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So, my Bard has a Cohort and she's a Shadowdancer. Given that she's a Cohort I decided to go all in with her sneaking abilities. Now, getting Stealth up to sufficient level is easy enough, but the Stealth Skill is really limited in use, so I decided to expand, making her unseen to ALL.

So here's my list for feats, abilities and items that lets one be completely and utterly undetectable... up to a certain standard. I am not so much looking for advice as I am sharing the list I found, but any additions are more than welcome. So, to start this off:

1) Hide in Plain Sight (Shadowdancer Ability) - Lets you Stealth while being observed in Dim Light
2) Hellcat Stealth (Feat) - Lets you Stealth while being observed in Normal or Bright Light with a -10 penalty
3) Dampen Presence (Feat) - Lets you Stealth against Blindsense and Blindsight
4) Conceal Scent (Feat) - Scent only works at half distance and you can't be pin-pointed by scent
5) Boots of the Soft Step (1.000 gp Item) - Negates Tremorsense when walking at a quarter speed (or halves its range when walking half speed)
6) Dampening Ointment (250 gp Item) - Lets you Stealth against Lifesense and Spiritsense for up to 1 hour
7) Hag Magic (Changeling ART) - Once per day Pass Without Trace: Target doesn't leave footprints (handy for sneaking up on someone in the mud/snow/etc.) for one hour per CL(HD)

Bonus:
8) Concealment Mastery (Feat) + Sleeves of Many Garments (200 gp Item) - Allows the casting of Vanish for 1-3x per day (Depending on Base Fort Bonus)

For the next campaign I'm about to play I wanna try to build and play a competent switch hitter, mainly focussed on extremely long ranged attacks (sniping), but being a powerful melee fighter when needed (and need it I will). Everything from Paizo is viable, 3rd party stuff is not. Zen Archer is banned by the DM. I've worked it out quite a lot, but I want some more opinions and hopefully advice. I'm playing a Half-Drow (Half-Elf), for the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Elven Curved Blade), because it's a powerful weapon that's Finessable. I multiclass in 3 classes, Fighter (Archer), Unchained Rogue (Sniper) & Monk (Far Strike Monk). Stats are at 1st lvl: Str 16; Dex 20; Con 15; Int 7; Wis 9; Cha 7.
For the feats:
F = Regular Feat
RF = Racial Feat
BF = Bonus Feat
HF = Hero Point Feat
Weapon Finesse + = Unchained Rogue Str -> Dex on damage

1. Fighter 1
- RF: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (ECB)
- F: Precise Shot
- BF: Point-Blank Shot
- HF: Rapid Shot
2. Rogue 1
- Weapon Finesse
3. Monk 1
- F: Many Shot
- BF: Far Shot
- Quick Draw
4. Fighter 2
- BF: Weapon Focus (LB)
5. Rogue 2
- F: Weapon Specialization (LB)
- BF: Deadly Aim
6. Rogue 3
- Weapon Finesse +
7. Fighter 3
- F: Power Attack
8. Fighter 4
- BF: Furious Focus
9. Fighter 5
- F: Signature Skill (Perception)
10. Fighter 6
- BF: Distance Thrower
11. Fighter 7
- F: Point Blank Master
12. Fighter 8
- BF: Clustered Shot
13. Fighter 9
- F: Weapon Focus (ECB)
14. Fighter 10
- BF: Weapon Specialisation (ECB)
15. Fighter 11
- F: Snap Shot
16. Fighter 12
- BF: Combat Reflexes
17. Fighter 13
- F: Improved Snap Shot
18. Fighter 14
- BF: Agile Manoeuvres
19. Fighter 15
- F: Trick Shooter
20. Fighter 16
- BF: Improved Trip

What exactly initiates a surprise round and in what order do you resolve one? I know it follows the initiative order, but let me give an example:

Me (a Witch) and my party are trying to ambush some Demons. We're waiting and hiding party behind a bush, partially covering ourselves with snow (because Winter Witch ftw). The Demons pass by and I decide to cast the Slumber Hex. Would the casting initiate the surprise round or would the surprise round be initiated directly before I cast, allowing my teammates to be able to beat me in initiative and act before me, even though I could afterwards change my mind and just act like nothing happened, effectively negating the fact that the surprise ever should have happened. What I think should happen is that everyone aware of the ''surprise'' should be able to act according to initiative except for the person initiating it, who acts first, because otherwise the surprise round would not (yet) exist.

What are your thoughts about this or is there any rule I missed that (partially) sorts this out?

Hello everyone, I'm looking for a viable Shadowdancer build.
I've been playing my character, Danté Lost, for a little over a year now and I've always been fascinated with with the PrC Shadowdancer. Danté has withstood many changes as he started out as a dual wielding, human, CG fighter who later gained the Shadowdancer PrC. After half a year he changed and is now a Tiefling, CE, Zen Archer, again with Shadowdancer levels. Now, again, I have a plan for him and that's creating an evil syndicate with him as the head of it. This will mostly happen behind the scenes, so need him to be as good as someone running an organisation can be.

What exactly am I looking for? A build which mostly focusses on Charisma based skills and everything associated with a Kingpin (like the Black market Connections Rogue Talent for example), but is still viable in combat.

Stats that can't be changed:
-Race: Tiefling (I just enjoy the idea of everyone liking an unnerving Tiefling and being able to cast Darkness 3 times a day comes in very handy for a Shadowdancer).
-Allignment: CE
-Feat: Vile Leadership
-Trait: Wicked Leader
-I want to be a Shadowdancer at least at lvl 7.
-My character has to be lvl 15

What I need:
-25 point buy Ability Scores. Obviously Charisma needs to be high, and I'd like it have a lot of skill points.
-Class(es) for lvl 1-6
-Any good Archetype(s) for those Class(es)
-Feats, and a lot of them
-Traits
-Rogue Talents
-Items

I want to be mainly Stealth, Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate focussed, together with as many possible ways to escape Death, since Danté is mortally afraid of dying.

Possible feats I want are Hellcat Stealth, Quickened Spell-like Ability and Grave-Risen (I already qualify for this one). There are way more, so I'd like it if I'm able to take up lots of feats.

Also I have to say that my Cohort (a Changeling Witch called Neopolitan), is very adept in the Enchantment department, so I have no need to focus on that myself.

Possible classes I've considered are: Anti-Paladin, (Unchained) Rogue, Fighter, Monk and Bard. I'm also looking for specific Archetypes if they may help me.

Everything Paizo is fair game, but no 3rd Party stuff.