Ranged buffer and damage dealer

[Nytheal]

Hello,
I'm looking for an idea for my character.
I want to be able to fight well with a bow/crossbow/pistol/musket and at the same time being able to buff my teammates.
But, as I usually play Spellcasters, I would like a class that don't use many spells for a change.
We'll play from level 1 to 15 with a slow progression.
Thanks a lot for your help.

[Shorticus]

A class that doesn't use many spells but is a team buffer...

Bard: Perhaps uses too many spells for your taste, but if you wanted 'ranged buffer and damage dealer' they fit that to a 'T.' Considerably good at their job, emphasizing buffing more than damage. Vanilla bard and Arrowsong Minstrel both stand out for this role.

Warpriest: Still perhaps too many spells, but worth mentioning too. This class hammers home more on the damage aspect, and can be used well with a sling or bow especially. Take the Molthune Arsenal Chaplain Archetype, build around Advanced Weapon Training shenanigans, and never look back.

Paladin: The core paladin or the Divine Hunter archetype work amazingly well for this, though the core paladin is my preference. Healing and condition removal via Lay on Hands, high damage output vs. evil creatures, some really solid buffs, and later on the ability to grant the whole team smite evil if you're playing the vanilla paladin. I highly recommend this.

Fighter (Drill Sergeant): While I wouldn't recommend Cavalier for this job, I think the Drill Sergeant Fighter archetype does pretty well. This is a class that uses teamwork feats to bolster allies but still functions very much like a normal Fighter, meaning you can still be a respectable damage dealer with a bow, sling, or thrown weapon. If you have other archers on the team and you're using a bow, at 13th level and later your allies get 1/2 your weapon training bonus just for being near you, so that's cool.

Skald: I don't have much experience with the Skald, but I imagine it wouldn't play too differently from the Bard. You give your team rage-like abilities, and you can use a bow just fine. Maybe worth considering?

^ Those would be my top five class suggestions for "buffing" + "ranged damage dealer." If you want a pure ranged damage dealer, then there are some good, specific multiclass combos; or you could play a pure warpriest. Warpriest has amazing damage potential.

[Cavall]

Freebooter ranger.

Spells are minimum, ranged feats are plenty and can buff a party with great bonuses (and stacks with bards!) as a move while casting gravity bow.

Easy to use package wrapped neatly up for you.

[Smallfoot]

Inquisitors can be awesome archers, although they have little in the way of shareable buffs.

[PCScipio]

Smallfoot wrote:

Inquisitors can be awesome archers, although they have little in the way of shareable buffs.

Judgement Light is pretty good, although you have to wait until 10th lvl. It's very flexible.

[Mr. Hebeme]

I think the fighter archetype Seasoned Commander (link) is what you are looking for. Plenty of feats to be good with bows/ crossbows plus you get the ability to share teamwork feats and the inspire courage ability of the bard.

[Derklord]

Oath of the People's Council Paladin (sadly not compatible alongside Divine Hunter) has Bardic Performancy instead of Smite Evil.

Something completely different would be a bomber (or other ranged) Alchemist, or a ranged Investigator, with the Infusion Discovery that hands out extracts to party members.

[Shorticus]

+1 on the Oath of the People's Council Paladin. I find it plays really well early on, though I'll admit I wound up missing the Aura of Justice.

[CBDunkerson]

A fun trick for a non-caster buffer is to start with the Sensei Monk archetype and then add other archetypes that you want to be able to share with the party via the Sensei's 'Mystic Wisdom' ability.

For example, add in Monk of the Four Winds and you can share the 'Slow Time' ability of that archetype with your whole party... a barbarian getting a move action and three Greater Vital Strike attacks per round is brutal and the amount of ground you can cover with Fast Movement and four move actions per round (which never provoke attacks of opportunity) is absurd.

You can do some pretty extreme archetype stacking... Sensei / Four Winds / Drunken Master / Qinggong works just fine. Drunken Master allows you to regain ki easily by drinking... and Qinggong abilities can allow you to remove the penalties for drinking.

Use Wholeness of Body to heal the entire party. Give the Wizard Abundant Step to get out of combat. Let the Rogue have Fast Movement to get in position for a sneak attack... all in the same round. While also giving the benefits of Inspire Courage through 'Advice'.

If you build for reduced ki costs (e.g. rings of ki mastery) and quick ki recovery you can basically give the entire party monk abilities as needed.

[Scott Wilhelm]

Arcane Archer. With Imbue Arrow, you can cast buffing spells on your arrow and buff opponents by shooting them.

[Mark Hoover 330]

Grippli warpriest, possibly with the Divine Commander archetype. Give him an Agile Tongue and use whatever ranged attack method you'd like. The standard warpriest gets Blessings to be delivered from 10' with Agile Tongue and 6 levels of Divine spells to grant similar boons; Swift action to boost your own attack and damage to keep your ranged damage dealing up to snuff; if you go Divine Commander you lose the Blessings but pick up an AC to boost your own movement and deliver melee while you plink from range, and eventually you get Teamwork feats you can hand out to your party 1 or 2 times a day.

[keerawa]

I agree that alchemists can be very powerful team-buffers, able to hand out infusions of shield, false life, monstrous physique, etc.

The occultist is a fun (if complex) class with excellent archer abilities, some spell-casting and a number of focus ability buffs, like being able to make someone's weapon bane or ghost touch, turning them invisible, etc.

The sister-in-arms cavalier would more typically play as a melee than ranged, but they have several non-caster ways of protecting and buffing their allies, being both order of the lion and the dragon, with tactician to throw around and a built-in bodyguard ability. You could even build from it into...

The Battle Herald prestige class lets you combine the team-boosting of cavalier and bard (or evangelist cleric, or Oath of the People's Council paladin, or sensei monk).