How good / viable is a rogue (sniper) arcane archer?

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

My thought is that I can stealth/snipe from a distance and still deal decent damage.
Is this a good idea or will I be sadly disapointed? Good? Bad? Ugly?

[The Emo Bard]

I think the biggest issue is the inability to sneak attack from more than 30ft. If you aren't sneak attacking, there is little point to playing a Rogue in a combat campaign unless your GM really likes traps.

[The Saltmarsh 6]

Sounds like a good choise to me it's always good when you can keep an monster at range and as long as you have a meat shield to keep him occupied you should still be able to sneak attack

[Cheapy]

How are you going to get sneak attack past 30'?

How are you going to ensure they're flatfooted to you?

How will you plan on doing good damage with only one attack a round?

[Kelvar Silvermace]

Cheapy wrote:

How will you plan on doing good damage with only one attack a round?

I think that's my problem with a lot of different Rogue builds. :-(

[Thalin]

You're taking a weak class, multying it for a level to wizard, then going to a very weak prestige class.

In short, you should probably skip this idea unless you're just "OK" with being fairly weak. A straight ranger will have better damage output, almost as many skills, and better saves; in addition to getting Improved Precise at 6 instead of 15. If you want to, play an Urban and you'll even be able to detect the magic traps. It's a far more effective skillful archer.

[Serisan]

Tiny Coffee Golem wrote:

My thought is that I can stealth/snipe from a distance and still deal decent damage.

Is this a good idea or will I be sadly disapointed? Good? Bad? Ugly?

Unfortunately, Sniper Goggles are the only way to play this character and actually utilize Sneak Attack. The Sniper archetype ability is simply too slow to be effective. It's especially bad if you're multiclassing out of Rogue.

Additionally, you need a GM that allows you to use Snipe. This is not frequently available.

[alexanderb]

Sniper has a class trait/special ability/whatever that increases stealth with 10ft every three levels. furthermore there is a Ninja Trick that increases it with 10ft each time you take it.

the main issue is ensuring good minimum damage output, IMO.

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

The Emo Bard wrote:

I think the biggest issue is the inability to sneak attack from more than 30ft. If you aren't sneak attacking, there is little point to playing a Rogue in a combat campaign unless your GM really likes traps.

Sniper rogue allows you to sneak from distances greater than 30'

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

The general consensus seems to be "no, not really."

[The Emo Bard]

Tiny Coffee Golem wrote:

The Emo Bard wrote:

I think the biggest issue is the inability to sneak attack from more than 30ft. If you aren't sneak attacking, there is little point to playing a Rogue in a combat campaign unless your GM really likes traps.

Sniper rogue allows you to sneak from distances greater than 30'

Oh, yea, Sorry about that.

[alexanderb]

you need things like Vital Strike, Focused Shot, a magical weapon, Bleeding Attack, Deadly Aim, etc.

and of course Sniper Goggles *destroy*.

[Atarlost]

The Emo Bard wrote:

If you aren't sneak attacking, there is little point to playing a Rogue in a combat campaign unless your GM really likes traps and the GM allows CRB only.

Fixed. APG, UM, and UC all have "better than a non-sneak-attack rogue" trap handlers.

For the OP I'd suggest either a roguish bard into AA or an inquisitor straight through. It might also be possible to make an inquisitor AA work. Off the top of my head I think bane and judgment are wisdom independent.

If your aim is the arrow enhancements bard can get into AA a level earlier than rogue/wizard and brings the stealth assisting spells to the table. Without as many non-casting levels you'll get more from arcane strike as well and while it's less impressive than sneak attack you can still use it if someone sees you. Sandman can still add sneak attack at half rogue progression if he gets sniper goggles.

Inquisitor/wizard gets into AA at level 9 like the rogue/wizard and brings 8 rounds of bane and two judgments three times/day. Bane is +2d6 +2 which using the deadly aim standard for converting accuracy bonus to damage is +13 average damage, a mere 1 damage behind a level 8 rogue's sneak attack and not dependent on being unseen.

[alexanderb]

craft/profession bowyer/fletcher + sap master = double sneak attack dice = nice.