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Iam a level 9 sorcerer...I mostly use a longbow+1 and my spells. I have come to the point where my weapon is basically becoming void as the damage my spells do is 4x (or more) that of my bow, but my spells are limiting in the amount of times I can use them and whom they effect. Iam about to reach the level where I can choose an arcane class...I was thinking of arcane archer to help with my long bow skills and the type of arrows I can use...is this worth doing? Will it affect my sorcery in any way or should I just maybe do some weapon based feats and remain as Iam an elf socerer...

Any suggestions or ideas wil be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Well....

Will it affect my sorcery in any way

Natuarally - if you go Arcane Archer you will not get spells for the levels you do that, so you will gain less spells if going AA then Sorcerer.

Wether or not it is good - that is a subjective matter. I prefere to keep my magic casters "as pure as possible", meaning basically magic.

Also - if I personally where to make an Arcane Archer - I would have gone fighter, and taken only 1 level of Wizard.


So if I were to give advice, I'd say stick with sorcerer, and let summons/henchmen play tanks and take the brunt.

A sorceror multiclassing to an arcane archer is not a good idea, and the character will not remain playable for very long. The themes of the two classes are totally different, and will not compliment eachother.

If you want to multiclass, wait until at least level 17-18 and multiclass to a red dragon disciple.

Thanks for the input guys.... After reading this and giving it some extra thought I agree Socerer all the way

Well actually it is quite possible to make a good Arcane Archer build from 9 sorc depending on your stats. RDD is of no use as bows use DEX to hit (and there's no point in RDDing for a pure sorc except if you want wings). It also depends on what type of AA you want to play. I've seen crazy build which combines IGMS, Timestop and enchanted arrows for great effect.

I dunno, the RDD gives you;

-Tons of extra hitpoints
-Higher armor class (+4)
-+8 Str, +2 Con, +2 INT, +2 Char
-Darkvision
-Fire immunity

If you go RDD at level 20, the downside is that your spells are easier to save against than a pure sorceror, but I think your increased defense more than makes up for it.

[QUOTE=wnb]I dunno, the RDD gives you;

-Tons of extra hitpoints
-Higher armor class (+4)
-+8 Str, +2 Con, +2 INT, +2 Char
-Darkvision
-Fire immunity

If you go RDD at level 20, the downside is that your spells are easier to save against than a pure sorceror, but I think your increased defense more than makes up for it.[/QUOTE]

Yes - but this requiers that you level up more then you would by normal play.
Usually I end my games around L26-28 even after I've played through NwN and SoU and HotU.

Also - on paper it looks good, but lets break it up:
The ton of extra hitpoints is not as usefull to a sorcerer. If you are getting hit in a manner where that extra hitpoints matters, you are doing something wrong, and would likely die even with the extra hitpoints. A Sorcerer should avoid hits.

Higher AC, well - your forte is spells, not front-line class. There are a ton of spells that can make you much more difficult to hit.

Higher strengt, constitution and intelligence are all but useless for a sorcerer. (especially because intelligence dosen't give skill points retroactive).

Darkvision could be nice, but many races have this already. (And doesn't come untill L10)

Immunity to fire, paralyse, sleep are nice - but comes at L10 RDD

Wings are fluff, no pratical effect (and doesn't come untill L9)

The Fire breathing ability is not that good compared to the spells you otherwise would/should have.

In my oppinon, the RDD is good for one thing and one thing only in my oppinion. Multiclassed with a bard, for the extra Strenght and AC. Deekin makes a great Bard/RDD.
(It is also usable for multiclassing with a fighter with a level or two as bard for the extra strenght and AC bonus, but less hitpoints).

For a sorcerer - the class holds little to no usable benefits. It is a "fluff-class" (Wings)

[QUOTE=wnb]I dunno, the RDD gives you;

-Tons of extra hitpoints
-Higher armor class (+4)
-+8 Str, +2 Con, +2 INT, +2 Char
-Darkvision
-Fire immunity
[/QUOTE]

From a multiplayer point of view:
The extra HP makes very little difference (Dev. Crit, ISGM spamming etc.)
For a caster +4AC still get you hit on all but a 1. You rely on damage reduction instead (warding).
Darkvision=useless
In PvP Fire Immunity is pointless except against flame weapon and clerics (which there is a great lack of in pvp). It is not worth 10 levels.
+8 STR & +2 INT is useless.
Con is only for the +1 to save.
CHA is good though (esp. for Bards).

