New Scout Handbook

[Grod_The_Giant]

INTRODUCTION
Scouts. Huh. What are they good for? (Absolutely nothing! I'll say it again!) We tend to think of them as second-rate rogues, or as the lesser half of a Swift Hunter build. And… I'm not going to lie, in some ways that's true. They're a solidly Tier 4 class with a well-defined roll— it's right there in the name. They're scouts-- they sneak, they see things, they survive in the wilderness. In a low-tier environment, they thrive. In a party with higher tier classes they might start to lag, especially compared to similar-but-more-powerful classes like the Druid and Totemist. Still, a well-played Scout has a number of ways to keep up, at least in terms of damage.

Credits:

Encard's Scout Handbook (https://web.archive.org/web/20130307034310/http:/community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872250/The_Scouts_Handbook?)
Dictum Mortuum's Swift Hunter Handbook
(http://dictummortuum.blogspot.com/2011/09/swift-hunters-handbook.html) Person_Man's Ways to get Pounce or Free Movement (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?103358-3-X-Ways-to-get-Pounce-or-Free-Movement)


Rankings

Light Blue (****): Very Good
Blue (***)=good
Black (**)=okay
Orange (*)=iffy
Red (x)=bad



Roles

Scouts are Tier 4 mundane classes-- they have a fairly limited skillset.

Scout (****). You have a high Dex and all the relevant stealth and perception skills, and the class features to complement them (at least at high levels). Not as good as a mage, but who is? If we're talking purely (Ex) abilities, they're probably the best in the game.
Skillmonkey (**). Passable. You get lots of skill points, but they're wilderness-focused. No social skills, no UMD, not many Knowledge skills… the Rogue is better at this than you.
Trapmonkey (**). You get Trapfinding, and Disable Device with the errata. No Trap Sense, though, for whatever that's worth.
Melee Striker (***). A Scout can dish out solid damage with a reliable movement mode. You can easily wind up doing +5d6 on all attacks by mid-levels. You'll probably want to be a two-weapon fighter to take advantage of that.
Archer (***). What's the problem with bows? Lack of bonus damage. What are Scouts good at? Getting bonus damage. This is probably the archetypical scout. Note that they're not good at long range archery, since Skirmish only works at close ranges. Throwing (****) is about perfect, though.




Triggering Skirmish Damage

Obviously, the most important thing for a scout is triggering his Skirmish. You want to be able to move at least 10--preferably 20-- feet and still get as many attacks as possible. Skirmish just doesn't add enough damage to make a single attack viable. Unfortunately, there are a few extra constraints to be aware of that don't appear in the base class write-up.

The Complete Adventurer Errata adds a number of restrictions to the ability-- you have to be at least 10 feet away from where you started (no moving back and forth real quick!), the damage only applies to attacks after you've moved, and most annoyingly, Skirmish cannot be used while mounted. Which removes one of the easiest and most flavorful ways to full attack while remaining mobile, not to mention raising the question of why Ride is a class skill. On the plus side, the same errata also gives you Disable Device.
The Rules Compendium adds the restriction that if you make multiple attacks during a non full-round action, you only get precision damage once. Manyshot? Gone. Manticore Belt? Gone. Magic Missile? Gone. This is, to put it lightly, super-annoying. It's not enough to get multiple attacks, you need to get them as part of a full-round action.

So. Where does that leave us? Basically, we need to move quickly-- either as a swift or free action, or somehow gaining an extra move action. Person_Man has a fairly comprehensive list (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?103358-3-X-Ways-to-get-Pounce-or-Free-Movement), but there are a few noteworthy options.

