Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Vesuya Nov 07, 2014 9:26:13	I've seen the excellent Eldritch Knight Archer build, which brought to mind the concept of an archer from the divine casting class.  I was thinking of doing something with a combination of Cleric (War Domain) / Fighter (Battle Master) / Monk (Open Hand), possibly Cleric 2/Monk 3/Fighter 15 as an end-goal.  The primary features and abilities seem to mesh prettty well with a Sharp Shooter feat, but I'm not sure if the build deserves a full write-up.  Any thoughts?/Improvements?  Is there a way to do more with the Cleric class?
#2 mellored Nov 07, 2014 9:27:33	You could simply be a paladin.
#3 cowleymen Nov 07, 2014 9:34:01	Paladin would be easier, and unless im mistaken, all the smite abilities and spells work with any weapon, not just melee weapon.    I really hope Arcane Archer makes it back as a perstige class, or the feat from the playtest packet comes back.
(Reply to #3) Yunru	cowleymen wrote:
#5 IxidorRS Nov 07, 2014 9:41:48	cowleymen wrote:
#6 mellored Nov 07, 2014 10:01:01	There's still plenty of spells a paladin can cast that arn't smite spells.  Like bless, heroism, aid, magic weapon, elemental weapon, crusader's mantle, ect...     We've got a bow palain in our group.  It works fine.  Though we did houserule archery style for paladins.
#7 cowleymen Nov 07, 2014 10:20:57	I dont see why smite shouldnt work with range weapons. I dont think it would break anything? im always in favor of flavor over strict RAW. So long as your not trying to take advantage of every little thing
#8 mellored Nov 07, 2014 10:24:51	cowleymen wrote:
#9 IxidorRS Nov 07, 2014 10:48:09	Looking again, I don't think War Domain looks like a bad option at all. I hate that they don't get Extra Attack, though. If you're willing to go crossbow, you can shore that issue up a little bit.   But I think I agree with the Paladin option. It would be nice to change Divine Smite out for something else, though.
#10 Coredump00 Nov 07, 2014 11:05:48	Or made Divine Smite a bonus action for Range.  Meaning you can't stack Divine Smite and spell smites (thunderous, etc)   Would still stack with Hunters Mark, but that may not be that bad.
#11 Vesuya Nov 07, 2014 11:22:02	I was trying to avoid Paladin and Ranger because I really wanted a ranged Cleric, but the ranged cleric build doesn't work very well for a number of reasons.  War Domain allows you to use Guided Strike, which seemed like good synergy with Sharp Shooter, but it seems better with Great Weapon Master.  Having some levels of Battle Master gives you some more of this Precision-Based goodness, but then I want all of the Multi-Attack action I can get.  The monk levels look like they give you some really great choices for melee range and escaping from melee.  Maybe I'd go Cleric 14 for the upgrade to Divine Strike, Fighter (Battle Master) 6 for 2 attacks and 2 ABIs.  Starting Battlemaster for Archery and Con Proficiency.  With this guy, I could attack with a heavy crossbow for 1d10+5+10+2d8 / 1d10+5, and 1d10+5 as a bonus action 5 times a day (assuming I could get his Wis and Dex to 20)  That'd require Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter, or I could do the same with just a longbow and skip the Crossbow feat.  I'd probably pick the following maneuvers: Menacing Attack, Trip Attack, and maybe Pushing Attack or Evasive Footwork (since no monk-defensiveness).  That's pretty decent damage, nothing outrageous, but a lot of combat options and great spell selection.  Still, maybe this is making both aspects of the build weaker.  I wanted to make a cleric for an all-dex party (which already had a Dex-paladin, actually), and I've been stumped as to how to make one really good in such a way.
#12 Timborama Nov 07, 2014 11:57:53	A refluffed Warlock, perhaps...? Semi-tweaked ranger (who are technically divine to begin with)?   Or a Paladin/Battle Master MC...?
#13 Vesuya Nov 07, 2014 18:19:04	The way I see it, the Paladin was never meant to be an Archer as primary.  This could be tweaked with maybe a level or so of fighter or ranger, but seems kind of weak to me since he can't use smites with ranged weapons.  I really don't like the way they've done ranger, as is.  It's too situational and gimicky - granted, it can do some things well, but I think I can do what I want with the Cleric class by dipping into fighter, or strangely, into Monk.  In fact, Cleric 14 / Monk 6 nets me some pretty great stuff.  I can do about the same damage at range as I could up close, in a pinch.  Plus I get Unarmored Defense and the monk movement speed and ki-powered bonus actions that make the class so handy up close.  The only thing I'm really missing are some ranger-specific spells, but I can use more powerful magic in exchange.  I'm not entirely sure which dip (? - 6 levels is more of a MC option than a dip, I suppose) is better Battle Master, or Monk...  Maybe I could shave a few levels off of Cleric and end up with Cleric 12/Monk 5/Fighter 3 which gives me just about everything at the cost of 1d8 dmg/turn from Divine Strike, and LV 7 Spells.
#14 Jordan175 Nov 09, 2014 2:07:18	mellored wrote:
#15 IxidorRS Nov 09, 2014 18:06:16	Jordan175 wrote:
#16 ppaladin123 Nov 11, 2014 19:17:17	How about Nature cleric 15/ranger 5....probably a better ranger than an actual straight ranger.