Dragon: Arcane Options

I recall only one other Character Concepts article in Dragon that went through the building stages of two characters: an eladrin fey-pact warlock and a fighter-mage of sorts. I mostly liked it for the art (Michael Kormack for the win), but also because it provided some useful advice to newer players, which at the time included most of us.

Character Concepts: Arcane Options runs you down through two basic concepts: an infernal pact tiefling warlock and a slightly more classic arcane archer. Before you get either excited or unexcited, I'll clarify that there isnt an actual arcane archer class or paragon path. The author has simply taken the concept of an arcane archer and built it out of mechanics that currently exist as well as those from the FUTURE, as Arcane Power foretells it. This is one reason why I would check out this article even if you are a character connoisseur: they've interspersed a few sneak peaks at powers and what-have-you.

Anyway, the advice so for the tielfing warlock is pretty obvious. Crank Constitution, take Hellfire Blood, all the usual hoops that we are used to. Apparently Arcane Power will have some powers that a bit more useful, but thats of little use to us until the book comes out. I found the drow "arcane archer" much more interesting because it illustrates how flexible 4th Edition can be if you look past terminology.
For example, a lot of players apparently want to play a two-weapon fighter. A year ago people would have said to play a ranger and just change the damned name. This was a very viable solution to the "issue", but die-hard haters really stressed it whenever they could.

Arcane archers were a prestige class in 3rd Edition, but dont currently exist. The concept is interesting, and Matt was able to take a bard, add in some multiclassing options from the ranger, and make it work. Sure, its not an arcane archer by name, but its not a digital game where people can rollover you to see your class, level, and loot.