In your face archery build

[kpumphre]

So last night my dm turned my wizard in to a snake with 1 int (he's like oh if your party escapes and makes it past the green adult dragons and such their are plenty of ways to get him turned back to him self) Yeah My guy was the transportation expert. I wasn't that much of a fan of him but the dm asked me to play him. So I'm making a new character.

I want to do in your face archery. UP close and personal. So I need feats and such. Race suggestion.

Class wise I was thinking scout but open up to suggestions.

Rules: No dragon magazine most books ok. No legendary items. 9th level No Evil

Stats:
18
18
16
16
14
11

That's the order I put them in but feel free to change it up. One of the guys plays a ranged Archer fires Arrows from 190 feet (as another character in the second group when other person dms), and I was playing a teleporter/Fire ball happy wizard in this one. So Now I want it close up.

Help here is appreciated. Party make up is Bard, Barbarian, Cleric (who might be turning in to Warblade before long), and sometimes Goliath Tripper.

Feats Standard, Books like I said 3.5 book no magazine, not evil. I'm good on my concept. I know it might not be the best way to play an archer but it seems fun. Oh and I like playing classes that don't seem to work but some how do.

[Piggy Knowles]

Here is an "up close and personal" archer build I've been working on:

Changeling, Ranger 3/Totemist 2/Umbral Disciple 3/Warshaper 4/Crusader 8
1. Ranger1- Point Blank Shot, Track
2. Ranger2- Rapid Shot
3. Totemist1- Precise Shot
4. Totemist2-
5. Ranger3-
6. Umbral Disciple1- Darkstalker
7. Umbral Disciple2-
8. Umbral Disciple3-
9. Crusader1- Evasive Reflexes
Bolstering Voice (s), Lion’s Roar, White Raven Tactics, Crusader’s Strike, Defensive Rebuke, Mountain Hammer
10. Crusader2-
Thicket of Blades (s)
11. Warshaper1-
12. Warshaper2- Craven
13. Warshaper3-
14. Warshaper4-
15. Crusader3- Robilar’s Gambit
Covering Strike
16. Crusader4-
17. Crusader5-
Order Forged From Chaos
18. Crusader6- Combat Reflexes
Crusader’s Strike -> Rallying Strike
19. Crusader7-
Castigating Strike
20. Crusader8-
Aura of Perfect Order (s)

If you can get your hands on Serpent Armor, drop Combat Reflexes for Extra Granted Maneuver.

Hiding doesn't actually have an action - it is part of your movement. You need cover or concealment to hide, and you can't be observed. Umbral Disciple grants you concealment and allows you to hide even while being observed.

So, this build works as a somewhat standard ranged build, but with lots of party-buffing crusader maneuvers. Your default stance is Thicket of Blades, and you threaten a 10' area thanks to natural weapons plus improved reach from Warshaper. You can attack and/or buff your party as you'd like, especially hitting folks with things like Covering Strike or Defensive Rebuke to force enemies to focus on you. However, when they approach you and go through your threatened area, you 5' step away into hiding thanks to Evasive Reflexes and Umbral Disciple. The basic idea is to be a ranged leader who appears out of hiding to rally the party and fire off ranged shots, but when anyone tries to counter-attack, you disappear before their very eyes.

Robilar's Gambit gives you yet more AoO opportunities, so that even if someone manages to get close to you without triggering an AoO (such as via teleportation or flight) and attacks, you can STILL Evasive Reflexes away into hiding.

So basically, your M.O. is this:


Stay close to most enemies, just outside their melee range. Give your allies boosts via swift-action Crusader maneuvers, and full attack at enemies with your bow.
Enjoy concealment from Umbral Disciple, as well as the ability to hide in plain sight.
Threaten all squares within 10', or 20' if enlarged, and thanks to Thicket of Blades enemies can't approach via 5'-step.
If an enemy does try to get to you, convert your attack of opportunity to a 5' step via Evasive Reflexes, and 5' step into hiding. You don't need anything to hide behind, thanks to Umbral Disciple - you just disappear before your enemy's eyes. Even blindsight or scent won't help them detect you, thanks to Darkstalker.

[Invader]

Close range archery is usually frowned upon because it defeats the main benefit of playing a ranged character on top of using up extra resources that are generally needed just to make archery viable.

That being said it can be done. I'd suggest a hit and run build.

[kpumphre]

ok, weapon wise I'm figuring Composite longbow +5. I'm a little done out on Warshaper. I've done it so much in the past but I like the build though. Heck Scout I find is a great class for warshaper.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Swordsage 1/ Soulknife (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/soulknife.htm) 2/ Swordsage 2/ Soulbow (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060403a&page=2). Use TWF with your Mind Arrows, and pick up a few more Swordsage levels later on when you'll have the initiator level to get a desired maneuver/stance. At Soulbow 4 you get Close Combat Shot so you don't provoke AoOs when you make ranged attacks in a threatened square. Put the Lucky (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/weapons.htm#lucky) property on your Mind Arrows, so every arrow gets its own 1/day chance to reroll a failed attack.

You can get Zen Archery (CW) and go Wis-SAD with this, so pick a race with a high Wis bonus such as Anthropomorphic Bat (SS) or Jermlaine (MM2). This is actually one of the few builds that can benefit from VoP, if that's what you're into, though I wouldn't go that route.

[kpumphre]

I feel like I'll need a good dex though so wouldn't zen archery just be a waste like weapon finesse with 20 str and 22 dex?

[Piggy Knowles]

Well, Soulbow gives you Wisdom to damage, and Zen Archery gives you Wisdom to attack, and Swordsage gives you Wisdom to AC, so really you'd just need enough Dex to qualify for the various archery and TWF feats.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I feel like I'll need a good dex though so wouldn't zen archery just be a waste like weapon finesse with 20 str and 22 dex?

You only need Dex 15 for TWF, you can get Gloves of the Balanced Hand (MIC) for ITWF. GTWF usually isn't worth getting since it seldom hits, plus your BAB will make it come so late that you don't even need to worry about it.

An Anthro Bat gets Dex +0, Wis +6, so it will be difficult to have a Dex anywhere near your Wis. A Jermlaine gets +6 to both Dex and Wis, so you can put a dump stat like 9 or 10 on Dex and be good, while your Wis can be as high as the bat's.

If you go with something like a Nonpsionic Thri-Kreen for four arms, Multiweapon Fighting requires Dex 13, Improved Multiweapon Fighting requires Dex 15, so even in that case you don't need a very high Dex.

Furthermore, you don't even need to spend gold on items that grant an Enhancement bonus to any stat but Wis and maybe Con with Zen Archery.

[StreamOfTheSky]

There's also the Swift Hunter Scout/Ranger build for close up archery, since skirmish is limited to 30 ft range (60 ft. with crossbow sniper, which you won't have the feats for; unlimited range w/ use of a 1st level spell for 1 round per pop). Dipping Cloistered Cleric a level for Travel Devotion and the turn undeads to power it is recommended.