I've recently started my first Pathfinder campaign with my friends. I'm playing a priest and I want him to both heal and fight with his bow. I chose Erastil as my God but apart from that I don't really know how should I build him, how should I dispose his stats, what skills or feats should I choose, in order to make him a good Archer priest.
I know one should choose based on his taste and not only on strength, my problem is that I have a quite clear idea on how I want him to be but I don't know the game mechanics enough to make that idea a concrete character.
I want him to be a simple Cleric, I would like to avoid advanced ones since it's our first run and we want to keep it simple (I could use some prestige class later in the story I guess?), and Erastil is both helpful with archer class and well integrated in my character's backstory.
Here's some more info on my character, since I've been requested in the comments:
He's a friendly 25 years old Neutral Good priest who's not too much rigid with the formal aspects of religion but really cares about it's core values (he's one who would gladly have a beer with his comrades), and thus lives in a city despite Erastil's clerics preferring life in the wild to give people an example of how the good old values of Erastil's cult can improve their lives.
I want his use of the bow to reflect his ability to survive in the wild, and also his not being completely defenseless as some may think a cleric is, and his healing to show how he's more concerned with protecting people than with "prevailing in battle".
Best Answer
It seems that your question is more about making your character's theme a viable play option, since you already have a fleshed-out idea for the flavor, theme, and personality of the character itself.
Being a Cleric, there are a few things to be aware of:
Spellcasting
You get spells and you get higher tiers of spells at every odd level (starting at level 1). You also have knowledge of all spells you can cast, but will only get to select a choice few each morning for casting throughout the day.
Also, your Wisdom stat is going to be associated with the irresistability of your spells (Spell Save DC) and the number of bonus spell slots you'll have at your disposal for each level.
Domains
You get two domains associated with your deity of choice. For each domain you get, you gain access to certain magical abilities which scale with your level to some extent. As a result of having domains, you also get a bonus spell slot for each level of spells that you can cast which can be used to cast a spell associated with either of your domains; these are called your Domain Spells.
For evaluations of which domains you should pick, you should look through a Cleric guide that touches up on domains.
Moderate Base Attack Bonus
There are three tiers of Base Attack Bonus progression. These denote your class' to-hit rating, attack accuracy, before any of your character's individual stats are included. Clerics have the Moderate tier, which towards Level 20 comes out to +15, five points behind Full Base Attack Bonus characters who get a full +20 BAB.
In the earlier levels, you'll only be 1 or 2 points behind these characters, and the difference in accuracy can be mitigated.
Favored Weapon
Because Erastil is your Deity, you are proficient in Longbows. Otherwise, a Cleric is only proficient in simple weapons (which a longbow is not).
Feats for Archery
Feats are the building blocks which distinguish your character from other characters of your same class in terms of what they can do. These are generally mechanical advantages, passive stat boosts, or unique types of actions only the feat bearers can accomplish.
There are actually quite a number of feats which get taken by most archers.
Point-Blank Shot
This feat grants +1 to attack and damage with ranged weapons within 30 ft. Often, combat happens close, even if you're an archer.
Precise Shot
This feat requires Point-Blank Shot. It solves a major penalty to archery combat: shooting at targets which are hostile to each other and are within smacking-distance of each other nets YOU, the archer, a -4 penalty to attack. This feat removes that penalty.
This penalty is a problem because your targets will often be fighting with your allies in melee. You'll want this just to avoid inaccuracy in this very common situation.
Rapid Shot
This feat requires Point-Blank Shot. It allows you to trade accuracy for an additional attack. At the cost of reducing your attack rolls by -2 for the round, you can shoot an additional time.
This feat provides benefits two-fold: (1) by shooting twice, you're more likely to hit at least once and (2) if you hit twice, you deal your damage twice. Later on, you'll get additional attacks when your BAB hits +6 and +11, but the extra attack from Rapid Shot is more valuable because it's at your full Attack Bonus -2, where as the others you gain will be at -5 and -10, respectively.
Later on, getting Manyshot will be an option for continuing this feat line.
Deadly Aim
This is another feat that allows you to trade accuracy for something. In this case, it's damage. At the cost of -1 attack for each +2 damage the feat provides, you're getting attack damage that scales with level.
Normally, this feat is one picked up by Full BAB characters without question, but it requires consideration for lower-BAB characters since the trade may not be as valuable to them in terms of expected damage output.
To decide when to use Deadly Aim, you can do some math:
In the fresh early game, you'll likely want to focus on Attack Bonus, even if your average damage increases from the trade. Those are the levels where hitting or missing are most crucial, and you'll likely be dealing finishing blows with less damage. However, later on, the bonus damage is integral to ending a combat.
Weapon Focus (Longbow)
This feat gives +1 to attack bonus with Longbows. This feat is one
you should definitely pick up if accuracy becomes an issue.that exists.