Some of the stuff is better then some other parts. yet overall, a good buy.

[Note: This review is for the 3.0 edition, not the 3.5 revision.]

Appearances - Three files came in the zip. Two of those files are the main 50 pages of the book, one with color and one without. The third file is the front and back cover in full color. This should be the standard for PDF publishing. However, this product does one thing that I dread becoming commonplace. Landscaped layout. I loathe it and if I had been paying enough attention to notice that I was warned of this before I bought it, then I would have skipped right over it. I despise anything that is meant to be read being landscaped, but I was warned and thus I'm not going to count it against the book in this review beyond griping about it here. I do admit that it makes for better reading on a monitor...but anything I'm going to read in depth or use at my gaming table is going to be printed, hole-punched, and put in a binder.

Anyway, not that I am done with that, I will go on to say that the interior art in this product is top notch. A lot of d20 publishers seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to artwork, especially for PDFs, but that's not the case at all here.

Content -

Introduction: Not so much an introduction to the book as it is an introduction to the history of archery. History is not a strong point of mine, so I don't know if what's said here is accurate, but it's certainly more interesting and informative that most the introductions of most books.

Chapter 1 - Core Classes: Here we get the Archer and the Archer-Ranger core classes. Conceptually reasonable enough. I would allow well designed core classes along those lines in my games. The question here, however, is are the classes presented in this book well designed enough to make the cut? Well, the Archer is pretty formidable at range, what with all of its class abilities being centered on archery like Extra Shot and Pinpoint Accuracy, and could end up being the top dog of an open battlefield...at least for the first few rounds before the enemy closes the distance. Of course, that's the point of taking this class and the Archer doesn't have a lot going for it outside of its specialty. The Archer might dominate a certain type of battle, but can only be considered unbalanced if that type of battle is unusually common. So yes, I would allow it in my games.

The Archer-Ranger, however, I don't think I would. A crude summary is that it's a way to multi-class the Archer and the Ranger without losing the Ranger's spell progression. Spells and a few wilderness related abilities and class skills swapped in to replace some sacrificed Archer abilities are really all there is to differentiate the two classes. Balance isn't the problem here. It's concept. The differences at low levels are very minor and by the time there's much difference an Archer with wilderness oriented prestige class is likely to end up on the better end of the stick. The only way I could see myself embracing this class is if I didn't use the Archer or the Ranger. Still, as Ranger variants go...this one is pretty good if you consider archery as an integral part of being a Ranger.

Chapter 2 - Archer Character Backgrounds and Class Paths: This chapter is pretty basic in that it presents some character backgrounds which give advantages and disadvantages, and some examples of multi-classing possibilities. The character backgrounds are pretty uninteresting and are really just ways to twink a character that extra little bit since they're mostly minor sacrifices for modest rewards. The class paths are at least interesting, but don't really add much in terms of real gaming value. They are well described, but not particularly original or inspiring.

Chapter 3 - The Prestige Archer: There of course had to be some prestige classes geared towards archers in here. Unlike some people who would say that while rolling their eyes as if it were some kind of annoyance that a product would make use of a valuable aspect of the d20 system, I will always appreciate well designed, conceptually interesting (or at least reasonable) prestige classes. It's not the fault of the concept that so many products just don't get prestige classes and thus frequently include horrid mockeries that are either exceedingly generic or mechanically flawed to a digusting degree. Anyway, before I go off on a rant on that subject I'll get back on course by getting to the classes themselves.

Bloodhunter: This assassin type is made interesting by his Crimson Ties class ability and exceptionally potent by Sneak Attack damage that can be done at astonishing range (up to 90 feet at 5th level). This class would have been better served being fleshed out to a full ten levels instead of five so that he'd be making those 90' Sneak Attacks at a more reasonable level. At least the requirements for entry are appropriately stiff, but I think this decent class is denied greatness by the apparent necessity of some designers to give potent class abilities at every level.

Bone Archer: These archers make enchanted arrows that do all sorts of neat things out of bones. This 10 level class has flavor, reasonable requirements, and is well-balanced. Definitely my favorite prestige class in this product.

Divine Huntsman: Divine spellcasters devoted to a deity whose portfolio includes hunting. At the expense of some spellcasting progression, the this class gets what essentially amounts to a lot of bonus feats stretched out across 10 levels and the ability to greatly reduce penalties for shooting an opponent who is behind cover. Not terribly inspiring, but otherwise a pretty well made class.

Elven Treehunter: This 5-level class is one of those prestige classes which plays to a racial archetype. Its perks are divided between abilities that improve movement through trees incredibly and modest archery-related combat abilities. It probably could have been made much more interesting if fleshed out to a full 10 levels, but as it is I find little flaw in it.

Master of Intuitive Archery: A ten-level archer monk class. Somewhat bland and just a little too good at what they do. Especially at 10th level. Unless I'm reading something very wrong, someone who gets that far gets a +20 insight bonus on one attack per round with their bow, on top of the +4 enchantment bonus to attack and damage they get from Ki Shot ability, subtracting -4 from any cover bonuses, with unlimited uses per day. We won't even go into the further bonuses to attack and damage from using Pinpoint Accuracy and Penetrating Shot and constitution damage done by Soul Strike.

