Yes I can, Barbs are more fun ;P my DM is the same way with roleplaying mental stats. Usually just saves us from putting points in diplomacy and the like, also with min/maxing not mattering monks become more useful. So sure you could be the big two handed fighter, but unless your character idea needs the feats to do what you want you might like the bigger versatility considering the things you've been fighting.
Vital Strike is a trap. Sure, you'll be rolling lots of dice, but with level 6 comes an iterative attack, and Vital Strike sucks because it doesn't multiply static damage bonuses. And as a two-handed fighter, you're all about static bonuses. Power Attack, Weapon Specialization, Weapon Training, Strength, weapon enhancement bonuses, none of those are multiplied with VS. You'll always do more damage with two hits than with a VS hit. And fighters are arguably one of the most accurate of all melee classes, because of full BAB, high Strength, Weapon Focus, and Weapon Training.
As far as stats go, tanking Int and Charisma, while something I don't like to do, is fairly common practice for many fighters. But tanking Wisdom is a terrible idea. With low Wisdom comes low Will saves, and with low Will saves comes a totally screwed fighter when you encounter any enemy with charms, illusions, dominates, etc. Charmed fighters do no damage, and Dominated fighters wipe the rest of the party.
Maybe go ranger? They're a lot more versatile, and you can combine big hits with the appropriate favored enemy and weapon fighting styles. Also back up healer. Maybe alchemist for some area of effect stuff, buffs, and back-up skill monkey.
But don't dump stat Wisdom--it's good for Will Saves and Perception, of course.
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Firstly, I am sorry you had to witness first hand the redundancy of the Rogue. Great class theoretically, mechanically poop.
Ranger is a good choice for versatility and big hits both with bow and 2h.
Alternatively, 2h Paladin works well, high saves is great, decent damage, and of course Smite Evil. ALso, as it seems you are not really roleplaying characters yo are not geting any of the disbenifits of the Paladin.
If oyu go Paladin go with Oath of Vengeance as this allows you to replace 2 LOH's for an extra smite per day which is pretty awesome (with 16 Cha you have 5 Lay on Hands a day at lvl 5)
so you got a wizard who doesn't do damage or control combat
a cleric who only heals or buffs
and a fighter who doesn't do much damage...
point in common: no damage
Your GM seems to let a lack of skillpoints fly if you roleplay well.
I would strongly recommend an archer fighter.
It has huge damage capability and that's about all you need.
A barbarian is often also a tank which you don't need, a decent sword and board and a cleric who heals during combat (not the best tactic by the way) are largely good enough.
all in all your party saddens me a bit and I personally don't like playing a fighter, but it seems by far the most fitting and direly needed thing. Ranger and barbarians or two-handed fighter would also work well.
oh, and your GM really has no rogue-love, none at all, not even for their average damage capability.
Have you seen the Bard options in the APG?
the sandman archetype looks like a blast to play.
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If you do go the THF route for fighter, I don't see anything wrong with taking Vital Strike and possibly the entire chain. There are plenty of times when you can't get a full attack on something simply because you're too far away or whatever. In these cases, rather than charge and get base damage, just walk up to whatever it is and hit it. Really hard. With the THF variant, you also get double your str on that attack.
If you really want to dish out the damage, though, you should be an archer. Pretty much any archer you make is going to be pretty disgusting, they jsut each have different things they bring to the table.
Whatever you do though, don't drop your will to 7. The spells you REALLY want to save against are usually against your will save.
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Whatever you do though, don't drop your will to 7. The spells you REALLY want to save against are usually against your will save.
Indeed. Pretty much all my chars have the Trait to get +1 Will and the Feat for +2 Will. Will is the silent killer. As a Paladin at 5th lvl you can get +12 Will save with Cha 18 and the trait and Feat (though its a bit indulgent, usuall I just get the trait and Feat for other classes with poop Will saves)
Indeed with a THF vital strike works just fine. You have so many feats and THF requires so few it's far from a trap.
