Need advice on initial class for character build.

[Taason the Black]

Hey guys! Wanted to run this past you tell me what you think about this.

I'm going to be running the vigilante stalker ranged attack focus as the main levels of the character. We are running The Way of the Wicked campaign. My question is regarding whether I go the first level as a Divine Hunter Ranger,a Zen Archer monk, unchained ninja, or just begin as the vigilante. The character will be ranged mostly.

The ranger adds +1 BAB, +2/+2 vs humans favored enemy, Free Bullseye feat, and +2/+2/0 saves.

The Zen Archer adds +1 feat, Perfect Strike feat, flurry of blows, +2/+2/+2 saves, 1d6 unarmed dmg, with 0 BAB

The unclaimed ninja adds +1d6 SA (vigilante is big on SA dmg and has a talent that allows you to sneak attack at any range with the ranged weapon), quickdraw feat, fitness training, 0/+2/0 saves and 0 BAB.

The vigilante just means a faster start in the main class of the build.

All are good options. All add to the character. Way of the Wicked is very human front-loaded.

I see good in all of them. What are your thoughts? Thank you in advance

[VoodistMonk]

Unless you are specifically trying to qualify for a prestige class, it's often most optimal to stay with your class of choice. Multiclassing is tempting, but often sub optimal.

[Scott Wilhelm]

VoodistMonk wrote:

Unless you are specifically trying to qualify for a prestige class, it's often most optimal to stay with your class of choice. Multiclassing is tempting, but often sub optimal.

I love, love, love multiclassing, but I pretty much agree with you in this case. The OP wants to be a Zen Archer, you probably should multiclass much, if at all. As a Zen Archer, you get to Flurry of Blows with your arrows, and your Arrows do Monk Unarmed Strike Damage. You get a very strong reward for just staying the single-class Zen Archer path.

Taason the Black wrote:

What are your thoughts?

If I were tempted at all to dip out of Zen Archer, maybe a level in Ranger so I could use a Wand of Gravity bow, doing 2d6 instead of 1d8 with my arrows, and when my MUSD makes my arrows do even more, well, Gravity Bow makes it scale up with size, too. Also, maybe a level in Living Monolith so I can Enlarge Person as a Spell Like Ability: Virtual Size Increases like Gravity Bow stack with actual Size Increases like Enlarge Person. There is a small problem with this in that your arrows will increase in size along with you then shrink back down again as soon as they leave your bow. Mark Seifter told me that he had a character that got around this problem by buying a quiver of Size Large Arrows, dropping it, then casting Enlarge Person, then picking them up and shooting with them.

Taason the Black wrote:

My question is regarding whether I go the first level

You usually get Maximum Hit Points at first level, so I recommend your Initial Class be the one with the most hit points.

So like 1 level in Ranger, 6 levels in Zen Archer, then 1 level in Living Monolith. At 8th level, you can be firing 3 arrows/round that can be doing 3d6 each. At level 10, you will be firing 4 arrows/round that do 3d8 each. Take the rest of you levels in Zen Archer, and sweep and clear every battlefield with your hail of high-damage arrows.