I'm working on a new character, and wanted some input from people... At first I was just going to go with my rather expected Sylph Air Wizard who focuses on Ethereal and Invisible spells (Windy Escape, Vanish, Invis, etc...), but then I started thinking I'm more in the mood for a combat character with a good BAB and some skills...
So, I'm thinking of doing only a (Sylph of course) 1st level Wizard-Air to pick up a once-a-day Windy Escape/Vanish, plus keep my telekinetic cantrips that I rely too heavily on... then pick up 2 levels of Rogue-Acrobat in order to pick up a lot of class skills, some Evasion and the Fast Stealth... I figure the Sneak Attack should make up for the -2BAB I suffer for doing the multi-classing... And ending it with up to 17 levels of Fighter-Archer.
I'll be starting at 5th level, and an allowance towards magic items which I'm thinking of getting a +2 Shadow Mithral Chain Shirt with, a +1 Composite LongBow, and the Sylph's Wing Cloak item... (recommendations welcome)
I can't seem to offset the 10% Arcane Failure since I'm not a 3rd level Arcane Class in all this... :( But, other than that, it feels like a pretty solid character.
Also... it's been years since I made a character... any recommendations on Feats? I know I want Airy Step (though I can wait til 7th level to pick that up, for the 9th level Wings of Air)... Also the obvious Precise/PointBlank Shot feats... but the list of feats is too long to really go through efficiently. A shorter list of good feats would be appreciated. :/
Think about ranger. Also good with a bow, and more skills, still good on BAB and hit points. Two good saves.
Eventually gets evasion as well.
Archers are more about feats than class features.
right away:
Point blank, precise, rapid shot
middle:
deadly aim, clustered shots, imp. precise (6th level ranger)
Also fun:
quick-draw, anything that adds some breadth, like power attack
If you want to consider melee capability with magical prowess than may I suggest you consider the magus. If you want ranged attacks myrmadarch magus can help there.
Rapid Shot -> Of course, thanks. :)
Ranger -> Goes against theme, and lacks the telekinetic nuances I want in the character. :/
Magus -> Good alternative for the 1st level of Wizardry, Excellent for fixing my Arcane Failure problem, as well as the nice +1 weapon. Too slow on feats to be a good archer though, so would limit it to 1 level I think...
Myrmadarch -> Not canon enough. :P
Slayer -> Am loving the Stygian Slayer, hadn't seen that before. Just having to weigh it against the number of feats a Fighter gets and the fighter-only feats, and see how long it is possible to be equally effective. :/
Thanks for all the suggestions so far. :)
what about ninja?
Take your 1 level of wizard if you like, unless you can somehow get what you need with sorcerer.
But instead of going fighter, go ninja, all the elusive sneaky sneaky fighter stuff is very well miss mashed in ninja and goes along with the elusiveness you are looking for.
extra uses of invisibility and running across water and duplicates of ones self….. seems very thematic for what you are looking for.
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How about two characters? One can be a Wizard, who of course will stay a single classed wizard. The other can do the rogue/fighter combat thing. Trying to create a single PC that does all of those things may lead to an ineffective mish-mash that can't do anything well. Pathfinder characters are generally most effective when focussed & single-classed.
One more class which can make a fine archer is the bard, maybe the archaeologist archetype. It also combines the sneakiness and spellcasting (including Windy Escape & Vanish) into one integrated package. You are going to be better to take a class which does sneaking, fighting and spellcasting than taking three different classes which honestly don't work well together.
Also Myrmidiarch magus is definitely paizo-legal. Maybe not in your campaign of course.
Bard is another good choice, and with ranks in UMD, you can really do anything.
One more class which can make a fine archer is the bard, maybe the archaeologist archetype. It also combines the sneakiness and spellcasting (including Windy Escape & Vanish) into one integrated package. You are going to be better to take a class which does sneaking, fighting and spellcasting than taking three different classes which honestly don't work well together.
Also Myrmidiarch magus is definitely paizo-legal. Maybe not in your campaign of course.
Going with the bard theory (if that works with his sylph business without needing to take wizard).. The sandman archetype lets you steal spells and get sneak attack.
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You should definitely go with Arcane Archer and/or Eldritch Knight. 1-2 levels of Wizard will feel MEANINGLESS at high levels. I also advise against the rogue levels. That extra little hint of sneak attack won't make up for an ADDITIONAL attack penalty.