However that being said I personally would go something more like a Paladin. Actually definitely a paladin. You'll be bringing on the hurt all day every day in the AP you mentioned.
Ranger... Look at CoT's players manuals Rangers suggested favoured enemies & terrains... the list is very, very short compared to other APs. That is why Ranger and Horizon Walker should work extremely well in that AP.
How exactly would you use a Large Greatsword? it's a t-handed weapon, so you can't wield it ever as a medium creature, unless you're using some feats and stuff from 3.5 as there's no way to do that in PF
You CAN grab a Large sized Bastard Sword, and EWP. It becomes a 1h weapon, and Large size ups the handed-ness my 1 step to 2h. You wield it with a -2 to attack, not really optimal at all, as attack bonus is more important than damage to DPR most days, but your party seems like they'd be impressed by tossing 4d8 and adding 19 to that.
but archer seems better, high damage, and you get to hide behind the tank, as opposed to taking all the hits cause you do so much more damage than him.
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So I quickly drew up a large greatsword wielding human fighter. By next level when he takes vital strike, he can do 6d6+19 dmg with a power attack. This blows the rogue's damage potential out of the water.
Blow it away even further with a barbarian who uses a large bastardsword (a 2d8 weapon). With a heal/buff cleric at your back, you'll be a juggernaut of doom. To differentiate yourself from the S&B fighter, go "overboard" in your role of all-attack/worthless-AC (and pick a non-human race if the fighter is a human). Build is barbarian-X/fighter(3or4,weapon_master).
01 barb1 EWP:bastardsword
02 figh1 WF:bastardsword
03 figh2 Power Attack, Furious Focus
04 barb2 Reckless Abandon +1
05 figh3 Weapon Training +1
06 barb3 Vital Strike
07 barb4 Raging Vitality, (Reckless Abandon +2)
...switch WF and Vitality if you think your cleric is incompetent.
7th-level equipment: +1/Furious bastardsword, Gloves of Dueling, wrestler's mask, lots of potions of Enlarge Person and Lead Blades (if you can find them). Quilted-cloth armor (or mithril agile breastplate if you actually want to sink money into it).
Vital Strike is a trap. Sure, you'll be rolling lots of dice, but with level 6 comes an iterative attack, and Vital Strike sucks because it doesn't multiply static damage bonuses.
Ignore the Vital Strike haters -- unless you have Quickdraw and a ranged weapon, you will not often be granted the opportunity to full-attack unless your DM's monsters are always stupid and there's never difficult terrain. In the meantime, +2d8 (+3d8 Enlarged) is a fat chunk of damage for a common move-and-attack sequence. Besides, unless a barbarian is focused on a feat-chain, there's nothing else worth taking at 6th or 7th.
Build and race: If you're going to dump CHA into the grave, you might as well play a dwarf and make it a 5. With the "free" 2pts from CHA cycled elsewhere, great racial saves and a CON bonus, dwarves are probably the most kick-ass race in the game. For more roleplaying flavor, make an half-elf with a positive CHA score who then takes the Chevalier prestige-class.
The reason I'm not going archery route is that the party needs to have someone else frontline besides the sword and board fighter. The cleric and wizard will not stand up to fight. Besides, I've been noticing that the lower damage potential of arrows would hardly scratch the surface of the high-DR monsters we've been facing.
You can Vital Strike arrows too. Also arrows of special materials are incredibly cheap.
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I don't understand why I can't use a large 2-handed greatsword. The only thing I read was that I would take a -2 penalty. If someone can point me to the rule, I would appreciate it. (I know it is powergaming min/maxing at its worst, but I'm sort of playing this character to prove a point anyway.)
The main reason I wanted to use the large greatsword was the double of the damage dice from 3d6 to 6d6 with vital strike. The jump from 2d6 to 4d6 is cool, but not that cool.
I'm assuming that I will very rarely get to use the iterative attack at 6th level, plus at a -5 penalty (on top of the -2 penalty for power attack and -2 for using a large weapon - if I can even do that now), I would be facing a -9 penalty on the rare instance I can do a full attack.
