Forrester, you are not getting a tenfold scrutiny here, at least from me. I am simply sharing with you my opinion and thoughts about your Scout class. If you wish to use it in your game, I have no problem with that. I simply disagree with giving another core class the sneak attack ability (leave it to the rogues and prestige classes).
In my opinion, a scout would not have sneak attack as a core ability. Alertness, however, is a good feat for a scout. Skill Mastery is a good ability for a scout. Defensive combat abilities are good for a scout. This is where your focus should be for a scout class. That is why I and others have suggested the SW scout, which focuses primarily on these things.
Now I want to go back and respond to some of your original questions:
What class is the goblin that knows how to work the Heavy Ballista, as he guards against incoming adventurers? Not a fighter - this guy has to know how to spot and listen. Not a ranger - these amateur guards hardly will have the training to track, have two-weapon fighting, ambidexterity, and so on. I suppose he could be a rogue, but I can't see him tumbling all over the place, or learning how to use magical devices, or even necessarily picking locks. And if he’s got 8 skill points/level, he probably will be dumping points into some of those. And Evasion? Uncanny dodge? I don't see slightly experienced guards of this nature learning those abilities.
The answer, simply enough, is warrior. Most goblins would be warriors. A few would fill the role of expert or adept or even the occasional fighter or ranger or barbarian or cleric, etc. If you want your scout class to help here, it should be an NPC class, as discussed before.
What class is the elf that patrols the forest, searching for goblin intruders? Not a fighter - again, where's the spot and listen? Not a ranger - two weapon fighting? Doubtful. Tracking? Kind of unbalancing to have a horde of 1st level elves, all with tracking, looking for the PCs. (Assuming you're running a campaign where elves are the bad guys, of course.) And while some alt.rangers allow replacement of the two-weapon fighting virtual feats with two archery feats, this top-loads the class even MORE. It's arguable that two-weapon fighting is subpar - but starting with point-blank shot and rapid shot (or precise shot, or whatever) is *never* a bad thing!
The answer again is warrior. This is what the elf entry in the MM reflects. Of course, there will be more elves in the typical campaign that have actual PC classes such as fighter and ranger and wizard, etc. Perhaps a good scout class could be of some value amongst the elves, or even an elven prestige class of some sort.
What class is the woodsman? What class is the bounty-hunter? Huh? Huh??!!
Easy answer: They're fighter/rogues.
More likely that they are experts (woodsman) or fighter types who have taken up a certain profession (bounty hunter). SW has a viable bounty hunter prestige class, and MotW has a few prestige classes along this line, like the Bloodhound.
In any event, why don't you post your revised Scout and we can take another look at it.
