Help with a sniper build?

[desero clades]

Right now I'm playing an Anima mage and our last encounter nearly killed me... so I've been thinking of making a sniper type character as a back up.
We're playing with a house rule the DM decided to try out on this campaign where we get feats every even level instead of every third level, so I shouldn't really be feat starved with ranged feats. Oh and flaws are allowed.

So far I'm thinking of using the great crossbow from races of the stone and know what general feats to take, but I'm a little iffy on which classes to take.

Thanks in advance!

[A.A.King]

There exist two types of sniper.

Hide-Shoot-Hide Snipers: Stealthy and sneaky, they take aim from an undisclosed close-by location for Sneak Attack damage
Massive Range Snipers: These types of build focus on being able to make ranged attacks from huge distances.

So which one do you want to be? And what level are you starting at?

[desero clades]

Hide and shoot is what I'm aiming for, currently we're level 8

[A.A.King]

How about Strongheart Halfling Wilderness Rogue 8?

1: Point Blank Shot
H: Precise Shott
F: Darkstalker
3: Hand Crossbow Focus
6: Crossbow Sniper

You can't always hide so a Hand Crossbow is probably better then a Great Crossbow. You are a halfling so you can take the 10th Halfling Rogue Subsitution level for "Sniping Mastery" to lesser the penalty for sniping to -10 (from -20). And you are Wilderness Rogue so at level 13th you can take "Hide in Plain Sight"

[Fuzzy McCoy]

I would also recommend taking a look here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?344607-A-Sane-Sniper-build-PEACH-WIP). There's some good stuff there.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I would also recommend taking a look here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?344607-A-Sane-Sniper-build-PEACH-WIP). There's some good stuff there.

On that vein, Piggy Knowles' Archer Compendium (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?284283-Piggy-Knowles-Archer-Build-Thread) is also a great resource for archery, I'm partial to the "Murderous Sniper" and the TISP Sniper

[pilvento]

You got all you need in those handbooks but if you can tell us the lvl of optimization you are playing, how much dmg you are triying to pull off and the lvl range for the build then i can come up with a more ample feat selection and a build.

I lately wanted to give the order of the bow initiate a try, people say its a trap cause you can shot 1 arrow a turn but supose this:

scout 4 + ranger 6 + order of the bow 10.

You have 5d6 skirmish (swift hunter + improved skirmish) + 5d8 presition shot + weapon dmg

You can apply presition dmg from 60ft thanks to order of the bow initiate (twice as much as any other hide and shot build) and all you need to do is move 20ft and fire as a standard action.

All depends on the tipe of game you are playing.

[Riculf]

I like OotBI as a prestige. It's limited to one arrow but that single arrow gets all the damage and so is much more likely to overcome DR, etc. It's not exactly a "sniper" per se (long ranged death), more a ranged assault class (à la special forces urban assault). Fun times when incorporated with shot-on-the-run to always try and end a move in cover :smallsmile:

[sideswipe]

be a dark creature whisper gnome.

take able sniper feat.

so at level 8 you would have (assuming dex 20 with ease. you might have dex towards 24 by this point).

+5 dex
11 ranks
+8 from race and size
+8 from dark creature

total 32 hide.

able sniper is -15 instead of 20 after attacking. so still +17 after shooting. you also get hide in plain sight. and your move silently is somewhere in the 20's at least.

if you then take stealthy and skill focus hide. and a +5 cloak of elven kind for 2,500 gold then you have 42 in hide and 27 after attacking.

most enemies will have approximatly +8 to +15 in spot without being specialised.

so you can just sit in a hiding place. getting sneak attack on every shot. never seen so never attacked.

you also have used 3 feats. so thats level 1 feat, and 2 flaws. you then have 2 other feats at least to spend on better damage. as well as anything else you can pick up.