The reason I'm not going archery route is that the party needs to have someone else frontline besides the sword and board fighter. The cleric and wizard will not stand up to fight. Besides, I've been noticing that the lower damage potential of arrows would hardly scratch the surface of the high-DR monsters we've been facing.
After some examination, I don't think the ranger is the way to go. Again, this is the iterative attack situation. Unless I can take a full attack action, the ranger is not going to be able to deal the damage that a fighter-type would.
The paladin, on a pure damage basis, also falls behind this build. I am doing more damage every round with the power attacking (even medium sized) great sword than I would with the smite evil - and I can do that only twice per day.
Weapon specialization, open only to a fighter, is +2 to damage, which beats a barbarian's rage bonus to damage in that I do it with every attack without having to spend rage points. The ability to wear heavy armor and extra feats seems to edge fighter above barbarian.
After the character is made, I'm pretty much locked in to the equipment I own. We get very little useful treasure in the adventure, can't make our own magic items. I cannot assume that I will come into...
I'm going to have to jump in here and defend my beloved ranger & archery style from your assumptions. Properly built and played a ranger can be a beast when it comes to damage output and archery, especially strength based focused archery is the highest DPR build in the game.
Arrows are all about consistently getting multiple attacks every round and having a variety of arrow types to blow through whatever DR is in the way while being safe in the back.
A good archer build at 6th level should be putting 4 arrows a round into a target for minimum 10+ damage a hit (and usually much higher).
Ranger builds are all about working in tandem with your Animal Companion and maximizing your Favored Enemy bonus. At 6th level a good feral build Ranger with an Animal Companion should be doing 2-8 attacks EVERY ROUND against a target for 60 - 100 damage and needing next to no gear to do it with.
Add to that you can keep your trapfinding, sneak, high skill points and self-sufficiency that you had with the rogue (without the rogue suckiness).
Pure fighters are fun but you can do better than that.
That is all.
I would go with Schneiders build WITH the large 2 handed sword. So when you are enlarged you get to use a Huge sword. And roll lots and lots of dice.
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I don't understand why I can't use a large 2-handed greatsword. The only thing I read was that I would take a -2 penalty
CRB p144:"The measure of how much effort it takes to use a weapon
(whether the weapon is designated as a light, one-handed,or two-handed weapon for a particular wielder) is altered
by one step for each size category of difference between
the wielder’s size and the size of the creature for which the
weapon was designed. For example, a Small creature would
wield a Medium one-handed weapon as a two-handed
weapon. If a weapon’s designation would be changed to
something other than light, one-handed, or two-handed by
this alteration, the creature can’t wield the weapon at all."
-- This means a large greatsword goes beyond the "two-handed" limit for a normal-sized person (d10 bastardswords and waraxes, however, get around this by becoming 2d8 large two-handed weapons; note that if you play a dwarf barbarian you won't need the EWP feat. Some argue you don't need it for large bastardsword 2H user, but it's in the build just in case you DM demands -- if not, then scroll Raging Vitality up and take Lunge).
<strong archery stuff>
I have archers, and they are tons of fun and can dish out a crap-ton of damage if they're built right with lots of numerical bonuses. But a lot of your time at higher level is spent playing second-fiddle mop-up to powerful spellcasters. You're also extremely dependent upon nobody screwing with your bow or obscuring your line-of-fire (a lousy 2nd-level spell like Web is an archer-nerfer; and if he's in a tree, so much the better because you'll turn the entire thing into a glue-ball). ...and let's not even get into will-saves, which rangers enjoying failing as frequently as rogues, and have zero class tricks to help out.
Every so often you're tired of playing a sulker or a guy who has to memorize crap every day -- and want to cut loose with a total extrovert who loves running up and smacking things for sixty points while wearing curly chest-hair armor, and then daring them to stay within your threat on their turn if they're not dead already.
It's not that Vital Strike is very weak because people assume that you'll always get full attacks, it's that the feat has (in most games) very limited uses. Unless your runner is going to house rule it it just isn't a good idea to take it, because it's a poorly written.