Travel Devotion (Complete Champion) (****). This is the gold standard. Available from level 1, compatible with just about everything. For one minute, move as a swift action, wham, bam, thank you ma'am. Only once a day by itself… but you can spend Turn/Rebuke Undead attempts to get extra uses at a 1:2 basis. There are a couple of ways to get them, but your best bet is probably a (Cloistered) Cleric dip-- not only does that nab you 3+Cha turn attempts-- if you can get a +1 Cha modifier, that should be enough for a full day of encounters-- but you can trade a domain (that you probably don't care about anyway) for the feat itself, as per the Devotion feat rules. Any deity granting the Travel or Celerity domains will do just fine. Fharlanghn's right there in the Player's Handbook, and fits the flavor of the Scout to a T. Heck, grab Knowledge Devotion while you're at it.
Pounce (***). A charge is still a full-round action, so you still get skirmish damage. Melee-only, unfortunately, but within that you're golden. Not too hard to get, either:
The classic Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian 1 dip (Complete Champion ACF) (****) is exactly what the doctor ordered, and the flavor matches just fine. Add in the Whirling Frenzy variant (Unearthed Arcana) for extra fun, or Ferocity (Cityscape Web Enhancement (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a)) if you're relying on Dex. On the other hand, you're left standing next to a very upset enemy, whom you probably can't charge again next round. Snow Tiger Berserker (Unapproachable East) (***) is an acceptable substitute if Complete Champion isn't on the table-- it has regional restrictions and limits you to the light weapons you were probably already using, but it might be more palatable to some DMs.
Shape Soulmeld (Sphinx Claws) and Open Least Chakra (Hands) (Magic of Incarnum) (***) will let you full attack with natural weapons, but you'll have to pick those up somewhere else. (A two-level Totemist dip (****) would do the trick, and let you drop Shape Soulmeld).
If you're going Swift Hunter, you can use the Wildshape Ranger variant (Unearthed Arcana) (***) to pick up Pounce via animal forms.
If you're willing to accept a bit of cheese, Mulhorandi Divine Minion (****) (web (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20050209a)) can give you a Pounce-equipped alternate form for the stupidly low cost of +1 LA.

Dimension Hop (Complete Psionic) (***): A first level power from the Freedom Mantle, Dimension Hop lets you teleport 10ft as a swift action, plus another 5ft for every point you spend to augment it-- in other words, 1pp for basic Skirmish, and 3pp for Improved. You can get the power and two daily uses by nabbing the Hidden Talent feat (XPH) at first level; otherwise, a quick dip in Ardent or Erudite (with the Mantled Erudite ACF from Mind's Eye) will offer it in a level. The trick is powering the thing-- being a Kalashtar (Races of Eberron) helps a lot, between the scads of bonus pp and the ability to use Quori Embedded Shards (Magic of Eberron); picking up a djore is fairly cheap, since it's a first-level power; and there's always the "buy a bundle of +1 Manifester Arrows" trick at higher levels.
Press The Advantage (Tome of Battle) (**): Two 5-ft steps for the price of one, all day every day. Would be a perfect method if it wasn't for the fact that it's a 5th level maneuver, meaning that-- without a lot of multiclassing-- you can't pick it up until 18th level. In a gestalt, though? Top notch (****)
Carpet of Flying (**): There are a couple rules ambiguities here: Does it count as a mount? If not, what kind of action is it to direct it? If both answers work out for you, it's not a bad way to Skirmish-- you're flying and it lasts all day, but you might have trouble fitting into caves and whatnot. (Not to mention potentially being knocked off-- better get a Ring of Feather Falling). If it's just the action that's causing problems, you can get a bigger one and get someone else to fly it for you-- the party wizard probably isn't doing much with his move actions. Obviously not an option (x) at low levels, since you'll need 10th level WBL to afford even a small carpet.
DC 40 Tumble Check (Oriental Adventures) (**). Make a difficult skill check, take a 10ft step instead of a 5ft step. The trick is triggering that reliably. An Item Familiar (***) (Unearthed Arcana) is the easiest way, but is…not exactly well regarded as a dairy-free feat. Otherwise…
A custom magic skill-boosting item (**) is fairly straightforward to create, though it is technically DM-dependant. Some items exist, though they're pricy.
The Belt of Ultimate Athleticism (Magic Item Compendium) (***) lets you take 10 on all Tumble checks (among others) as a swift action for a cool 3600 gold, which helps a fair deal.
A level of Exemplar (Complete Adventurer) (***) lets you take 10 and gives you a +4 bonus.
A level of Warlock (Complete Arcane) (**) can net you +6 via the Leaps and Bounds invocation.
Shape Soulmeld (Acrobat Boots) (Magic of Incarnum) (**) can give you a fair boost, depending on your level and Essentia pool. A +4-+6 insight bonus isn't hard to get, though.
Greater Manyshot (Expanded Psionics Handbook) (**). Archers only, and it doesn't kick in until fairly late in the game (12th for a straight-classed Scout), but its specific ruling that precision damage applies to each roll overrides the Rules Compendium's general rule, so hey, up to four shots as a standard action! Aaaaat a huge penalty, though, which stinks. Because of the BAB requirements (+6 minimum, and it works off iteratives so you'll want all you can get), this works better on a Swift Hunter than a straight Scout, but it gets points for being available on the SRD.
Sparring Dummy of the Master (Arms and Equipment Guide) (**). Requires a Monk dip (or possibly a UMD check), a 3.0 book, 30,000 gold, and a lot of downtime, but when you're done with it you can make 10ft steps instead of 5ft. Which is enough for basic Skirmish, but not improved.
Sudden Leap (Tome of Battle) (**). I haven't been bothering with spells or other limited use methods, since you'll need to be moving every turn, but this maneuver is kind of a special case. Make a Jump check, move the distance as a swift action. Since you won't have a running start, that requires a DC 20 Jump check, or a DC 40 check if you want Improved Skirmish— but options like Leap of the Heavens (***) (Player's Handbook 2) and Leaping Dragon Stance (****) (ToB again) cut those penalties in half. It's not so hot (*) if you grab it through feats or items, but with a one-level Warblade dip (****)? Unfortunately, due to swift action limitations, you can only use it every other turn-- one turn to Leap, one turn to Recover-- but you can do that all day long.
Great Flyby Attack (Savage Species) (*) . Move up to your speed an attack (Dex mod) targets using a single attack roll and damage roll. But it's weird. First, it doesn't specify melee or ranged, but targets have to be in your reach. But worse, you can only attack each target once, and only in in a straight line, which really kills it.
Spring Attack Chain (Player's Handbook+Player's Handbook 2) (*). The first feat is crap, and the follow-ups (allowing additional Spring+Attacks) have high BAB requirements, but it sort of works… mostly for Swift Hunters, though.
Shot on the Run (x): Just no. Even worse than Spring Attack, and without the follow up feats for extra attacks.

