Woah, so many issues. I know I'm literally years late, but this came up in MY google search so for future generations:
Firstly, you CANNOT make an attack of opportunity unless you are considered "armed." Without the Improved Unarmed Combat feat, your unarmed strike is not considered "armed," and without some improv feat I don't remember by name (I don't use improvised weapons enough to feat them) your improvisational weapons are also not valid for attacks of opportunity.
Secondly, the question of flanking with ranged weapons has only covered half of the argument - whether the ranged character can attack. Here is the definition of flanking: When making a melee attack, you get a +2 flanking bonus if your opponent is threatened by another enemy character or creature on its opposite border or opposite corner.
That one word changes everything. For instance, your archer takes Snap Shot, Improved Snap Shot, Combat Reflexes, Combat Patrol, and Point Blank Master. You can have potentially 25-30 feet IN ALL DIRECTIONS from your character that you threaten. The ranged character CANNOT actually get the flanking bonus, but in that burst around them, ALL MELEE CHARACTERS DO, because the ranged character threatens the enemy on it's opposite border.
Firstly, you CANNOT make an attack of opportunity unless you are considered "armed." Without the Improved Unarmed Combat feat, your unarmed strike is not considered "armed," and without some improv feat I don't remember by name (I don't use improvised weapons enough to feat them) your improvisational weapons are also not valid for attacks of opportunity.
Secondly, the question of flanking with ranged weapons has only covered half of the argument - whether the ranged character can attack. Here is the definition of flanking: When making a melee attack, you get a +2 flanking bonus if your opponent is threatened by another enemy character or creature on its opposite border or opposite corner.
That one word changes everything. For instance, your archer takes Snap Shot, Improved Snap Shot, Combat Reflexes, Combat Patrol, and Point Blank Master. You can have potentially 25-30 feet IN ALL DIRECTIONS from your character that you threaten. The ranged character CANNOT actually get the flanking bonus, but in that burst around them, ALL MELEE CHARACTERS DO, because the ranged character threatens the enemy on it's opposite border.