It's a feat you'll only get to use if you don't/can't take a full attack, charge, spring attack, use a combat maneuver, or have anything else to do with your standard action. Because of that and the fact it only multiples the weapon's base damage dice you just don't get to use it that much. Maybe if it scaled by itself like Power Attack or something but as written once you get a few levels into the game it's waste. Take some of the various rage feats, something that you can still use at higher levels.
You might want a Summoner. Your Eidolon can have a pretty good damage out put, or you can go Synthesis to do it yourself with the large great sword. The various Summon Monster abilities work fairly well for finding traps, but that means not having your Eidolon out.
I would suggest an arcane duelist bard, but...with only one other melee type, Inspire courage isn't super omg wtf amazing.
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It's not that Vital Strike is very weak because people assume that you'll always get full attacks, it's that the feat has (in most games) very limited uses. Unless your runner is going to house rule it it just isn't a good idea to take it, because it's a poorly written. It's a feat you'll only get to use if you don't/can't take a full attack, charge, spring attack, use a combat maneuver, or have anything else to do with your standard action.Which is most of the time for a low-INT barbarian who'd rather just dish out damage than get cute with maneuver tricks. (you can even roleplay yourself as an honorable warrior who doesn't trip or disarm or grapple).
Because of that and the fact it only multiples the weapon's base damage dice you just don't get to use it that much.
Thus enlarged with a large weapon -- that's extra 3d8 at 6th-10th and extra 6d8 at 11th with IVS. You kill most non-boss things with one hit at any level.
Paladin's are great in CoT - you could also act as the party face.
Another option would be a single level of Rogue for Trapfinding and then straight Ranger focusing on archery. Archers do great damage and since you are always in town its never hard to restock arrows.
here is my suggestion.
wait for ultimate combat to come out before you make your decision.
there might be some interesting combat oriented archtypes.
I don't get how rangers have a minimum 10 damage per hit. At best, there's a +1 Composite [Str +4] (is that the limit) longbow: 1d8+5. If you take into account favored enemy, that's a little higher, but you can't guarantee that every fight like you can with a two-handed weapon and power attack.
There's a power attack for bows: Deadly Aim. -1 attack +2 damage, gain another -1, +2 for every 4 BAB. The use of Rapid Sot for extra attacks, toss in Point Blank if you can, you can easily reach the damage output of that two-hander. Deadly Aim becomes more useful the more attacks you have, as each one gains the damage bonus. Rapid Shot for ranged attacks gives you such an extra attack.
Perhaps you can't get +10 damage per arrow at your level, but soon you'll be able to do that and more. At level 7, you'll have 4 attacks per full-attack action. Three of those are at Full BAB - 2, one is at full BAB - 7. With Deadly Aim at that level, you'll be doing +4 damage per arrow. With a +1 composite longbow +4, that's +9 damage already. So that's an average of 13.5 damage per arrow, three of which will almost always hit. Now we're at something around 41 damage per round, assuming average dice rolls. At level 7. From a long ways away. That's really, really freaking good. With the guide archetype mentioned below, that's +4 damage per shot, raising it to 53 damage a round, almost guaranteed. I still think that Arcane Duelist archers are the best archers in the game though <_<
There are ways around the DR issues with your pet, and if nothing else, he can help provide flanking for you, giving you +2 to hit.
Arcane Duelist doesn't give up Inspire Courage. Some Bard archetypes do, but not that one. And no rogue archetypes give up sneak attack (although it'd be cool to see one that did, it'd have to be powerful). Heck, the Magician bard does give up Inspire Courage, but he's amazing.
Guide archetype for Rangers gets around the "can't guarantee a fight with favored enemy" aspect of Rangers.
Blind oracles are actually pretty good, unless you're soloing. Deaf oracles just suck though.
I'm not sure what you're referring to as bonus damage once per day when core classes can do the same thing more often.
