# Arcane Archer's Imbue Arrow ability



## DrSpunj (Oct 22, 2003)

Since I'm considering playing an Arcane Archer as my next PC, I wanted to get an idea about how useful the _Imbue Arrow_ ability really was. Here's the ability:



			
				3.5 SRD said:
			
		

> Imbue Arrow (Sp): At 2nd level, an arcane archer gains the ability to place an area spell upon an arrow. When the arrow is fired, the spell’s area is centered on where the arrow lands, even if the spell could normally be centered only on the caster. This ability allows the archer to use the bow’s range rather than the spell’s range. It takes a standard action to cast the spell and fire the arrow. The arrow must be fired in the round the spell is cast, or the spell is wasted.




Since I plan on taking only a handful of Wizard levels I looked through the 3.5 PHB and wrote down all 0 through 3rd level Wiz/Sor spells that had an Area descriptor or an Effect descriptor that delineated an Area. Here's that list [Spell (Range) Area/Effect]:

*0-level spells*

Detect Magic (60') cone
Detect Poison (Close) 5' cube
Prestidigitation (10') 1' cube

*1st-level spells*

Burning Hands (15') cone
Color Spray (15') cone
Dancing Lights (Medium) 10' rad
Detect Secret Doors (60') cone
Detect Thoughts (60') cone
Detect Undead (60') cone
Grease (Close) 10' square
Hypnotism (Close) 15' rad
Obscuring Mist (Personal) 20' rad
Silent Image (Long) 4 10' cubes + 1 10' cube per level
Sleep (Medium) 10' rad

*2nd-level spells*

Flaming Sphere (Medium) 5' diameter sphere
Fog Cloud (Medium) 20' rad
Glitterdust (Medium) 10' rad
Hypnotic Pattern (Medium) 10' rad
Locate Object (Long) Long rad
Minor Image (Long) 4 10' cubes + 1 10' cube per level
Shatter (Close) 5' rad
Web (Medium) 20' rad
Whispering Wind (1 mile/level) 10' rad

*3rd-level spells*

Dispel Magic (Medium) 20' rad
Fireball (Long) 20' rad
Gust of Wind (60') line
Invisibility Sphere (Personal) 10' rad
Leomund's Tiny Hut (Personal) 20' rad
Lightning Bolt (120') line
Magic Circle against Chaos/Evil/Good/Law (Touch) 10' rad
Sleet Storm (Long) cylinder
Stinking Cloud (Medium)  20' rad
Summon Swarm (Close) 10' square
Wind Wall (Medium) wall

Please let me know if I've missed any other spells.

Now then, since the earliest you can qualify for Arcane Archer is 7th level the earliest anyone could get _Imbue Arrow_ is at 9th level, and then you'd only have access to 0 & 1st level spells. To get 2nd level spells you'd have to put off your first level of Arcane Archer until 9th level and wouldn't get Imbue Arrow until 10th.

But assuming you take the fast track, Medium range for a 9th level caster is 190'. Since a composite longbow has a range increment of 110' you're well into your second increment with a -2 penalty using the _Imbue Arrow_ ability to gain any additional range for your spell. That doesn't seem overly worthwhile to me personally. YMMV but it's my post  so I'm going to ignore all spells of Medium range or longer on the above lists. That leaves us with these spells IMO that actually gain any real benefit from the ability:

*0-level spells*

Detect Magic (60') cone
Detect Poison (Close) 5' cube
Prestidigitation (10') 1' cube

*1st-level spells*

Burning Hands (15') cone
Color Spray (15') cone
Detect Secret Doors (60') cone
Detect Thoughts (60') cone
Detect Undead (60') cone
Grease (Close) 10' square
Hypnotism (Close) 15' rad
Obscuring Mist (Personal) 20' rad

*2nd-level spells*

Shatter (Close) 5' rad

*3rd-level spells*

Gust of Wind (60') line
Invisibility Sphere (Personal) 10' rad
Leomund's Tiny Hut (Personal) 20' rad
Lightning Bolt (120') 120' line
Magic Circle against Chaos/Evil/Good/Law (Touch) 10' rad
Summon Swarm (Close) 10' square

Now, the wording of the ability allows some pretty funky effects with cones. That is, if you shoot your arrow/spell out to 200', it seems to me your spell's Area of effect becomes a cone still originating at the caster, but now 200' long & 200' wide at its base. I think that's a bit unbalanced when talking about Burning Hands & perhaps Color Spray, but is of no real consequence with the Detect spells. If you instead interpret the ability to mean the standard cone originates from the arrow itself, then you have to make a judgement call about which direction the cone is oriented in (I'd assume away from the caster) and whether the effect is at all modified by actually shooting the arrow into an enemy or some other object.

