Ranged Stealth Class Suggestions

[kechlion]

Hello everyone,

First a bit of background: I'm about to start a new 3.5 campaign (only my 3rd) and it's going to be a stealth campaign with me, one other player, and the DM. The other player is almost definitely going rogue or some other type of melee stealth character. The setting is going to take place mainly in the city with humanoid/animal opponents, probably not terribly many fantastic creatures (dragons and the like).

So now my question - I would like to be a ranged stealth type, do y'all have any recommendations? We will likely start around level 4-5 or so. The only one I have seen suggested is a combo of scout/ranger which is currently what I'm leaning towards. I'm not opposed to a caster types and my only 2 primary conditions are that I be as stealthy as possible and be a ranged type. Secondary considerations would be good sneaky skills like tracking people, sensing motive, finding hidden plots and the like.

Thanks!

P.S. I would have used the search function but I get a database error every time I try to search =\

[Aeryr]

Well as you are already considering it a swift hunter (scout / ranger) is pretty good for stealthiness.

1 level of ranger and 4 levels of scout will let you take swift hunter (scouts get a bonus feat at level 4). The level of ranger among other things lets you use ranger wands, so you can get a wand of camouflage (that is a +10 to hide for 10 min). From there take as many levels in ranger as you can, you get most of the ranged feats for free.

Alternatively you can play another rogue, but that would be stepping on your friend's toes, or play a caster. A cloistered cleric with trickery and elf domain and knowledge devotion can be pretty good with a bow (taking zen archery). An archivist can be pretty good if it has access to ranger first level spells from level one.

Cloistered cleric is from unearthed arcana and archivist is from heroes of horror.

[Duncan_Ruadrik]

if using 3.5, best is probably a Ranger/Scout with the Swift Hunter feat. get Manyshot and a Bow with Splitting as an enhancement. you are good to go. Search Swift Hunter build and you'll get hits here or on Google.

[Namfuak]

An alternative to the normal swift hunter build is using the prestige ranger from Unearthed Arcana. If you use Scout 4/Cloistered Cleric 2 to enter prestige ranger, you can get access to the knowledge and trickery domains (as well as animal because you have to take it, but trickery is what you are looking for). Travel and knowledge devotion both work pretty well with this as opposed to the normal swift hunter, and also you are using the cleric spell list rather than the ranger spell list. The trickery domain alone will pretty much cover all your stealthy needs.

[Piggy Knowles]

(OK, I'm going to get a little carried away here, because I love ranged stealth builds and have given a lot of thought to various build stubs.)

It's a little bit of a different direction, but have you considered the totemist?

Totemists make excellent stealth builds, with decent skills and a ton of Hide/Move Silently-boosting soulmelds. They also get one of the best ranged attack options around in the Manticore Belt, which lets you fire off a number of spines equal to your essentia as a standard action.

Here's a ranged totemist stealth build I put together a while ago:

Azurin, Totemist 20

1- Darkstalker, Expanded Soulmeld Capacity
3- Shape Soulmeld (Sighting Gloves)
6- Martial Study (Cloak of Deception)
9- Double Chakra (Totem)
12- Martial Stance (Assassin’s Stance)
15- Indigo Strike
18- Bonus Essentia

Focusing on the Manticore Belt, this build is a ranged skirmisher. The idea is to be constantly surrounded in an inky cloud of darkness, swooping by and releasing a huge volley of spines. Manticore Belt bound to the Waist gives excellent Fly speed plus Flyby attack, while binding it to the chakra gives you the ability to fire one spine per essentia invested as a standard action... and by 14th level, both should be bound. The Shadow Mantle’s shoulders not only surrounds you in a globe of magical darkness, it also gives you blindsight within that globe. This should make it very easy to activate sneak attack via Assassin’s Stance, and Indigo Strike damage.

Instead of blowing a feat on Precise Shot, instead the build blows a feat on Sighting Gloves, which give the same benefit but also provide a significant damage boost.

Plus, you know, you’re a level 20 Totemist, so you’ve got skill boosters out the wazoo, can switch to melee when necessary, etc.

