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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jstageman" data-source="post: 3693969" data-attributes="member: 43162">Wow, my first post ever on ENWorld after years of lurking.  Nothing like some friendly mischaracterizations to call a brother out.  Thanks Mcgeet!For starters, I haven't really been complaining about my character's combat effectiveness.  As the only rogue-type in the group, I was never going to be more than a second tier fighting guy at best, and have actually had a good bit of success in the combats we've had so far (only four sessions into the campaign).  Most of our conversations have centered more around the potential overpoweredness and at the very least overall extreme niftiness of the Bo9S classes and abilities and the general underwhelming power of archers in general, rather than with my build in particular.  We'll leave the former for later, since it is not germane to the discussion at hand, and just concentrate on the archery angle.Many of the suggestions in previous posts are great and I really appreciate all of the comments.  The fact that the builds are pretty complicated and involve lots of multiclassing and pulling this feat from that book and another from there would seem to support my contention that ranged folks are pretty much second-class combat citizens, however.  The point a poster made about the main advantage of missile weapons being the ability to stay relatively safe from attack while maintaining the ability to do damage is well taken, but in a fantasy world where you are always only a heartbeat away from a fireball or other long range spell, I'm not sure if the trade-off is worth it.  Add in cover, firing into melee, the very limited damage potential of a single shot and it really doesn't seem worth it to go the archery route unless it is strictly for character purposes.  Speaking of which, I guess I now get to play a quick game of 'Defending your Character Build and Feat Choices,' since I apparently made many stupid ones.  As a couple of people pointed out, I am indeed going for Shot on the Run, mostly because it is something I have never seen used and would appear to fit well with the Skirmish ability, which is also a mechanic that has not seen any action in our game.  The Scout class is necessary because of the Skirmish and the fact that we would have zero trapfinding ability without it.  Also, according to our DM, this was going to be a very wilderness/survival oriented campaign, though it has been strictly a combat only dungeon crawl to date, so go figure.  Finally, as mcgeedis stated a few times,  I play DnD, not 'Ultimate Arena Fighter.'  My ability scores and many of my other choices are based originally on what I had in mind as a character personality, background, and physical makeup and after that on what sort of things the character encountered in the adventure as he gained the necessary experience to advance a level.  While there needs to be a certain amount of foresight in order to avoid a completely ineffective character, I don't think I've ever sat down and designed a guy from first level to 20th, and then played him through, which is why I try to avoid complaining about my individual effectiveness or lack thereof.  Instead, I try to concentrate on what appear to be advantages and disadvantages that are baked into the ruleset, while understanding that I may be speaking from ignorance since nobody alive has ever seen every possible build in actual gameplay.In short, keep the comments coming.  The more suggestions provided on how to make an effective ranged character, the more likely it is that a couple will come up that I can actually make use of with my guy.  Plus anyone else having a similar problem might see something worthwhile in the thread and use it.Regards,JoePS-  Does anyone have some insight into why there is no analog for the Xbow Sniper feat using 'regular' bows?  Is it just the reloading thing?  If so, big whoop, you only get the Sneak Attack/Skirmish damage on the first arrow anyway; what's the big deal if you get an extra one or two attacks?  Any thoughts again would be appreciated.</blockquote>

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