Most of my players are new to Pathfinder, and I decided to let them explore the character building process as much as desired, helping out when they had questions like "how do I make a character who does X" or "too many feats zomg". This mostly worked out okay--we have 6 20-point buy characters doing an AP, so even unoptimized characters should have a decent chance.
That said, I'm a bit worried about the party half-elf, a falconer ranger. They wanted to play an archer (or crossbow user), but they put nothing into Strength (10), so composite bows won't do much without some sort of Strength enhancement. The idea was likely to fit the archetype of a lithe elf raining death from afar using precision alone, but with all the Dex to damage options out there bows are still pretty much "Strength or go home".
If our archer starts to feel lacking in the combat department, what should I advise? I'm open to inventive solutions so long as they don't seem too deus ex machina, like finding a special agile longbow or something. (Though I thought I remember some module or other having an otherwise illegal agile weapon because the designer thought it was cool....) But I'm also open to advising the player so long as it doesn't break his character concept.
You don't need a composite bow when you have Deadly Aim.
Unfortunately STR is something a ranger is going to need. With only a 10 STR he will be at medium encumbrance just wearing a breastplate, and carrying a longbow and 20 arrows. This does not include any other gear or weapons. Add in a rangers kit for some basic gear and his encumbrance goes up to heavy. You can use special material to reduce the weight of some of the gear but it is going to be hard to carry what he needs.
Since you are the GM consider allowing him to do a rewrite. Even a +2 STR will help out quite a bit. If not he is going to need to use his belt slot to boost his STR instead of DEX. This is going to cut into his accuracy. Since the character is half elven he can easily justify being slender while having a better STR. Elves are usually very slender, but are just as strong as humans. Simply have him favor his elven side more than his human in this respect.
I don't think lacking in damage will really be a concern for a pure dex bow build as long as the man has the dexterity to hit consistantly. Sure, 10 strength isn't ideal but as a Bownman your damage will mostly come from modifiers to your damage output. Sure, an extra +1-3 damage will help out early game but its not like your Ranger could afford a composite Longbow in the first place with starting funds.
Between Rapid Shot, Deadly Aim, Clustered Shots, and Manyshot a Ranger can make a ton of nasty attacks in a given round. Later on, between Instant Enemy, magic gear, feats, and the high end ranger abilities he'll be doing fine.
As for early on, level one is easy. If he takes point blank shot level 1 then he at least is dealing 1d8+1 which is pretty much on par with whatever another bowman would be dealing at that point.
Level 2-3 is the only really hard part for this man, and even then its not too bad. At 2nd level he can pick up Rapid Shot to double his damage output. 3rd level gives another feat, so he can grab precise shot, and then he'll be all set for Deadly Aim at 5th level. 4th level is when Instant Enemy turns online, giving him some real muscle and then 5th level that buff goes up to +4 damage on every shot.
Sure, this half-elf won't be doing anyting absurd like 1 rounding bosses like a Paladin Archer but he should feel consistently useful as long as he has enough Dex to accept accuracy penalties in exchange for damage buffs.
I'm appearently so sleep deprived I can't tell the difference between 1 and 3 these days. 2+2 = Fish
Ignore the instant enemy nonsense...or toss the player a Wand of Instant Enemy at 4th level. idk, up to you. I still think with proper feats he'll be fine, though a wand of instant enemy would be cool of you.
Since the whole party isn't super-optimised you could consider handing out some corrosive/flaming/frost/shocking longbows to add a little flavour and damage. If the character is hitting consistently enough the loss of attack power won't matter so much and getting 2-3 hits with 1d6 extra damage might make them feel like they're putting out higher numbers even if the averages don't change all that much.
Umm...how does a ranger get Instant Enemy before 10th level? Instant Enemy is a 3rd level spell? Or is there another way to get it?
4th level is when Instant Enemy turns online, giving him some real muscle and then 5th level that buff goes up to +4 damage on every shot.
Most rangers do it with a wand.
Thanks for the insights! I'm a little less worried now, enough that I'll likely hang tight unless I see the player getting frustrated.
@Meirill:
I agree, the low-strength ranger archer isn't the most optimal build, but he really liked the ranger abilities. He's a half-elf, so taking levels in fighter or something else isn't out of the question anyway. As for favored enemy, it'll actually come up quite a bit--his first favored enemy is probably the most common creature type in the AP. Plus, there's eventually instant enemy.
@Mysterious Stranger:
I actually hadn't thought about the fact that a Strength-heavy archer is going to want a belt of incredible dexterity while a Dex-heavy archer is going to want a belt of physical might, essentially evening out. That eases my mind a bit, at least until the point where belt of physical might comes into play.
I'll give some thought as to whether to encourage a respec. Gear weight was a problem for a bit, but the character has a horse and saddlebags now which should let him get by for a bit.
@ShroudedInLight:
The character's first feat and first combat style feat went to Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot so that firing into melee wouldn't be so terrible. (Even with high Dexterity, -4 hurts, especially when most of the enemies at this point are goblins and other relatively high AC creatures.) I suspect he'll end up with either Rapid Shot or Deadly Aim at 3rd level, depending on whether he feels like he's hitting things consistently enough to not mind a -1 to hit.