And then there are the...wonkier methods. These are either not exactly RAW, ambiguously RAW, or RAW-but-definitely-not-RAI, and so fall into "ask with your DM" territory.
Manticore Belt (Magic of Incarnum* (****). If the Rules Compendium isn't in play for your group, your DM disagrees with the ruling on precision damage, or you can get him to accept the (nonsensical) argument that the book has no authority to change the rules, then the Manticore Belt soulmeld is an incredible choice for a ranged Scout. For a two or three level dip and a bit of work you can throw up to seven spikes at your full BAB as a standard action. Plus, you know, a couple other soulmelds to pump up your skills or add other capabilities. Absolute top-tier option.
Landshark Boots (Magic of Incarnum) (***): Another Totemist-soulmeld-that-only-works-without-the-Rules-Compendium-Ruling. Melee only, but gives you four attacks as a standard action if you can make a ~DC 20 Jump check, Regardless of essence investment-- while the ultimate power is lower than Manticore Belt, it's stronger early on and requires no real extra effort to pump up.
Mounted Combat (****). If the errata isn't in play, this is a great option for archers. You can full attack while your mount moves, and you don't take a penalty as long as your mount is only taking a single move action. A reasonably durable mount can be obtained with the Wild Cohort feat (Web enhancement (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a)). (Even on a Swift Hunter, don't bother with the Ranger's Animal Companion-- Wild Cohort is stronger even if you weren't getting it late). And then there are... other things you can do. The Skirmish errata specifies that Skirmish cannot be used while mounted, but that doesn't have to be the last word...
A DC 20 Ride check lets you mount or dismount as a free action, provided you still have a move action available. Which you still will if you haven't full attacked that round yet. There are a couple of ways that you could get stupid with that.
Fast mount from one side, fast dismount on the other (***). You're now ten feet away from where you started without having used a move action. This is goofy, but not entirely unreasonable, assuming you're doing some kind of vault or somersault.
Fast mount, have the mount move, fast dismount (**). You can't make multiple melee attacks, but there's nothing in there about archery. And you haven't used any move actions yet. The text specifies that you can make a full attack while your mount is in motion, but doesn't specify whether or not you can make a ranged full attack once you arrive. (If you really want a book thrown at your head, once you dismount you're not using mounted combat rules anymore, and so you have your full set of actions). This is very dumb. Rig up a chariot (**). There... really aren't good rules about this anywhere, though. The Arms and Equipment Guide has some stuff, but that's 3e, and not very thorough-- I mean, the "Ranged Attack" section of the vehicle rules is just a paragraph about weather penalties. It's also really hard to use a chariot in a dungeon.
Dragon Magazine 346 introduces some stuff for Scouts, including the Light Calvary ACF-- trade Fast Movement, Camouflage, Hide in Plain Sight and Free Movement for a slightly modified Paladin mount. Now, as written, the ACF is crap, as it doesn't address the errata's mounted Skirmish. But it's pretty obvious that it should allow it, because c'mon, it's a goddamn mounted combat focused entry. So maybe the author just didn't know about the errata? Except that they mention the addition of Disable Device on the same goddamn page. (And given the fact that you still magically summon your mount, and how utterly craptastic the second ACF they present is, I'm not going to make any assumptions about the author's game design skills). Also, it's Dragon content. I honestly can't even start to evaluate this-- if it overrules the errata, it's quite good (***)but you should still probably get a Wild Cohort instead of the paladin mount. If it doesn't overrule... it's still actually kind of interesting (**), since there are plenty of combat-capable paladin mounts and none of the features you're losing are honestly that good. But it probably won't be approved.
Glide Speed (***). Falling is a free action. That's normally not significant, since you need to be close to Skirmish-- but certain races (Hadozee, Raptorans, and Dragonborn) have "glide speeds" which say let you move 20ft horizontally for every foot of vertical descent while saying nothing about the action involved. Presumably this defaults to the same free action as falling. In which case you can hop up thirty feet and spend the next six rounds slowly descending while making full attacks. (With a bow, most likely). You'll probably want to pair this with Crossbow Sniper (Player's Handbook 2) (****) to increase the range of your Skirmish and thus get a bit more flexibility. On the other hand, a DM could easily say that using the glide speed is a move action, and otherwise you just plummet. But it's worth a shot...



