Not certain in case it is in reality any better, yet I took a shot at reviewing an elective rendition of Arcane Archer stuff while pretty much keeping the base pack something very similar. The thought is somewhere close to the mechanics of a battlemaster contender and a four components priest, in that it gets a pool of dice to fuel their enchantment bolts and that a larger part of the choices imitate the impacts of prior spells that appeared to be proper. I likewise played with having the dice have unique approaches to adjust those spells that was not quite the same as basically "upcasting" them. Tell me what you think.
I've always thought it's a bit odd that people say 2 shots per short rest is too little considering that's the exact same number of spell slots a Warlock gets from levels 2 to 10 (and arcane shots don't take up your whole action like casting a spell does.)
I imagine they're comparing it to the battlemaster, not the warlock.
This. It gets compared more directly against battlemaster.
BM also gets the benefit of its saving throws scaling from dex or str, while battlemaster uses INT.
Not certain in case it is in reality any better, yet I took a shot at reviewing an elective rendition of Arcane Archer stuff while pretty much keeping the base pack something very similar. The thought is somewhere close to the mechanics of a battlemaster contender and a four components priest, in that it gets a pool of dice to fuel their enchantment bolts and that a larger part of the choices imitate the impacts of prior spells that appeared to be proper. I likewise played with having the dice have unique approaches to adjust those spells that was not quite the same as basically "upcasting" them. Tell me what you think.
I think what an Arcane Archer should be is a 1/3 caster whose spells are delivered with their bow instead of standard delivery. The wording on that would be tricky to get right, but I'll do my best:
When you hit with a ranged weapon attack with a ranged weapon, as a bonus action you can cast a spell that normally has a casting time of 1 action or 1 bonus action, targeting either the same target you just hit with the attack or a point in space within 1 foot of it. The spell must not have a range of Self, and for this cast has its Range increased as much as necessary to reach the target.
Then you let the class choose spells from the wizard list, but it can only choose spells that don't have a range of Self and don't have costly M components; it can't use normal M components and must instead use a ranged weapon as an arcane focus.
Just an FYI for those than plan on playing past 6th level and still want to consider modifying AA:
Curving Arrow is one of the most powerful ranged class features in the game. If you combine with Sharpshooter (you should always be trying to make it harder to hit so you get that extra attack), it’s downright lethal. At the highest levels, this basically equates into 1 extra hit per round on average. Consider, if a typical Fighter hits on average 2.2 out of 4 attacks, the AA Fighter will hit 3.2 out of 4. It’s practically a 33%+ damage boost.
While you might not think much of it, or consider the Arcane Shot to be the real meat of this class, it’s not. So if you play at higher levels and have modified Arcane Shots to be more powerful, you may be biting off more than you expected.
Feats I would recommend to make the class more interesting (i.e allow you more action economy):
1) Shadow-Touched/Fey Touched - added spells and they coordinate well to max out Int
2) Piercer - now your shots get even more lethality, and you get a reroll now and then for damage.
Just an FYI for those than plan on playing past 6th level and still want to consider modifying AA:
Curving Arrow is one of the most powerful ranged class features in the game. If you combine with Sharpshooter (you should always be trying to make it harder to hit so you get that extra attack), it’s downright lethal. At the highest levels, this basically equates into 1 extra hit per round on average. Consider, if a typical Fighter hits on average 2.2 out of 4 attacks, the AA Fighter will hit 3.2 out of 4. It’s practically a 33%+ damage boost.
While you might not think much of it, or consider the Arcane Shot to be the real meat of this class, it’s not. So if you play at higher levels and have modified Arcane Shots to be more powerful, you may be biting off more than you expected.
Feats I would recommend to make the class more interesting (i.e allow you more action economy):
1) Shadow-Touched/Fey Touched - added spells and they coordinate well to max out Int
2) Piercer - now your shots get even more lethality, and you get a reroll now and then for damage.
Technically, going from 2.2–>3.2 is closer to a 50% increase. It always starts with the base number, 2.2, and gets compared to that 3.2 actually 3.19 @.550 hitting average, so it comes out as a neat 45% increase. (With a .600 average, those numbers are 2.4 and 3.36 after Curving Shot for a 40% increase on the nose.)