I think you should look over the archetypes a bit more closely again. I think you're misremembering quite a few of them. Most classes on d20pfsrd.com have a table that show exactly what each archetype gives up, and you can look at them there.
Also, just wait for ultimate combat if you can. If your desire is to do lots of damage, you can do that, especially with barbarians. Want a Ranger that Rage like a barbarian? It's got that. A fighter that's really good at dirty trick / disarm / trip? There's that too. A magus that is extremely good at acting first and using his chosen weapon? Yep, there's that as well. Even clerics have options to turn into great(er) fighting machines.
About Vital Strike vs Iterative attacks:
Basic stats: Fighter level 16. Lets say you have a +4 weapon, and a 30 strength. So you have +19 from that (due to +4 +10 + (1.5*mStr). You have power attack, which gives us +15 damage from a two-handed weapon. So your bonus damage is +34. This is ignoring the weapon training bonus.
Let's assume you have Greater Vital Strike, so your weapons do 4x weapon damage dice when you do your one attack. Assuming a Large Bastard sword (makes the math easier) while Enlarged, you'll be doing on average 54 damage with that one attack. Not bad.
With vital strike, you'll be hitting for 88 damage on average at level 16. That's pretty cool. Assuming DR Good/10, that's 78 damage.
Now let's look at iteratives.
At level 16, you'll have 4 attacks. +16/+11/+6/+1. Let's assume the first two will hit, since that's basically the case. With that same Large Bastard Sword while Enlarged, you'll be doing 3d8+34 damage. Each attack will on average do 47.5 damage. Those two attacks that hit? Average of 95 damage. 75 with that DR Good/10. We've already basically matched that damage of greater vital strike. And we still have two more attacks to go. The third attack has a decent chance of hitting, and the 4th one can be written off. If that 3rd one hits? 142.5 damage.
Oh, and you'll be hasted by this level, so you'll have an extra attack when doing a full-attack action. So your actual average damage will be 142.5 (112.5 with DR included). If 4 of your attacks hit, that's 190 damage (150 with DR). Since you didn't take Greater Vital Strike at level 16, you can pick up Greater Penetrating Strike, which lets you ignore up to 10 points of DR. When you get a +5 weapon, you'll ignore basically all but DR -.
So...same situation, Greater Vital Strike will do 78 damage. Full attacks will do 190. On average.
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As I recently found out, Barbarians are a ton of fun and joy in the damage per round department! (Thank you everyone on the boards for the advice in making my build.)
If your wizard is the "face" of the party, then don't bother fighting with him for "talking" time. Let him be the face!
YOU can do your part by becoming outstanding in "KILLING STUFF" *cue evil laughter. :P
Also when you have a 2 handed weapon in your hands, not even your wizard will want to mess with you... not when you can 1 hit KO him if he piss you off!
Do note that a fighter is better in the long run when it comes to raw damage potential, but only with the Barbarian can you get away with "Rage Killing" ANYONE that pisses you off! :D
You're starting at the sweet spot for Inquisitors... 5th level and bane. Bane plus all the ranged damage options you see earlier in this thread is a potent combo...
Plus with the right inquisitions and archetypes, you can still be stealthy and be the face if you want, too. And check out the "guided" weapon enchantment that uses wisdom for both to hit and damage bonuses and can be used for both melee and ranged weapons...
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About Vital Strike vs Iterative attacks:
Basic stats: Fighter level 16. Lets say you have a +4 weapon, and a 30 strength. So you have +19 from that (due to +4 +10 + (1.5*mStr). You have power attack, which gives us +15 damage from a two-handed weapon. So your bonus damage is +34. This is ignoring the weapon training bonus.
Let's assume you have Greater Vital Strike, so your weapons do 4x weapon damage dice when you do your one attack. Assuming a Large Bastard sword (makes the math easier) while Enlarged, you'll be doing on average 54 damage with that one attack. Not bad.
With vital strike, you'll be hitting for 88 damage on average at level 16. That's pretty cool. Assuming DR Good/10, that's 78 damage.
Now let's look at iteratives.
