Building a ranged combat character

[Greenfield]

I guess it depends on what you call "Mid-level". For some, 5-7 is "Mid-level" For others 15-20 is "mid-level".

By the wealth guide, a 10th level character should have a total wealth of about 49,000. That wand would account for over 40% of everything the character owns. And in a consumable?

See why I suggest that it's pricey?

As for the Assassin, Greater Invisibility is a 4th level spell. The earliest they get that is at 7th level, and then only if they have an Intelligence score of 18 or higher. 8th is the realistic level. The prerequisites for the class include at least 8 ranks in Hide and Move Silent, so 6th level is the earliest the class can be taken. (You can meet the requirements at 5th, but can't take the PRC until *after* you've done that.)

So the minimum to have that spell is 13th level. It will be good for 8 rounds, once per day.

It's nasty, and for those 8 rounds the Assassin is hell on wheels. His BAB will be +10, so he'll start off with two attacks per round, three if Hasted. He'll get the extra attack when he hits 10th level, which is the maximum listed for the class.

So the designers did allow for it to happen, but they made it a highly specialized thing.

What we're looking for is a way for a more common Rogue to do it every round.

 

[Grogg of the North]

I apologize for my meandering post.

Is this character going to be around for a while? Is it a one-off? Allowed materials? Stats?

If you're going with Swift Hunter, be sure to pick favored enemies that are typically immune to skirmish damage like undead and constructs.

Are you going to keep the animal companion? I've always felt that the ranger AC was kind of useless. Complete Champion offers a nice trade off in Spiritual Guide.

If you switch the classes (Ranger 1/ Scout 8) you'll get access to things like evasion and camouflage much sooner and gain Uncanny Dodge and Battle Fortitude. I personally am a fan of straight scout but I'm weird like that.

There are a pair of boots in the MIC that let you 3/day (maybe 1/day?) take an additional five foot step even when you've already taken one. The extra five foot step still counts as a five foot step. So you could use those to activate skirmish and full round attack. Travel Devotion is another good way to get skirmish and a full round attack.

The Deadly Precision enhancement, IIRC, should give you an additional 1d6 skirmish. It's in the Magic Item Compendium.

Have you considered Scout and going into Dervish from complete warrior? It would be more melee oriented and requires a lot of feats. You might have to invest in fighter to make it work by level 9.

 

[Dandu]

What we're looking for is a way for a more common Rogue to do it every round.

Grease. Marbles. Tanglefoot Bag. Flanking via some disposable minion. (Bag of tricks works for this, I suppose.)

 

[Greenfield]

Tanglefoot Bags leave the target Entangled, a condition that doesn't deny them their Dexterity, at least according to the SRD.

Grease, marbles etc. can make a target fall Prone on a failed save. The Prone condition doesn't deny the target their Dexterity, per the SRD.

There's an oddity on that though. "Balancing" says they don't get DEX, but if they fail and fall down they do. Odd.

In any case the Grease spell calls for a Reflex Save, not a Balance check.

Marbles are mentioned in the SRD only as a material component to Feeble Mind. Generally I'd rule them to work like Grease, with an easier Save. (Magic should trump mundane.)

 

[Greenfield]

I apologize for my meandering post.

Is this character going to be around for a while? Is it a one-off? Allowed materials? Stats?

Stats are a 32 point buy per the table in the DMG.

Allowed sources don't include the MIC or anything Psionic.

The full list is: PHB, DMG, DMG II (with some reservations), the Complete <fill in the blank> (excluding Psionics), Stormwrack, Frostburn and Sandstorm.

Are you going to keep the animal companion? I've always felt that the ranger AC was kind of useless. Complete Champion offers a nice trade off in Spiritual Guide.

Good thought. I'll look at it.

If you switch the classes (Ranger 1/ Scout 8) you'll get access to things like evasion and camouflage much sooner and gain Uncanny Dodge and Battle Fortitude. I personally am a fan of straight scout but I'm weird like that.

You've pretty much described my current character: Scout 9/Ranger 1. And yes, straight Scout is pretty nice.