I've always thought it's a bit odd that people say 2 shots per short rest is too little considering that's the exact same number of spell slots a Warlock gets from levels 2 to 10 (and arcane shots don't take up your whole action like casting a spell does.)
That's because Arcane Shot is pretty much the only ability that Arcane Archers have beyond regular fighter stuff, while warlocks also have cantrips, invocations that can potentially provide additional spells without use of spell slots, and their subclass abilities to expand on what they can do each round.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I've always thought it's a bit odd that people say 2 shots per short rest is too little considering that's the exact same number of spell slots a Warlock gets from levels 2 to 10 (and arcane shots don't take up your whole action like casting a spell does.)
That's because Arcane Shot is pretty much the only ability that Arcane Archers have beyond regular fighter stuff, while warlocks also have cantrips, invocations that can potentially provide additional spells without use of spell slots, and their subclass abilities to expand on what they can do each round.
Not to mention, Warlock spells become gradually more powerful as they level up, even if you are using a spell you picked up at 1st level. Arcane Shots sit at one power level for 98% of the game and then gets a single power boost at 18th level.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
And several warlock spells are concentration, lasting an entire combat or even across multiple combats. If every single warlock spell was just an instantaneous effect I think you'd see a whole lot more dissatisfaction with pact magic.
I think people would complain even if Battlemaster didn't exist. As Brewsky says, Arcane Shot is not actually the primary feature of the subclass, but it's the one that people sign up for. They want to shoot magic arrows that do spell effects. And then when it turns out that 80-90% of the time they are just shooting regular arrows and they are very restricted on which magic arrows they do have, it feels flat. Not as advertised.
BM also gets the benefit of its saving throws scaling from dex or str, while battlemaster uses INT.
Sure. But on the other hand almost everything a Battle Master does is single-target and hinges on hitting. Meanwhile Bursting Arrow deals 2d6 force damage in a good-sized area with no save, and Piercing Arrow effectively lets you apply the damage of one of your attacks (and then some) to as many enemies as you can line up, bypassing the AC of heavily-armored targets, and still getting half on a "miss." That's a pretty good deal for having to spread out your stats a bit thinner on a class that gets extra ASIs anyways.
That's because Arcane Shot is pretty much the only ability that Arcane Archers have beyond regular fighter stuff, while warlocks also have cantrips, invocations that can potentially provide additional spells without use of spell slots, and their subclass abilities to expand on what they can do each round.
In theory. In practice I think you're overstating the variety on the Warlock side considering they're mainly going to be spamming Eldritch Blast and picking Eldritch Blast-enhancing invocations, and I also think you're being a bit unfair to the Arcane Archer subclass. It does actually give you things to play with, unlike Champion, which people still defend despite objectively doing almost nothing for you.
That's because Arcane Shot is pretty much the only ability that Arcane Archers have beyond regular fighter stuff, while warlocks also have cantrips, invocations that can potentially provide additional spells without use of spell slots, and their subclass abilities to expand on what they can do each round.
In theory. In practice I think you're overstating the variety on the Warlock side considering they're mainly going to be spamming Eldritch Blast and picking Eldritch Blast-enhancing invocations, and I also think you're being a bit unfair to the Arcane Archer subclass. It does actually give you things to play with, unlike Champion, which people still defend despite objectively doing almost nothing for you.
I disagree. While Eldritch Blast + Eldritch Blast Invocations may be a popular and "meta" choice, the truth is that between cantrips and invocation options Warlocks have dozens of options which can be used to enhance different aspects of their kit (supplementing spellcasting, improving pact options, or granting completely unique abilities). Suggesting that there arent more options simply because people tend to pick one or two things more than the others dismisses the actual amount of variety available.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I could argue the exact same thing for the base Fighter package. It's not like they don't have any toys to play with when they're not employing Arcane Shots. Again, people will go to bat for the Champion, a subclass which does absolutely nothing early game besides a 5% increase in your average damage and making you slightly less bad at STR and DEX skills you chose to not be good at. So I can't help but feel there's a double standard here against the Arcane Archer.
I could argue the exact same thing for the base Fighter package. It's not like they don't have any toys to play with when they're not employing Arcane Shots. Again, people will go to bat for the Champion, a subclass which does absolutely nothing early game besides a 5% increase in your average damage and making you slightly less bad at STR and DEX skills you chose to not be good at. So I can't help but feel there's a double standard here against the Arcane Archer.