To Swift Hunter or not to Swift Hunter?

That is the question. Swift Hunter is a feat from Complete Scoundrel that allows Ranger and Scout levels to stack for the purposes of Skirmish and Favored Enemy, and-- in a neat bit of synergy-- let you deal Skirmish damage to favored enemies even if they'd normally be immune. It's essentially a gestalt build, giving you access to the best parts of both classes: the Scout's bonus damage, and the Ranger's combat abilities and magic.

Pros

Better BAB and proficiencies
A dabbling of magic, whether via spells (you'll want Mystic Ranger from Dragon Magazine, Shooting Star Ranger from Champions of Valor, Sword of the Arcane Order from Champions of Valor, or some combination thereof, ideally), wands, or shapeshifting (Wildshape Ranger from Unearthed Arcana)
Crappy (or not so crappy, with the Urban Companion ACF) animal companion to scout with you


Cons
I'm going to be honest: the Scout loses very little from going Swift Hunter. It's really more an issue of loses on the Ranger side-- slower access to magic, even weaker Animal Companion, and the level delay tends to render your combat style feats moot. But for the Scout? Uhh…

Slightly fewer skill points.
Lose late-game class features like Blindsense, Camouflage and Hide in Plain Sight. (Or at least delay them to prohibitively high levels)




Class Features

Hit Die (**)
Nothing to write home about, one way or another: It'll do you just fine, especially with your focus on mobility.

Skills (***)
8+Int is as good as it gets, and the list is solid-- you have all the important stealth and perception skills, key mobility skills like Balance and Tumble, and even a bunch of knowledge skills. On the other hand, there are some odd gaps-- no Handle Animal is odd on a wildness-focused class, and you have Disable Device (as per the errata) but not Open Lock. Also lacking are social skills and key thief skills like Sleight of Hand.

Proficiencies (**)
Iffy. You've got a very limited set of martial weapon options-- melee types will be using short swords, and archers will use shortbows or light crossbows (if going the Crossbow Sniper route)

Skirmish (****)
This is why you're here. Skirmish is one of the more reliable sources of bonus damage in the game-- no daily use limits, no odd circumstances. Move 10 feet and get extra damage, no special circumstances required. (Although it does have the same set of restrictions on who's vulnerable as Sneak Attack does). It's only if you want multiple attacks that it starts getting tricky. To compensate for the ease of triggering, it scales more slowly-- only 1d6 per four levels, instead of the Rogue's d6 sneak attack per two levels, although you can make up a surprising amount of the difference with the Improved Skirmish feat. On the off-levels you get a bit of bonus AC using an odd bonus type, which is nice but not really defining.