There are a pair of boots in the MIC that let you 3/day (maybe 1/day?) take an additional five foot step even when you've already taken one. The extra five foot step still counts as a five foot step. So you could use those to activate skirmish and full round attack. Travel Devotion is another good way to get skirmish and a full round attack.

The MIC is off limits. Beyond that, I suppose it depends on whether the "Move 10 feet" requirement has a capital "M" in Move or not: If an actual Move is required then no. If simple relocation by 10 feet counts, then yes.

Have you considered Scout and going into Dervish from complete warrior? It would be more melee oriented and requires a lot of feats. You might have to invest in fighter to make it work by level 9.

That sounds hideously delightful. I'll have to look at it.

 

[Grogg of the North]

Marbles are mentioned in the SRD only as a material component to Feeble Mind. Generally I'd rule them to work like Grease, with an easier Save. (Magic should trump mundane.)

Marbles are in the Arms and Equipment Guide. They force a DC 15 balance check, failure meaning you cannot move for 1 round. And I hate them with a burning passion. (A story for another day)

 

[Greenfield]

Just for the giggles, let's look at a Human Scout/Dervish build.

Let's look at what's needed: Tumble and Perform - Dance, 3 ranks each. Fairly Easy.

Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mobility, Weapon Focus (probably Scimitar)

Two weapon fighting is a plus, of course,but not a requirement.

We'll begin with Scout levels, and more or less focus on those when we can, since the goal is to abuse the hell out of Skirmish.

So I'm seeing Scout 4, to begin with, then probably Ranger 3.

That gives us more skills than we need, and all of the BAB minimum. It also gives us the feats we need, plus Two Weapon combat style.

Combat Expertise only needs an INT of 13, so we can start with that as the Human bonus feat.
Dodge needs only DEX of 13, so we could take that as the "Everyman" feat. Halfway there.
Weapon Focus only requires a BAB of +1 and weapon proficiency, so that's 3rd level.
Our 4th level of Scout gives a bonus feat, and that takes care of our Mobility requirement.

That's seven levels, so on 8 we take Dervish, and then take Swift Hunter at 9th to maximize the Skirmish. Now we're doing an extra 2 D6 damage per hit, +2 AC when skirmishing/dancing (on top of the Dodge and Mobility bonuses).

Now this only starts our Dervish with two attacks during the Dance (three with two weapon fighting), but since Dervish is a full BAB class and attacks are based on BAB, I'd probably just run with Dervish from there.

Alternately, taking two more Scout gets Camouflage, a bonus feat, and an extra dice of damage. Only 1 BAB point though...

Trade off, I suppose.

We could get there faster with Fighter levels, but you can't stack Fighter with Scout for Skirmish, and I like the fact that Ranger has two good saves.

It also makes him a "spellcaster", technically (even if he can't cast spells), which means easy access to a number of magic items, as well as Craft - Alchemy (Anyone can take the skill, but only a spell caster can actually use it to make anything.)

 

[Dandu]

Marbles are in the Arms and Equipment Guide. They force a DC 15 balance check, failure meaning you cannot move for 1 round. And I hate them with a burning passion. (A story for another day)

Be sure not to loose your

I'm sorry, I'll show myself out.

 

[Greenfield]

Be sure not to loose your

I'm sorry, I'll show myself out.

Why do you think they're the material component, scattered and lost in use, for Feeblemind?

 

[Diffan]

Get a wand of Persistant Blade and make it a higher caster level, like 5th. Unless it's against a creature with SR it allows you to flank for a # of rounds equal to the caster level.

As for Ranger/Scout, getting extra die on your precision damage is OK but you want to make your damage modifier really high. For this, I suggest getting Dead Eye feat (Dragon Compendium, p. 95). It requires a BAB of +1, Point Blank Shot and Weapon Focus (any bow) feats, and a Dex of 17 but you add your Dexterity modifier to damage rolls against any creature within 30-ft. It's susceptible to creatures immune to precision damage though. If you get a high Dex and a good Strength score, you could stack the two with composite bows.