Lightning Bolt also poses an interesting puzzle. Does the arrow extend the length of the Lightning Bolt such that it starts at the caster and extends to the arrow several hundred feet away? Or does the 120' line defined in the Area entry mean that it originates from the arrow and goes 120'? (Again, I'd assume with the latter its direction would be away from the caster.)

Does anyone have any official word on any of these questions? Or thoughts on the ability in general? How would you DM the cone & Lightning Bolt interpretations if one of your players brought this to your attention?

On a separate note, with Damage Reduction being just "magic" and not +1, +2, etc. as it was in 3.0, and with magical enhancement to arrows and bows no longer stacking, does anyone feel the Arcane Archer is a bit...weaker now? Is it worth playing vs just sticking with base classes? I'm planning on taking mostly Ranger levels, with a level or 3 of Wizard if the spells are worth it for Imbue Arrow (but looking at the above list for 2nd level spells, ie. Shatter, I probably won't take more than 1 level of Wizard).

Thanks.

DrSpunj


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## gfunk (Oct 22, 2003)

DrSpunj said:
			
		

> If you instead interpret the ability to mean the standard cone originates from the arrow itself, then you have to make a judgement call about which direction the cone is oriented in (I'd assume away from the caster) and whether the effect is at all modified by actually shooting the arrow into an enemy or some other object.
> Lightning Bolt also poses an interesting puzzle. Does the arrow extend the length of the Lightning Bolt such that it starts at the caster and extends to the arrow several hundred feet away? Or does the 120' line defined in the Area entry mean that it originates from the arrow and goes 120'? (Again, I'd assume with the latter its direction would be away from the caster.)



I think your interpretation for both is correct. The spell would originate from the arrow and away from the caster.



> On a separate note, with Damage Reduction being just "magic" and not +1, +2, etc. as it was in 3.0, and with magical enhancement to arrows and bows no longer stacking, does anyone feel the Arcane Archer is a bit...weaker now? Is it worth playing vs just sticking with base classes? I'm planning on taking mostly Ranger levels, with a level or 3 of Wizard if the spells are worth it for Imbue Arrow (but looking at the above list for 2nd level spells, ie. Shatter, I probably won't take more than 1 level of Wizard).



Again, I believe you are correct. Arcane Archers just aren't as worthwile as 3.0. However, you seem to have taken a shine to the Imbue Arrow ability, so allow me to humbly suggest the following build.

Wizard 8/Fighter 2/Arcane Archer 2/Eldritch Knight 8

BAB +16
Caster Level = 15

mmmmmm . . . imbue arrows with Horrid Wilting.


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## RigaMortus (Oct 22, 2003)

> _
> It takes a standard action to cast the spell and fire the arrow.
> _




So, since Sleep is now a full-round action to cast, does this mean you can fire off a Sleep spell with an Imbued Arrow with only a Standard Action?

If you have a spell Quickened, would this help you in anyway when firing off that Quickened spell in an Imbued Arrow?


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## Rackhir (Oct 22, 2003)

Basically, the question you need to ask is do you want to be a figher with some magic ability or a Mage with some fighting ability. An AA is kind of a poor compromise, to make many of the abilities useful you need caster levels, but those levels have to come out of either your AA levels or your fighter levels. So basically you can either be good at fighting or good at casting spells, with a much weaker secondary of the other. 

Note : The Arcane Archers can potentially become quite deadly at epic levels, if for no other reason than their arrow bonuses continue to increase. In the absence of an Epic GMW, that could mean that the AA is sometimes the only party member who can hit creatures with Epic DR. Though this may change with 3.5 as I've not seen anything on the Epic AA under 3.5. 

The ability to imbue spells is essentially useless with all but a handful of spells (Glitterdust being the only one that comes to mind). Since as you've noticed any good spells have sufficient range that you don't need to imbue them.

