I am working on a build as a rouge but want to focus on archery. Any ideas on optimizing.
Halfling sniper rogue. Halflings have an alternate trait that helps and there's something else that effectively negates the -20 to stealth for sniping. Cant remember off the top of my head, but I'm sure someone will bring it up.
Max out stealth (In every way possible) and take a one level dip into shadow dancer for hide in plain sight ASAP.
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Take a 20 credit course in Cosmetalogy? Throw Anything, Weapon Focus Blush, Weapons Specialization Eye Liner, Greater Weapon Focus Lip Balm?
Jokes aside, Tiny Coffee Golem is right, Sniper is the way to go. High dex, medium strength and then build it like you would any archer. Ofcourse, you could always go with the Sling Staff.
Dip Oracle for Water Sight revelation. Put up obscuring mist, and use it for total concealment to full attack sneak attack from. If the foes try and move out of your SA range, I'd still call that a net win when you have archery feats and they likely don't. Later on, you can get sniper goggles so they're always in SA range.
Do not be a halfling. They do not get darkvision. Try to imagine sneaking around in the dark holding a torch. Seems kinda silly, doesn't it? You want a race with darkvision. Half-Orc's the best core choice. Out of core, best race would probably be Strix.
Do not use the Sniper archetype unless your DM is the type to houserule fix glaringly obvious oversights. The same book that has the sniper archetype? It also printed those aforementioned goggles that make the archetype's main benefit obsolete. If he's willing to let those +10 range bonuses apply to sniper goggle's bonus damage range (normally the typical 30 ft range of SA, you get +2 damage per die), go with Sniper archetype. If not, I suggest an archetype where half the benefits won't go to complete and utter waste. Try out Rake. Lets you intimidate with your ranged sneak attacks, pretty nifty.
Gear: You want...nay, NEED a seeking bow as soon as possible. Miss chance screws over rogues hardcore. Having darkvision and water sight will help you with some of the most common sources of miss chance, but certainly not all of them. Do not pay a feat tax on Shadow Strike or whatever that thing Paizo should have given rogues for free is called. Seeking may be a cost, but at least it's also letting you ignore the miss chance altogether, and even 50%, not just 20%. Belt of +Dex and the goggles are awesome, of course.
*must resist making joke!* Damn, I failed my save: You want to use makeup to shoot a bow?
Aside from the basics, Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus etc. you should consider the talent Snipers Eye (APG p131). Surprise Attack (CR p69) would also be VERY helpful as you will nearly guarantee a sneak attack at the beginning of combat.
The halfling sniper ability mentioned above is called Swift as Shadows. It reduces the sniping penalty to -10 instead of -20. While I agree that the lack of darkvision is a problem it is not hard to get buffed with Darkvision as it is only a level 2 wizard spell. Talk to your party wizard about it. A wand of darkvision isnt too expensive either.
- Gauss
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The halfling gives you the bonus to stealth, so I'd also go with that if you're playing the stealth sniper. Otherwise, from the core races, I say go with an Elf, they're the bowmen of fantasy ever since Legolas walked into The Lord of The Rings. Then just spend your Rogue Talents on archery feats and work your way upto Arcane Archer.
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I am working on a build as a rouge but want to focus on archery. Any ideas on optimizing.
Grab yourself a pair of sniper goggles, a wand of True Strike, and a Double Crossbow with Vital Strike for those 'out of combat' situations.
This will allow you to make sneak attacks at any distance (snipe goggles), and will easily cover a -4 penalty (you get this even when proficient with a double crossbow) on a double crossbow or any range increment penalty for shooting long distances (Wand of Trustrike). Can you say 4d8 + 4d6 (not counting what other extra damage you may have) hundreds of feet away at lvl 8?
Consider using this as a ninja, where you could easily use a vanishing trick as a swift action before or after making your shot (can only use it once per round, as it is a swift action, so choose wisely at which point you use vanishing trick).
By the time you're capable of this, you can easily use your vanishing trick to become invisible after a sneak attack, and reposition yourself, wand yourself with truestrike again, reload, and fire, with a few rounds of invisibility to spare.
Of course, if you were to do this when you're buddies are trying to fight as well, it's not as effective, but if you're sent ahead to sabotage and pick off key personnel and guardsman, it's fun and beautiful.
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Half-Orc with the oracle dip sounds like a great idea. You could even cut off a few enemies by running up to some and putting up mist; tell your allies to go for the other guys while you slow down/handle your chosen few.
It would also allow you to use both a wand of cure light wounds, and a wand of darkness.