I always wanted to try an archery rogue, despite its challenges and shortcomings, so now I have a rogue lvl 8 with the current feats:
Improved Initiative
Point Blank Shot (Rogue Talent)
Rapid Shot
Weapon Focus: Longbow (Rogue talent)
Dazzling Display
Leadership
I'm taking Shatter Defenses when I hit lvl 9.
My Cohort is a "tanky" half-orc fighter with +20 to intimidate and Dazzling Display.
Our group consists of a Cleric on healing/buffing duty, a sorcerer on buffing/nuking duty and a monk who receives said buffs and makes sure as many opponents as possible are lying flat on their backs.
The DM has said that he wishes to have us encounter every single monster in the bestiary, and what we do/what kind of encounters we have in our sessions can vary greatly, so sometimes we have up to half a dozen combat encounters during a session, while other times we can have only one or two, with the rest of the session being diplomacy/investigation/stealth.
As you probably can tell, I'm REALLY looking forward to my next level, and we're not really an optimized group. ("Where the hell is your precise shot?!?" I know I know...) Nevertheless, I am completely unable to decide what spell to take for my major magic talent...
So far I am looking at:
Vanish - Great for getting in ranged sneak attacks, and getting out of icky situations, AND for non-combat reasons... Though the 5 round duration and the fact that I have my cohort to ensure I get sneak attacks does make this spell less attractive.
Shield - +4 AC for x minutes twice a day... This is just awesome. I know I'll get a use for it most days as we do a lot of fighting, and I tend to end up on negative HP every now and then because of my low (19) AC. However, I will invest more in defensive items later, as soon as we catch up to the treasure tables (assuming we will) so I fear that the spell will become obsolete later.
Gravity Bow - Now this one is REALLY tempting as I'm after all going for a glass cannon/skill rogue... 2D6 for all of my arrows fired during the spell's duration? I just know I will use both charges of this every day... I just don't know if it's really worth it. Maybe I'm blinded by the fancy DPS-ness of it?
Shocking Grasp - What's attractive about this one is, of course, the ability to bypass natural armor of tough monsters. I have Acid Splash from before in my minor magic talent, though, so, I don't know. I haven't removed this from my list yet, though.
Any tips about other spells or advice to help me decide is really appreciated! :)
Vanish. Easiest SA ever.
Normally I'd say vanish, but if you've already got the flanking angle covered, gravity bow is probably better unless your cohort can't manage to flank them for some reason. I would pick true strike over shocking grasp, as sneak attack damage keeps going up while shocking grasp caps out at 5d6. Also, it sounds like you ought to be avoiding melee.
I wouldn't choose vanish. It's only a few rounds and you lose its advantage immediately when you attack (after an SA). If you only want to use it defensively, it's fine, though.
I rather recommend
1. true strike
2. gravity bow
3. shield
4. featherfall
5. obscuring mist
Of the four ideas listed....
Gravity Bow basically increases your damage output by 2.5. It does last ninety rounds, though. This would be pretty handy, and I don't think it'd ever stop being handy.
I also think Vanish would stay useful--it means an easy Sneak Attack, and also for easier stealth. In addition, you can cast it on others. I think that these two are the least likely to become obsolete.
Normally I'd say vanish, but if you've already got the flanking angle covered, gravity bow is probably better unless your cohort can't manage to flank them for some reason. I would pick true strike over shocking grasp, as sneak attack damage keeps going up while shocking grasp caps out at 5d6. Also, it sounds like you ought to be avoiding melee.
I can't flank with my bow, in fact, I try to stay out of melee as much as possible, but the Shatter Defenses/Dazzling Display combo which kicks in on lvl 9 SHOULD provide ample opportunities to do ranged SA. Thanks for pointing out that True Strike does what I wanted Shocking Grasp to do, only better... :P I guess Shocking Grasp still got the very situational "what if I'm unarmed" thing going for it, though...
I would choose major magic. Get the ioun stone to store a level 1 spell, UMD and wands.
I'm getting it for Dispelling Strike, and there are a few other basic things I feel I have to spend my gold on first when I get some gold, such as +1 enchants for bow and armor.
Of the four ideas listed....
Gravity Bow basically increases your damage output by 2.5. It does last ninety rounds, though. This would be pretty handy, and I don't think it'd ever stop being handy.
I also think Vanish would stay useful--it means an easy Sneak Attack, and also for easier stealth. In addition, you can cast it on others. I think that these two are the least likely to become obsolete.
Good point about being able to cast Vanish on teammates! :) Also, if you have any spell advice outside of the four I listed I'll gladly take them. :)
I'm kind of surprised to see Gravity Bow come out so well. I guess it's True Strike, Vanish or Gravity Bow so far, then, and I think I'm leaning towards Gravity Bow as I'm really after getting a good offensive use out of my major magic, I think... On the other hand - how offensive can I be if I'm dead? :D
My worry about vanish is that I won't need it to set up ranged sneak attacks considering my Shatter Defenses build, and perhaps the sorcerer getting Greater Invisibility at some point if I'm lucky and it is even needed?
