Arcane Archer (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

Few can match the guile and craftiness of arcane archers. These prodigious thieves blend the subtlest aspects of the arcane with the natural cunning of the bandit and the scoundrel, using spells to enhance their natural thieving abilities. Arcane archers can pick locks, disarm traps, and lift purses from a safe distance using their magical legerdemain, and as often as not seek humiliation as a goal to triumph over their foes than more violent solutions.

Class Information

This is a merged prestige class.

Prestige Class: Arcane Archer.

Build Classes: Ranger, Wizard.

An arcane archer is a mix of ranger and wizard, the arcane archer prestige class expressed as a single class.

Role: Arcane archers deal death from afar, winnowing down opponents while their allies rush into hand-to-hand combat. With their capacity to unleash hails of arrows on the enemy, they represent the pinnacle of ranged combat.

Alignment: Arcane archers can be of any alignment. Elf or half-elf arcane archers tend to be free-spirited and are rarely lawful. Similarly, it is uncommon for elven arcane archers to be evil, and overall the path of the arcane archer is more often pursued by good or neutral characters.

Hit Die: d8.

Class Abilities

This archetype has all normal class abilities, except as noted.

Class Skills

The arcane archer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int ), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Dex), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Fly (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A ranger is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields).

Spells

An arcane archer casts arcane spells drawn from the magus spell list. An arcane archer must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time. An arcane archer only ever learns to cast spells up to level 6.

To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the arcane archer must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an arcane archer's spell is 10 + the spell level + the arcane archer's Intelligence modifier.

An arcane archer can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Arcane archer. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intelligence score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).

An arcane archer may know any number of spells. He must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by getting 8 hours of sleep and spending 1 hour studying his spellbook. While studying, the arcane archer decides which spells to prepare.

Starting Spells: An arcane archer begins play with a spellbook containing all 0-level magus spells plus three 1st-level spells of his choice. The arcane archer also selects a number of additional 1st-level spells equal to his Intelligence modifier to add to the spellbook. At each new arcane archer level, he gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that he can cast (based on his new arcane archer level) for his spellbook. At any time, an arcane archer can also add spells found in other arcane archers' spellbooks to his own (see Magic).

Spells Gained at a New Level: Arcane archers perform a certain amount of spell research between adventures. Each time a character attains a new arcane archer level, he gains two spells of his choice to add to his spellbook. The two free spells must be of spell levels he can cast. If he has chosen to specialize in a school of magic, one of the two free spells must be from his specialty school.

Cantrips

Arcane archers can prepare a number of cantrips, or 0-level spells, each day, as noted on Table: Arcane archer under “Spells per Day.” These spells are cast like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again. An arcane archer can prepare a cantrip from an opposition school, but it uses up two of his available slots (see below).

Bonded Bow

Wizards begin play with a bonded bow at no cost. These objects are always masterwork quality. Weapons acquired at 1st level are not made of any special material. If the object is an amulet or ring, it must be worn to have effect, while staves, wands, and weapons must be held in one hand. If a wizard attempts to cast a spell without his bonded object worn or in hand, he must make a concentration check or lose the spell. The DC for this check is equal to 20 + the spell's level.

A bonded object can be used once per day to cast any one spell that the wizard has in his spellbook and is capable of casting, even if the spell is not prepared. This spell is treated like any other spell cast by the wizard, including casting time, duration, and other effects dependent on the wizard's level. This spell cannot be modified by metamagic feats or other abilities. The bonded object cannot be used to cast spells from the wizard's opposition schools (see arcane school below).

A wizard can add additional magic abilities to his bonded object as if he has the required Item Creation Feats and if he meets the level prerequisites of the feat. For example, a wizard with a bonded dagger must be at least 5th level to add magic abilities to the dagger (see Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat). If the bonded object is a wand, it loses its wand abilities when its last charge is consumed, but it is not destroyed and it retains all of its bonded object properties and can be used to craft a new wand. The magic properties of a bonded object, including any magic abilities added to the object, only function for the wizard who owns it. If a bonded object's owner dies, or the item is replaced, the object reverts to being an ordinary masterwork item of the appropriate type.

