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So I'm in the middle of building a half-orc ranger for my next character and I've become a bit stuck trying to decide on what feats, traits, and faction might be the most appropriate for the concept.
The character as it currently stands is a repeating crossbow wielding half-orc from the darklands where he grew up hunting and tracking various big game for fun in profit with targets ranging from crawling monsters in the dark to escaped slaves and wanted fugitives. He joined up with the pathfinders as a way to gain access to more challenging targets, tell the world about his hunts, and earn a tidy profit for himself to settle down on in the process. A consummate professional he is a firm believer in being well prepared and equipped for whatever mission he is sent on so that things can go as smoothly as possible as well as being patient and preparing his attack whenever possible rather then rushing in recklessly. To that end he's a bit of a weapon/gear collector both so he has a varied gear set to meet the situation at hand and as trophies.
With that in mind here are my issues
1.) I'm trying to find the right traits to match the character concept as well actually mechanically add to his build. Right now I have reactionary which felt right for him and his lifestyle but I don't know what traits would be both flavorful to this subterranean hunter motif and give me something more interesting then just a minor stat bump in a skill I already have.
2.) How useful are feats like deadly aim or focused shot? I think deadly could remain useful long term but focused feels like it banks off pretty quickly as time goes and might not be worth the investment. Are their any other feats that people think might be good for the build? Also would a feat like Keen Scent get a lot of use in pfs or would it wind up feeling like a wasted feat?
3.) What factions would be most appropriate for this theme? Are their ones that are more likely to give missions where he would get the chance to hunt down or track human or other difficult targets, aren't particularly wrapped up in alignment, and have faction awards that will help improve these skills?
4.) Finally I'm thinking on throwing the trapper arch on here as well but I'm wondering will I have to take umd to use a clw's wand or can he still use it even though he has forgone a spell list? Beyond that how good is the actual trapper traps ability in comparison to just keeping the spell list?
5.) I'm thinking about giving him favored enemy (monstrous humanoid) to start with, would this choice get a lot of use in the early level missions currently available or would it be more viable to take something like magical beast, animal, or human instead?
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I don't have an answer to some of these, so I will address what I can.
Regarding the repeating crossbow, I think the biggest hazard you will come against is the 5-bolt clip. If you take Rapid Shot (I think it's compatible with Repeating Crossbows??), you can find yourself loosing more than that in higher levels. There may be a way around it that I don't know of, however.
Another difficulty, easily overcome, is you need exotic weapon proficiency for the repeating crossbow, which eats a feat that could be spent on point blank shot, rapid shot, etc.
1) It'll be a bit, and you're probably already thinking this, favored terrain underground for the subterranean hunter motif.
2) Deadly Aim is excellent, especially in cases where you're only getting a single die and no modifiers like with a non-composite bow or crossbow. Every little bit helps. Other feats would the feat tree to get Clustered Shot, which will help against DR at later levels. And most of those pre-reqs are favored combat style feats a ranger gets anyway.
5) I can't recall any monstrous humanoids in my limited career as a Pathfinder player. Animal is much more frequent, though not the most common by far. Humans, goblins, humans, undead, goblins, and humans are probably what I've seen the most of. But none of those really go with your concept it seems.
Best of luck in this build. It sounds like a great character. Would love to play with them sometime once they get up and running.
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I don't have an answer to some of these, so I will address what I can.
Regarding the repeating crossbow, I think the biggest hazard you will come against is the 5-bolt clip. If you take Rapid Shot (I think it's compatible with Repeating Crossbows??), you can find yourself loosing more than that in higher levels. There may be a way around it that I don't know of, however.
Another difficulty, easily overcome, is you need exotic weapon proficiency for the repeating crossbow, which eats a feat that could be spent on point blank shot, rapid shot, etc.
1) It'll be a bit, and you're probably already thinking this, favored terrain underground for the subterranean hunter motif.
2) Deadly Aim is excellent, especially in cases where you're only getting a single die and no modifiers like with a non-composite bow or crossbow. Every little bit helps. Other feats would the feat tree to get Clustered Shot, which will help against DR at later levels. And most of those pre-reqs are favored combat style feats a ranger gets anyway.
5) I can't recall any monstrous humanoids in my limited career as a Pathfinder player. Animal is much more frequent, though not the most common by far. Humans, goblins, humans, undead, goblins, and humans are probably what I've seen the most of. But none of those really go with your concept it seems.
Best of luck in this build. It sounds like a great character. Would love to play with them sometime once they get up and running.
Thanks man some quick responses to some of your comments. Thanks for the info on deadly aim, it felt like the right way to go long term since I see him as this sort of super pragmatist and patient type so the idea of taking time to take the more accurate and deadly shots instead of multiple shots in volume seemed more appealing. On the repeater side the plan was to take the weapon proficiency first and follow up with deadly and precise shot. With that in mind and focusing on more powerful shots rather then shot volume the clip reload issue will hopefully be less of an issue until i can grab up crossbow mastery which really solves the bigger issues. As for a way to get around the reloading crossbow mastery solves it since it turns all reloads into a free action which makes the reload a breeze. The big issue is that you normally would need a crap load of feats and a +6 atk to grab it but thanks to the combat style feats I should be able to grab it by 6th while investing in other abilities.
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As for a way to get around the reloading crossbow mastery solves it since it turns all reloads into a free action which makes the reload a breeze. The big issue is that you normally would need a crap load of feats and a +6 atk to grab it but thanks to the combat style feats I should be able to grab it by 6th while investing in other abilities.