I really appreciate your thoughts on this, guys. Keep em coming if you got em, please. :)
unseen servant is good utility, particularly for a rogue (it can set off traps, grab stuff, carry a bedsheet with some holes in it and pretend to be a ghost for bluffs/intimidation, untie you after your scemes get fubared, tie off the rope you intend to climb up, untie the rope after you climb down, keep you well maintained in a social situation, steal enemy arrows and bring them to you, create distractions by dropping bricks ect from a height... its flexability more than makes up for its lack of direct combat applications. also, it lasts for 1 hour/lvl, so at 8th level you're able to keep it up for almost your entire adventuring day per casting.)
unseen servant is good utility, particularly for a rogue (it can set off traps, grab stuff, carry a bedsheet with some holes in it and pretend to be a ghost for bluffs/intimidation, untie you after your scemes get fubared, tie off the rope you intend to climb up, untie the rope after you climb down, keep you well maintained in a social situation, steal enemy arrows and bring them to you, create distractions by dropping bricks ect from a height... its flexability more than makes up for its lack of direct combat applications. also, it lasts for 1 hour/lvl, so at 8th level you're able to keep it up for almost your entire adventuring day per casting.)
You make good selling points for a spell I'd normally not even look at twice, but upon investigating further I notice a few nasty drawbacks:
1. The range is close (25' +5' every 2 lvls) and the servant ceases to exists if it is outside range.
2. It has a base movespeed of 15'.
Attempting to keep it "alive" for the full duration would slow us down greatly, unless we put it on the halfling's riding dog, and even then I think the range leaves much to be hoped for concerning both its usefulness and it's winking out of existence. That aside, I really like this. :) I am thoroughly amused by the thought of the opportunities this option could provide. I commend you for coming up with such an unusual suggestion. It's really something, so on the list it goes. :) :) :)
unseen servant is good utility, particularly for a rogue (it can set off traps, grab stuff, carry a bedsheet with some holes in it and pretend to be a ghost for bluffs/intimidation, untie you after your scemes get fubared, tie off the rope you intend to climb up, untie the rope after you climb down, keep you well maintained in a social situation, steal enemy arrows and bring them to you, create distractions by dropping bricks ect from a height... its flexability more than makes up for its lack of direct combat applications. also, it lasts for 1 hour/lvl, so at 8th level you're able to keep it up for almost your entire adventuring day per casting.)You make good selling points for a spell I'd normally not even look at twice, but upon investigating further I notice a few nasty drawbacks:
1. The range is close (25' +5' every 2 lvls) and the servant ceases to exists if it is outside range.
2. It has a base movespeed of 15'.
Attempting to keep it "alive" for the full duration would slow us down greatly, unless we put it on the halfling's riding dog, and even then I think the range leaves much to be hoped for concerning both its usefulness and it's winking out of existence. That aside, I really like this. :) I am thoroughly amused by the thought of the opportunities this option could provide. I commend you for coming up with such an unusual suggestion. It's really something, so on the list it goes. :) :) :)
If it hustles, it's moving 30'. IIRC, normal, out-of-combat movement typically only moves at base speed, but there's no reason you can't make it hustle or even run for the duration (it's not like it can get tired; it has no Con score, IIRC). It should keep up even during combat unless you start a full-on run.
Animate Rope, Reduce Person (on self). Peacebond might be interesting if you plan on going Shadowdancer for hide in plain sight. Stealth over to enemies, cast peacebond, laugh as they try to draw there weapon and grant AoO's for the party. Reduce person is still the best of the 3 options I gave, and that still might not stand up to the other three spell options.
I wouldn't use Minor and Major Magic at all. If you do, be sure it's something that actually benefits from high CL and/or from decent save DC. Obscuring Mist, Gravity Bow, etc... do not and are just as good as CL 1 items for you to use magic device.
So, something like Grease, Color Spray, Burning Disarm... not really much at 1st level that benefits from a CL above 9, hmm... All of those are good because they're save based and potent effects.
Also, since you have a melee cohort that exists to help you SA and you seem to be ranged-focused, I heavily recommend having your cohort go 2 levels into Rogue or Ninja for the Distracting Attack rogue talent. Never hurts to have more ways of getting SA.
I see 2 rogue talents listed. What was your 3rd? You can use Combat Trick (or Ninja Trick (Combat Trick) if the former's already been expended) to grab Shatter Defenses at level 8. Why put it off any longer than you need to?
True Strike.
True Strike works just as good on a wand, CL does not matter.
I agree with everything james said.
3 rogue talents, you say... But the remaining rogue talents seem kind of rubbish to me. What would I take instead if I were to not take minor and major magic?
Things have developed a bit, by the way: I am now lvl 9, and the DM has still not arranged my cohort to appear! >.<
Also, I have yet to use minor and major magic, and since the DM is allowing us to retrain feats and feat like class skills the next time we're in town I CAN exchange these two talents for something better, though perusing the rogue talents in the core rule book and the APG I don't really see anything better...
Also, this ioun stone costs 16 000 gp, and a lvl 1 wand costs 1500 gp. I am far from affording stuff like that. I want to afford my +1 bow first... We get too much random good stuff that we use, such as monk's robes, positive channeling phylactery, efficient quiver, boots of running and striding, adamantine dagger, immovable rod... So much stuff we don't really want to sell. Also, we've had two character deaths/ressurections so far, and that's not exactly cheap either (though that ancient black dragon (Freak luck and a sword with +5D6 dmg vs dragons let us kill it) hoard (monk robes, cleric phylactery and 6k gp worth of liquid treasure) helps a bit. I reckon we've got about 4k gp each in liquid assets after selling everything except the things we need, and this is basically the first big GP injection we're getting, so we do have some issues...