Is an archer gish even feasibly possible and if so any ideas?

[Masakan]

^Hate making 2 posts back to back.

[Solo]

Option 1: Arcane Archer with the traditional wizard base.
Option 2: Arcane Archer with Duskblade base.
Option 3: Warlock with Eldritch Spear, Glaive, and Chain.
Option 4: Bard!
Option 5: Sorcerer with Smiting Spell and/or spells like Moonbow?
Option 6: Truenamer. There, I said it. Bite me.

[Masakan]

first 2 require that i go elf or half elf and I already have a half elf character....so unless i can get away with playing a drow and NOT having everyone want me dead..thats kinda of a blow out

not quite sold on warlock..

look above for the bard suggestion

and not quite sold on sorcerer.

[Amechra]

If you don't mind divine spellcasting...

Cleric Archer.

[Solo]

and not quite sold on sorcerer.

Let's try!

I'm going to toss some ideas out, see what sticks.

Paladin 4/Sorcerer 2/Abjurant Champion 5/ Eldritch Knight 9

Feats:
1: Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot
3: Law Devotion
6: Combat Casting
9: Divine Might
11: Woodland Archer (Eldritch Knight)
12: Smiting Spell
15: Arcane Strike
18: Ocular Spell

Spells:
Nerveskitter
Wings of Cover
Wraithstrike
Seeking Ray
Cloud of Knives
Haste
Vampiric Touch
Enervation
Ruin Delver's Fortune
Moonbow

[hightechartist]

All these replies assume 3.5. If you are playing Pathfinder, it should be noted that magus has two arcane archer archetypes that both work fairly well, from what I hear.

In the past I've built an archer gish that had 16 BAB and could cast up to 9th level wizard spells, but the problem was for the most part at the highest levels my best option was to typically just cast like a wizard. (Honestly, if you gave a wizard full BAB and the same bonus combat feats as a fighter it would probably still be completely irrelevant power-wise by level 8.)

[Risada]

You could go Ranger (or Archivist) and focus on the Hunter's Mercy spell. Guaranteed crit if it hits? Good enough for a 1st level spell. Another option for a similar effect is Surge of Fortune spell, from Complete Champion (although it is a 5th level spell).

If you can somehow get the prereq feats ( Far Shot, Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus) for it, Deepwood Sniper 2 is a nice dip. Get that bow's critical multiplier up to x4. A dip in Cloistered Cleric can get you Weapon Focus and Knowledge Devotion.

Let's see what I can get.

Human Cloistered Cleric 1 (War, Knowledge, XXX)/ Archivist 17/Deepwood Sniper 2

1: Knowledge Devotion (Swap with Knowledge Domain), Weapon Focus (bow) (War Domain), Point Blank Shot, Far Shot
3:
6:
9:
12:
15:
18:

Choose one metamagic feat between Quicken or Persistent, pick Divine Metamagic for said feat, get as many turn attempts as you can and go to town. Divine Power will allow you to get that BAB high enough so your arrows matter. Practiced Spellcaster is another option.

Your other domain could be Law or Travel (for their respective devotion feats) or something else, if you prefer.

[Rags]

The ranger's spell list does have a lot of cool archery spells, check the Spell Compendium and Champions of Ruin. Risada's build could take advantage of that more so than any ranger.

[Amechra]

If you want Ranger spells and don't want to go full casting or use Prestige Ranger (which always feels kinda dirty for me), there's always a level dip in Consecrated Harrier for a faster spell progression.

[DavidWL]

Given that it's me ... I'd recommend a Chameleon .  Very respectable casting for a gish, and let's you have lots of free levels to play with to tailor the build.

Here's an archer build, using Swiftblade to progress Chameleon, that focuses on archery ... I'm sure you could tweak to make it better.  Reorder to make it a better progression:
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1581.msg14986#msg14986

Feat Rogue 2/Cobra Strike Monk 2/Human Paragon 1/Chameleon 2/Swiftblade 9/Human Paragon +2/ Fighter 2

Best,
David

[Keldar]

Chameleon explicitly can't meet the casting prerequisites for a PrC.  But it is indeed an awesome class.

Best archery gish is Shooting Star Mystic Ranger.  Cherry picks all the best archery spells, with full BAB and CL.  There's even a handbook for it.

[DavidWL]

Chameleon explicitly can't meet the casting prerequisites for a PrC.  But it is indeed an awesome class.

Best archery gish is Shooting Star Mystic Ranger.  Cherry picks all the best archery spells, with full BAB and CL.  There's even a handbook for it.

As I say in the original post.  Perhaps Planar touchstone (time) or trapsmith instead then. 

Best,
David

[Nifft]

Barbarian 1 -- Great starting HP, longbow proficiency, and you out-pace most early foes, and if someone catches up to you they're in for a face full of angry stabbing

Bard 4 -- Sing, move, and shoot. Also buff.

Then, put in more Bard levels, or go for a PrC or two, like Chameleon 10 / Abjurant Champion 5 (qualify via Bard casting)