Jimbolya's page

It basically states that after a successful attack I can attempt to stealth. I've been trying to find which book the sniping rule is in. I'm not mixing the class with rogue I just want to understand how firing from stealth helps. Are the targets caught flat footed?

Ok - going off the inquisitor suggestion here's what i've been able to piece together as a rough idea:

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Dwarf Fighter 1/Inquisitor (Infiltrator) 9 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 38; Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 0)
CG Medium humanoid (dwarf)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +16
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Defense
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AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 armor, +4 Dex)
hp 74 (1d10+9d8+20)
Fort +10, Ref +7, Will +8; +9 vs. abilities that detect lies or force the truth, +2 vs. poison, spells, and spell-like abilities
Defensive Abilities defensive training (+4 dodge bonus to AC vs. giants)
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Ranged repeating heavy crossbow +11/+6 (1d10/19-20)
Special Attacks bane (9 rounds/day), +1 on attack rolls against goblinoid and orc humanoids
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th; concentration +9)
At will—detect alignment
Domain Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th; concentration +11)
18 5-ft inc/day—dimensional hop
Inquisitor (Infiltrator) Spells Known (CL 9th; concentration +11):
3rd (3/day)—daybreak arrow{super}UC{/super}, dimensional anchor, halt undead (DC 15), invisibility purge
2nd (5/day)—blistering invective{super}UC{/super} (DC 14), detect thoughts (DC 14), ghostbane dirge{super}APG{/super} (DC 14), see invisibility
1st (6/day)—expeditious retreat, forbid action{super}UM{/super} (DC 13), hide from undead (DC 13), magic weapon, wrath{super}APG{/super}
0 (at will)—detect magic, detect poison, disrupt undead, light, read magic, stabilize
Domains Exploration, Travel
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Statistics
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Str 10, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 9
Base Atk +7; CMB +7; CMD 21 (25 vs. bull rush, 25 vs. trip)
Feats Crossbow Mastery[APG], Deft Hands, Lookout[APG], Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Reload, Rapid Shot, Shielded Caster[APG], Skill Focus (Disable Device), Target of Opportunity[UC]
Traits observant, vagabond child (urban)
Skills Appraise +2 (+4 to determine the price of nonmagic items with precious metals or gemstones), Bluff +10, Climb +10, Diplomacy +10, Disable Device +28, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +8, Knowledge (nature) +8, Knowledge (planes) +8, Knowledge (religion) +8, Perception +16 (+18 to notice unusual stonework), Sense Motive +15, Stealth +16, Survival +11, Swim +9
Languages Common, Dwarven, Gnome, Undercommon
SQ cunning initiative, door sight, forbidden lore, misdirection, necessary lies, judgement 3/day, solo tactics
Other Gear leather armor, crossbow bolts (20), repeating heavy crossbow, thieves' tools, 108 gp
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Special Abilities
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Bane (+2 / 2d6, 9 rounds/day) (Su) Make the weapon you are holding a bane weapon.
Crossbow Mastery (Repeating heavy crossbow) You can reload any crossbow as a free action. With your chosen crossbow type, this does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Defensive Training +4 Gain a dodge bonus to AC vs monsters of the Giant subtype.
Detect Alignment (At will) (Sp) Detect chaos, evil, good, or law at will.
Dimensional Hop (18 5-ft inc/day) (Sp) As a move action, teleport with no AoO to seen destination. Spend an equal distance to carry others.
Door Sight (5/day) (Su) By touching a door for 1 minute, use clairvoyance on the other side.
Forbidden Lore (Ex) May cast spells of alignment opposed to own or deity alignment.
Hatred +1 Gain a racial bonus to attacks vs Goblinoids/Orcs.
Inquisitor (Infiltrator) Domain (Exploration)
Lookout Not surprised if adj ally with same feat isn't surprised. Extra actions if both are aware.
Misdirection (Chaotic Evil) (Sp) When prepare spells choose an alignment to count as for magical detection.
Necessary Lies +9 (Su) Gain bonus to saves vs abilities detecting lies or forcing truth.
Point-Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Rapid Reload (Light crossbow) You can reload fast with one type of Crossbow or Firearm.
Rapid Shot You get an extra attack with ranged weapons. Each attack is at -2.
Second Judgement (3/day) (Su) Variable bonuses increase as the combat continues.
Shielded Caster +4 to concentration if adj ally has same feat, more if they have a shield. Halve Conc DC increases.
Solo Tactics (Ex) Count Teamwork feats as if your allies had the same ones.
Target of Opportunity When an ally hits with a ranged attack, you may make an attack as an immediate action

