PF Ranger Feat Choice

[HairyGuy4]

So I am building a level 7 ranger for a Pathfinder game(PFS rules). Race of Half Elf. But I'm unsure of what to take for my level three feat. Here is my feat progress so far.

1) Power Attack
Bonus 2) Rapid Shot
3) ???
5) Deadly Aim
Bonus 6) ManyShot
7) Vital Strike

As you can see, I'm doing a very typical ranger build that can switches between melee and range with ease. (I will have two melee weapons, one greatsword and one reach weapon). However I CANNOT stand cleave. In the games I play, enemies are never adjacent to one another and thus make it useless for me. However what to take instead has me at a loss. Here's the options I am considering.

Step Up (https://sites.google.com/site/pathfinderogc/feats/combat-feats/step-up-combat---final)- Useful for caster harassing, in theory.
Quick Draw (https://sites.google.com/site/pathfinderogc/feats/combat-feats/quick-draw-combat---final)- Useful for this build, but I could easily do without it.
Measured Response (https://sites.google.com/site/pathfinderogc/feats/combat-feats/measured-response-combat)-
Furious Focus (https://sites.google.com/site/pathfinderogc/feats/combat-feats/furious-focus-combat)- I like to power attack, but I'm pretty good at balancing use of it.

Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.

[Platymus Pus]

So I am building a level 7 ranger for a Pathfinder game(PFS rules). Race of Half Elf. But I'm unsure of what to take for my level three feat. Here is my feat progress so far.

1) Power Attack
Bonus 2) Rapid Shot
3) ???
5) Deadly Aim
Bonus 6) ManyShot
7) Vital Strike

As you can see, I'm doing a very typical ranger build that can switches between melee and range with ease. (I will have two melee weapons, one greatsword and one reach weapon). However I CANNOT stand cleave. In the games I play, enemies are never adjacent to one another and thus make it useless for me. However what to take instead has me at a loss. Here's the options I am considering.

Step Up (https://sites.google.com/site/pathfinderogc/feats/combat-feats/step-up-combat---final)- Useful for caster harassing, in theory.
Quick Draw (https://sites.google.com/site/pathfinderogc/feats/combat-feats/quick-draw-combat---final)- Useful for this build, but I could easily do without it.
Measured Response (https://sites.google.com/site/pathfinderogc/feats/combat-feats/measured-response-combat)-
Furious Focus (https://sites.google.com/site/pathfinderogc/feats/combat-feats/furious-focus-combat)- I like to power attack, but I'm pretty good at balancing use of it.

Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.
Snap shot could be an option albeit a somewhat feat heavy one.

[Raven777]

If you are a switch hitter, why not Quick Draw? Trust me, the freedom of not needing a move action to draw your weapon is going to come in handy eventually.

[HairyGuy4]

I dunno. It's a feat that lets you not lose a full attack in certain circumstances. To me that's a 'not bad', but not a 'need to have' like power attack. As I said, I'm not opposed to it. I just wondered if people think I should take it.

[IronFist]

I dunno. It's a feat that lets you not lose a full attack in certain circumstances. To me that's a 'not bad', but not a 'need to have' like power attack. As I said, I'm not opposed to it. I just wondered if people think I should take it.

It's definitely better than Vital Strike.

[HairyGuy4]

Alright. It wouldn't be swapped with vital strike though. What's wrong with Vital Strike?

[Person_Man]

Vital Strike is a trap. Making a full attack action is mathematically strictly better then Vital Strike. And there is almost never a situation where you can't make a full attack, as long as you dedicate the proper resources to ensure that you can do so.

If someone is standing next to you need don't want to provoke an attack of opportunity because you're making a ranged attack, you can either take a 5 ft step away, cast Arrowmind (Spell Compendium), take the Point Blank Master Feat (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/advancedFeats.html#point-blank-master), have your Animal Companion use the Reposition (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/advancedNewRules.html#_reposition) combat maneuver on you or Bull Rush or Grapple the enemy threatening you, use some form of free or swift action movement to move away, or in the worst case scenario you can just move and use Manyshot (which would still be better damage then Vital Strike).

Or you can just be a melee build and get pounce or free/swift movement. If an enemy standing next to you, make a full attack. If they're not, you move or charge next to them and make a full attack.

If you don't have easy access to pounce or free/swift movement, you can instead take Quickdraw. Make as many melee attacks as you can, and then when you run out of adjacent enemies start making thrown weapon attacks.

There are many ways to get Pounce or free movement (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103358). Even in a Pathfinder only game, the Ranger has some of the easiest access to it thanks to the Skirmisher Archetype (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/coreClasses/ranger.html). (Free Action running Jump check, lose spellcasting, can be used 1/2 ranger level + Wis mod times per day). Or you can just ride in a chariot or wagon pulled by your animal companion, and use his action to move you everywhere. Or you can just buy a cool magic item that's a standard action to activate, and use that when you can't make a full attack.

Even if absolutely none of that works for you, or you're stuck in some weird situation where you can't get to enemies without a normal Move, you're still better off without Vital Strike. When you optimize your attacks, you want to optimize for the things that you're going to do every round, and not optimize for the exception. Even if you can't make a full attack 50% of the time, you'll still have better damage output if you focus your Feats and other resources on optimizing those attacks then on hedging your bets with Vital Strike.

[HairyGuy4]

Hmm, I guess I took an 'attack action' to mean part of your attack. What it sounds like is that you're telling me Vital strike is a standard action? Why yes, I do see how that is no longer a useful feat once you hit level 6.

However I've repeatedly stated that this is not a situation where I would trade Quick Draw for Vital Strike. Quick Draw would be taken at level 3. Vital Strike cannot be taken until level 7. So what is a good feat to replace Vital Strike?

[StreamOfTheSky]

Everything Person Man said. Pick melee or ranged, not switch hitter. Vital Strike is a trap.

Also, if melee, grab a bunch of Quick Runner's shirts, each is 1000 gp and lets you move as a swift 1/day, which if you have enough shirts becomes 1/combat. That's another way to move and full attack and is quite easy. At much higher levels, you could use Mounted Skirmisher feat and just ride your companion.

If ranged, your level 6 feat should be Improved Precise Shot. Bolded for emphasis. That's 5 levels early! By contrast, Manyshot can be gained at level 7 on its own. Heck, the only reason you can't take it as 6 is lack of a general feat at that level.

Other good ranged feats:
Point Blank Master (make it your 10th level feat) - requires weapon focus
Clustered Shots - DR ceases to be a problem, ever! Should be the first thing you take after Manyshot, so probably 9th level feat.