who makes the best sniper?


Advice


i was wanting to build a bow or x-bow sniper was wanting to be elf mostly for flavor choice. it a 20 point buy all pathfinder books and resources are ok. im debating what class or classes im going to start from alchemist is the only magic class im wiling to take trying to keep him is mundane is possible. this will be my first sniper so any help would be great thanks everyone.

Grand Lodge

Wayang

Bonus to Dex and Int, penalty to Wis. Racial bonus to stealth.

I have a wayang with a +18 stealth at level 2, meaning when he snipes, he is 1d20-2. He is a arcanist 1/wizard 1 though, not alchemist.


If by "sniper" you mean long range archer, then Fighter is an obvious choice (especially the archer archetype), offering enough feats to fully utilize a bow, as well as damage boosting options, and a high BAB. Ranger and slayer are both excellent, for somewhat similar reasons.

If you mean "shoot from stealth", then the Slayer has an archetype specifically for that, although it can be a difficult concept to use effectively. The stealth rules and difficulty of adding sneak attack to a ranged attack can create obstacles.

Edit: forgot to say, use a bow. Crossbow is mechanically inefficient. (Insert snarky comment about water balloons).


1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.
Pathfinder Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Slayer can get "Sniper's Eye" via talent, allow you to sneak attack in spite of concealment. The Studied Target along with enough skill points to get a good Stealth would also help.

I would go Slayer.

Do the rules allow you to fire a bow from prone? If not, that would be one minor advantage for crossbow.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

If your idea of a sniper is one shot, one kill, that's not quite going to happen in Pathfinder.

You could definitely put out a lot of damage with full attacks though, and I recommend Zen Archer archetype for Monk.

Silver Crusade

The question is 'what is a sniper' here.

Are you looking to shoot and hide? That's...difficult to do in a team game, and is difficult to do in normal games. It's possible, but you'll have to talk to your GM about if those situations will come up.

Are you looking to just shoot from far away? I'd probably go Bolt Ace Gunslinger since even a light crossbow shoots from 80 ft, and gets dex to damage at 5th level so you have a single stat use, as well as perception as a class skill, which is important for being able to spot people and a focus on wisdom as a class skill. A Dex focus will also make hiding easier since you'll need stealth, but there's a few traits you can pick up to lower the penalties to actual sniping.


i was thinking of takin 12 lvls of rogue and 8 lvls of gunslinger bolt ace using the crossbow with vital strike feat chain i jus want to decent damage not one shot kill just give them one hell of a sting i dont want it to be optimal i jus want to make a really fun sniper i mite take levels of ninja instead to get the ki


Petty Alchemy wrote:
If your idea of a sniper is one shot, one kill, that's not quite going to happen in Pathfinder.

Slayer 10, ranged Sneak Attack, Assassinate - that's a sniper one shot, one kill in Pathfinder.

Scarab Sages

If you want a rogue/x with vital strike, then go Crossbowman Fighter 7/Rogue 13. Deadshot will make every readied vital strike you declare do sneak attack damage.

It isn't optimal, but it is effective at making one big hit, and great against spellcasters.

Sovereign Court

As noted above, d20 systems don't represent silent kill methods well, be they sniping or garroting or many other tropes of the cloak-n-dagger genre. It's a problem of what hit points represent.. their paradigm is antithical to the very idea of one-shot-one-kill.

Some games of that spycraft genre try to shoehorn into d20 (usually d20 Modern), and might give you ideas. The Iron Kingdoms (d20 version) had a sniper prestige class, the gist of it was essentially any hit with a rifle threatens a crit whilst your victim is unaware of you. It was uber powerful in 3.0, and probably unplayably broken in the Pathfinder environment, but it's an idea to explore.

One could take a page from that idea and look at the assassin PrC abilities and try to think of a way to adapt them for ranged combat.


what if i reversed it and took 7 lvls slayer and 13 fighter

Grand Lodge

Slayer, Sniper archetype. Do not go Rogue.

A dip into Savage Technologist, with the Coherent Rage trait.


no guns for this build were not using guns in this campaign

Grand Lodge

Slayer, Sniper archetype, is still a great choice.


any advice for good enchanements for x bows and is magic ammo and option?


The best burst dmg character in the game so far is probably a Sanctified Slayer Inquisitor. Depending on your lvl you lose some d6 sneak dmg to a Slayer or a rogue but Bane/greater bane+Divine Power buff+stufied target more than make up for it.

Main problem with ranged sneaks is you cant flank to get the bonus out of stealth. Sanctified Slayer bonuses solve that problem. And you get amazing versatility: skills, heals, buffs.... yeah its good.

Grand Lodge

I think you are gonna have a bit of a problem being an actual sniper at low levels.

First issue is the -20 to stealth when sniping. This is super hard to overcome and even once you do, you are basically doing a d20 roll.

Second issue is the damage you will be firing off. You are gonna want to be small for that +4 to stealth. This means you will already be starting with reduced damage, 1d6 on a longbow.

Third issue is the range you will need. Without an expensive magic item, you can only do this sniping with sneak attack damage at 30ft.

The best way I can see to combat these 3 issues is being a caster.

Level 1 Wayang Arcanist could have a stealth of +17
Trait to make it a class skill and a +1 (+4)
Familiar (+3)
Size (+4)
Rank and Dex of 16 (+4)
Racial (+2)

Spells also do not care about your size. A tiny spell caster does 4d6 with scorching ray, same as a large spell caster. Additionally, you will have reduce person available, and thus the +5 to stealth for becoming tiny. Tiny will also give you another +2 to hit vs the more often then not 10 flat footed touch AC.

Those spells are great for range too. You are not dependant on making the stealth roll to be able to do that damage and you can be more then 30 feet away. Not many more at early levels, but as you grow, you can get farther and farther back.


so im going to go drow cavern sniper our gm has approved it and i think maybe take a few lvls of alchemist with it


If psionics are on the table, go with the Marksman class, Shroud archetype, Sniper style. For feats, Vital Strike chain, Psionic Shot chain, Psionic Meditation to apply Psionic Shot every round.

Dark Archive

If you can get your DM to okay the Ricochet Shot Deed with crossbows then go Gunslinger(Bolt Ace) 5 Slayer 15 and you can get your sneak attack, full bab and assassinate.

Shadow Lodge

You just need hide in plain sightis not that hard to get, but its kind of hard to get it, in the meantime get you wiz a wand of invisibility asap


the hell with crossbow imma just use composite and make my own arrows and done with it take 8 lvls rogue/12 fighter archer


So, you asked everyone for help, they went out of their way to give you ideas, and you ignored literally every suggestion?

Why did you ask, again?


yea the more i really read i like marksmen shroud i few didnt see that before until i read your comment and went back up and seen that so itll be elf marksmen shroud slayer and use a composite bow to hold in damage. i just didnt want to use gunslinger and wayang takes penalty to wisdom constitution isnt a major hit. and its was just becoming to complicated to use the crossbow.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Advice / who makes the best sniper? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.