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I think this is a pretty good fit for what i'm trying to do.

Repeating crossbows might solve a few things as well with regards to offense if shooting and what not. Did not know they could use these weapons.

This inquisitor is pretty cool - i'm looking at the Infiltrator Archetype and maybe mix that with a spatter of rogue and zen archer possibly. the wisdom plays nice indeed.

ok - will look at the inquisitor. i did brush over it but i don't know all the classes all that well. just know what i'm trying to build lol =)
thanks the stars for hero lab. i can make and ditch as much as i want lol.

Agreed - that's why I'm trying to find the right combination to mash these things into so I don't lose out too much. I'll circle back on this tomorrow. I was supposed to go play tonight with the gang but I feel like doo doo so I'll just be heading home to dink around in the lab lol.

I honestly think you are placing far too much importance on disabling magical traps. Anyone can find magical traps with a perception check. Disabling the trap can be done with a dispel magic from a caster.

Even if you can't disable a trap, it's usually just damage or an alarm. It will drain some charges from your wand of CLW and you move on.

If you absolutely must have trapfinding, then I would go with a single class Trapbreaker or Crypt Breaker alchemist with the explosive missile discovery, and alchemical ammunition from the alchemy manual.

Never heard of that - thanks will look those two up as well. I'm definitely open to suggestions at this point lol.

Completely agree. You definitely cannot count on what anyone will bring to the table unless you've been gaming with them for a while. It's definitely like PUG play on DDO. With that being said, I'm definitely looking at all the input you've given. I'm definitely gong to keep hammering this out as I do feel like I'm making progress. After I get home tonight I'm gonna open up good ole hero lab and poke around and see what falls out with some of this new information I have (i.e. a trait that converts WIS to DEX et al).

I also understand that this character is going to be terribly hard to build -- I've been at it for a little while now...trying to find the right mix. I feel like i'm getting close. Last night on Hero Lab I think the character I had went something like this:

4 Zen Archer
4 Rogue
1 Archaeologist
1 Oracle

The stuff was pretty interesting. The stats might have been the only thing that I might have wanted to change. Dump CHA for the most part or keep it around 11 just to cast the 1st level spells, and put the rest into STR and WIS and take the feats / traits that convert WIS into DEX based stuff.

Jimbolya wrote:

@Duncan

I have an archaeologist now, and I thought I was going to be happy with the way it played; but I'm finding that the bard magic is a waste to my play style in combat. I'm definitely a shooter, and used very little magic from the archaeologist line. Additionally the scenarios we play make something like summon monster not even worth it so my only offense was a light crossbow. So, if this is how I'm going to play then I'm thinking I should play to my strengths. I do like using magic, just not bard magic.

Why were you using a crossbow?

You should have been using a shortbow. Strength to damage is a big deal, as archers need every point of static damage boost they can get.

I can understand bar magic not be the style you're after though, and wanting to focus more on using ranged attacks. To that end, zen-archer or ranger is a much better way to go.

Using a crossbow because that toon has only 10 STR. He's built as a generalist and I figured the archaeologist was going to be good with that. Healing, Knowledge, Luck, Diplomacy, I threw in the crossbow because he already had a high DEX. Maybe the Archaeologist was the way to go, but I was building it wrong (feats et al). However, it seems if I mix the classes up a bit I can get better results (i.e. archaeologist / zen archer; but then you can't disable magical traps lol).