At level 16, you'll have 4 attacks. +16/+11/+6/+1. Let's assume the first two will hit, since that's basically the case. With that same Large Bastard Sword while Enlarged, you'll be doing 3d8+34 damage. Each attack will on average do 47.5 damage. Those two attacks that hit? Average of 95 damage. 75 with that DR Good/10. We've already basically matched that damage of greater vital strike. And we still have two more attacks to go. The third attack has a decent chance of hitting, and the 4th one can be written off. If that 3rd one hits? 142.5 damage.
Oh, and you'll be hasted by this level, so you'll have an extra attack when doing a full-attack action. So your actual average damage will be 142.5 (112.5 with DR included). If 4 of your attacks hit, that's 190 damage (150 with DR). Since you didn't take Greater Vital Strike at level 16, you can pick up Greater Penetrating Strike, which lets you ignore up to 10 points of DR. When you get a +5 weapon, you'll ignore basically all but DR -.
So...same situation, Greater Vital Strike will do 78 damage. Full attacks will do 190. On average.
I'd just like to point out that no fighter (or any melee class) should ever use Vital Strike when they have the ability to full attack. Vital Strike is something to use when a full attack is not possible to achieve. Unfortunately, three feats is often too much for that versatility; nevertheless, a fighter with Greater Vital Strike will always out-damage a fighter without in instances where a full attack is not achievable.
Vital Strike Chain = expensive but versatile, and a more useful standard action.
Mergy, that was basically my point. VS is useful when you can't full attack. That's about it.
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Ah, I thought you were making the argument that vital strike is bad because a full attack outperforms a standard action.
Vital strike is actually bad because it costs three feats to be worthwhile.
That said, a fighter gets enough feats that just taking the first one is sometimes a good attempt at some extra versatility.
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I don't get how rangers have a minimum 10 damage per hit. At best, there's a +1 Composite [Str +4] (is that the limit) longbow: 1d8+5. If you take into account favored enemy, that's a little higher, but you can't guarantee that every fight like you can with a two-handed weapon and power attack.There's a power attack for bows: Deadly Aim. -1 attack +2 damage, gain another -1, +2 for every 4 BAB. The use of Rapid Sot for extra attacks, toss in Point Blank if you can, you can easily reach the damage output of that two-hander. Deadly Aim becomes more useful the more attacks you have, as each one gains the damage bonus. Rapid Shot for ranged attacks gives you such an extra attack.
Yup, add on Gravity bow to kick it up to 2D6 and Hunter's Howl to get an additional +2 to hit and Damage if they aren't a favored enemy (or +4 if they are).
2D6 + 4(strength) +4 (deadly Aim) +2/+4 (Favored Enemy) = 14 minimum, 24 Max and you will always get 4 shots a round if you want.
The more interesting setup is the feral ranger (natural Weapon Fighter). You get a Claw/Claw/Bite set for 1D4+4(str)+4(power Attack)+2/+4(favored) for 11/13 minimum + a 1D6+3 +trip from a wolf AC and if you add on the right feats you can force an AoO every round for you and your AC. This will get you 6-8 attacks every round and prevent your opponent from ever getting an attack on you in melee combat.
Quite nasty and I'm enjoying it immensely.
There are so many crunchy bits in this thread!
I'm just saying: why try and outshine a fellow player? Why not play a character that always has something to do? I usually find that playing a skill monkey can be just as rewarding as rolling a fist full of dice. Personally, roleplaying and using my head are a favorite part of the game.
I understand if your GM doesn't encourage RP though, afterall you said that INT, WIS, and CHA are dump stats in your game. I guess that just breaks my heart.
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I don't get how rangers have a minimum 10 damage per hit. At best, there's a +1 Composite [Str +4] (is that the limit) longbow:There is no upper strength limit for composite bows.
...Vital Strike vs Iterative attacks:
Nobody on this earth makes that comparison, so why argue about it?
The real situation is: "My character can't get a full attack, again, this round. But I can move in a not-straight line and beat on somebody. I'm glad I am dishing out at extra 3d8 while enlarged with this massive chunk of steel at 6th level!"