Except I never said that Fighters have nothing to play with outside of their arcane shots. At the end of the day, though, there is a huge difference between the base kit of the fighter class and warlock class, and they are not equal in the number of things the player gets to "play with" outside of what is provided by subclass features.
You are the one that brought up the warlock comparison, and myself and others do not see that as an accurate comparison due to the fundamental differences between Pact Slots and Arcane Shot Options (with the only similarity being the number of uses per short rest). Everything else (variety of uses, strength, application, action/bonus action/free action application) is vastly different.
There is no double standard. Your comparison just does not hold up.
I'm not saying they're perfectly analogous, obviously. I'm saying "I only get to do the big cool thing twice per short rest" is seen as an acceptable design decision in one and not in the other, and sure enough you're looking for justifications why it works in the Warlock case.
Yes, I know Warlocks have invocations outside of Eldritch Blast spam. They're mostly either Pact Weapon gimmicks so you have at least one other viable alternative to eldritch blast spam, or utility/exploration/RP powers (which aren't the Fighter's niche), or once-a-day tricks that nobody seems to like.
Slot Levels are a wash since Arcane Shots work on top of your Attack action, they don't replace it. When a Warlock decides to burn a spell slot, they're giving up the opportunity to cast Eldritch Blast, so their slots obviously have to keep improving to make that trade worth it. An Arcane Archer doesn't give up their Attack action when they choose to use an arcane shot.
The two warlock spell slots thing is also a bit if a mismatch because...warlocks don't cap at two spell slots. Not every game makes it to 11th level but warlocks DO get more than two pact slots.
I'm not saying they're perfectly analogous, obviously. I'm saying "I only get to do the big cool thing twice per short rest" is seen as an acceptable design decision in one and not in the other, and sure enough you're looking for justifications why it works in the Warlock case.
Yes, I know Warlocks have invocations outside of Eldritch Blast spam. They're mostly either Pact Weapon gimmicks so you have at least one other viable alternative to eldritch blast spam, or utility/exploration/RP powers (which aren't the Fighter's niche), or once-a-day tricks that nobody seems to like.
Slot Levels are a wash since Arcane Shots work on top of your Attack action, they don't replace it. When a Warlock decides to burn a spell slot, they're giving up the opportunity to cast Eldritch Blast, so their slots obviously have to keep improving to make that trade worth it. An Arcane Archer doesn't give up their Attack action when they choose to use an arcane shot.
I have no problem with the limit of 2 for either feature, but the Warlock Spellcasting at level 10 has 10 spells in their toolbox which means that it has a lot of utility. Arcane Archer at level 10 only has 4 options so a lot fewer tools. When a Warlock uses a Spell Slot it has a significant impact on the encounter. When Arcane Archer uses Arcane Shot, no one cares as it has the exact same impact it did at level 3 as it does at level 10 and is only useful in combat encounters so once again far less utility. The number of uses are the same, but the effect they have on the character's utility are completely different.
I'm not saying they're perfectly analogous, obviously. I'm saying "I only get to do the big cool thing twice per short rest" is seen as an acceptable design decision in one and not in the other, and sure enough you're looking for justifications why it works in the Warlock case.
Yes, I know Warlocks have invocations outside of Eldritch Blast spam. They're mostly either Pact Weapon gimmicks so you have at least one other viable alternative to eldritch blast spam, or utility/exploration/RP powers (which aren't the Fighter's niche), or once-a-day tricks that nobody seems to like.
Slot Levels are a wash since Arcane Shots work on top of your Attack action, they don't replace it. When a Warlock decides to burn a spell slot, they're giving up the opportunity to cast Eldritch Blast, so their slots obviously have to keep improving to make that trade worth it. An Arcane Archer doesn't give up their Attack action when they choose to use an arcane shot.
