Ranger Build for a low magic campaign

[teemuchka]

A DM friend of mine invited me to a homebrewed campaign, where there is a much greater focus on different damage types (i.e. slashing, piercing, bludgeoning) and alchemy over magic. This also means that divine magic is nerfed, being more like long rituals than anything practical. Since I wanted to play a Switch Hitter Ranger, but have to drop spellcasting, I need some advice on how to optimize this guy.

1) How to replace spellcasting? The loss of self buffs is huge, and I'm not sure an extra feat per spell level will cut it. Are the Skirmisher and Trapper archetypes any good?

2) What to do with Wisdom? There's no real need for it without spellcasting, but on the other hand it affects some important skills - namely Heal, which will be especially powerful in the low magic setting.

3) Adding alchemy to Ranger, how? I mean, Rangers get Craft (Alchemy), but how to apply it in practice is the question. Dip arrows in alchemist's fire for non magical fire arrows?

I was thinking along these lines (20 point buy, start at level 2):

Str 14 + 2 (Human)
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 14
Cha 10

Feats: Dodge, Quick Draw (Human), Rapid Shot, and so on following Treantmonk's guide.

I'm also considering lowering Wisdom to 10 and dumbing Charisma. The thing is, I'm expecting that there actually won't be that many encounters since the DM likes his roleplaying, and I'm more used to tactical combat. In which case, I guess I would need more Intelligence for skills (I don't know, I'm really not that experienced with PF). Advice?

Core Rulebook + APG only, though the DM is open to suggestions.

[ermak_umk3]

Personally I enjoy the Trapper archetype, once you can attach the traps to your ranged attacks it becomes really fun.
Granted many of the more interesting traps are from later books (champions of balance, ranged tactics toolbox, magical marketplace) but they are well balanced & there are only 30 or so of them anyway. TrAps are dependent on Wisdom though so you may want to keep at least 12 in it.

[ermak_umk3]

At higher levels you will need wounding & penetrating trap so you can bypass damage reduction. I had issues with the archetype until after they were released, mostly because of the cost of special arrows.

Cha is only necessary for your wild empathy &/or handle animal checks so it could be dumped if you choose to bond with your party instead.

If you are switch hitting or ranged focused I'd go for vital strike, power attack is more for your 2 handed melee weapon builds.

You can pour certain alchemical items on your weapons, alchemical silver comes to mind.

[teemuchka]

ermak_umk3 wrote:

At higher levels you will need wounding & penetrating trap so you can bypass damage reduction. I had issues with the archetype until after they were released, mostly because of the cost of special arrows.

Cha is only necessary for your wild empathy &/or handle animal checks so it could be dumped if you choose to bond with your party instead.

If you are switch hitting or ranged focused I'd go for vital strike, power attack is more for your 2 handed melee weapon builds.

You can pour certain alchemical items on your weapons, alchemical silver comes to mind.

Thanks for answering, I'll take a look at the Trapper. I don't think we're gonna end up at very high levels due to the difficulty of adjusting all those damage resistant monsters to our limited magic equipment, so there should be no problems with limited trap selection.