If a bonded object is damaged, it is restored to full hit points the next time the wizard prepares his spells. If the object of an arcane bond is lost or destroyed, it can be replaced after 1 week in a special ritual that costs 200 gp per wizard level plus the cost of the masterwork item. This ritual takes 8 hours to complete. Items replaced in this way do not possess any of the additional enchantments of the previous bonded item. A wizard can designate an existing magic item as his bonded item. This functions in the same way as replacing a lost or destroyed item except that the new magic item retains its abilities while gaining the benefits and drawbacks of becoming a bonded item.

Track (Ex)

A ranger adds half his level (minimum 1) to Survival skill checks made to follow tracks.

Wild Empathy (Ex)

A ranger can improve the initial attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person (see Using Skills). The ranger rolls 1d20 and adds his ranger level and his Charisma bonus to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.

To use wild empathy, the ranger and the animal must be within 30 feet of one another under normal visibility conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute, but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.

The ranger can also use this ability to influence a magical beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but he takes a –4 penalty on the check.

Archery Style Feat (Ex)

At 2nd level, a ranger gains expertise in archery. This manifests in the form of bonus feats at 2nd, 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level. He can choose feats from his selected combat style, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites.

The benefits of the ranger's chosen style feats apply only when he wears light, medium, or no armor. He loses all benefits of his combat style feats when wearing heavy armor. Once a ranger selects a combat style, it cannot be changed.

A ranger can choose from the following list whenever he gains a combat style feat:

• Far Shot, Focused Shot, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, and Rapid Shot.

• At 6th level, he adds Improved Precise Shot, Mounted Archery, Parting Shot, Point Blank Master, and Manyshot to the list.

• At 10th level, he adds Pinpoint Targeting and Shot on the Run to the list.

Table: Arcane Archer

Class Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
						0	1	2	3	4	5	6
1st	+0	+0	+2	+2	Cantrips, ranged legerdemain, trapfinding	3	1	—	—	—	—	—
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+3	Scribe scroll	4	2	—	—	—	—	—
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+3	Evasion, sneak attack 1d6	4	3	—	—	—	—	—
4th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Rogue talent, trap sense	4	3	1	—	—	—	—
5th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Sneak attack 2d6	4	4	2	—	—	—	—
6th	+4	+2	+5	+5	Arcane bond, tricky spells	5	4	3	—	—	—	—
7th	+5	+2	+5	+5	Sneak attack 3d6	5	4	3	1	—	—	—
8th	+6/+1	+2	+6	+6	Rogue talent	5	4	4	2	—	—	—
9th	+6/+1	+3	+6	+6	Sneak attack 4d6	5	5	4	3	—	—	—
10th	+7/+2	+3	+7	+7	Impromnitou sneak attack	5	5	4	3	1	—	—
11th	+8/+3	+3	+7	+7	Sneak attack 5d6	5	5	4	4	2	—	—
12th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+8	Rogue talent	5	5	5	4	3	—	—
13th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+8	Sneak attack 6d6	5	5	5	4	3	1	—
14th	+10/+5	+4	+9	+9	Surprise spells	5	5	5	4	4	2	—
15th	+11/+6/+1	+5	+9	+9	Sneak attack 7d6	5	5	5	5	4	3	—
16th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+10	Advanced talent	5	5	5	5	4	3	1
17th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+10	Sneak attack 8d6	5	5	5	5	4	4	2
18th	+13/+8/+3	+6	+11	+11	Invisible theif	5	5	5	5	5	4	3
19th	+14/+9/+4	+6	+11	+11	Sneak attack 9d6	5	5	5	5	5	5	4
20th	+15/+10/+5	+6	+12	+12	Advanced talent	5	5	5	5	5	5	5