Advice on building a Sniper

Hello everyone!

New campaign starting soon with my friends so i would like to build a nice character. After thinking for some time i decided i want an archer/shooter like dude with a giant beard.

The main idea tough is to make him a good sniper, i wish to shoot from very far distances and put bad guys down before they even know what the heck is going on.

Since i'm just an average player, i would like some advice on making this build functional. I plan on playing a Human, and probably Ranger as class, but if you have any race/class/feats/skills/traits suggestions it will be very welcome.

Thanks.

Question: how are you going to be part of a team, if your stated purpose is to be as far away from the enemy as is possible (while still hitting them)?

Yes that's an important question. Sorry for taking long to respond.

Yes, as far as possible while still shooting them. In group situations/combats i plan to stick with them, in the back of a room or entrance of a cave, while hitting enemies. In situations that i can use my great range for something useful i'll do it. Maybe i need to figure it out better later, but in general i don't plan to stay distant from my group.

This idea sounds great on paper and is quite easy to formulate, however it is unrealistic in about 90 to 95% of games that I've played. The only situations where a character has had the ability to get more than 50' away from someone and still see them is usually long, open battlefield conditions.

Have you asked your GM if this character would even work in your campaign? It would be a pain to try and build a sniper when you are constantly in caves or raiding fortresses or moving through dense woods or mountain passes or on urban streets with no rooftop access or...

Yes i've talked with him before coming here. Our campaign will be war-like. In the region there will be plenty of vast fields, a couple of small cities and some forts and military buildings. There will be dungeon crawling but not much, and the caves aren't that big.

He liked the idea because it fits will with the group, which is basically a mercenary group, each one with a very good ability.

I'd say Slayer could help with focusing on your enemy, and gaining a static bonus to attk and damage. Ranger works vs Favored enemy, but Slayer works well against anyone (And equall well against 1 favored enemy type with a feat). They can access the ranger fighting style to match ranger blow for blow, and you can also take the (Appropriately named) Sniper Archetype so that your Sneak Attack range increases.

I'd suggest taking the Signature Skill: Stealth Feat from Pathfinder Unchained, so that you can Snipe (The move action to hide after a single shot). If you want to be a character who uses a single shot of strong power, before hiding, I'd suggest a Heavy Crossbow of some sort, and the vital strike chain to add as much ommph for 1 attack as possible. You should note though that having a rapid fire DPS method is also a good idea, because that's how ranged combat gains ground over melee combat.

Very good, thanks Conall, you really helped a lot. That was exactly the idea i was in mind, snipping with a very strong shot. I'll make some more research, start taking notes of some feats i could use.

"urban streets with no rooftop access"

Play a Catfolk with the climb option, plus a class like Ranger suited to archery feats and with climb as a class skill, take a climbing trait, have decent strength, and it's pretty easy to start out at level 1 or 2 with an automatic guaranteed 25 climb check (races with a climb speed can take 10 even in combat +8 racial +4 class skill and rank +1 trait +2 STR).

Which means you can just run straight up any building walls with no handholds or rope and no climb checks needed at 20ft/move action, while still maintaining your DEX AC bonus and being able to fight with 1 hand. There's ALWAYS roof access! And usually a single round only to get from the ground to that rooftop (40 foot buildings or shorter). if there are handholds on the building, you can even take -5DC to move at 30ft/action climbing. Trees are also automatic guaranteed 30ft/move.

If you use a crossbow on top of that, or at least have one as an option, you can go prone on the rooftop and still shoot with +4AC, and nobody being able to get to you. AND the edge of the roof means that one line from you to the target always goes through a solid piece of cover, so +4AC MORE, just like being right around a corner all the time.

So now you're unreachable, at +8AC even without stealth and with no special feats, but can still shoot at them. At level 1.

Add in precise shot as soon as possible, deadly aim, all that good stuff, and I think you have an effective sniper. Tree limbs also work (make sure to max out acrobatics and have high DEX, cliff jumper is a great trait for you. Also you could argue with your DM that if you're prone you should get a significant bonus to acrobatics to avoid falling if hit from, say, a tree branch). Catfolk also get to reroll a reflex save once a day!

Some sort of one handed ranged weapon option would be nice too to be able to attack while on a wall not just after reaching a platform.

If you choose a ninja class instead of ranger, the catfolk CHA bonus helps you now, and you get sneak attacks whenever you snipe from stealth. Plus acrobatics is a class skill, and all kinds of useful tricks for leaping about and staying out of reach and stealthing and whatnot. You can still use crossbows as simple weapons.

Edit: if you have time to prepare like at a campsite, sleep in a hammock up in the tree tops, and tie yourself off to a piton so that you can't fall. Now, if you guys get ambushed, you can immediately snipe with 2-handed ranged weapons unreachable and the enemy probably shouldn't know you're there at first, and no worry about reflex or acrobatics if hit