If you want a bit of Fighter/Rogue, maybe you should consider the Slayer class. It's got full BAB plus sneak attack, and would work fine with an archer. Pick up a few levels of that, then hit Arcane Archer or EK.
The real problem seems to be feats. :(
I want Wind Stance as quickly as possible (using the concealment to activate stealth) without losing the 3 basic Archer feats (PB, PS and RS) and still get to fly at 9th level (Wings of Air). This seems only possible with a fighter class. Other classes require level 15 to get all that, and by then, they should be moved on to the better archer feats of deadly aim and clustered.
By getting my 1 level of Magus (better choice than Wizard), and 2 levels of Rogue (fast stealth is too important, and evasion is nice), I can still beat other classes on getting the feats. While Ninja is nice if I take it at least 4 levels, at only 2 levels, the Evasion seems to trump the Ki Pool.
Level 1: Dodge
Level 3: Precise Shot
Level 4 (Fighter): Point Blank Shot
Level 5: Mobility and (Fighter): Rapid Shot
Level 7: Airy Step and (Fighter): Weapon Focus
Level 9: Wings of Air and (Fighter): Wind Stance
Plus, of course, the many fighter-only feats like Specialization...
So, in response...
Ninja -> Excellent tricks, but lacks a decent BAB and not enough feats to be a good archer.
2 characters -> I'm only allowed one. And I'm not sure I agree about how "effective" a single character who multi-classes can be. While true that a straight up fighter will have +2 BAB on this character, that's the only advantage he'd have, where as this character has better stealth, evasion and a +1d6 extra damage from sneak attacks (not to mention a DR 10/Magic once a day and the ability to Vanish when even most rogues wouldn't be able to).
Bard -> Thanks for the suggestion, but this is the one and only class that I simply can't play... I just can't do the whole performance thing in-character, either as a player, or thematically. Anyhows, also the feat problem...
Non-Archetype Fighter vs Archer -> The only real difference between the 2 is that rather than be good with many weapons, I'm only good with a primary weapon. My Bow skill goes up the same either way, I just don't get the bonuses to swords, etc... I replace that with a LOT of other bow bonuses which are much better than the archer skills of a non-archetype. The other things, Bravery (which isn't better than constantly increasing my range) and Armor Mastery (which is useless when you need to play a light-armour Shadow Mithral Chain Shirt), don't make the non-archetype any better, it makes it worse..:P
Arcane Archer -> It is nice, even thematic (love the shocking), but again the feat problem. While phased arrows and hail of arrows is awesome, the Volley of an Archer is comparable to the Hail, and the +10 feats is better than Phased. :/ I do love the archetype though and my thoughts may change by the time I'm 10th level since I've yet to weigh in the additional magic/spellcasting in that evaluation. ;)
Slayer Class -> I'm still slightly on the fence with this one... it lacks the feats admittedly, but Slayer Talents might make up for it... I wouldn't need the 2 Rogue levels, so would have a more steady BAB (though a lower BAB at higher levels of course, thanks to the Expert Archer). I'm still weighing the possibility, though it would mean dropping Point Blank and Precise entirely to achieve this, and waiting tip 11th level to get my Wind Stance... but at the moment I'm still leaning on the Rogue+Fighter for the obvious feat reasons...
Thanks to all the advise so far. If you think of anything else, I'm all ears. Would still love some thoughts on magic items, or feats I've missed...
Wind Stance doesn't do what you think it does. Concealment vs. ranged attacks only works for stealth if the person observing you is an arrow.
Since that's 3 feats saved on something which can be easily replicated by a spell (blurred movement is a 1st level spell which does a slightly better version of the same effect, blur is 2nd level & is significantly better.) you can easily do the same character with less feats.
An archaeologist bard replaces bardic performance with luck. At 4th level it gets a rogue talent which could be your fast stealth. It gets access to blur and/or blurred movement if so desired. Evasion comes in at 6th. It really does look like a better way of doing the same concept.
Thanks Matt, but avoiding the Wisdom thing entirely... trying to build around a Sylph advantage (bonuses to Int and Dex).
Avr, thanks, you're right about the Wind Stance, was thinking Lightning Stance, which I won't have tip level 13, but need Wind to get it. However, Dodge and Mobility are 2 feats I'd want even without Wind/Lightning.
As for archaeologist, I'm loving it. Will make a character using that archetype as well and compare the results. :)
How about an urban ranger? He's pretty much a bounty hunter working in the city.