Lets take a look at our options here:
Warlock with no spell slots remaining: Can use 2-4 different cantrips with varying effects, can make a weapon attack (or two depending on pact/invocation), can use any unique subclass abilities that are not dependent on spell slots, 1/rest use of Mystic Arcanum spells at higher enough level, and can use/benefit from 2-8 of the following invocations (here I am excluding any which work off of eldritch blast / pact of the blade or require a spell slot to use):
Armor of Shadows (free use) , Ascendant Step (free use), Aspect of the Moon (passive buff), Beast speech (free use), Beguiling Influence (passive buff), Bond of the Talisman (prof/long rest), Book of Ancient Secrets (passive buff), Chains of Carceri (1/rest/creature), Cloak of Flies (1/rest), Devil's Sight (passive buff), Eldritch Mind (passive buff), Eldritch Sight (free use), Eyes of the Rune Keeper (passive buff), Far Scribe (free use), Fiendish Vigor (free use), Gaze of Two Minds (free use), Ghostly Gaze (1/rest), Gift of the Depths (passive buff w 1/long rest improvement), Gift of the Ever-Living One (passive buff), Gift of the Protectors (1/rest/creature), Investment of the Chain Master (passive buff), Maddening Hex (free use), Mask of Many Faces (free use), Mask of Myriad Forms (free use), Misty Visions (free use), One with Shadows (free use), Otherwordly Leap (free use), Protection of the Talisman (prof/long rest), Rebuke of the Talisman (free use), Relentless Hex (free use), Shroud of Shadow (free use), Tomb of Levistus (free use), Trickster's Escape (1/long rest), Undying Servitude (1/long rest), Visions of Distant Realms (free use), Voice of the Chain Master (passive buff), Whispers of the Grave (free use), Witch Sight (passive buff)
Blue = Warlock can use/benefit from as much as they want after running out of spell slots / Orange = Warlock can use a limited number of times
Arcane Archers with no arcane shots remaining: Can use/benefit from 1-2 fighting styles (all passive buffs of some sort), Action Surge (1/rest), Indomitable (1-3/per rest), 3 extra ASI/feats (passive buffs/limited use abilities), use prestidigitation (free use), reroll attack as a bonus action (1/turn if another target is within range).
The sheer number of passive buffs / free use abilities that the Warlock has available from invocations alone gives it more to play with than a fighter and thats before even considering subclass abilities available to the warlock.
Secondly, if we are going to talk about Arcane Shots applying on a hit then wouldnt the more apt comparison be to Paladins instead of Warlocks? Assuming a paladin only uses its spell slots for Divine Smite or Smite Spells, it can perform one of these smites 2 - 15 times per long rest (in this case, they have less uses than an Arcane Archer starting out but their number of uses increase as they level up to where eventually an arcane archer would need 6 short rests / day to keep up with the number of on-hit applications of their feature that they get. What is more is that as the Paladin levels up its smites get gradually more powerful, both by getting bigger spell slots and by getting passive increases from class abilities. The arcane archer only gets a single power buff at 18th level.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I'm not saying they're perfectly analogous, obviously. I'm saying "I only get to do the big cool thing twice per short rest" is seen as an acceptable design decision in one and not in the other, and sure enough you're looking for justifications why it works in the Warlock case.
Yes, I know Warlocks have invocations outside of Eldritch Blast spam. They're mostly either Pact Weapon gimmicks so you have at least one other viable alternative to eldritch blast spam, or utility/exploration/RP powers (which aren't the Fighter's niche), or once-a-day tricks that nobody seems to like.
Slot Levels are a wash since Arcane Shots work on top of your Attack action, they don't replace it. When a Warlock decides to burn a spell slot, they're giving up the opportunity to cast Eldritch Blast, so their slots obviously have to keep improving to make that trade worth it. An Arcane Archer doesn't give up their Attack action when they choose to use an arcane shot.
I have no problem with the limit of 2 for either feature, but the Warlock Spellcasting at level 10 has 10 spells in their toolbox which means that it has a lot of utility. Arcane Archer at level 10 only has 4 options so a lot fewer tools. When a Warlock uses a Spell Slot it has a significant impact on the encounter. When Arcane Archer uses Arcane Shot, no one cares as it has the exact same impact it did at level 3 as it does at level 10 and is only useful in combat encounters so once again far less utility. The number of uses are the same, but the effect they have on the character's utility are completely different.
That also raises the point that alot of Warlock spells will be AoE and affect more than one creature. Most of the Arcane Shot options will only affect one creature at a time.