Well unless I went 6 Archaeologist / 4 Zen Archer

Sure thing, and thanks for the help:

Primary:
1. The character must be able to contribute to combat. This has typically been ranged and not melee.

2. The character must be able to find and disable up to magical traps.

Secondary
1. The character should be able to assist or lead in diplomacy. This comes up at least once scenario and no one is ever prepared for it. The trend seems to be entirely combat related and we actually missed out on full prestige because all we could do was hack away.

2. The character should be able to assist with knowledge based skills. Again, only thing we were able to do was hack away and we missed out on things.

3. The character must have some form of stealth. Again, this doesn't always come up, but I have found it useful as I am typically on point.

Tertiary
1. Aid in out of combat or in combat healing. Everyone carries a healing wand so I'm not entirely concerned about this, but ok.

2. Ability to wide range of wands. This would be a nice perk to offset something or cast invisibility.

Hope this helps ~

@Duncan
I have an archaeologist now, and I thought I was going to be happy with the way it played; but I'm finding that the bard magic is a waste to my play style in combat. I'm definitely a shooter, and used very little magic from the archaeologist line. Additionally the scenarios we play make something like summon monster not even worth it so my only offense was a light crossbow. So, if this is how I'm going to play then I'm thinking I should play to my strengths. I do like using magic, just not bard magic.

@Claxon your response was pretty good - do you think that what I'm really trying to do would fit better with the Urban Ranger / Investigator combination given the base stats I originally posted?

Or even cap out the Urban Ranger at 8 to get a second favored community. So maybe something like this:

8 Urban Ranger - Combat
1 Investigator - Diplomacy
1 Oracle - just for kicks on the augury and maybe some additional Knowledge skills.

I see. I've been doing some digging around and I'm wondering if taking Urban Ranger would fit better.

9 Urban Ranger - Combat
1 Investigator - Diplomacy

Keep the stats fairly similar to what I have previously posted.

Qinggong Zen Archer - can you have two archetypes from the same base class>?

I see - so Uncanny Dodge and Evasion will not be worth it? So just to be clear and not insulting lol - do you understand the character I'm trying to build. The classes might not be the right classes - I'm open to other classes as long as I meet the requirements for the overall character. If you have a better suggestion I'm all for it lol.

@Imbicatus
High DEX is for hitting with bow and disable device. The Rogue to the build adds a lot of skill points. Was wanting skill points for things like Diplomacy / Sense Motive et al. INT is up for Knowledge skills that come up at least once a module as well. Additionally, the Rogue is the only one that I know of that can disable magical traps right off the bat. I'm not sure the Urban Ranger can do that. Not entirely worried about Sneak Attack damage. Might be able to get a shot in the surprise round, but I was thinking of leaning on the Flurry of Blows for DPS. More Arrows does not mean more damage? I do not really plan on this character being in hand-to-hand range.

Looking to build a Zen Archer Rogue. I find that in most games I'm either looking to disable something or shoot it. I dabbled with the Archaeologist, but that is proving to be slightly lackluster for my taste.

What I was thinking, since I'm playing in the Society and the max level is 10/11, is having 4 levels rogue + 4 levels Zen Archer...

I'm looking at having two levels where I can sneak in a few extra things. I was thinking 1 level Fighter and then 1 Level Oracle. Let me explain:
The Fighter will be for some bonus feats and few extra hit points, and the Oracle for the augury and knowledge base skills.

I'm not too concerned with the magic from the Oracle since it will pretty much be useless, but I thought the idea of peering into the future might be fun to play around with.

The character I'm looking for is someone who is traveled, wise, and deadly.

Cheers ~

Oh let me add this as well:
Half-elf for race
Specialize in long bows

Starting stats:
STR 10
DEX 16
CON 10
INT 14
WIS 14
CHA 14

Level points will go into Dex.