....rapid reload (light crossbow or hand crossbow) seems rather obvious for a start, since that is what you need in order to reload as a free action.
After that, you mostly just need ranged feats. A good place to find the important ones all collected in one spot would be to look at the archery combat style bonus feats for rangers.
As a completely random note due to some weird facts I know: Medieval beekeepers were licensed to carry around crossbows because they often had to fight off bears... for obvious reasons. I hope that helps make up for the fact that my advice goes little beyond the obvious.
I wouldn't pick them up in the order I listed, obviously you can't because of prerequisites. But these are among some of the better Crossbow feats. If I think of anymore, I'll post them later.
I would go with the two weapon fighting route, or at least consider it. Crossbows do suck when compared to bows, but you can dual wield them and you can't dual wield bows. It's like the only thing they've got IMO that keeps them on par with bows. Course you're a feat starved class, so you may want to shy away from two weapon fighting.
Deadly Aim will be crucial, but I'd recommend you wait until around fourth level. By then, you should have around a +8 or +9, so Deadly Aim won't hurt at all.
(Assuming an 18 Dexterity, Combat Rogue being used to get something like Weapon Focus, and Point Blank Shot)
This is very quickly degrading into something it doesn't need to. Let's relax a little bit.
I listed most of the feats, that's all he asked for.
I said I may have missed some, and as gnomersy pointed out, I did. Deadly Aim. Passed that, I can't think of any others.
If he wants more suggestions or tips about his character, let him ask.
He hasn't posted anything except for his original post, which could mean that I gave him what he was looking for, and he's done with this thread.
I would go with the two weapon fighting route, or at least consider it. Crossbows do suck when compared to bows, but you can dual wield them and you can't dual wield bows. It's like the only thing they've got IMO that keeps them on par with bows. Course you're a feat starved class, so you may want to shy away from two weapon fighting.
Yeah, covering TWF and the ranged feats is going to be very hard for the rogue to pull off. Not to mention that the rogue has a bit of a hitting problem, so taking rapid shot, TWF, and deadly aim penalties might be a bit too much.
It's worth noting that it can be difficult to Sneak Attack bonus damage as a ranged Rogue. You'll need something like Sniper Goggles to extend Sneak Attack range beyond 30 feet, and a method to reliably trigger Sneak Attacks. One way to do this is the Scout Archetype, who get sneak attacks if they move at least 10 feet at level 8. Alternatively you could try something like playing a tiefling and using a combination of the racial Darkness SLA and darkvision to gain sneak attacks (I think this works).
It's worth noting that it can be difficult to Sneak Attack bonus damage as a ranged Rogue. You'll need something like Sniper Goggles to extend Sneak Attack range beyond 30 feet, and a method to reliably trigger Sneak Attacks. One way to do this is the Scout Archetype, who get sneak attacks if they move at least 10 feet at level 8. Alternatively you could try something like playing a tiefling and using a combination of the racial Darkness SLA and darkvision to gain sneak attacks (I think this works).
Sniper Shot should take care of that.
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An Ifrit with Firesight for the fog/smoke concealment? That would work, as would a pair of Fog-Cutting goggles for 8000gp.
It's worth noting that it can be difficult to Sneak Attack bonus damage as a ranged Rogue. You'll need something like Sniper Goggles to extend Sneak Attack range beyond 30 feet, and a method to reliably trigger Sneak Attacks. One way to do this is the Scout Archetype, who get sneak attacks if they move at least 10 feet at level 8. Alternatively you could try something like playing a tiefling and using a combination of the racial Darkness SLA and darkvision to gain sneak attacks (I think this works).The darkness thing does assuming the target can't see you in the dark(which is kind of common) which I think is why the normal suggestion involved smoke and smoke vision using the fire race whatever they were called instead of darkness but we don't know the limits on the character so it's possible neither of those races are available.
Edit: @ Sin my only issue with Sniper Shot is it's a full round action which means you need the method to sneak attack to reset itself freely without your intervention(Greater Invis., pre-set darkness sphere/smoke cloud etc.) because you can't move for scout and you can't stealth in the open.
Ah, but you can. Observe. (it is a little limited, but can be optimized)
Ah, but you can. Observe. (it is a little limited, but can be optimized)
If your build only comes online at level 10 and in certain terrain I'd say it's a far cry from ideal unless you're starting at level 10ish.
Of course there's also the fact that at level 10 you're giving up secondary attacks to get that sneak attack where as a build using smokesticks and Firesight/goggles doesn't. Sure the secondary isn't a high chance to hit but even a second attack at 25% percent chance to hit is a big difference in your average damage.
Personally if my build doesn't make me feel like I'm playing the character the way I want by level 3-5 I consider it a failure but YMMV.
I've got a cavalier who's ability I really want doesn't come in until level 8. At least he's a decent combatant without it. Rogue's just don't really measure up at any point... Even level 20, most thing's Fort saves at that point are stupid high.
It almost seems we're going to go back to the alternating brilliance and self-loathing of the "Ladies and Gentlemen, let's make the Rogue work" thread.
1) Find a way to reliably sneak attack
2) Avoid dying
3) ???
4) Profit
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I once had the idea for a rogue who would Shot On The Run crossbows while walking from cover to cover. I'd have dipped him into either fighter or ranger, and it would still be very dependent upon the terrain.
(Think like the Bond film intro scene, only he keeps walking after he fires)
Another feat that could be handy would be Opening Volley (If you hit with a ranged attack, you get +4 to hit on your next melee attack before the end of your next turn), from Ultimate Combat.
It works with a heavy crossbow to be potentially more damaging, and if you don't plan on getting Rapid Reload, you'll usually only fire it once anyway; with a hand crossbow, you can conceal it easily and hang the sneak attack off it in the surprise round, then close in with your team.
Of course, it's a situational thing, and frustrating when that opening volley misses, but it's handy when you want to make a surprise attack without over-extending yourself.
Soooo... nice to see you're all getting along. Thanks for feat advice on second post.
Lol, you're welcome.
Not to jump on the anti-rogue bandwagon but Alchemist will let grow a third arm for reloading so you can TWF with your crossbows. Vivisectionist archtype lets you keep sneak attack. Three or four levels of Fighter (Weapon Master) for bonus feats and weapon training. Not as many skill points as a rogue but extracts can more than make up for it and alchemists gets a lot of the classis rogue skills as class skills. Could make for a very roguish character even if you didn't have Rogue on your character sheet.
Normally when someone ask for a advice about rogues I give advices about rogues. I know rogues is not the strongest class, but that do not matter in most games.
However, in this case, I can only see frustrations with this crossbow rogues. Crossbows are bad, ranged rogeus are hard, they just do not mix togheter.
If you really go this way, I woudl advice 2 levels of fighters for those two extra feats.
I like Impact Critical Shot with a crossbow. Would work pretty well with TWF crossbows.