[QUOTE=wnb]If you go RDD at level 20, the downside is that your spells are easier to save against than a pure sorceror, but I think your increased defense more than makes up for it.[/QUOTE]

Nope. +2 CHA from RDD will give you a higher spell DC.

The main reasons that noone pick RDD:
Monks and other great SR builds/spells. SR will completely destroy you.
Pally and Monk multiclass leaves no room.

[QUOTE=Ninky]Iam a level 9 sorcerer...I mostly use a longbow+1 and my spells. I have come to the point where my weapon is basically becoming void as the damage my spells do is 4x (or more) that of my bow, but my spells are limiting in the amount of times I can use them and whom they effect. Iam about to reach the level where I can choose an arcane class...[/QUOTE]

for an elf imho your best bet is to stick w/ sorc, i usually like to use some minor multi classing so that the sorc will have aslightly different "look" or something beyond using spells in combat, allowing me to eschew the use of summons / henchmen (except for some selected use of the farie familiar) while conserving some spells and minimizing the number of rests. but that's just my play style.

i don't know much about the arcane archer, i'd prefer to add a little more hand to hand combat ability vs ranged attack, but again that may just be style of play.

[QUOTE=koz-ivan]for an elf imho your best bet is to stick w/ sorc, i usually like to use some minor multi classing so that the sorc will have aslightly different "look" or something beyond using spells in combat, allowing me to eschew the use of summons / henchmen (except for some selected use of the farie familiar) while conserving some spells and minimizing the number of rests. but that's just my play style.

i don't know much about the arcane archer, i'd prefer to add a little more hand to hand combat ability vs ranged attack, but again that may just be style of play.[/QUOTE]

For a sorc: always take a level of monk and/or some/one level(s) of Paladin.
For a pure caster: ranged > melee because generally one or two melee hits will kill you and therefore you don't want to get into melee range.

[QUOTE=Noober]For a sorc: always take a level of monk and/or some/one level(s) of Paladin.<snip>
[/QUOTE]

I disagree with this, especially in normal games, where you will not end up at level 40.
The Paladins charisma abilities are nice, but they are no where neasecary to spend a (couple) of levels on.
And the same with Monks. I fail to see the usefullness of a monk for a sorcerer in a normal game.
In a single player game - I'd stay pure sorcerer, especially if you are an elf.
Also one has to remember the XP penalties when multiclassing.

[QUOTE=Xandax]I disagree with this, especially in normal games, where you will not end up at level 40.
The Paladins charisma abilities are nice, but they are no where neasecary to spend a (couple) of levels on.
And the same with Monks. I fail to see the usefullness of a monk for a sorcerer in a normal game.
In a single player game - I'd stay pure sorcerer, especially if you are an elf.
Also one has to remember the XP penalties when multiclassing.[/QUOTE]


Theres no point in powergaming in the singleplayer campaign so you don't take pally or monk. What I meant is that online, for you to survive you will need at least a pally level, seeing as your saves will otherwise be even worse. Let me assure you that if you wish to survive a dev. crit. you will need pally. And don't forget that with Auto-Still you can wear full-plate and a tower shield whilst casting spells.

Monk is there for tumble (and optionally discipline), evasion (coupled with pally saves) and to make Owl's Wisdom useful.

Well having now reached level 12 and considering I play in a multi player enviroment with 3 others ( rogue, Fighter and druid ). I use a panthar as my familiar. I like pure magic classes and now that my spells do upward of 60+ damage, and my companions ( after re-rolling each of their Chars leaving me as the highest level in the game and thus making the mobs hard for them to deal with ) are now around levels 6-8, the need/desire for some more powerful damge from my weapon has lessoned greatly...being able to stand back and cast 2 fireballs totally wippping out 4-6 minions is cool We are still only on NWN and in chapter 2 as we restarted when the others re-rolled so my future is looking bright indeed

Thank you to all for the input it has been greatly appreciated.