Need super help on a Ranger build.

[ZethVorador]

Hey all! So last night my younger brother decided he wanted to come to a DnD game with me and my friends. he's about 18 so I think he'll do great. We started making up a character for him and since I've never made a full board archery ranger it was a tough time. Anyways we finished it and his damage potential looks like to much to me so I'll get the character down and see if I screwed anything up. Thanks in advance for all the Help!

Class-Ranger
Level-8
Animal Companion-Fleshraker
Race- Wood Elf
Alignment-Chaotic Good
Saves- Fort+6, Ref+6, Will+2
HP-60
Stats:
16 Str
20 Dex
14 Con
15 Wis
13 Cha
14 Int
(I still have two ability points I don't know where to put them)

Starting gold-34000

Weapon-+2 +3 Composite Longbow or Collision=32700

Armor-Masterwork Spider silk Armor=1000

Misc arrows and adventuring gear=300

Feats-Rapid Shot, Many Shot, Weapon Focus Longbow, Weapon specialization Longbow, Ranged Mastery Piercing, Endurance, Track.

Ok so here's where I get confused. Either I am missing something or his damage potential is pretty big for level 8

1D8+3 (Composite) +2 (Magic) +5 (Collision) +2 (Mastery) +2 (Specialization)

So that puts his minimum damage at 15 and his max at 22. With Rapid Shot and Many Shot (Which I know can't be combined) that still gives him a fair amount of damage per turn.

So here's my questions:
A) Does this build really work?
B) Which would be better to use for his rapid shot or manyshot and why?
D) Is there any major things I am missing somehow?

My Dm is against homebrew weapons so we are limited to index's and MIC.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice I really appreciate it! Also he want's to be a super archer so any other builds/class suggestions are more then welcome.

[Darrin]

See other thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15560222&postcount=12).

[Barsoom]

Against almost any threat which is level-appropriate for 8th level characters, your magnificent 4 HD animal companion will die like a little girl. Either give up the animal companion entirely for some ACF, or optimize it better (Nature Bond etc). Alternatively, take an animal companion that's focused on scouting/recon rather than direct combat.


Either I am missing something or his damage potential is pretty big for level 8
You seem to be missing the wealth-by-level guidelines. Your bow alone costs more than the entire wealth allotment recommended for an 8th level character. And you can't take neither Weapon Specialization nor Weapon Mastery at all, as you don't have the requirement of Fighter level 4.

[Grod_The_Giant]

The bow-- You're not supposed to spend more than half your starting gold (as indicated on pp 135 of the DMG) on one item. 8th level WBL is 27,000 gold, which would put the cap on your bow at 13,500 gold-- enough for a +2 weapon, but not a +3 and no-where near enough for a +4.

The feats-- Weapon Specialization requires Fighter level 4, which isn't present in your build. Weapon Mastery requires BAB +8, meaning that you couldn't have taken it at 6th level, the last time you picked a feat.