Swift hunter / ...monk?

[berry3x]

So I am building a lvl 12 character and I rly want to be an archer this time. I have decided to go Scout/Ranger and use swift hunter. The thing I can't decide is if I want to add 2 lvls of monk and use Ascetic Hunter as well. Either way I go, the character will be a sneaky archer/skillmonkey. He is the basic ideas.

Build 1
Elf
1.Scout (1) - point blank shot
2.Ranger (1)
3.Ranger (2)- Rapid Shot/Precise Shot
4.Scout (2)
5.Scout (3)
6.Ranger (3)- Swift Hunter
7.Ranger (4)
8.Ranger (5)
9.Ranger (6)- Manyshot/ Greater Manyshot
10.Ranger (7)
11.Ranger (8)
12.Ranger (9)- Imp. Skirmish
Grab a good bow and hope a don't have to melee.

-=OR=-

Build 2
Human
1.Scout (1) - point blank shot/Precise Shot
2.Ranger (1)
3.Monk (1)-ACF-Sleeping Tiger to sub bonus feat Weapon Finesse(unarmed)/Ascetic Hunter
4.Ranger (2)- Rapid Shot
5.Monk (2)-ACF-Sleeping Tiger to sub bonus feat Imp. Initiative
6.Ranger (3)-IDK..Defensive Archery? Deadeye shot? Suggestions?
7.Scout (2)
8.Scout (3)
9.Ranger (4)- Swift Hunter
10.Ranger (5)
11.Ranger (6)- Manyshot
12.Ranger (7)- Greater Manyshot

This lets me deal good dmg via unarmed attacks if I end up in melee while still focusing on my bow.

It is driving me crazy. I keep flip floping between being an elf and being the human w/ the monk added in. I just can't decide which would be better. Any input would be wonderfull.

 

[Dandu]

I shall proceed to give you facts and reasons to help you make up your mind, namely the Swift Hunter Handbook, the Ranger Handbook, and the Archery Handbook.

If you're worried about someone getting into melee with you, invest in an item that lets you GTFO or a prestige class that lets you shoot without provoking AoO's.

 

[BENINHB]

Human, extra feat and extra skill points with no CON penalty looks good to me

get an elven bow and you can flurry with it as a quarterstaff in melee

Also the ranger spell Lion's Charge has some major damage potential by stacking Skirmish dice onto your monks flurry of blows

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Wood Elf Scout/Ranger Swift Hunter build, so you get +2 dex and str and have ranger as favored class, so you don't actually suffer multiclassing xp penalties.

Use the First level Elf Ranger racial sub. level from Races of the Wild to make your Favored Enemy bonuses against certain types (notably, Undead is one of them; you're taking crit immune selections so you can skirmish them, right?) come in multiples of +3 rather than +2. Taking the Solitary Hunter variant to trade your delayed progression animal companion (already weak even for a single classed ranger) to add favored enemy bonus to attack rolls on top of damage further leverages this.

Grab a good bow, cast Arrow Mind from Spell Compendium, and don't care one bit about enemies getting into melee with you, because you no longer provoke for shooting and can even shoot arrows to deliver AoOs of your own within your natural reach.

Game. Set. Match.

EDIT: Unless Scout gives longbow proficiency, which I doubt, going Wood Elf also means you can use a longbow starting right from level 1. (Don't take ranger first just for the proficiency; the classes have same HD to get maximized and scout 1st means an extra 8 skill points over taking ranger 1st)

 

[Dandu]

Arrow Mind is a good spell to have. You can buy a wand of it and install a wand chamber in your bow so you can always have it ready to cast.

get an elven bow and you can flurry with it as a quarterstaff in melee

Note: Weapon Finesse won't apply to that.

 

[Nedz]

Unless I'm mistaken: You're Human build suffers from XP penalties between 6th and 7th and from 9th up.

 

[Nedz]

Tumble is a Scout skill: if you end up toe to toe you could just tumble out and have one shot.

 

[berry3x]

Unless I'm mistaken: You're Human build suffers from XP penalties between 6th and 7th and from 9th up.

I don't think it does. With human your favorite class is your highest lvl one so as long as the two lowest lvl classes are w/in a level of each other there is no xp penalty.

get an elven bow and you can flurry with it as a quarterstaff in melee

why? my unarmed strikes will be hitting as 1d10 and my skirmish will be at
(+3d6, +2AC) at 12th lvl. Plus a base +5 initiative and all the other scout/monk/ranger abilities. I am still torn between the two builds though, lol.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Tumble is a Scout skill: if you end up toe to toe you could just tumble out and have one shot.

Another good point, nothing's holding you to stay in melee.

I don't think it does. With human your favorite class is your highest lvl one so as long as the two lowest lvl classes are w/in a level of each other there is no xp penalty.

No xp penalty, but it does prevent you from ever raising scout again without suffering xp penalties (especially since you can't raise monk again, even if you wanted to). Maybe you don't care about that, I'd find it annoyingly restrictive.

why? my unarmed strikes will be hitting as 1d10 and my skirmish will be at
(+3d6, +2AC) at 12th lvl. Plus a base +5 initiative and all the other scout/monk/ranger abilities. I am still torn between the two builds though, lol.

Let me get this straight...NPC already has you in melee, you're going to dance around to get your skirmish damage so your melee attacks actually do decent damage. Instead of using that same movement to just...I don't know...get out of melee and shoot the sucker? DC 15 Tumble is not terrifically hard. The only other scenario I can visualize where melee would come up is if you thought it would be a good idea to toss away all your feats and bow training, and all the money you poured into the bow, so that you could go in and mix it up with fisticuffs, actually seeking out melee. If I've misread your logic, please correct me.

 

[Dandu]

my unarmed strikes

Good luck with DR and hitting incorporeals.