As I stated in my other comment above, if we are talking single-target abilities that affect a creature on a hit (thus great for saving for a crit), I feel like comparing the Arcane Archer to a Paladin is more accurate then comparing arcane shots to warlock spells. There is just too vast of difference on the latter. Even the arcane shot options are very similar to the smite spells on the Paladin spell list in that they add extra damage on a hit and have a riding effect following a saving throw (in most cases)
I'm not sure why the comparison to other classes which are far more 'apples to oranges' comparisons instead of to battlemaster anyway. Comparing it to completely different classes with different base toolkits is always going to be messier than the battlemaster comparison, where the core starting feature of the subclass is extra things you can do on a hit (for the most part, not all maneuvers/shots are on hit effects but for sake of simplicity) that do different things. Since they share the same same base class and the arcane shots/maneuvers work similarly mechanically, I don't really see a reason to bring up warlocks or paladins when talking about arcane archer as a fighter subclass.
I'm not sure why the comparison to other classes which are far more 'apples to oranges' comparisons instead of to battlemaster anyway. Comparing it to completely different classes with different base toolkits is always going to be messier than the battlemaster comparison, where the core starting feature of the subclass is extra things you can do on a hit (for the most part, not all maneuvers/shots are on hit effects but for sake of simplicity) that do different things. Since they share the same same base class and the arcane shots/maneuvers work similarly mechanically, I don't really see a reason to bring up warlocks or paladins when talking about arcane archer as a fighter subclass.
That is a fair point. I agree that Battlemaster (which can also modify ranged weapon attacks on a hit) is the best comparison
Not certain in case it is in reality any better, yet I took a shot at reviewing an elective rendition of Arcane Archer stuff while pretty much keeping the base pack something very similar. The thought is somewhere close to the mechanics of a battlemaster contender and a four components priest, in that it gets a pool of dice to fuel their enchantment bolts and that a larger part of the choices imitate the impacts of prior spells that appeared to be proper. I likewise played with having the dice have unique approaches to adjust those spells that was not quite the same as basically "upcasting" them. Tell me what you think.
This. It gets compared more directly against battlemaster.
BM also gets the benefit of its saving throws scaling from dex or str, while battlemaster uses INT.
I think what an Arcane Archer should be is a 1/3 caster whose spells are delivered with their bow instead of standard delivery. The wording on that would be tricky to get right, but I'll do my best:
When you hit with a ranged weapon attack with a ranged weapon, as a bonus action you can cast a spell that normally has a casting time of 1 action or 1 bonus action, targeting either the same target you just hit with the attack or a point in space within 1 foot of it. The spell must not have a range of Self, and for this cast has its Range increased as much as necessary to reach the target.
Then you let the class choose spells from the wizard list, but it can only choose spells that don't have a range of Self and don't have costly M components; it can't use normal M components and must instead use a ranged weapon as an arcane focus.
Just an FYI for those than plan on playing past 6th level and still want to consider modifying AA:
Curving Arrow is one of the most powerful ranged class features in the game. If you combine with Sharpshooter (you should always be trying to make it harder to hit so you get that extra attack), it’s downright lethal. At the highest levels, this basically equates into 1 extra hit per round on average. Consider, if a typical Fighter hits on average 2.2 out of 4 attacks, the AA Fighter will hit 3.2 out of 4. It’s practically a 33%+ damage boost.
While you might not think much of it, or consider the Arcane Shot to be the real meat of this class, it’s not. So if you play at higher levels and have modified Arcane Shots to be more powerful, you may be biting off more than you expected.
Feats I would recommend to make the class more interesting (i.e allow you more action economy):
1) Shadow-Touched/Fey Touched - added spells and they coordinate well to max out Int
2) Piercer - now your shots get even more lethality, and you get a reroll now and then for damage.
Technically, going from 2.2–>3.2 is closer to a 50% increase. It always starts with the base number, 2.2, and gets compared to that
3.2actually 3.19 @.550 hitting average, so it comes out as a neat 45% increase. (With a .600 average, those numbers are 2.4 and 3.36 after Curving Shot for a 40% increase on the nose.)Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
That's because Arcane Shot is pretty much the only ability that Arcane Archers have beyond regular fighter stuff, while warlocks also have cantrips, invocations that can potentially provide additional spells without use of spell slots, and their subclass abilities to expand on what they can do each round.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Not to mention, Warlock spells become gradually more powerful as they level up, even if you are using a spell you picked up at 1st level. Arcane Shots sit at one power level for 98% of the game and then gets a single power boost at 18th level.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
And several warlock spells are concentration, lasting an entire combat or even across multiple combats. If every single warlock spell was just an instantaneous effect I think you'd see a whole lot more dissatisfaction with pact magic.