Re: The Cone Etc spells

From the SRD : _Imbue Arrow: At 2nd level, an arcane archer gains this spell-like ability, allowing her to place an area spell upon an arrow. When the arrow is fired, the spell’s area is centered upon where the arrow lands, even if the spell could normally be centered only on the caster. This ability allows the archer to use the bow’s range rather than the spell’s range. It takes a standard action to cast the spell and fire the arrow. The arrow must be fired in the round the spell is cast, or the spell is wasted._

So at least according to the SRD the spell effect is centered on the location where the arrow lands. So I would judge that if you have imbued Cone of cold, that the spell would start at the point where the arrow lands and operates normally from there.

Basically, if you want to run a good archer char, then I would go some combination of Order of the Bow Initiate and/or Deep Woods Sniper. There are those who advocate for a Cleric archer, but I'm unsure of how well they work under 3.5 with the cuts in the buff spell durations.


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## DrSpunj (Oct 23, 2003)

That "centered" I didn't really focus on much before, but I think you're right Rackhir, it does lead me to believe the origin is at the arrow (like gfunk was saying).

Still, would you rule any differently if that Cone of Cold fired with Imbue Arrow actually sinks into an Ogre (for example) instead of just landing point down in the mud? As a DM would you do anything special? Does the Ogre take extra damage or have a tougher save? Is the spell modified in any way for those in the rest of the cone? If the arrow damage is enough to kill him it'd be extremely cinematic to say the Cone of Cold explodes out of his back, engulfing all behind him. However, if he doesn't die from the arrow damage, what then?

And RigaMortus: I'd never considered the fact that the casting of some spells (like Sleep) may actually be sped up by using Imbue Arrow. I don't think as a DM I'd allow that, but I don't think there's anything in the rules that backs me up (not that there needs to be, of course, I just like consistancy within the rules set whenever I can find it).

Finally, about Archer builds in general, I thank you all for the ideas, and I've read a lot of threads here in EN Rules on the topic, but I'm currently very interested in playing an Arcane Archer-like concept. I'm currently working with my DM and revamping the Prestige Class a bit, but I'm trying to decide whether to keep the Imbue Arrow ability as is, in a changed form, or dumping it all together.

Thanks!

DrSpunj


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## Rackhir (Oct 23, 2003)

RE: Arrow and target - Strictly according to the rules, no you wouldn't get any "Bonuses", but it is probably much easier to shoot an arrow through cover/arrow slit than for a mage to try it on it's own. Personally I think some sort of bonus would be in order, but that's up to your DM. In addition to the benefits you mentioned, some have suggested there should be no save, but that's something I would do some experimentation with. Try out the different options in combat and see what seems most reasonable in your campaign.

Concieveably the ogre in your example could provide cover, but that would seem to be something a "Screw the Players" DM would do. I don't believe that cone effects are blocked for targets behind another within the cone.

Personally, unless there was substantially more flexibility/usefulness to the ability, I would just swap it out for something else.


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## FrankTrollman (Oct 23, 2003)

No. The real question is why you wouldn't just be a Cleric Archer. Those guys kick the pants off of "Arcane Archers" to this day.

Better spellcasting, that they can do in armor, coupled with more magical arrows from GMW, coupled with more all-around archery bonuses.

The fact is that Wizard spells are not several levels better than Cleric spells. Mostly, they are just a little better - and often the same. Going straight Cleric you can cast spells in armor and shoot arrows without ever giving up a spellcaster level - and that's fundamentally superior to anything the Arcane Archer can ever do.

If AAs gave out spellcaster levels it would be worth considering - but right now the Cleric can simply do everything the Arcane Archer can do better while also having additional abilities on top.

It's not a contest, I don't know how anyone could let such a provably mathematically inferior class through a revision - it's like they didn't even read it.

I really like the flavor of the Arcane Archer - but you can be a Cleric Archer with exactly the same schtick and be superior in all ways.

-Frank


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## Pax (Oct 23, 2003)

Consider a Theurge/Arcane Archer.  If you're looking pre-=epic only, you don't need more than, what, 5 levels of AA?

Wizard(3)/Cleric(3)/Theurge(7)/Fighter(2)/AA(5)

10th level caster on both fronts, +3 arrows, Imbue, and up to 5th level Wizard *and* Cleric spells.

At epic levels, you can go with:

ECL 25:
Wizard(3)/Cleric(3)/Theurge(10)/Fighter(4)/AA(5)
  ... gain specialisation; caster level goes to 13 for both types, giving access to 7th level spells

ECL 30:
Wizard(5)/Cleric(5)/Theurge(10)/Fighter(4)/AA(6)
  ... up to caster level 15, and 8th level spells, for each class.  Plus whatever it is AA's get at 6th level.

