LF Arcane Archer tips

[jchaosmaster]

Yes it's me but I got a couple new questions.

Is there a spell/skill/ability in the EE game that works like animal handling only it works on say undead or planer creatures. Something that let's me jack another mage summon. I know with animal handling I can jack Dire animals.

With animal handling is there a point the skill becomes pointless. Like it's super unlikely to even see woves and bear in most module.

How/what do I need to be decent and dual wielding. I hear archer elves are ironicly good at dual wielding but coming from caster classes I never really tried.

If I pick one class in a magic which is better Wizard or Sorcerer? As I will only be getting cantrip does it even matter?

[Vodyani "USF" Fox]

I've not used animal handling stuff so couldn't say. You should not be dual wielding, but instead focusing on your longbow as your only weapon.

For a solid build, I would recommend Lilura's Half-elven Bard / Fighter / Arcane Archer Build. A solid build from start-to-finish. https://lilura1.blogspot.com/2021/01/Neverwinter-Nights-NWN1-Best-Builds-Arcane-Archer.html

[jchaosmaster]

I used animal handling a little is hords of the under dark because that was my first time as a archer. Wizard for life Yo. But it was semi useful in NPC casters when they summon say a bear or spider and when rolled in my favor it was mine until the guy died.

[grognardgary]

The obvious problem with arcane archer is much the same as it is with monk you need to pump too many stats to be good at all the things you need to be good at Eventually you'll find enough gear to fix that shortcoming. eventually but eventually can screw things up

[jchaosmaster]

Originally posted by grognardgary:

The obvious problem with arcane archer is much the same as it is with monk you need to pump too many stats to be good at all the things you need to be good at Eventually you'll find enough gear to fix that shortcoming. eventually but eventually can screw things up

Yea that's why I normally avoid games where min max is the main strategy.


Same problem like in From soft game. They say play your way until you see the lie.

Pally is a good example. If you don't pump Str you do no damage, if you don't pump cha you deal no heal or holy, don't pump con you die in 2 hits even in full plate.

[wendigo211]

Originally posted by grognardgary:

The obvious problem with arcane archer is much the same as it is with monk you need to pump too many stats to be good at all the things you need to be good at Eventually you'll find enough gear to fix that shortcoming. eventually but eventually can screw things up

AA isn't really a MAD class, it only really needs DEX. While it requires levels in a casting class as a prerequisite, it's not a class that takes advantage of casting (In NWN, due to the implementation of Imbue Arrow). It's just an archer class in a game that doesn't really support archery. I.e. archers don't really want to be point blank with the enemy, but in NWN, since you only control your character, that's not really something you can avoid (animal companions and henchmen being rather useless). It also suffers from the finesse fighter's dilema; it needs a source of damage. It's hard to get good damage bonuses with bows and it takes a lot of levels for the Enchant Arrows bonus to become significant.

Outside of a few niche builds, there are two ways to play an AA:

1. As an archer. We've already mentioned the pitfalls, but this typically building towards AA 30 at level 40 with some Bard and Fighter levels thrown in. It's not really good until you hit level 30 or so, because it takes so long to build up the AA Enchant Arrows bonus (+Epic Weapon Spec and maybe some Bard Song damage bonuses)
   
2. As a Gish. Normally you'll do an Elf Wizard 8/Fighter 2/AA 10 at level 20 and finish as a Wizard 26/Fighter 4/AA 10 at level 40. It wants a 20 INT and the rest into DEX. It's a bit easier to play pre-epic since Flame Weapon on a melee weapon and a bunch of defensive buffs (like Improved Invisibility) help the character survive early on. But it's also a late bloomer since it delays it's casting a lot, putting off spells like Bigby's Forceful Hand to epic levels.

There are a few other things you can try like Paladin/Sorc/AA using Divine Might for a damage boost or a hit and run Bard/Shadowdancer/AA but, for levels <20, none of those are strong characters.

Not everything in NWN, or 3.x for that matter, is viable. The game gives you the freedom to make the character your want, but that's not always effective, particularly with NWN's limited number of classes and prestige classes. In PnP, the AA is not considered a good archery prestige class, but in NWN it's the only archery prestige class.

[jchaosmaster]

With a modded ini file you can control characters like henchmen and animals directly which helps. Plus getting them to sit in a doorway for me to shoot is a other strategy I used in the past. Although in that breath it's just as viable to do as a caster.

I have been learning to make legit us of the four follower commands to try to control my party around combat.

[jchaosmaster]

But yea it's not only NWN. I played lots of games where they say build your way... only time ♥♥♥♥♥ slap you in the face. Again a from soft game comes to mind.

[Something completely different]

Originally posted by jchaosmaster:

But yea it's not only NWN. I played lots of games where they say build your way... only time ♥♥♥♥♥ slap you in the face. Again a from soft game comes to mind.

Build your way does mean you can do whatever and expect the game to accommodate. If you play a fighter you have a lot of choices to make (weapons, dex or str, ranged or melee, prestige class and which one) but if you put your all ability points in wisdom, intelligence or charisma you will be a subpar fighter (in NWN) no matter what.

So yes, build your way but within the parameters of the class you pick.

[jchaosmaster]

Originally posted by Something completely different:

Originally posted by jchaosmaster:

But yea it's not only NWN. I played lots of games where they say build your way... only time ♥♥♥♥♥ slap you in the face. Again a from soft game comes to mind.

Build your way does mean you can do whatever and expect the game to accommodate. If you play a fighter you have a lot of choices to make (weapons, dex or str, ranged or melee, prestige class and which one) but if you put your all ability points in wisdom, intelligence or charisma you will be a subpar fighter (in NWN) no matter what.

So yes, build your way but within the parameters of the class you pick.

That statement really was more a over all kinda thing.

[Super Moogle]

Monk 20 / wizard 1 / arcane archer 19 is a pretty funny build if you take super high wisdom and the zen archery feat, since the monk wisdom AC bonus does not get lost when you're flat-footed. Stacking haste with monk speed allows you to run-and-gun against every enemy in the game as long as you have room to run around, and is super annoying to fight against if you play on multiplayer servers because of how hard you are to catch combined with your natural spell resistance and super high saving throws, built in poison/disease/mind immunity, and 50% concealment bonus from empty body.

[grognardgary]

Mostly what I play in all these games is a fighter/rogue Usually heavier on fighter but not by much mostly I just plug in a rogue level when ever I wouldn't normally get a fighter feat, Though I always start Out rogue hate giving up all those skill points