I think people would complain even if Battlemaster didn't exist. As Brewsky says, Arcane Shot is not actually the primary feature of the subclass, but it's the one that people sign up for. They want to shoot magic arrows that do spell effects. And then when it turns out that 80-90% of the time they are just shooting regular arrows and they are very restricted on which magic arrows they do have, it feels flat. Not as advertised.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Probably, but I still feel there's a lack of perspective in the complaint.
Sure. But on the other hand almost everything a Battle Master does is single-target and hinges on hitting. Meanwhile Bursting Arrow deals 2d6 force damage in a good-sized area with no save, and Piercing Arrow effectively lets you apply the damage of one of your attacks (and then some) to as many enemies as you can line up, bypassing the AC of heavily-armored targets, and still getting half on a "miss." That's a pretty good deal for having to spread out your stats a bit thinner on a class that gets extra ASIs anyways.
No offense but that's literally just an Eldritch Knight. It's a cool gimmick, but if that's all you wanted it might as well be a feat, not a subclass.
In theory. In practice I think you're overstating the variety on the Warlock side considering they're mainly going to be spamming Eldritch Blast and picking Eldritch Blast-enhancing invocations, and I also think you're being a bit unfair to the Arcane Archer subclass. It does actually give you things to play with, unlike Champion, which people still defend despite objectively doing almost nothing for you.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
I disagree. While Eldritch Blast + Eldritch Blast Invocations may be a popular and "meta" choice, the truth is that between cantrips and invocation options Warlocks have dozens of options which can be used to enhance different aspects of their kit (supplementing spellcasting, improving pact options, or granting completely unique abilities). Suggesting that there arent more options simply because people tend to pick one or two things more than the others dismisses the actual amount of variety available.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I could argue the exact same thing for the base Fighter package. It's not like they don't have any toys to play with when they're not employing Arcane Shots. Again, people will go to bat for the Champion, a subclass which does absolutely nothing early game besides a 5% increase in your average damage and making you slightly less bad at STR and DEX skills you chose to not be good at. So I can't help but feel there's a double standard here against the Arcane Archer.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
Except I never said that Fighters have nothing to play with outside of their arcane shots. At the end of the day, though, there is a huge difference between the base kit of the fighter class and warlock class, and they are not equal in the number of things the player gets to "play with" outside of what is provided by subclass features.
You are the one that brought up the warlock comparison, and myself and others do not see that as an accurate comparison due to the fundamental differences between Pact Slots and Arcane Shot Options (with the only similarity being the number of uses per short rest). Everything else (variety of uses, strength, application, action/bonus action/free action application) is vastly different.
There is no double standard. Your comparison just does not hold up.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Number of Spells Known and Slot Levels are enough to make Warlock Spellcasting a poor comparison to Arcane Shot.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I'm not saying they're perfectly analogous, obviously. I'm saying "I only get to do the big cool thing twice per short rest" is seen as an acceptable design decision in one and not in the other, and sure enough you're looking for justifications why it works in the Warlock case.
Yes, I know Warlocks have invocations outside of Eldritch Blast spam. They're mostly either Pact Weapon gimmicks so you have at least one other viable alternative to eldritch blast spam, or utility/exploration/RP powers (which aren't the Fighter's niche), or once-a-day tricks that nobody seems to like.
Slot Levels are a wash since Arcane Shots work on top of your Attack action, they don't replace it. When a Warlock decides to burn a spell slot, they're giving up the opportunity to cast Eldritch Blast, so their slots obviously have to keep improving to make that trade worth it. An Arcane Archer doesn't give up their Attack action when they choose to use an arcane shot.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
The two warlock spell slots thing is also a bit if a mismatch because...warlocks don't cap at two spell slots. Not every game makes it to 11th level but warlocks DO get more than two pact slots.
