Help building a character

[Turik2100]

So after years of being DM I finally get a chance to be a player, but unfortunately I got stuck building a second character for a player who is too lazy to read the books. (Enough complaining) I'm building a sneaky archer character. I'm going for a soulbow build, I've never played one but they sound super dope. So here are the guidelines:

1. Its a stealth campaign so no heavy armor
2. any book is fine as long as its ok'd by the DM
3. Gestalt characters required. (only 3 of us)
4. pick a domain for clan's special ability. (DM loves anime)

so what I was thinking is fighter/soulknife then soulbow/?. Then taking psionic shot feats to boost damage output.

So if I can get some suggestions or a better way to go about this I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Rakusia]

id go with ranger/rogue just think kiting abilities with the little bit extra sneak attack damage with the archery track on ranger. go with wind domain use crossbow bolts and you wont even need a crossbow just use wind power to shoot it from your hand. maybe maybe not could be kinda cool fluff to your character

seems like soulbow was kinda crippled to make it non game breaker. just fyi this is from another site i copy pasted

The main problem with Soulbow is that the projectile is always fired from mundane longbow (Complete Psionic, p36):

The bolt is identical in all ways (except visually) to an arrow shot from a composite longbow. For instance, a Medium soulbow materializes an arrow that speeds toward the specified target, and if it hits, deals 1d8 points of damage (crit ×3) plus extra damage equal to the soulbow's Wisdom modifer.
​

While Wis to damage is nice, inability to enchant the bow (be it weapon enchantment, oil, spell or artificer infusion) nor to fire your mind arrow from a physical bow is somehow crippling. Even bonus feats don't really offset this circumstance, which makes Soulbow to perform even worse than plain Soulknife, unless you want to focus on the archery (in which case Soulbow is better).
You also may want to consider Soulbound weapon ACF for the psychic warrior featured in thisarticle. It allows to retain the flavor and to increase performance significantly. At the very least, consider Hidden Talent and Bonus Feats ACF featured in the same article.
If you absolutely must create an archer based on a Soulbow, make him SAD.

• Wisdom already adds to damage
• Wisdom to attack via Zen Archery
• Wisdom to AC via monk, unarmed swordsage, Tashalatora feat and/or Moon-warded rangersubstitution level (Dragon Magazine #340, p55, indexed)
• Wisdom again to attacks/damage via Shiba Protector (Oriental adventures p222) if you manage not to get hit with DMG to the head
• Wisdom to saves via Serenity feat (replaces stat for paladin's smite and divine grace) (Dragon Compendium p106)
• Wisdom to attack via ranged smite paladin ACF and aforementioned Serenity feat
• Use your Lucky arrows. Free attack rerolls rock!
• whatever else strikes your fancy

 

[Empirate]

Is homebrew allowed? If so, I've posted a PrC that seems exactly fitted to the character concept here.

 

[Turik2100]

Huh I didn't know you couldn't use a real bow to boost the soulbow's abilities, that's kinda lame. That homebrew archer seems super dope, I'll send the link to my DM to see if he'll allow it.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Just one thing to remember IMO: considering the player is too lazy to build his own character, and probably to read and learn the rules, try to make the simplest character possible. If the player has too many options or that the options are too complicated, he'll just end up not using them / using them wrong / make everyone at the table waste their time for checking rules in his place (I have players like this. It's not that they are lazy, it's that they have more important things to do than spend 4 hours making a character).

So I'd stay away from casters altogether (psionic or otherwise). The player will have enough on his plate with abilities from 2 different martial classes plus feats and domain powers...

Why not make him a Ranger/Dragon Shaman?

AR

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Lazy Player? Sneaky Archer?
Fighter//Ranger.
I want to second [MENTION=14700]Altamont Ravenard[/MENTION]'s concern, will your player make the most out of a truly well put together build?

What level do you start at and how far along do you intend to build?

 

[Turik2100]

I had the same concern, but the player is always complaining his character is dwarfed by my character and another player's character design. So he decided that myself and the other player to build his character. By the way he's not that busy, he sits around watching anime and playing computer games all day, he is just lazy. I see your points on making a complicated character, is there a way I can make a fairly simple but highly effective ranged character? The only thing that he has told me is that he prefers bows. I would go the ranger/scout route but I doubt he could handle keeping track of spells.

