I think I messed up.

[SanusCompleo]

Apologies ahead of time, for this is a bit of a ramble.

So, playing in a new game, really kind of playing as a player for the first time. The game is low levels (Start at 3, very slow levelling), all core and very few prestige classes. I wanted a sort of "Commando" character, good in Melee, fairly good in ranged, with levels in ranger for tracking, animal companion, etc. Started off my little level 3 buddy with 1st: Ranger, 2nd: Ranger, 3rd: Fighter, took Quick Draw, Combat Expertise, Weapon Finesse, and Improved Trip (Not going TWF, because it simply does not work well for me, so Rapid Shot as well) Human, with stats: STR 10, DEX 16, CON 10, WIS 14, INT 13, CHA 8 (Ugly guy, doesn't know how to handle himself in social situations, etc. etc.) Having problems with damage, and really not sure what all to do for the next 7 levels (Which are a long way off, certainly.) Wound up spending a bunch of coins on my allies, when they needed it, have a plain ol' chain shirt, metal light shield, rapier, and a long bow. Left with 1,800~ coins, with almost 500 on the way sometime soon... And can get more, albeit slowly.

So to sum it up:
1st Ranger - Weapon Finesse, Combat Expertise
2nd Ranger - Rapid Shot
3rd Fighter - Quick Draw, Improved Trip

1,800 gp (2200~2300 gp soon)
Mundane basic equipment,

Okay... Now what I'm asking here, "What should I do between here and level 10?" As far as level selection/equipment, to be specific. I have some ideas, thinking about taking three more in Fighter to WF & WS in Longbow, or Composite Longbow (But I'd also have to get more strength... somehow. Tomes/manuals unavailable forever.) and then either filling out the rest with 4 Rogue, or 4 Ranger, Rogue would bring me Uncanny Dodge and Evasion, as well as 2d6 sneak attack to play around with, but Ranger would give me an Animal Companion, Manyshot, and another favored enemy, or bonuses on my first... Attack bonuses are +6 Range, +6 Melee (With light weapons) Doing 1d8 damage with the longbow, which is... Really lackluster. Point blank shot would go a long way to helping damage output... which I am pretty concerned about honestly... Even though I really shouldn't. I'm more or less looking to be helpful, rather than something for the casters to hide behind. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If needed, I can restart the character... but I'll lose all of the experience I've gained so far.

[*.*.*.*]

Strength and Con at 10? Yeah, remake you're entire character

[Seatbelt]

See if you can train out weapon finesse and improved trip, and maybe combat expertise too. With no STR and no CON you have no business in meelee. Stick to archery.

[SanusCompleo]

Even with Rogue levels? Ehh, can't train out, I don't think. If I were going to it would be put towards PBS, and Precise Shot likely, for more archery. Anyway, as for low Con, I've managed 25 HP with it... With 14 Con as the previous attempt at this, he only had 22 :smallbiggrin: Archery for the most part, and the only one I'd really want to swap out would be Improved Trip. Quick Draw, Combat Expertise, and Weapon Finesse all have kept me out of trouble well enough. Thinking I may use my two stat bonuses on STR, to get a little -something- out of it. Would help with composite longbows too, I think. 25 point buy KIND OF hurts. :I

[Seatbelt]

The problem with improved trip is that as you get to higher levels the things you're going to want to trip are going to be way better at "not being tripped" than you are at "making them trip." So the usefulness will gradually fade. But if it works for you then sweet. :)

Maybe some levels of Swashbuckler for int to damage..? I dunno. I don't have the innate optimization foo to just bust out feat suggestions without doing some research. That was just my two cents.

[Greensleeves]

Honestly? If you're playing Core and nothing but Core, your concept is extremely hard to pull off, close to impossible. With 25 PB, I'd say it is impossible. It can be done, but it won't be good at what it does.

If you are determined to stick with a commando type character, decide whether you want melee or ranged, don't try both. It will suck up too much money.

If you go ranged, get a Composite bow, rapid shot etc, maybe three rogue levels (maybe!) and get things that give you a static damage boost.

If you go melee, trip could work, but you'll need strength. Look up the Knock-Down (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown) feat. It's pretty good.

A Bard character might work as well, but that requires even more work.

[boomwolf]

I'm sorry to say, but I agree with the "roll a new character" tone...

If you want a melee your stats just make it impossible...

If you want an archer, non-caster ranged are seriously underpowered and a warlock is WAY better at ranged combat without even trying.

So yea, your ability scores just donate about nothing to your character, the WIS is useless, and the INT is fairly so too, STR and CON are WAY below what you need to melee, and CHA is dump for you anyway. so the only thing that helps in ANY way is the DEX, and a character can't run on that alone. (at least unless its a weapon-finesse, two-weapon-fighter precision damage build...and even then its a longshot...)

[Kuma Kode]

You're new, and it actually looks like you have pretty decent knowledge for a newbie. Unfortunately, as has been said before, because of the way the rules are set up, trying to be good at two things that do not overlap makes you suck at both. Since neither of your classes are really providing anything worthwhile (ranger's free feats come too slowly to wait for them), you're dividing your feats too much.

If you drop the desire for melee, the character would make a good stealth/sniper kind of commando. For instance, if you were abandoning melee, you could have Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (Longbow), and then maybe Dodge because you just ran out of bow feats from core until level 6. Dip rogue for some sneak attack and evasion and sneaking synergy and you could be a decent ranged damage dealer.

If you have access to books other than the Player's Handbook, we might be able to help more. But strict core is mostly useless.

ADDENDUM: If you're the group's melee character, then yeah, your Strength and Constitution will drag you down. You may have rolled better for these first few levels, but that will balance out. The more dice you roll, the more your hit points will gravitate to the average (4.5 per level + 4.5 for that first maxed one). The higher level you get, the greater effect a decent constitution will have. Note also that having low hit points hurts more than having high hit points helps.

[SanusCompleo]

Keeping Combat Expertise and Weapon Finesse... Just because. Got a level, put it into fighter, picked up PBS, Precise Shot, and Dodge, dropped Quick Draw and Improved Trip, waiting until 6th for WF & WS... Then either going to put 4 in Rogue for Evasion & Uncanny Dodge, or Ranger for Animal Companion, 2nd Favored Enemy, Survival, & Manyshot. Really just a quarter toss at that point. Slower Combat, vs. Longer Combat really. Waiting for 6 to find out if I'll be using Composite Longbows or Regular Longbows.

[Goonthegoof]

Honestly if you want to be good at melee, ok at ranged and have an animal companion? Roll a druid and get a good chunk of wis, decent con and int and dump the rest. It's the only real way to do that in core, there just isn't enough melee support.

[Jornophelanthas]

If you're going the Rogue route, make sure to pick up Improved Initiative. That way, you have a greater chance to catch your foes flatfooted in the first round of combat, and deal sneak attack damage with a ranged attack.

Also, if you're going to take many Rogue levels, consider maxing out Bluff and picking Improved Feint as a feat to be able to deal sneak attack damage in melee. (Because of your low CON, I'd only recommend this in the later stages of combat, when enemies won't be able to flank you easily.)

Regardless, whether you want to go Ranger or Rogue, make sure you actually do something with that decent WIS score. Max out Spot, Listen and Survival, and consider the Ranger's limited spellcasting ability.

Don't pick more Fighter levels than you need. Core does not provide a lot of feats that are interesting enough for fighters after the first few levels, and you need the Rogue's or Ranger's skill points to make yourself useful. Weapon Specialization may seem tempting, but does not do enough for the two feats it costs (Weapon Focus as a prerequisite), and the things you could be doing with Ranger or Rogue levels instead.