Mike: The OP mentioned that he thought it was better to get one good attack to avoid DR than it was to use iteratives. So he was making that argument :)
I just tried to explain why that isn't the case.
I never got confirmation on the to hit penalties for a large heavy crossbow (you can fire it one handed at a -4 penalty, so I'm thinking a -6 total) and I won't swear about the DPS, but a vital strike large crossbow with deadly aim and all the fighter trimmings is, IMO, a fun concept. At 5th level, with a 20 dex, +1 weapon, Weapon Training, Weapon Focus, you are still looking at +7 to hit (not stupendous, but it will go up fast) 2d8+4 (weapon spec) 19-20 X2 crit, +5 to hit, 2d8+8 damage with deadly aim (may be out of the question for now). Use vital strike and concentrate on that 1 hit per round, like a Balista. Not the strongest build, especially at low levels, but a fun concept.
A powerful and fun build is also the Alchemist. At 5th level your your bombs are 3d6+int mod damage (point blank shot for +1 more). For discoveries I would suggest Acid bomb (for fire resistant/immune creatures) and explosive bomb (wider area and has a chance to set things on fire). Use your extracts and mutagens to buff yourself up. Extra Bombs would be a helpful feat.
EDIT: Bombs would be more useful against swarms.
How would you suggest spending point buy on ability scores with an archery build? You have to have very high str and Dex to be effective.
You don't need a super high strength, even 14 is fine. To-hit is more important anyways, as most of your damage will be from enhancements, Deadly Aim, and other static bonuses such as buffs. Offsetting the deadly aim will help out a ton.
How would you suggest spending point buy on ability scores with an archery build? You have to have very high str and Dex to be effective.You don't need a super high strength, even 14 is fine. To-hit is more important anyways, as most of your damage will be from enhancements, Deadly Aim, and other static bonuses such as buffs. Offsetting the deadly aim will help out a ton.
+1
As I mentioned above, I'm a huge fan of bard archers. At level 7, they can drop Haste, Inspire Courage, and Good Hope in one turn using a rod of quicken, lesser. That's huge. With Arcane strike, you'll be doing a bit of extra damage as well, and your buffs more than make up for the 3/4ths BAB.
At level 8, once you can get Manyshot, you'll be doing 1d6+2 (str)+2 (arcane strike)+2(inspire courage) + 2(good hope) + 4 (deadly aim) + enhancement bonus. 1d6+12+Enhancement is pretty nice, especially since you can do it with 5 arrows in one round, 4 of which are basically going to hit since they're done at highest BAB - 2 (rapid shot) + 5 (haste, inspire, good hope) + mDex -2 (Deadly Aim) + enhancement, or BAB + 1 + mDex + enhancement. See how the buffs you gave yourself in the first round cancelled out all of the penalties from Rapid Shot and Deadly Aim? It's quite nice, and you get an extra attack too!
Arcane duelist is the way to go for this, since you'll be getting Arcane Strike for free. Before taking into account the enhancement bonus on your short bow, that's 15.5 average damage per arrow, times four due to 4 arrows that will hit, and you got around 62 average damage per round at level 8, and you've helped the rest of your party out massively.
Granted, you can basically do that once per day at level 8, but even without Haste and Good Hope, you can do pretty well. Especially if you take Allegro (2nd level spell that gives you, and only you, the effects of Haste).
...why yes, I do in fact have an archer bard right now that I really love.
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Get the best of both worlds with a barbarian who carries a bow.
20pt min/max for a totally retarded hackmaster campaign where you never have to make a will-save or skill-check:
STR+18, DEX:18, CON:14, INT/WIS/CHA ...take a wild guess.
01 barb1 Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
02 figh1 Rapid Shot (weapon master fighter, bows)
03 barb2 Power Attack, Reckless Abandon +1
04 barb3 DEX>19
05 barb4 Quickdraw, Reckless Abandon +2
06 figh2 Manyshot
07 figh3 Deadly Aim, Weapon Training +1
(Did you know that both getting extra angry and having magic dueling ability helps you shoot bows better? Why, yes they do! It's completely ridiculous when you think about it, but neither Reckless Abandon nor Gloves of Dueling are limited to melee attacks! So pile that Velveeta to the rafters!)
