Talk:Arcane Archer (5e Class)

Review

Hello, fellow wikian! An arcane archer is an awesome concept for everyone, apparently. I know that the class is still under progress, but here are some comments I'd like to share:

• Fighting Style. I'll going to make a lot of ranger reference here, because from what I see there are many aspects that overlap between the two. I'm not against the 1st-level fighting style, but I fail to see why would an arcane archer go for the Dueling fighting style, because, you know, it's arcane archer.

• Spellcasting. So this grabbed my attention in general. In a nutshell: Which is it, Spells Known or Spells Prepared? I'd like to keep either of the two, because the two doesn't really mix. If you go for preparing spells from a list, you give the entire arcane archer spell list and let them choose and prepare from there; if you go for spells known, you just specify how many spells an arcane archer know; if you, by any chances, go for wizard's method, you give them a spellbook.

"All ranged attack spells can be cast through your ranged weapon." Makes sense, yes, but maybe you can just say "You can use your ranged weapons as a spellcasting focus" or something. Plus, this does not exactly make you eschew materials like it used to do in 3.5rd editions.

• Arcane Arrow. First of all: Force damage is the single most powerful damage type in the game, since not many features give resistance or immunity to it. This just my personal opinion, Ithink force damage must be either reserved for high-level features or degraded to the minimum stats as possible. Secondly, I thought just a simple dice bonus would do, and the +1 damage is kinda out of place. Other than that, I think this is pretty well executed!

• Imbuement. You might want to consult the Artificer from Unearthed Arcana for more precise wordings.

• Aura of Foresight. A decent supporting aura, basically the paladin's Aura of Courage but with Intelligence. Not bad, I suppose.

• Redisual Arcana. There is no "shell", maybe you're referring to the "sphere". Plus, you have advantage on what when casting spells? Attack rolls? Saving throws? Note that you seldom make ability checks or saving throws for your own spells.

• Arcane Sight. A good feature, really, but since true seeing already have a casting time of 1 action, that part where you specify which action you use might a bit redundant. Oh, and maybe you don't need material components for the spells cast this way, perhaps?

• Spell List. A decent list of spells, but maybe a bit too decent for a half-level spellcaster. Plus, you don't exactly need to rename all the spells, if they just follow the same mechanisms as normal.

Now this is entirely a personal opinion, but half-level spellcasters seldom gain access to cantrips. The purpose of cantrips is to give a full-level spellcasters a mean to defend themselves or make useful of themselves when ran out of spell slots. Since arcane archers already have bows and arrows, which is more than enough to protect themselves, I guess cantrips are a bit overdoing it.

• Suggestions. I'd like to recommend the Arcane Archer archetype from Unearthed Arcana for a reference. Yes, it's a fighter archetype, it's not even a proper spellcaster, and it's not even useful enough (two arrows per short rest? Seriously?), but the Arcane Arrow options are wonderful enough.

Plus, you might want some archetypes for the arcane archer. This is just my idea, but maybe you can shift all the supporting features can be separated into an entire archetype, and a pure-combat features can make another. This is just a suggestion, you don't exactly need to follow it, but I'm sure it would be worth considering.

Well, that's it for now. In short: Nice concept, wonderfully executed so far, but maybe some parts could be improved. I can't wait to see this awesome class be completed, I'm counting on your works! Oh, and I must have been nitpicking, my apologies for that. --WeirdoWhoever (talk) 02:06, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Cantrips

Ummm, there are Cantrips listed in the Spell List, but there is nothing about how many cantrips you get. Or is it meant as "You know all these Cantrips."? --141.55.116.133 01:55, 29 May 2018 (MDT)

Bumping this issue. Can anyone clarify or can the cantrips be removed? ~ BigShotFancyMan 11:16, 8 May 2019 (MDT)

The cantrips part likely should be removed as the class wasn't meant to learn them.--Blobby383b (talk) 14:21, 13 August 2019 (MDT)

Checking Things Out

I looked through WW review, and the query about cantrips and reviewing the class as well I don't find many issues with class. I think this is more akin to an arcane archer than the fighter subclass. I like the fighting style, invocations are a neat warlock application for this class, subclasses aren't crazy over the top either. kudos!   ~BigShotFancyMan   talk   21:26, 3 September 2019 (MDT)

Thanks bigshot! For a while now I have liked where the class is as everything just seems to fit together really well. Some things are a bit simple, but the class does has a ton of options that allow you to custom fit what you think an arcane archer should have.--Blobby383b (talk) 11:34, 6 September 2019 (MDT)

Ranger Class Variant

I think this class is a class variant of the ranger class. I don't have the access to add this category however. Arquebus (talk) 15:48, 22 November 2020 (MST)