I have no problem with the limit of 2 for either feature, but the Warlock Spellcasting at level 10 has 10 spells in their toolbox which means that it has a lot of utility. Arcane Archer at level 10 only has 4 options so a lot fewer tools. When a Warlock uses a Spell Slot it has a significant impact on the encounter. When Arcane Archer uses Arcane Shot, no one cares as it has the exact same impact it did at level 3 as it does at level 10 and is only useful in combat encounters so once again far less utility. The number of uses are the same, but the effect they have on the character's utility are completely different.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Lets take a look at our options here:
Warlock with no spell slots remaining: Can use 2-4 different cantrips with varying effects, can make a weapon attack (or two depending on pact/invocation), can use any unique subclass abilities that are not dependent on spell slots, 1/rest use of Mystic Arcanum spells at higher enough level, and can use/benefit from 2-8 of the following invocations (here I am excluding any which work off of eldritch blast / pact of the blade or require a spell slot to use):
Armor of Shadows (free use) , Ascendant Step (free use), Aspect of the Moon (passive buff), Beast speech (free use), Beguiling Influence (passive buff), Bond of the Talisman (prof/long rest), Book of Ancient Secrets (passive buff), Chains of Carceri (1/rest/creature), Cloak of Flies (1/rest), Devil's Sight (passive buff), Eldritch Mind (passive buff), Eldritch Sight (free use), Eyes of the Rune Keeper (passive buff), Far Scribe (free use), Fiendish Vigor (free use), Gaze of Two Minds (free use), Ghostly Gaze (1/rest), Gift of the Depths (passive buff w 1/long rest improvement), Gift of the Ever-Living One (passive buff), Gift of the Protectors (1/rest/creature), Investment of the Chain Master (passive buff), Maddening Hex (free use), Mask of Many Faces (free use), Mask of Myriad Forms (free use), Misty Visions (free use), One with Shadows (free use), Otherwordly Leap (free use), Protection of the Talisman (prof/long rest), Rebuke of the Talisman (free use), Relentless Hex (free use), Shroud of Shadow (free use), Tomb of Levistus (free use), Trickster's Escape (1/long rest), Undying Servitude (1/long rest), Visions of Distant Realms (free use), Voice of the Chain Master (passive buff), Whispers of the Grave (free use), Witch Sight (passive buff)
Blue = Warlock can use/benefit from as much as they want after running out of spell slots / Orange = Warlock can use a limited number of times
Arcane Archers with no arcane shots remaining: Can use/benefit from 1-2 fighting styles (all passive buffs of some sort), Action Surge (1/rest), Indomitable (1-3/per rest), 3 extra ASI/feats (passive buffs/limited use abilities), use prestidigitation (free use), reroll attack as a bonus action (1/turn if another target is within range).
The sheer number of passive buffs / free use abilities that the Warlock has available from invocations alone gives it more to play with than a fighter and thats before even considering subclass abilities available to the warlock.
Secondly, if we are going to talk about Arcane Shots applying on a hit then wouldnt the more apt comparison be to Paladins instead of Warlocks? Assuming a paladin only uses its spell slots for Divine Smite or Smite Spells, it can perform one of these smites 2 - 15 times per long rest (in this case, they have less uses than an Arcane Archer starting out but their number of uses increase as they level up to where eventually an arcane archer would need 6 short rests / day to keep up with the number of on-hit applications of their feature that they get. What is more is that as the Paladin levels up its smites get gradually more powerful, both by getting bigger spell slots and by getting passive increases from class abilities. The arcane archer only gets a single power buff at 18th level.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
That also raises the point that alot of Warlock spells will be AoE and affect more than one creature. Most of the Arcane Shot options will only affect one creature at a time.
As I stated in my other comment above, if we are talking single-target abilities that affect a creature on a hit (thus great for saving for a crit), I feel like comparing the Arcane Archer to a Paladin is more accurate then comparing arcane shots to warlock spells. There is just too vast of difference on the latter. Even the arcane shot options are very similar to the smite spells on the Paladin spell list in that they add extra damage on a hit and have a riding effect following a saving throw (in most cases)
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I'm not sure why the comparison to other classes which are far more 'apples to oranges' comparisons instead of to battlemaster anyway. Comparing it to completely different classes with different base toolkits is always going to be messier than the battlemaster comparison, where the core starting feature of the subclass is extra things you can do on a hit (for the most part, not all maneuvers/shots are on hit effects but for sake of simplicity) that do different things. Since they share the same same base class and the arcane shots/maneuvers work similarly mechanically, I don't really see a reason to bring up warlocks or paladins when talking about arcane archer as a fighter subclass.
That is a fair point. I agree that Battlemaster (which can also modify ranged weapon attacks on a hit) is the best comparison
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!