So, I have a player who wants to be the group's scout, & he's building a first level character. He hasn't yet decided which class to play yet, maybe a ranger (though he doesn't want to cast, after playing a Witch, a Dread Necromancer, & a Cleric in our last three campaigns)... Anyway, that is in no way the topic of this question, sorry...
Focusing in:
Which Feats would be best for him?
I allow Pathfinder, just about any balanced 3PP, & even some older 3.5 Feats...
He's not looking for combat & fighting feats! He's looking for actual feats which would help him as a SCOUT (not a combatant!)!
The obvious answers of course are:
Alertness
Athletic
Fleet
Skill Focus
& Stealthy
Just looking for any & all other options, as is he...
Please tell me you guys have some ideas? We only really need advice on scout Feats!
Thanks,
ronnie
If he had an animal companion, they could both take stealth synergy, a teamwork feat from UC that allows you to take the better of the two stealth rolls.
There are several archetypes they might check out. All of these are in the prd.
APG: Guide, Infiltrator, Skirmisher
UC: Battle Scout, Warden
The skirmisher trades spells for special tricks.
The eagles eyes feat from APG shaves -5 off vision distance penalties.
Mobility feats could be handy - nimble moves and acrobatic steps fom the core rulebook.
APG = Advanced Players Guide
UC =Ultimate Combat
Skill focus: perception, skill focus: stealth are great feats for boosting a scouts abilities, same with alertness (though the ioun stone for it is better).
I'm currently playing a battle scout ranger with spellcasting. You can just as easily stack one of the other archetypes that remove spellcasting with it to make a better scout. It's not so much as feats but an overall build that makes a great scout.
Feats like the ones listed, certain spells, skills: acrobatics, perception, stealth, certain knowledges, survival are all needed/helpful (ranger gets all of these but acrobatics), magic items: eagle eye goggles, elven kind cloak/boots, spyglass (mundane, still helpful), boots of striding and springing.
Typically your looking for things to make it hard for you to be seen, easier formyoumtodcoy see, ways to figure out where to go, analyze situation, get there and back quick from increased speed.
Trapper is good - it gives you the abilities of a rogue if you lack one. Setting traps does take some planning, at least until they get the 10th level ability to shoot traps from bows.
remember that small characters get a bonus to stealth
rogue, ranger, ninja come to mind
ninja gets vanish as a trick
You're looking for class with stealth and perception as class skills as well as enough skill points to use them.
Knowledge skills and linguistics may help.
A race with dark or low light vision will help.
gripplis are small, have wis and dex for stat bonuses, move 30 and have a climb speed, and can see in the dark.
Grippli ninja?
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Deceitful - Scouting isn't just about being sneaky, what happens when you get caught? A good bluff or situational disguise bonus and you can get away again without needing those pesky combat rules.
Dilettante - Why waste a scout mission when you already know some things? Or at least, already know where to start looking so you don't waste your time on the wrong side of the town sneaking around an alley.
Keen Scent and Smell Fear (need orc/half-orc)
Self Sufficient maybe
Run is nice
Good Luck, I would advise he go a Ranger or subtype. If he dislikes active spells, they get a lot of utility things that can just be tacked on without really focusing on casting.
The scout rogue archetype lets you SA after a charge at 4th level. Works well with PA, cleave and surprise follow through. SFT robes the cleaved enemy of his dex bonus allowing the rogue to also SA an adjacent target. Moreover, he can use tricks to pick up combat feats that can be used for an archer build so he is competent at range as well. A dip into barbarian or alchemist provides some interesting synergies for melee, poison or trap optimizations.
I allow Pathfinder, just about any balanced 3PP, & even some older 3.5 Feats...
He's not looking for combat & fighting feats! He's looking for actual feats which would help him as a SCOUT (not a combatant!)!
The obvious answers of course are:
Alertness
Athletic
Fleet
Skill Focus
& StealthyJust looking for any & all other options, as is he...
Your scout may want some methods of Hide in Plain Sight. Aside from PrCs there are two feat based ways to acquire the ability.
1. Hellcat Stealth: Prerequisite of Skill Focus (Stealth), maybe Stealth ranks I can't remember. Gives you the ability to use Stealth even while observed any time you are in bright or normal light. The Stealth check takes a -10 penalty.
2. Improved Eldritch Heritage (Shadow): Prerequisites of Skill Focus (Stealth), Eldritch Heritage (Shadow), and 15 Charisma. Gives you the Shadow Well ability from the Shadow Sorcerer bloodline in the APG.
Also, since you are allowing 3.5 materials I would recommend the Darkstalker feat. Any time you use hide (Stealth) creatures with blindsense, blindsight, tremmorsense, and scent still have to use spot/listen (Perception) to detect you. I know there are some Pathfinder specific third party feats that do pretty much the same thing, but I am not sure what they are.
For a combat scout I like the Moonlight Stalker feat line in Ultimate Combat. A scout with all these feats devoted to Stealth and Perception will probably not have many slots open for combat feats, the Craven, Staggering Strike, and Telling Blow feats (in that order, IMO) from 3.5 are great ways to mitigate any loss of combat prowess.
The Chameleon rogue archetype has huge bonuses to Stealth, if your scout can afford to sacrifice Trapfinding and Trapsense you may want to look into that archetype. The Scout rogue archetype is nice, but not necessary if you do get a Hide in Plain Sight ability. The Bandit archetype is nice too for a scout; however, I don't know if it's better than Uncanny Dodge and IUD for a guy who will be ahead of the main party and possibly needing to survive a round or two with multiple guys attacking him.