Help me make this sniper build ;)


Advice


So, if you read previously I was trying to make a weird, really Niche Sensei build... So I scrapped it. Now I want to make a Sniper(Home grown) that uses a musket. Our group right now is only level 6, about to go on 7. The playstyle I want with him is to basically follow my group into a room last, (stealthed or what have you) get into position, and fire off a shot that does sneak attack damage. After that I would like to know if I could conceal myself or something that would enable me to do another attack with sneak attack damage? What class would be best to try to brew something like this up maybe rogue for the sneak attack bonus? I'd like to not multiclass if possible... Hell there might even be something on Google I can search... But I love coming here and hearing ideas :D.


To be effective, you're gonna hafta multiclass. Otherwise, you just won't be able to setup reliable or consistent SA conditions (heck, even if you were just taking 1 attack per turn, you're gonna suffer, the -20 hide penalty is huge). Prestiging into Shadow Dancer for a level, or taking a one-level dip into Oracle with either the Waves or Fire mysteries and the revelation that provides seeing through smoke are your best options (Shadow Dancer would be the obvious choice, but the feat taxes are nothing you're gonna wanna mess with for a ranged build). You could also be an Ifrit and take the racial Firesight feat, alternatively. Oracle is good though, because it'll give you 3x uses of Obscuring Mist per day, which is a good way to guarantee your SA damage when attempting ranged iterative attacks.

Now, are you gonna wanna use a bow, or a crossbow? Bows are much more powerful in PF, I'd recommend against crossbows, even though they're the thematic choice. Not that they can't be done...

RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16

Stealth wrote:
Sniping: If you've already successfully used Stealth at least 10 feet from your target, you can make one ranged attack and then immediately use Stealth again. You take a –20 penalty on your Stealth check to maintain your obscured location.

You can try to do what you want, but there's a huge penalty. There's an advanced rogue talent that halves that penalty (Stealthy Sniper), so once you hit 10 it can be viable.

If you want to do a single-shot build, you should consider using Vital Strike, since another d12 of damage is nothing to sneeze at.


Goblins are a pretty good race -- +4 size and +4 racial bonuses to stealth off the bat.

That said, you'll wanna pick up a pair of Sniper goggles, dip in the Rogue Sniper archetype for the pseudo-Far Shot, and take the Far Shot feat. Now you can shoot effectively x4 farther per range increment.

Now, just to be ridiculous... Spend the rest of your feats on Siege weapon proficiencies, and hire a small team of mooks to help you reload quickly. Now you can toss cattle at the enemy from the next county, and get precision damage from it.


halfling with swift as shadows reduces the stealth penalty by 10 in addition to the normal +4 stealth bonus... rogue sniper archetype helps especially with the advanced rogue talent above

Sczarni

Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

Here is your Recon Sniper build to level 16

4 Slayer (Stygian)
3 Rogue (Poisoner & Underground Chemist)
1 Divination Wizard (optional - shadowcaster)
8 Arcane Trickster

Your key stats are DEX, INT, and CHA, CHA needs to be 15 before Improved Eldritch Heritage can be selected.

A good racial choice here is Vashkanya, with bonuses to dexterity and charisma, and negatives to wisdom (your dump stat anyway). You also get free poison.

Underground Chemist + Quick Draw feat lets you draw poison and any alchemical item as a free action.

Poisoner lets you take any poison and convert it to any type you want. Take your own poison or one you craft and make it inhaled, use mage hand to deliver it up to 30 feet (Ranged Legerdemain)

Feats and class abilities:
1. Exotic Weapon Proficiency - Heavy Repeating Crossbow
2. Slayer Talent - Ranger Style Feat / Crossbow: Precise Shot
3. Extra Slayer Talent - Swift Poison
4. (none...replaced by Invisibility Spell-like ability 1/day)
5. Skill Focus: Disguise
6. Rogue Talent - Fast Stealth
7. Extra Rogue Talent - Rogue Crawl
8. (none)
9. Eldritch Heritage - Rakshasa (Silver Tongue)
10. (none)
11. Improved Eldritch Heritage - Hide Aura
12 (none)
13. Toxicological Timing
14. (none)
15. Improved Toxicological Timing

Traits:
Magical Knack (Wizard)
(any other that fits your character)

Feel free to change the order of the Toxicological Timing feats and the Eldritch Heritage feats to suit your needs.

MAX OUT STEALTH!

This build gives you several things: First, it lets you move at full speed for stealth. It also lets you move at half speed while prone. All poisons can be changed to any type, and onset and frequency can be changed down to one round, making cheap ingested poisons viable as inhaled/injury/contact types. The Eldritch Heritage feat line gets Hide Aura, hiding you from all detect spells as a constant ability. Divination focus lets you truly be the scout for the party.

This build also results in a +10 BAB, a 2/3 progression with 7d6 sneak attack.

The heavy repeating crossbow, with the Gravity Bow spell deals damage at 2d8.

Magical Items:
You are going to want to get sniper goggles ASAP.
In addition, a wand of True Strike is useful when you want to make sure you hit that enemy with your poison.
All items that boost your sleight of hand and escape artist
Stealth boosts - Cloak of Elvenkind etc

(edit: didn't put Quick Draw in the list. Can replace the exotic weapon proficiency if that suits your needs and go with a regular heavy crossbow)

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