancement: Rogue Disable Device I
Enhancement: Rogue Open Lock I

Level 2 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Undead
Enhancement: Ranger Skill Boost I
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Damage I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage I

Level 3 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Extend Spell
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Ranged Weapons
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Fluidity I
Enhancement: Elven Arcanum I

Level 4 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Elven Enchantment Resistance I
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Attack I
Enhancement: Ranger Swamp Lore I
Enhancement: Ranger Desert Lore I

Level 5 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Elven Perception II
Enhancement: Ranger Tundra Lore I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Defense I

Level 6 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Nimble Fingers
Enhancement: Ranger Skill Boost II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Resistance I
Enhancement: Ranger Energy of the Wild I

Level 7 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Elemental
Enhancement: Ranger Energy Resistence Boost I
Enhancement: Elven Keen Eyes II
Enhancement: Ranger Item Defense I

Level 8 (Ranger)

Level 9 (Rogue)
Feat: (Selected) Skill Focus: Disable Device
Enhancement: Elven Arcanum II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Attack I

Level 10 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Rogue Faster Sneaking I
Enhancement: Rogue Sneak Attack Training I
Enhancement: Ranger Search I
Enhancement: Ranger Spot I

Level 11 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Ranger Skill Boost III
Enhancement: Rogue Electric Trap Lore I

Level 12 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Ranged Weapons
Enhancement: Ranger Energy of the Wild II
Enhancement: Ranger Dexterity I

Level 13 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Construct
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Damage II

Level 14 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Attack II

[Impaqt]

THat kind of Breakdown works fine if you want tobe a trapsmith Arcane Archer. TO me, I think its trying to do too much with the build. 1 level of wizard doesnt get you much. some spell points, and a couple 2 minute spells.

I really like 5 levels of Wizard on the arcane archer. Self buffing alone becomes incredibly usefull. a Constantly Hasted/Displaced/Stoneskinned/Manyshotting ranger will be a significant force to rekon with come mod 6.

[~Jules921]

THat kind of Breakdown works fine if you want tobe a trapsmith Arcane Archer. TO me, I think its trying to do too much with the build. 1 level of wizard doesnt get you much. some spell points, and a couple 2 minute spells.

I really like 5 levels of Wizard on the arcane archer. Self buffing alone becomes incredibly usefull. a Constantly Hasted/Displaced/Stoneskinned/Manyshotting ranger will be a significant force to rekon with come mod 6.

I see your point, I'm probably going to drop the 2 rog levels and split the ranger/wizzy 7 & 7, taking 1 lvl of wizard before lvl 6 ranger to get the arcane enhancement at lvl 7, one more ranger level for many shot and the rest as wizzy.

I wish the enhancement for mod 6 were in the planner - there's a lot of guess work in my planning now.

Jules

[Xyfiel]

Don't have time for a full break down of my idea to mc my L7 Ranger with the same setup. I have yet to decide if I am going to. Anyway, consider the following changes:

Take rage over displacement as other L3 spell. +2con, 2str, 1will.
Take extend and 2 dragonmarks for 16mins of displacement.

Costs 2 feats for the 0 mana displacement, one of which would come from your mental toughness anyway.

[Xyfiel]

Readjusted Build based on level 16 with 5wiz levels. Original build was lost in the great forum purge of 2007.


Elf Ranger11/Wizard5

15str 26 +1tome+6item+2rage+2rams might
18dex 36 +3tome+6item+2elf+3ranger+4levels
11con 20 +1tome+6item+2rage
11int 14/19 +1tome+6item+1wiz+1cartouche(after buffing remove +6)
13wis 20 +1tome+6item
9cha 16 +1tome+6item(only need when using res scrolls really)

Feats: least/lesser dragonmarks, point blank shot, weapon focus/imp crit ranged, Skill focus UMD
extend/quicken

Skills:
Balance, Tumble, Jump, Spot, UMD, Hide/MS
UMD=9base+3item+2luck+4gh+3cha+3feat=24 for rr items, +3boost for res scrolls

Saves: 24/33/24
7/7/3 Ranger, 1/1/4 Wizard, 5/13/5 stats, 5/5/5 resist, 2/2/2 luck, 4/4/4 gh, 0/1/1 spells(haste/rage)

Spell Points: 786
100Ranger, 230 Wiz, 200archmagi, 100wisdom, 56int, 30 Elven Arcanum, 50Energy ofScholar, 20 Arcane Archer

Hps: 248
20base+10DV+30Gfl+80con+20wizard+88Ranger

Spells:
2/2/1 Ram's Might, Resist Energy, Barkskin, Protection from Energy, Wild Instincts
4/3/2 Shield, Tumble, Jump, Protection From Evil, Blur, See invis, False Life, Haste, Rage

Attack: 38
13bab+13dex+1weapon focus+1pbs(within 30)+4gh+1haste+3arrows+2enhancement

Damage: 16-25 17-20 X3 +2d6
Silver Bow 1d10 17-20 X3 +8str +1pbs(within 30) +2 Ram's might +1enhancement+3arrows+2d6holy
I will be trying to get a w/p.