Equipment at 7th in a treasure-rich campaign (as most hack/slash is): +1/Furious large bastardsword, +1/Seeking STR+7 composite longbow, Gloves of Dueling, Pale Green Prism Ioun Stone (cracked), Belt of Physical Might (STR+2/DEX+2), crate of baby oil so you can look your best in your bronzed pectoral armor.
I'm having a similar problem in another game. It's 2 players with 2 PCs each. I have a gnome ninja and a half-elf witch. The other guy has a half-ogre fighter with an enlarging item, a reach weapon, Combat Reflexes, and Whirlwind Attack, and a druid with 2 animal companions. We're level 7, so basically my ninja moves and strikes and moves again or moves, shoots, and tries to hide again. My witch casts a spell or uses a hex. Pretty cut and dry and QUICK. The other guy gets tons of attacks per round (plus lots of interrupts on the bad guys' turns), rolls tons of damage dice, and it seems like his turns take FOREVER.
It can be frustrating being efficient when the other player(s) aren't. At least we all have the same basic amount of rules knowledge, so there isn't a lot of flipping through books and stuff.
I agree with the general consensus that your group needs a melee damage dealer. However, rather than a typical Two-handed weapon fighter, I would recommend a polearm/trip specialist. Grab a Guisarme, use the Polearm Master archetype for your Fighter, and enjoy the pure awesomeness of having good battlefield control and heavy damage capability (the Guisarme is a two-handed weapon after all).
I'm playing this exact character, a Half-Orc Polearm Master at 9th level, and he is tearing it up. If mobs try to get past me to chew on the squishies in my group, I trip 'em and stab 'em in the face repeatedly until they stop moving. Even when we go up against critters that can't be tripped, my DPR is so high I still maul 'em pretty bad.
In your case, I'd recommend Human for a race, because this build is feat-heavy and humans get the extra feat. For feats, I would recommend Weapon Focus: Polearm, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Wpn Specialization: Polearms or Dodge (whichever you prefer), Combat Reflexes, and Power Attack. At 6th lvl, I would grab Greater Trip.
Polearm + Trip = :)
I would go for pure damage potential.
Supercharger barbarian that some have mentioned. Animal Totem + Invulnerable Rager + Come and Get me with a Falchion or a Greatsword.
A ranger is good for a switch hitter. Go Archery Style and use your bonus rangers feats to pick of things like Rapid Shot without having to get the pre-requisites. Then, spend all you normal feats on building a strong two-handed damage dealer.
Archer fighter is also a strong choice. Being able to full attack starting on round 1 is very nice. With point-blank mastery, you can eliminate the biggest problem archers have to deal with, AoOs.
Here are the feats i would use for a non-human archer ranger:
Feats:
1st Point Blank Shot
2nd Precise shot (ranger)
3rd Rapid Shot
5th Deadly Aim
6th Improved Precise Shot (ranger)
7th Manyshot
9th Weapon Focus (longbow)
10th Point Blank Master (ranger)
11th Quick Draw
13th Boon Companion
14th Parting Shot (ranger)
15th Farshot
The quick draw feat is there if for some reason your DM doesn't let you buy (at 11th level) a glove of storing (by the way get that item as fast as you can).
As you can see at 6th level the ranger is pretty much done with all penalties from firing (precise shot takes care for firing into melee and improved precise shot takes care of soft cover).
For an animal companion take either a cat or a wolf (depending on how many closed and narrow spaces are there in the AP and how your DM decides to rule a certain part of animal companion rule).
If you want me to give you an ability score allocation, please tell us what point buy are you using?
Also as other have said, why the DM hates you that he has you to start at a lower level?
Trapper achetype Ranger. You lose spells, but who cares about Ranger spells?