Thinking of creating archer Shadow dancer

[kpt_Tupsu]

Hi.

I'm thinking of creating an archer/shadow dancer for a Pathfinder campaign. I like the shadow companion idea and I can use shadow jump to get myself out of close combat. We use all of Paizo's roleplaying game, campaign setting and player companion books for Pathfinder system.

The thing I'm thinking of, is should I choose a ranger(skirmisher and infiltrator, since my spell casting is not going to be advancing a lot and campaign is going to end at about 15th level) or a fighter, with some archetype? I want to plan how I can make a fighter or ranger 5 / shadow dancer 10. 10 levels of shadow dancer is because we have a house rule that states that if we choose a prestige class, we cannot take other levels until we have completed that prestige class.

We have 25 points for stat buying. I am thinking of the following for the first level:

race: human
class: ranger(skirmisher and infiltrator) or fighter (maybe some archetype)
str 16
dex 18 (16 + 2 human)
con 14
int 10
wis 10
cha 10
(I don't like stats under 10)

feats:
Human Point-Blank shot
1st level Combat reflexes (required for shadow dancer)
3rd Dodge (required for shadow dancer)
5th Mobility (required for shadow dancer)

So I need some advice if I should choose ranger (I like the abilities of skirmisher and infiltrator) or fighter (I really need bonus feats). And if I should choose fighter, then should I choose some archetype(s)?

Also ideas about feat progression would be nice.

P.S. Sorry for my English.

[Reynard_the_fox]

First, you might want at least a 12 or 14 in Charisma - a few of the Shadowdancer's abilities are based on it.

IMO, Shadowdancer is strongest as a 3 or 4 level dip. However, if you want to go all 10 levels, you'll probably be more effective as a Ranger - you'll definitely want some ranks in Stealth to take advantage of Hide in Plain Sight.

[Grizzly the Archer]

Hmmm, the fighter will help ease up feat slots for you, so you can get eh day you need/want. The ranger is more suited for the shadow, since it gets stealth as a class skill. also, the favored enemy and terrain is nice for you. The is a ranger archetype, (not sure which), that supposedly removed their casting ability for other features.

If you went fighter, the only good options would be the archer or weapon master. Weapon mater would do more damage, and give an ability to reroll a little. The archer let's you shoot farther, cmb at range (trip, sunder disarm, ...), as will as give you point blank master for free essentially. Honestly, out friends on how many levels you plan on going in either fighter or ranger. Make a quick outline of the different versions -4-6 from what I see.

shadow dancer +: fighter, archer, weapon master, ranger, ranger (without casting), skirmisher/infiltrator.

[kpt_Tupsu]

Thanks for the responses. So the better stats would be:

str 14
dex 18 (16 + 2 human)
con 14
int 10
wis 10
cha 14

Stealth is a class skill for shadow dancer, so it isn't a problem that fighter does not have it.

Ranger with Skirmisher archetype loses the spell casting abilities.

[blackbloodtroll]

Have you considered Barbarian? With the Coherent Rage trait, you can stealth away in full rage.

[kpt_Tupsu]

I have considered barbarian, but I don't think that rage is useful for archery.

[blackbloodtroll]

You have yet to see this then:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/archetypes/paizo---b arbarian-archetypes/urban-barbarian

[kpt_Tupsu]

That looks interesting. I have to think about it also.