We are starting at level 5 and we are projected to get to 20, but I doubt we will get that far.

 

[Rakusia]

if he cant handle spells? if he complains that he cant optimize his character? if he just watches anime? how can he complain? have you tried offering to show him how to optimize? im sorta in the same boat with a few players when I started playing I was the dm, so I studied rules religiously for several months. got the pdf's hooked my comp to tv and read everything. others did not now everyone wants me to make their characters for them. end result is people who don't know the tricks to their classes/ particular build. wanna keep it simple? go with a fighter/rogue human get the extra feat and skill point at lvl 1 plus the fighter bonus feats. keep dex as primary ability with int as secondary. str or cha are thirdly and wis and con fairly dump stats.

Strength	(+2)
Dexterity	(+3)
Constitution	(+0)
Intelligence	(+3)
Wisdom	(+0)
Charisma	(+1)

[TD="align: right"]14[/TD] [TD="align: right"]17[/TD] [TD="align: right"]11[/TD] [TD="align: right"]16[/TD] [TD="align: right"]10[/TD] [TD="align: right"]12[/TD]

Total Hit Points: 36
Speed: 30 feet
Armor Class: 13 = 10 +3 [dexterity]

• Touch AC: 13
  Flat-footed: 13 [uncanny dodge]

Initiative modifier:	+3	= +3 [dexterity]
Fortitude save:	+4	= 4 [base]
Reflex save:	+7	= 4 [base] +3 [dexterity]
Will save:	+1	= 1 [base]
Attack (handheld):	+7	= 5 [base] +2 [strength]
Attack (unarmed):	+7	= 5 [base] +2 [strength]
Attack (missile):	+8	= 5 [base] +3 [dexterity]
Grapple check:	+7	= 5 [base] +2 [strength

Dagger [1d4, crit 19-20/x2, range inc 10 ft., 1 lb., light, piercing]
Longbow [1d8, crit x3, range inc. 100 ft, 3 lb, piercing]

Feats:

• Combat Reflexes
  Point Blank Shot
  Far Shot
  Precise Shot
  Rapid Shot
  Quick Draw

and I got 96 skill points with a somewhat low int by the standards we play by. usually use a points buy system

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day.
Teach a man to make an awesome D&D character, he'll give up fish and aim for global domination!

The Merits of a Fighter//Ranger is the boatload of feats. Choose Human for another.
At level 5, you'll have:
1 Human Feat
2 general Feats
3 Fighter Feats
1 Ranger Combat Style Feat (in this case, Rapid Shot)

There are oodles of good archer feats. Point Blank Shot/Precise Shot are bread and butter.
Shot On The Run could be great, if you're willing to dump 2 feats into Dodge and Mobility, both of which would be useful to this build at lower levels.
Sharp-Shooting may be helpful as a 6th feat, or if you choose a race other than human, skip this one.

Upon reaching level 6, you get Manyshot from your Ranger side for free. You'll either fire 2 arrows as a standard action with Manyshot or 3 arrows as a full attack action with Rapid shot. Either way, I'd pickup Woodland Archer as your Fighter feat at 6th level simply for the "Adjust for Range" bonus to attack if you miss with one of your arrows. Take Improved Rapid Shot as the general level 6 feat to make 3 ranged attacks, 2 at your full BAB without penalty. By 6th level, you've got 9 archer feats (8 if non-human), your buddy should at this point always be shooting things with a lot of arrows.

Rangers get some great spells at lower levels that be used as Swift actions.
Arrow Mind is a great spell to have on hand. As an Immediate action, you shoot into melee range without provoking A..s. and you can take A..s on opponents. Useful for when you're trapped in melee range.
Guided Shot is good for the reverse, when you need to hit that target reeeeally far away.
Aspect of the Wolf lets you pretend to be a Wild Shape Druid without the complications (for the lazy player) of having to manage a Druid.

 

[Turik2100]

Is there a variant ranger that swaps out spell casting for something else?