I am looking to build a non-caster, animal handling, archer as a villain for a campaign that I am creating. I am debating between straight archer, straight fighter, or a combination of the two but I don't really know what else is out there.
My original Idea was this. Ranger, with a wolf animal companion and three trained wolves/war dogs. The wolves/dogs would run interference on the party and trip them while the ranger attacked from afar. I had planned this as a reoccurring character so if a few wolves took a lot of damage/died and they took damage as well they would flee. Was possibly thinking of using Guide, Urban Ranger, and Skirmisher templates.
Just looking for outside input or if anyone else has made a similar character?
Go with Ranger. More flavor there.
Just check to see what their longest range spell is, and try to stay out of it. Remember, a long bow's ranged increments are 100 feet, so one or two increment penalties might not be so bad (and might allow you to use a higher level character than normal without getting instant success on hits)
Having an unseen sniper and bands of wolves attack the party might be quite memorable for a short series of encounters. Put some pressure on them and try to force them to flee to a safe city/town/outpost. It will help to build up your NPC as a serious threat. Just keep a very high stealth bonus and disappear everytime they get within 100 feet or take out enough wolves. You might want to boost the number of available wolves, but keep about the same number per encounter. Once you finally let them get into a decisive battle, there will be a serious sense of accomplishment.