Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance/Vahn

Arcane Archers are known for their supernatural accuracy with a bow and the ability to imbue their arrows with magic. A fusion of skill and innate magical ability has turned him into a fearsome and respected warrior. A good character for taking down opponents from a distance, the Arcane Archer uses a number of magical powers related to his archery skills. A few examples are the ability to buff himself with improved accuracy, create fire and exploding arrows, and fire off several arrows at once.

Tips and strategies
Think of playing the role of Robin Hood. The idea here is to keep your distance, but to be able to take down multiple enemies quickly. The downside to playing this class is the need to find lots and lots of arrows and a bow capable of hitting long range targets. Aside from shooting arrows, this character is more well-rounded than the others, and is able to handle any weapon with ease.

As for upgrading your archer, increase the dexterity, constitution and charisma every four levels. An absolute must is the intestinal fortitude, and endurance and toughness will also help make up for a lack of HP and regeneration. Also with endurance, it's important as you go through the game; the payoff will be great when you are able to pick up all the items through the dungeon so when you sell it, you'll be able to get more powerful weapons and armour. Like the dwarven fighter, you could be paying a high price so charisma could ease that stress when using up the gold.

Exclusive to this character, the Arcane Quiver will give you half the weight of arrows. The shock arrows are good for adding power to the shot of the arrows. If you want your person to have a better combat experience, combat reflex and dodge would help pull you through the game by increasing the speed of attack and making it less likely to get hurt.

Characteristics

 * Strengths
 * Well-balanced stats, good HP.
 * Handles bows extremely well.
 * Great Active Feats, takes advantage of arrows.
 * Flexible battle style, good for beginners.


 * Weaknesses
 * Requires many arrows and a good bow.
 * Most Active Feats require arrows/bows along with Magic Points.
 * Not outstanding in any trait.

Statistics

 * Strength: 17
 * Intelligence: 15
 * Wisdom: 14
 * Dexterity: 11
 * Constitution: 13
 * Charisma: 11
 * Accuracy :1 (available at the start)
 * Targeting :1 (available at the start)

Passive Feats

 * Accuracy: This feat improves the accuracy of your ranged attacks, and it makes your arrows more effective when hitting an enemy.
 * Arcane Quiver: This halves the weight of arrows in your inventory. You will have more space to carry more items this way.
 * Combat Reflexes: Your attack speed is increased, allowing you to kill off your enemies more quickly.
 * Death Blow: If you get a critical hit, this feat will increase its damage. Take out your foes more effectively with this.
 * Deflect Missiles: This gives you a small chance of deflecting a missile attack without manually controlling anything.
 * Dodge: This feat adds a bonus to your armor class, making it tougher for you to get hit by enemies.
 * Enchant Arrows: This feat allows every arrow you fire to do additional magical damage if it hits a target.
 * Endurance: A character's carrying capacity is improved if you choose this Feat. You can loot more effectively with more pounds available to carry.
 * Improved Critical: Your chances of scoring critical hits in battle will be improved, causing you to frequently do double damage.
 * Intestinal Fortitude: Your Health Regeneration Rate is improved with this, so you don't have to spend your money on Health Potions.
 * Meditation: This improves your Magic Regeneration Rate, and is essential if magic is your primary offense.
 * Targeting: A targeting line appears whenever you shoot an arrow, making it much easier to aim at your target.
 * Toughness: You will gain three Health Points permanently if you choose this feat. You will be harder to kill if you have many HP.
 * Willpower: This will grant you five more Magic Points. This is permanent, and useful for magic users.

Active Feats

 * Exploding Arrows: Your arrows will explode when hitting a target, dealing frequent critical hits and major damage.
 * Flaming Arrows: This feat lends a flaming aura to your arrows. Extra damage will be done when these arrows hit a target.
 * Hail of Arrows: You will be able to shoot up to six arrows with just a single execution, thus doing up to six times as much damage.
 * Ice Arrows: Your arrows will do ice damage to opponents when cast. You also have a chance to paralyze an enemy.
 * Repulsion: A ring of force exerts from your character, driving enemies away and damaging them at the same time.
 * Shock Arrows: The ultimate arrow in any character's arsenal. Shock Arrows will do major shock damage to an opponent, effectively killing it at long range.