ECL 35:
Wizard(7)/Cleric(7)/Theurge(10)/Fighter(4)/AA(7)
  ... now you've got 9th level Wizard and Cleric spells, and +4 arrows for free.

ECL 40:
Wizard(7)/Cleric(7)/Theurge(10)/Fighter(4)/AA(10)/[something epic](1)
  ... just to be complete.


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## Li Shenron (Oct 23, 2003)

I wonder if there has never been any FAQ or SA about the Imbue Arrow ability, because I had this kind of doubts since 3.0 anyway. Without any official help, I don't know how to play it.

I don't think cones and lines should be suitable for this ability, since they are "originated at the caster" rather than "centered at the caster", so how would for example a line be "centered when the arrow lands"? Should it be so that the arrow is in the centre of the line? Both kinds of areas are very directional and to adjudicate them is not obvious as it would be for a burst or emanation or cylinder effect.

On the other hand, touch spells would have made very good sense to be usable with Imbue Arrow, but the description clearly rule them out (they are not area spells). Probably they ruled them out on purpose being "scared" that it would lead to some cheesy tactics? Don't know, but given the high pre-requisites to Arcane Archers (which basically limits a lot your spellcaster's levels, that is how many spells you can apply to this feature), I think Imbue Arrow is worth very very little. You can probably find a few spells which are indeed easily exploitable and you'll often imbue them whenever you can, but it's definitely not the reason why to take this PrCl at the moment.


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## DrSpunj (Oct 23, 2003)

Frank & Pax: While I appreciate your comments, this thread is not entitled "What's the most powerful Archer build?". I started this thread because the Imbue Arrow ability didn't seem to be worth much and I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing and/or misinterpreting something.

However, I would be grateful to both of you, and anyone else, that wanted to help me work on a more balanced Arcane Archer Prestige Class in this thread in the House Rules forum.

Thanks.

Li Shenron: I agree that WotC hasn't officially said much on the matter, and that cones & lines should probably originate from the arrow. I don't think it's a real stretch to limit the direction to that of the arrow's flight, directly away from the caster/archer. The grenade rules would be of particular use here using this scheme as the line of effect for a Lightning Bolt originating from your arrow could be significantly different if you missed the square and/or target you were aiming at with the arrow.


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## Zad (Oct 23, 2003)

Quick response now (I hope to read this in more detail later): I've been playing an arcane archer in a long running campaign. Yes, I feel that 3.5 weakened their abilities significantly. I was hoping they would get a little boost to compensate for it, but alas it did not happen.

And to answer the unspoken question, yes I think the imbue ability is pretty limited in practice. Maybe if they had allowed touch spells...


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## Pax (Oct 23, 2003)

Doc, I wasn't suggestign what the most powerful archer build would be (I dunno what Trollface posted, I've got him Ignored).

I was just suggesting another approach to the AA that might prove interesting, is all.  Generally speaking, the *strongest* AA builds probably involve liberal use of the Eldritch Knight PrC. (_e.g._ Fighter(1)/Wizard(5)/EldKnight(10)/Arcane Archer(4) ...)

But a Theurge/AA build could prove entertaining, nonetheless.


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## Nail (Oct 23, 2003)

Changing the tpyes of spells _Imbue Arrow_ works with might be fun.  Why were the designers afraid of touch spells?  I can't (off the cuff) think of any nasty wizard touch spells that would be too powerful, given this ability.

Cleric touch spells, OTOH, I could see as being a problem.


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## WizarDru (Oct 23, 2003)

Pax said:
			
		

> ECL 35:
> Wizard(7)/Cleric(7)/Theurge(10)/Fighter(4)/AA(7)
> ... now you've got 9th level Wizard and Cleric spells, and +4 arrows for free.



Bwa-ha-ha-ha! 
(wipes a tear from laughter)

Seriously, a 35th level character who only gets +4 arrows?  That's really not much to coo about.  Considering there are CR 19 and CR 21 creatures that are have Epic DR (such as the Bak'lash Dreadnaught or the Mithral Golem, to name a couple), a 35th level character with only +4 arrows might as well not even bother showing up.  

Zad's AA is only 21st, and he's finding the +5 bonus to be limiting.  