Military Archer: yaaawwwwn We finally get to a class that is truly generic. Nothing interesting here. Except for the mystery of the missing Extreme Range ability. What's sad is this class gets 10 levels while the Bloodhunter and Elven Treehunter only get 5.

Siege Artillerist: Zzzzzzzz... Another generic prestige class, though at least this one does fill something of a gap. However, it suffers from editting that can't make up its mind what the name of the class is and leaves out class abilities.

Sniper: Another generic 5-level prestige class. I'm sure someone will use it...but in my opinion it is both boring and horribly unbalanced by sneak attack damage out to five range increments.

Legendary Sharpshooer: The only thing special about this 5-level prestige class is that it is a "legendary class" which basically means it is a prestige class with requirements that keep it out of reach until a level much higher than a standard prestige class. Fair enough. Aside from the ability score bonuses, however, this class doesn't really get much to warrant its legendary status. The Sniper prestige class is a more powerful

Overall, this chapter starts strong then fizzles into dullness.

Chapter 4 - Astounding Feats and Precise Skill: Here we get a new perform subskill, trickshooting, and 27 new feats. That's a pretty impressive number of feats for such a narrow focus, and surprisingly enough most of them are good. I'd allow just about any of them into my game, though I'll probably rename Overpenetrate (an archer's version of Cleave) to reduce the rolls of laughter sure to ensue from my group.

Chapter 5 - The Well Equipped Archer: Here we get a pretty nice batch of archery related equipment and weapons, including spiffy types of arrows like the whistling arrow, nifty contraptions like the dwarven axebow, and accessories like the stabilizer. All in all good stuff.

Chapter 6 - Bows & Arrows of Magic and Legend: While the previous chapter dealt with mundane equipment, this chapter gets into the fun stuff...magic weapons (and some other magical odds and ends). Well, not as fun as you might imagine. Nothing really grabbed me out of this batch. Nothing made me feel anxious to put it in the hands of an NPC.

Chapter 7 - Spells and Magicks: Five new spells. Not bad, not great, but they only take up one page anyway. Just a decent little touch of spice.

Appendix - Specific Shooting: This single page of rules for targeting specifit areas of the body is quite handy. While not perfect, these rules serve this function better than any d20 rules I've seen yet.

In Conclusion: If I force myself to forgive the landscaped format, I can say that this supplement is worth having. The Archer core class, some of the prestige classes, the feats, the equipment, and the specific shooting all add up to quite a bit of material that I'll end up using. If they had made the archer-ranger more distinguished, put more imagination into the prestige classes, and hadn't made the magic items so dull I would be tempted to give this product a 5-star rating. As it is, I'm rounding up the 3.9 stars I wish I could give it and calling it a 4-star effort. If I had to do over again, however, I still wouldn't buy it based on its landscaped formatting.

Did I mention I hate the landscaped formatting?

I hate it. A lot. Seriously.

Great love the horizontal layout which works really well for on screen reference, two copys print and screen to save on ink. Really good classes does exactly what it says on the tin.

Good book that outlined a new and exciting class for any world.

Really great book that gets kind of torpedoed by the 3.5 edition rules. Would like to see an updated version of it that is 3.5 compliant.

Loved it -- a must have for all you bow slingers out there. Well balanced. The Printer-Friendly edition is a great addition. Very well written and laid out.

I like to play archers, and I really like this book! I am going to add the Archer class to the available core classes in my campaigns.

There is one addition that is also interesting; you can choose a background, and gain special benefits and disadvantages for doing so. It is reminiscent of the old "kits" from second edition, but that was what I liked about them.

Whether you're a player looking for more options, or a GM looking for more variety and inspiration, you'll find much in this book that is useful. And if that isn't enough, it is well presented, well-organized, and well thought-out. Easily worth the cost.

Normally, I don't even LIKE archers. I usually recommend my players all have some sort of missile weapon, but with the penalties for firing into melee, and the loss of AoOs, and the whatnot, it's never seemed useful for any PC worth their pants to focus too heartily on pointy-shooting. However, this book did much to change that opinion, to the point where I'm actually almost afraid of archers now. From modding the ranger class to a more palatable, hunting-style class, to adding character concepts, to the feats and new weapons, this book has everything you need to make archer an exciting and crucial component of any campaign. But what I like most is the magical weapons, because the idea of providing a detailed description and history for weapons that may be nothing more than a flaming burst longbow helps draw a campaign away from 3e's magic-store quality, back to when having that +1 bow and a quiver of arrows actually meant something. Dangit.

Excellent says it in a single word.

More words would describe the neat feats of archery, the interesting prestige classes, and fighter variants which I really liked. Now I bought is as I really have always like archers, and wanted to add someting to my elves and this is that and a lot more. It was well worth the cost and I am very pleased with it. I had an oppurtunity to print it out and show it to another GM I play with and he wants to use some of it as well. I know I'll get my money's worth from this.

Nothing really bad to say about it. It was well rounded, touched on several topics, like bows, and arrows, interesting feats, some magic as well. For me I could live with out the art, but it didn't take anything away and the pages were full of information. Great product.