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Take at least 2 levels in OotBI, since you really don't want every colose combat attack you make to provoke AoOs.
Other than that, keep contingency bows, as it would really be in your enemies' interest to sunder your bow (unless you have a really lenient/inexperienced DM that never does such things).

You've got the feats for Deepwood Sniper, so I'd go that route, at least for 2 levels. It's 3.0 of course, so it's up to your DM if you can use it. Just 2 levels gives you:

+20 feet to your range increments
-10% concealment reduction. Note that this works with *any* concealment, so even total concealment only gives you a 40% miss chance.
keen arrows: you threaten a crit on a natural 19 or 20
increased critical: crits with your bow deal *quadruple* damage.

Not a bad list of stuff. You may not want to take the class much beyond level 2, although it may be tempting to stick with it until level 7 (I think), when you get another increased critical, allowing your bow to deal x5 damage on a crit.

You also almost qualify for Cragtop Archer. You'd need to grab the feat Mountain Warrior, which seems rather suboptimal to me. But if Spot checks matter in your games, you could get a lot of use out of the CA's Farsight ability, which they get at level 1. The class lets you get some great distance with your bow and it has a couple other neat abilities, but it strikes me as very specific. If your DM never lets you detect enemies beyond 30 or 60 feet, then you may as well avoid this class.

You seem to be moving toward Deepwood Sniper, so I'd go with that. The thing is, the class abilities are always working for you: they're not too specific, and they function in many situations. I'm playing an 8th-level ranger right now, and my next move will be to take 2 levels of DS for just those reasons.

Another PrC to consider might be Peerless Archer, I think from the book Silver Marches. I wouldn't recommend it for, say, a ranger, but since you're a fighter who's increasing craft (bowmaking), this might be interesting.

Hi,

I've now had a chance to look at both your comments.
Thanks for them, but I don't think either will be the route I want to take.

In effect my archer is an accurate shooter, and powerful shooter.

I think the Deepwood Sniper is likely to be the route I will go, but a lot of the benefits seem to be based around critical hits. I rarely get critical hits as my dice hate me.

Are there any other PrC's I could take that would give feats out like fighter does, with a nice BAB increase?

sir_argenon wrote:

peerless archer, from the 3.0 fr book silver marches, is the best archer prc ever printed, hands down.

you get full bab, 4d6 sneak attack, power attack, 10' threaten, the ability to craft your own +5 arrows, and lots more.

10 levels of this and you have the best archer you can make.

I'll have to look that one up.
Ny DM has agreed that Deepwood Sniper can be used, but I have no idea about this one.

I have just discovered Exotic Weapon Master in CW.
1 level of that would give me Close Quarters Ranged Combat, (which I guess is the same as 2 levels of OotBI).
A 2nd level would give ranged disarm.
Both of those would be usind d10 hit die still...

Is that a good or bad idea?

I haven't seen all the details on Peerless Archer (a google search leads me to one website that presents the class, but it seems like it's more for a computer game version than tabletop D&D), but from what I know if it, it seems like a good option for a close-range archer. If you want to be a "bowslinger" type, dodging and weaving through melee, then it's a good option. I'd guess that most encounters in D&D games occur at close range, so that's another point in its favor. I'm not sure about the crafting magic arrows bit, though.... by the time you get the class, you should already have a magic *bow*, and enhancement bonuses don't stack... but maybe someone can explain to me how it's a good option.

I agree with your assessment that Deepwood Sniper is pretty crit-dependant. I'd guess that the bonuses related to crits are a big part of the appeal of the class. At higher levels you get some other neat tricks -- extra range, extra concealment reduction, attack rerolls, true strike, safe poison use -- but the bread and butter of the PrC's damage-dealing potential seems to be crit-based. And if you're fighting undead... On the other hand, some of the Peerless Archer's tricks are rendered useless by those opponents, too.