But regardless, this isn're about optimal archer builds.  I've always ruled that the ability worked with the spell starting at the point of the arrows landing...otherwide you get wacky effects with lightning bolts and cones of cold.  

More later, perhaps.  I'm going to lunch.


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## Silveras (Oct 23, 2003)

Imbue arrow: Its usefulness is dependent upon 2 factors: the DM's use of interesting and challenging locations, and the Player's imagination and willingness to do more than point-and-shoot. Consider how many times you have clear line-of-sight out to the limit of some spells. Not very often; much more often, you have some kind of block. Imbuing an arrow is not something you do as a matter of course; it is something you do when the circumstances call for it. 

Using Deep Slumber, for example. The AA is with a party sent to infiltrate a tower. Atop the tower are guards. The AA *could* try to kill all the guards, but if any survived, the chance of surprise is gone. Deep Slumber at the center of the tower roof is a better choice, but you don't have line-of-sight (regardless of range) to the spot you want. Time to imbue an arrow with Deep Slumber and fire up, so it lands atop the tower. Presto ! 

Touch spells: Touch spells are not allowed because many of them are balanced by requiring you to get up close into melee to use them (Cures, or Inflicts, etc.) instead of having saving throws. Being able to cast them from a safe distance defeats that balance, IMHO, which is why they are not included in the list of spells you can imbue into an arrow.


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## Nail (Oct 23, 2003)

Silveras said:
			
		

> Touch spells: Touch spells are not allowed because many of them are balanced by requiring you to get up close into melee to use them (Cures, or Inflicts, etc.) instead of having saving throws. Being able to cast them from a safe distance defeats that balance, IMHO, which is why they are not included in the list of spells you can imbue into an arrow.



Understood. 

 But you'll notice your list (short as it is) is composed of only divine touch spells.  This is an _arcane_ archer.  What arcane spells would be out-of-balance, given the prereq.s of the PrC and the likely caster level of the arcane archer?


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## Zad (Oct 23, 2003)

Actually now that I'm fully 21st, I am at +6. But the wierdness that I can't account for is 3.5 DR - it could cripple an archer or it could leave them as bad off as anyone else. Since I'm not going back to the early levels to find out, I won't be able to say.

The other thing with imbue is that usually you can just cast the spell and use its range and it's just as good. Some oddities with cones etc but still. Also, since you're not going to be a skilled caster, people will have an easy time saving against your spells and you'll be there wondering if you should have just done a full attack instead.

Perhaps imbue would be better if it let you imbue the spell and still take a full attack i.e. put four arrows into a target and throw a fireball in for good measure.


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## Li Shenron (Oct 24, 2003)

> Quote:
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Originally Posted by Silveras
> Touch spells: Touch spells are not allowed because many of them are balanced by requiring you to get up close into melee to use them (Cures, or Inflicts, etc.) instead of having saving throws. Being able to cast them from a safe distance defeats that balance, IMHO, which is why they are not included in the list of spells you can imbue into an arrow.
> ...




I am with Nail on this. Furthermore, the Arcane Archer is not a low-requirement Prestige Class. It requires high BAB for a Wizard/Sorcerer and doesn't grant +1 spellcasting, which means that you have to get a lot of Wiz/Sor levels before you eventually learn a touch spell which is abusable.

Imbue Arrow is a PrCl special abilities I haven't seen anywhere else, and it should be something more special than what it is now, especially considering that Enchanted Arrows lost a lot with the 3.5 revision, and all the other abilities are usable only 1/day.


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## Nail (Oct 24, 2003)

Zad said:
			
		

> ...since you're not going to be a skilled caster, people will have an easy time saving against your spells and you'll be there wondering if you should have just done a full attack instead.



Could you write about what you like about the PrC?  Why did you take it?  Why did you stick with it?  What was cool about it?

[EDIT] Link to House Rules discussion of how to change the Arcane Archer.


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## Zad (Oct 24, 2003)

Nail said:
			
		

> Could you write about what you like about the PrC? Why did you take it? Why did you stick with it? What was cool about it?



Sure, if you want to hear me babble. Bear in mind we used the progression that I listed in the house rules forum. I think it comes down to that I ended up liking it for the environment I played it in. The class itself was in the low power-to-balanced range originally, and in 3.5 has been cut off at the knees.

