a little help with a archer/rogue

[ceratitis]

hi all
a friend in our party is replacing his char to a rogue with maybe a bit of ranger or fighter. we're 6th level, low magic and he doesnt want any spellcasting or leaning heavily on magic items. looking for helpful suggestions on feats, equipment, skills and such. we play 3.5 mostly core rules with a few additions if the DM likes them.
thanks

 

[dpmcalister]

The three obvious feats are still the best

Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot

After that, it depends on the avenue he wants to take. Mounted Combat and Mounted Archery enable him to full attack while being able to move around the combat (as long as he's on a horse of course )

In terms of equipment, the best composite longbow he can afford and a selection of, campaign-suitable, arrow.

Skills are a little more down to taste. Craft (Bowmaking) so that he can make his own arrows (and, indeed, bow). Handle Animal and Ride are both useful if he intends on becoming a mounted archer.

Hope that helps.

 

[Patlin]

"he doesnt want any spellcasting or leaning heavily on magic items"

Without that statement, I'd say he should get a ring of blinking.

With that statement, I'd suggest avoiding a rogue archer completely. Your oportunities for Sneak Attack will be few.

You could go with the feat from PHBII that allows sneak attack damage on a critical hit, but even with that you'd be better off switching to a crossbow. Then you'd want crossbow sniper and rapid reload.

Any chance he'd want to go Scout instead, looking for Greater Manyshot from the XPH?

Scout archers are a lot less magic dependent than Rogue archers, in my experience.

 

[ceratitis]

thanks guys
its pretty much what we came up with ourselfs
suggestions for race? we're debating wether the human extra feat is better then the halfelf low light vision for the purpose of sneaking around like old fashion thief.
what is XPH? and why would the crossbow offer anything better then a composite bow? he intends to get some strengh bonus as he's likely to have to resort to melee combat as well as archery.
mounts have a way of disapearing in our campaign, i think our DM has some issues with them for some yet unfound reason. we use the mount spell a lot almost tricked a guy to but them from us before the spell run out (no horses in this world at all, he was quite impressed but the lawful players ruined it )

 

[Patlin]

what is XPH? and why would the crossbow offer anything better then a composite bow? he intends to get some strengh bonus as he's likely to have to resort to melee combat as well as archery.

XPH=eXpanded Psionics Handbook

or you could look in the SRD for the feat I mentioned.

The benefit of the crossbow in conjunction with the PHBII feat that allows sneak attack damage on a critical hit is simply that it crits twice as often as a bow.

 

[ceratitis]

thanks, we dont use psionics.
he'll take the bow

 

[Darklone]

The benefit of the crossbow in conjunction with the PHBII feat that allows sneak attack damage on a critical hit is simply that it crits twice as often as a bow.

The feat in the XPH is a general feat, not restricted to psionics.

A secondary advantage of the Xbow: No need for high strength, doubled sneak attack range and the feat you're talking about is Telling Blow.

As a good rogue archer: High strength and dex are mandatory. 16 at least in both. A very good magic bow is necessary for the rogue if he can't rely on his sneak attack damage.

A wand of Flame Arrow helps a lot.