Looking at the feats Rapid Shot and Crossbow Mastery, I'm concerned that it doesn't include repeating crossbows. Rapid Shot says "Choose a type of crossbow (hand, light, heavy) or a single type of one-handed or two-handed firearm that you are proficient with." The types are hand, light, or heavy, and says nothing about repeating. And since that is the pre-req for Crossbow Mastery, that might throw a wrench into things depending on how some GMs interpret that. Please note, I'm not saying "You can't do that!", just saying it may depend on the GM. Unless there's a clarification I'm unaware of? Because again, it's a great concept, I just hope it works.
1.) I'm trying to find the right traits to match the character concept as well actually mechanically add to his build.
Personal preference. I usually take a mechanical trait (like reactionary) and one "make a skill a class skill" trait that fits my background.
2.) How useful are feats like deadly aim or focused shot?
Deadly aim is a must-have for archery of any type later on. I would pick up Vital Strike over Focused Shot, as it would let you deal more damage when you cannot take a full attack.
3.) What factions would be most appropriate for this theme?
Sounds kinda shadow-lodgey to me, but tracking is not exactly a common faction mission, since most missions are "in the way" as you complete a scenario.
4.) Finally I'm thinking on throwing the trapper arch on here as well but I'm wondering will I have to take umd to use a clw's wand or can he still use it even though he has forgone a spell list?
Yes, the trapper archetype would prevent you from being able to activate a wand of CLW, gravity bow, longstrider, or any other ranger spell. Honestly, I have never seen a trapper in PFS, but I have an inkling that this is for a reason. PFS scenarios (with notable exceptions) are mostly about moving somewhere, and infiltrating, which means trapping will not be that useful. It is very rare you can take enemies into YOUR territory.
5.) I'm thinking about giving him favored enemy (monstrous humanoid) to start with, would this choice get a lot of use in the early level missions currently available or would it be more viable to take something like magical beast, animal, or human instead?
Without a doubt, the most seen favored enemies are humans and undead. Undead are somewhat prominent in the darklands so that may be thematic. You could then pick up human as your second, now that he has been out and adventuring with the Society for some time.
Although it seems ur mind is made up on the crossbow, the comp lb is far superior and doesnt require spending a feat to use it and allows str bonus to dam right on the bat.. I would steer u away from trapper simply because the loss of spells is huge.. There are many, even low level ones, that are really strong.. Just a few off the top are:
1st: longstrider, gravity bow, resist energy, liberating command
2nd: barkskin, bears/cats/bulls buffs, arrow eruption, pro energy
3rd: instant enemy, communal pro energy
I would recomend the Guide archtype if ur worried abt fav enemy bonuses... And alot of pfs is 15min workday, so often ur limited uses would be enough till u sleep again..
Imo the best ranger is a switch hitter, which uses a ranged weapon till hes in melee and quick draws his big 2hander and power attacks away.. Im not sure if boon companion is allowed in pfs, but if so its a must have.. My current ranger is a beastmaster switch hitter and i love him..
Good luck
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Although it seems ur mind is made up on the crossbow, the comp lb is far superior and doesnt require spending a feat to use it and allows str bonus to dam right on the bat.. I would steer u away from trapper simply because the loss of spells is huge.. There are many, even low level ones, that are really strong.. Just a few off the top are:
1st: longstrider, gravity bow, resist energy, liberating command
2nd: barkskin, bears/cats/bulls buffs, arrow eruption, pro energy
3rd: instant enemy, communal pro energyI would recomend the Guide archtype if ur worried abt fav enemy bonuses... And alot of pfs is 15min workday, so often ur limited uses would be enough till u sleep again..
Imo the best ranger is a switch hitter, which uses a ranged weapon till hes in melee and quick draws his big 2hander and power attacks away.. Im not sure if boon companion is allowed in pfs, but if so its a must have.. My current ranger is a beastmaster switch hitter and i love him..
Good luck
The plan for the crossbow was something conceptual to the character with him preferring crossbows for their versatility being easier to use in confined spaces as well as the increased options in placing himself i.e. being able to fire from prone and what not.
As for the switch hitter i totally agree. Right now the plan is that he will gain a giant slug companion at 4th to dive into combat for him and probably have a falchion and gladius as back up melee weapons. On top of that he's a beastmaster orc so he is also proficient with whips and nets which allows him to pull further aid the party when they need some creature control rather then straight up damage. Also the net and whip are really cool thematically and should give room for some interesting rp and combat situations.
I also have a switch hitter Ranger in PFS, and absolutely love him. Boon Companion is allowed (it's in the Core Assumption books of PFS). I didn't take Beastmaster because I didn't want to lose the 6th level Bonus Feat which allows you to ignore prereqs.
He is VERY versatile, and can fill either role Archer or 2-Hander as if he were dedicated. That only works with a Composite bow though, becuase of the extra feats you need for Crossbows.
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I also have a switch hitter Ranger in PFS, and absolutely love him. Boon Companion is allowed (it's in the Core Assumption books of PFS). I didn't take Beastmaster because I didn't want to lose the 6th level Bonus Feat which allows you to ignore prereqs.
He is VERY versatile, and can fill either role Archer or 2-Hander as if he were dedicated. That only works with a Composite bow though, becuase of the extra feats you need for Crossbows.
the beastmaster ability I'm refering to is a race trait option for Half-Orcs. You lose Orc ferocity and gain +2 handle animal as well as whip and net proficiencies.
If you are going to go with a crossbow, then go with the double crossbow. I think there is a way to load both bolts in the same round.