Our campaign started at the release of 3.0. I was thinking about an archer character. Then the DMG came out and I saw the arcane archer and I was smitten - here was a way to solve the DR problem with an endless supply of magic arrows. So I set up the character to head for it. I took 2 levels of fighter, then picked up wizard and kept them fairly close, so that I could take the prestige class when I was 4/4. (Level 4 fighter having specialization of course so that's why.) 

Somewhere along the way, we decided it made more sense to be a sorcerer rather than a wizard, and the DM and I just waved our hands and it was done.

The good: I did have an endless supply of magical arrows.  I also liked the flavor of it, and that was heightened by the way the DM implemented it in our campaign world.

The bad: There were several

1. GMW made this ability nearly irrelevant. We had casters who could cast it, and their arrows were better than mine.

2. There were times my arrows were not enough to penetrate DR for the things we were fighting (and they were appropriate encounters) but a GMW arrow could.

3. Imbue turned out to be nearly useless. I couldn't imbue anything that didn't make more sense just to cast on its own range, and I was too weak a caster to make a spell have a reasonable saving throw DC. 

4. As a caster, I was no good at all. I had some utility spells and stuck with them. This would have been much worse had we used the DMG standard AA class.

We went epic just about the time that 3.5 came out. I was, and am, concerned about the AA and 3.5. The main ability of enchanting arrows is now completely negated by having a magic bow, and probably a better bow than the character could enchant arrows at given their level. The class as written in the DMG is nearly useless.

Also, the archer has problems with the various types of DR but how that will play out has yet to be seen, and I may not have a good perspective. 

If Imbue Arrow was a feat, you could do a lot better with an ftr/wiz/eldritch knight. On the other hand,  the PrC Nifft proposed was great.


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## Nail (Oct 24, 2003)

Zad said:
			
		

> If Imbue Arrow was a feat, you could do a lot better with an ftr/wiz/eldritch knight.



So I think the challenge here is to make sure the _Imbue Arrow_ ability isn't just a virtual feat for the class.  Something that advances with level and has several skill or ability options (both of which feat can't - or shouldn't- do).

Thanks for your babble!  It was quite useful!  Any one else?  (Zad, are you in Wizardru's game?  If not, I wanna hear their Arcane Archer chime in!)


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## Silveras (Oct 24, 2003)

Nail said:
			
		

> Understood.
> 
> But you'll notice your list (short as it is) is composed of only divine touch spells.  This is an _arcane_ archer.  What arcane spells would be out-of-balance, given the prereq.s of the PrC and the likely caster level of the arcane archer?




Touch of Fatigue (0 level) (Fort Save)
Shocking Grasp (1st) (NO save)
Chill Touch (1st) (Fort Partial)
Touch of Idiocy (2nd) (NO save)
Ghoul Touch (2nd) (Fort Save, but repeated uses) - bad choice for arrow
Vampiric Touch (3rd) (NO save)

Note that there *is* a mechanism in the PH for delivering Touch attacks at a distance: Spectral Hand (2nd level spell). The range is Medium, which at its base is slightly better than a longbow. It lasts 1 minute/level. The spell can only deliver 4th level or lower touch spells. 

In comparison, the Arcane Archer can imbue an arrow as many times per day as s/he wishes, without regard to the level of the spell, and could send these "touch" spells over longer distances (accepting the -2 per additional range increment penalty). Frost Giant closing in ? No problem ... Touch of Fatigue delivered at 400 ft. Orcish Cleric bothering you from the back of that horde ? No problem ... I'll just cast True Strike and BANG ! Touch of Idiocy delivered at 400 ft. 

The ability, limited to area effect spells.allows things that already strike from SOME distance to be used from GREATER distance. Allowing Touch spells the same thing is grossly upping the value of the ability.


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## Zad (Oct 24, 2003)

Nail said:
			
		

> (Zad, are you in Wizardru's game? If not, I wanna hear their Arcane Archer chime in!)



Yep, that's me.


As a group, we're leery of over-munchkining or PrC's that are just way over the top. But Wizardru and I recognized that the AA needed some tweaking. It needs more due to 3.5 but since we're epic level now, it's probably not much of a factor. 

In that world, AA's are also called Elven Champions. They are a rare form of elf, touched by a special grace. They usually evolve from the trials of combat (rather than by training or being taught) and are highly respected in Celenian society. They are answerable only to the Queen, and not really even that, going where their conscience requires them to, and yet still defending their country. I point this out as added background, but also to note that the PrC is half the story - the other half is how it's woven into the world around it.


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