You could also toy around with some various caster builds. Bard actually works well, even though it seems counterintuitive to think of a bard as a stealthy build. You can do a lot to max out the bard, but even a bard 20 works well. Take some PBS/Rapid Shot, Knowledge Devotion and Darkstalker, and tweak out Inspire Courage as far as you'd like (Dragonfire Inspiration + Song of the Heart + Inspirational Boost + Badge of Valor is a good start... I'm not a huge fan of Words of Creation). You can be stealthy right up until you start singing, or you can take the Subsonics feat to remain stealthy even then. There's a lot you can do with this... just be warned, it's a VERY feat-hungry build!

Also, I think Chameleons make great archers, and work well with stealth builds. For archery and stealth builds, I like Cloistered Cleric 1/Feat Rogue 2/Ranger 2 as my entry into Chameleon. However, if you prefer BAB to skills, you could use fighter over feat rogue.

For domains, can't go wrong with Trickery and Planning, if you expect to go the DMM route (which you probably should). Maybe something along the lines of...

Human, Cloistered Cleric 1/Ranger 2/Feat Rogue 2/Chameleon 10/??? 5

DOMAINS: Knowledge, Planning, Trickery

1- Point Blank Shot, Able Learner, Knowledge Devotion, Extend Spell
2- Track
3- Rapid Shot, Zen Archery
4- Precise Shot
5- Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Greatbow)
6- Persistent Spell
9- DMM (Persistent Spell)
12- Travel Devotion
15- Extra Turning
18- Extra Turning

[kechlion]

Thanks very much for all of the responses. I think I'm going to do the Swift Hunter thing, that feat looks amazing. I'm also going to use the UA Ranger variant Urban Ranger because it will take place mainly in the city, and being able to use knock as well as the neat person finding features.

So I think someone suggested going 1 Ranger then 4 Scout then the rest Ranger? Are there any PRCs that I should consider for far later down the road?

[Aeryr]

Imho the benefits of swift hunter get diluted if you take prcs, so no prc. :smallsmile:

Taking 3 levels of scout a level of ranger and another level of scout will let you get swift hunter at level five, and give you more skill points.

I suggest taking arcane hunter ACF from complete mage (that allows you to have favored enemy arcanist)

[Waker]

Well, since this is a two-player urban campaign, I'd suggest for you to grab the Distracting Attack (which replaces animal companion) so you can provide flanking to your friend, even from a distance. If you haven't decided on a race, the Half-Elf has some good choices for Ranger as a ACF in Races of Destiny, such as grabbing Urban Tracking and some more city-appropriate spells. The cityscape web enhancement also has Crowd-Walker to replace your Woodland Stride.
Also from the Cityscape web enhancement comes Go to Ground on the Scout side, which makes you untrackable without magic. You might be interested in the Dungeon Specialist acf for the Scout. It replaces your Fast Movement and Evasion to grant you a Climb Speed, which could be terribly useful in a city.
Lastly, if you are going the Ranger/Scout route, see if your DM will allow the Ranged Skirmisher feat from Dragon 346. Requires Dex 15, Wis 13, Far Shot, Point Blank Shot and Skirmish. It extends the range that you can use Skirmish from 30 to 60ft.

[Invader]

Rogue/Ranger and move into shadowdancer but see if you can get some ACF's to replace the summon shadow and such.

[kechlion]

So Waker mentioned using a Half-Elf as the race, which is definitely one of the ones I was looking at, but does anybody have any different suggestions? I know picking up the urban tracking feature would be great for him, but I can use the Urban Ranger variant and get the same thing with any race.

The three things I love about the Half-Elf right now are the +2 to Dex, free multi-classing, and the low-light vision. Something like low light vision might not seem all that useful to a lot of people, but I have always found that I use any vision bonus to great extent. Especially if we're going to be playing a stealthy campaign and most of our adventures will probably take place in the city at night.

[The Underlord]

I would actually make a warlock. IIRC they can turin invisible, fly, snipe (with the eldritch spear. They also have many social related abilities

[nedz]

Scout 3/Warlock X with Improved Skirmish can add 3d6 to your EB and gives you lots of skill points. Obiously you don't start with Scout 3, but even Scout 1 is good for 1d6 etc.

There is also the Hellfire warlock trick to add even more dice.

[Yuukale]

I suggest Swift Ambusher, that is, Rogue/Scout =)