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Homebrew campaign, no skills (basically if you try something and it makes sense, it's a D20 +(skill modifier), basically we call it Pathfinder Lite. But if you try something that's not in your normal class skills area you take a penalty normally.
Anyway, I am playing a Woodland Skirmisher Ranger, dwarf, rolled stats and placed by me. As you look at these stats understand that this is a replacement for my dead ranger and we have 2 barbarians, druid (mostly melee and ranged touch spells, cleric, and a wizard, plus the ranger and 2 NPC fighter types (we own a wagon and use it to drive from place to place) Heavy RP play by post campaign.
STR-13
DEX-15
CON-17
INT-11
WIS-17
CHA-8
I am still level 1, most of the group is level 2, I was in the lead with my first ranger, off by himself and ran into a group of 3 orcs...died. So I am tail end charlie.
My plan is to mostly ranged, since we have potentially 3 major melee folks, plus others that can play in melee. I suppose had I to do it all over again, I would have chosen human and put the stats another way, but I live and learn.
My plan is to be Archery in combat style, eventually getting a +1 Composite Longbow (I was going crossbow and research corrected that thought) So right now I have the feats setup like this:
1-Point Blank Shot
2(CS)Precise Shot (This is where I need advice do I switch this to Rapid Shot?)
3)Deadly Aim
5)Weapon Focus-Longbow (another advice area)
6(CS)ManyShot
7)Boon Companion
9)Snap Shot
10(CS)Improved Precise Shot
After that it gets muddy.
Thoughts?
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Not an optimization expert but I've played an archer ranger, so here goes:
Precise Shot is good for level 2. Without it you'll be at massive penalties firing at your melee-happy friends.
I would switch Weapon Focus (Longbow) for Rapid Shot, though, since an extra arrow per round is almost always better than +1 to hit - you want Rapid Shot pretty quickly as an archer.
For additional feats, I'd suggest Clustered Shots, which is great for DR, Improved Snap Shot, which is Snap Shot but with reach, and Pinpoint Targeting, which can be really handy if you run into armoured hulks and makes a good level 14 style feat. It's especially nice if you have some special ammunition you don't want to waste. Combat Reflexes also might be useful if you find yourself wanting to take more than one AoO a round from Snap Shot.
Progression would depend a bit on your priorities. Snap Shot requires both Weapon Focus and Rapid Shot, so you can't actually take it with the progression you gave - you'd need to trade Deadly Aim for Rapid Shot. Given that, my personal inclination would be:
1) Point Blank Shot
2(CS)Precise Shot
3) Rapid Shot
5) Boon Companion (you want your AC buffed fast)
6(CS)ManyShot
7) Deadly Aim
9) Clustered Shots
10 (CS)Improved Precise Shot
11) Weapon Focus (Longbow)
13) Snap Shot
14 (CS) Pinpoint Targeting
15) Combat Reflexes or Improved Snap Shot
17) Whatever you didn't pick at 15
But honestly I think as long as you get Precise Shot at 2, Rapid Shot at 3 or 5, and Manyshot at 6 you're going to be pretty darn effective (though having Clustered Shots in there is highly recommended). For example, if you're really keen on Snap Shot ASAP you could go:
1) Point Blank Shot
2(CS)Precise Shot
3) Rapid Shot
5) Boon Companion
6(CS)ManyShot
7) Weapon Focus (Longbow)
9) Snap Shot
10 (CS)Improved Precise Shot
And then take Deadly Aim, Clustered Shots, and Improved Snap Shot in pretty much any order (maybe with Combat Reflexes in there, and Improved Pinpoint Targeting as your level 14 CS feat).
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Short answer:
Yes, Rapid Shot is probably better even with your lower dex. Your dex isn't that low for an archer. 20s are pretty rare - I'd expect most archers to have a 16-18 stat after racial modifier, which means your modifier is only 1-2 points behind. An extra arrow is generally better than +1 to hit, and you're probably not going to have a hard enough time hitting that Weapon Focus will be better.
Long Answer, with math:
Assumptions:
1) You have only one attack. Iterative attacks make this more complicated, and favour Weapon Focus since the benefit applies to all iterative attacks, where Rapid Shot's penalties apply to all attacks and its benefit does not scale.
2) You can hit on something other than a Nat 20, and you can miss on something other than a Nat 1. These conditions favour Rapid Shot, because if no matter what you do you need a 20 it's a good idea to roll more dice, and an increase to attack bonus isn't helpful when you already auto-hit.
3) You are capable of taking the full-attack action necessary to use Rapid Shot.
If your probability of hitting a target is p, and your damage per hit is d, then your expected damage per attack roll is p*d.
If you then take Weapon Focus, you increase your to-hit bonus by 1, which increases p by 0.05 (there is one more number on the d20 (1/20) that results in a hit).
Expected damage for Weapon Focus = (p+0.05)d
If you instead take Rapid Shot, you decrease your to-hit by 2 when using the feat, but get an extra arrow. Your expected damage is then dependent on whether one, both, or neither arrows hit: 2d, d, or 0.
Probability of both arrows hitting is (p-.1)^2
Probability of one but not both hitting is 2*(p-.1)*(1-(p-.1))
Probability of neither hitting is (1-(p-.1))^2
Expected damage per round is the sum of (probability of each outcome times damage of outcome)
Expected damage = [(p-.1)^2](2d) + [2*(p-.1)*(1-(p-.1))] (d) + [1-(p-.1))^2] *0
E(d) = (p-.1)^2 (2d) + [2*(p-.1)*(1-(p-.1))] (d)
E(d) = ( p^2 - 0.2p + 0.01 ) (2d) + (p-0.1)(0.9-p) (2d)
E(d) = ( p^2 - 0.2p + 0.01 ) (2d) + (-p^2 + 0.9p + 0.1p - 0.09) (2d)
E(d) = ( p^2 - 0.2p + 0.01 ) (2d) + (-p^2 + p - 0.09) (2d)
E(d) = ( p^2 - 0.2p + 0.01 - p^2 + p - 0.09) (2d)
E(d) = (0.8p - 0.08) (2d)
E(d) = (1.6p - 0.16) (d)
Expected damage for Rapid Shot = (1.6p - 0.16) d
So when is the Expected Damage from Rapid Shot greater than that from Weapon Focus? When:
(1.6p-.16)d > (p+0.05)d
1.6p-.16 > p+0.05
0.6p > 0.21
p > 0.35
That is to say, when your chance of hitting your target is better than 35% without applying either feat, then Rapid Shot is a better deal. This ought to be the case for you in most fights - looking at this chart, a monster's AC is typically 1-3 points higher than 10+CR, meaning that with your attack bonus of level+2, you will hit the typical monster about half the time with any one roll. But some GMs like high AC enemies. And if you don't get a lot of full-attack actions (unusual for an archer, but possible) Rapid Shot is pretty useless. You can keep an eye on how often you hit and take full attacks for levels 1-2 and figure out which is a better feat for you personally.
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Well our GM is a math guy, so he will appreciate this thread. Thanks, I understand the value now.
We have a pretty good sized group so we either face higher numbers (typical) or we've faced a few high AC folks. Lagging behind a bit in exp is hurting me some, since the rest of the group is 2 and I am still 1, but I think I'm going to get Rapid Shot at 3.