Enhancements:
Arcanum II, Dex II, Extra Dragonmark III, Ranged Attack II, Ranged Damage I, Dex III, Favored attack I, Fav damage II, Fav resist II, Fav Defense II, Item Defense I, Skill Boost II, Sprint Boost I, Energy of Scholar II, Int I. This should leave 7 points for AA.

AC: 47 running, 60 buffed
10base+13dex+1haste+4shield+8bracers+3ring+5deflec tion+5natural-2rage
possible tanking AC add 3 for shield, 2 from no rage, 2 from recitation, 4 from aura, 2 from blocking

[winsom]

I don't see your 2nd and 3rd Favored Enemy picks. I think its interesting to see what other's pick. My ranger is getting Undead, Evil Outsiders and Aberrations.

1 level of wizard doesn't get you much. some spell points, and a couple 2 minute spells.

Impaqt, you seem to want to use the Wizard levels to buff your rangers defenses? You can do this with a single level of wizard and scrolls, although there will be some scroll failure chance and Blur scroll is 3 minutes while Displacement scrolls last less than a minute... A single wizard level gets you Extend Spell and and significantly more Spell Points. Each wizard level after 1st is significantly less of a bonus, unless you plan on building a good wizard-offense as well. Wizard 3rd might be an OK (not good) stopping-point for a DDO Arcane Archer that mostly wants to fight with weapons rather than spells.

If you plan to start with INT 13 or 14 (drow 15+) and wear the best INT item you can find, your spell DCs will not be that different from INT 17+ wizards. You would also have to put at least some level-up points into INT, rather than all DEX.. If you want multiple Wizard levels you really want a good INT, in my opinion, otherwise there is a lot of unused potential you are paying levels for.

I think if you want to take more than 1 to 3 wizard levels then you should be trying to play an actual wizard, at least part-time, rather than a buffed-up Ranger.

Consider how Base Attack Bonus +16 is required for Many-shot to fire off 4 arrows at once. That is a very potent character ability. You would have to be ranger 14/ Wizard 5 = 19th level before you can do what other archers are doing at 16th.
Ranger 15th is another favored enemy and +2 damage to all previous favored enemies. You could plan for Ranger 15/ Wizard 5th, but I think if you are going to invest that much into wizard you might as well get a lot more out of the wizard class by taking at least 7 wizard levels (Charm Monster, Solid Fog, Wall of Fire, etc).

I have a ranger that will look like: Ranger 11/Fighter 7 or 8, and might take Ranger 12 or Wizard 1. I started with INT 13, so the Wizard choice is feasible. Note that I'm heavily building for combat (base attack and enhancements) so I'm limiting my Wizard levels to one or zero. I am also not considering Arcane Archer though, but I could easily enough if I spent a feat on Mental Toughness and the other feat pre-reqs.

[EspyLacopa]

Consider how Base Attack Bonus +16 is required for Many-shot to fire off 4 arrows at once. That is a very potent character ability. You would have to be ranger 14/ Wizard 5 = 19th level before you can do what other archers are doing at 16th.
Ranger 15th is another favored enemy and +2 damage to all previous favored enemies. You could plan for Ranger 15/ Wizard 5th,

Actually you'd hit BAB +16 at Ranger 14, Wizard 4, so level 18.

[rpasell]

Heres my first attempt at an Arcane Archer. Since there appears to be nothing significant in the works for Ranged feats beyond l11 right now, I've decided to bump up the wizard levels and gain some pretty nifty spells to aid in performance of this build. Hit points are alittle low, but when you consider the low melee focus, you should do quite well. Add to that Stoneskin wands, Quickened Displacement casting, constant Blur, and other self buffs. 30 Point resists come from your Ranger side, along with a few other andy spells, and your wizard buffs will benefit from 5 Levels and Extend.

Me Likey