Suggested build for an Arcane Archer?

[Galuf the Dwarf]

Honestly, I can't help but possibly experiment with this. Got some questions.

1) What race should I go with: Elf or Half-Elf? Some part of me says to go for Elf.

2a) What class levels should I go with to meet the prerequisites? If I really go with Elf, I was thinking about doing either Fighter and Wizard or Ranger and Wizard, with Wizard levels to negate the chance of mult-classing experience penalities (since Elves have Wizard as their favored class).

2b) I read guides elsewhere that suggested taking only Bard levels until Archer levels could be obtained. That might work, but honestly, I'm thinking that'll leave such a character without a lot of firepower (ie: high Base Attack Bonus or powerful spellcasting).

2c) In addition, what number of levels in any suggested class are recommended?

3) Is an Arcane Archer suggested for the Original Campaign (with the Diamond Edition) or more for SoU and/or HotU?

[mr_sir]

When I played as an arcane archer I went for an elf ranger/wizard, with only 1 level in wizard as I wanted to focus purely on archery and ranger for the few divine spells they get. As soon as Arcane Archer became available I kind of alternated classes a bit depending on how my character was getting on in battles etc. (so if I was finding I didn;t have enough attack etc. then I would level up as ranger next time, if I felt I could do with one of the arcane archer feats etc. then I levelled as arcane archer). I took the Arcane Archer up to level 10 then focused solely on Ranger.

For prestige classes, they often work better in SOU/HOTU since they have a higher XP cap, although they can be fun in the OC too.