ACF: Riposte (Cityscape Web Enhancement) (*)
The ACF offers the same bonus damage and AC, but only works against foes that attacked you within the past round. You probably will be attacked fairly often, admittedly… but you only have a d8 HD and light armor. You don't exactly want to be in that position if you can help it. Potentially goes to black (**) or even blue (***) in gestalt, with a sufficiently tanky other half. (I'd love this on a Crusader, for instance)

Trapfinding (**)
You're a Rogue, Harry! Sort of. You can handle the scouting and trapmonkey bits just fine, though

Battle Fortitude (**)
It's basically two feats (Great Fortitude and Improved Initiative) spread out over 18 levels. You won't turn up your nose at it, but it's not really worth sticking around for either.

Uncanny Dodge (**)
The old standard is as nice for you as it is for anyone who relies on a high Dex score for their AC. Except might not be quite the old standard-- unlike the Rogue, your version flat-out says "you cannot be caught flat-footed." (I mean, it follows that by referencing the Player's Handbook, which implies primary source dominance, but that's a pretty strong declaration...ask your DM) (Credit to ben-zayb (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?473666-New-Scout-Handbook&p=20369260#post20369260) for spotting this one

Fast Movement (**)
It's not as fast as a Monk's, but you're actually built for Skirmishing, so… yay? Still only an enhancement bonus, though-- if you care, you'll probably get something better with magic.

ACF: Dungeon Specialist (Player's Handbook 2) (***)
Trade your Fast Movement (and Evasion) for a slow climb speed and bonus AC when standing by a wall. It's not great for skirmishing, being limited to half your base land speed and "a light weapon" (potentially limiting you to single attacks), but it's great for exploration and mobility. Losing Evasion is kind of sad, though, and it also means you miss out on the lovely Spell Reflection ACF.

Trackless Step (*)
Probably won't ever be relevant.

Go to Ground (Cityscape Web Enhancement) (x)
Also incredibly niche, but somehow worse—it only protects you from a very niche method of tracking your DM might not even have heard of.

Bonus Feats (**)
Five bonus feats, great! Scouts tend to be archers or TWFers, both of which are feat hungry. Now if only the list was useful-- most of the entries are useful only as prerequisites.

Acrobatics (x): +2/+2 skill feat. Even if you need it, I'd be mildly ashamed to have it on my sheet.
Agile (x): Crap.
Alertness (*): At least it gives a bonus to useful skills, but it's still a +2/+2 feat.
Blind-Fight (**): Passable. You rely on making lots of attacks, so you'll hit the miss chance a lot.
Brachiation (Complete Adventurer) (x): It's a fun feat, but really only useful for flavor. Don't take this.
Combat Expertise (***): Important for prereqs, but note that you still need to meet the Int requirement.
Danger Sense (Complete Adventurer) (*): Rerolling Initiative 1/day is nice, but you have better things to spend your feats on.
Dodge (*): It's a common prereq, but it's not good by itself. If you're thinking about going for Spring Attack… don't.
Endurance (x): Only good as a prereq.
Far Shot (x): You need to be close to Skirmish, though it could have a use on a throwing build (**).
Great Fortitude (*): You have a low Fort, but better things to spend feats on. Battle Fortitude is also patching this up.
Hear the Unseen(Complete Adventurer) (x): If it comes up enough to consider this feat, just buy an item.
Improved Initiative (**): Never hurts, though you don't have any particularly pressing need to go first.
Improved Skirmish (Complete Scoundrel) (****): You won't be able to pick this up until 8th level, but +2d6 Skirmish is definitely worth a feat. Especially compared to other options on this list.
Improved Swimming (Complete Adventurer) (x): Maaaybe worth it in an aquatic game, but you should probably be relying on more than just skill checks in that case.
Mobility (*): This is probably better for you than almost anyone else, but still not great.
Iron Will (**): Will saves really hurt to fail.
Lightning Reflexes (x): You have a good Dex and a good Ref save. You don't need this.
Point Blank Shot (**): The first step for an archer, but you'll probably want this well before you get your first bonus feat.
Precise Shot (**): Key for an archer, but you'll probably want this well before you get your first bonus feat.
Quick Draw (**): If you're using a throwing weapon build, you probably want this. Otherwise don't bother.
Quick Reconnoiter(Complete Adventurer) (***): +2 Initiative and make Spot and Listen checks as free actions once per round... which, as Triskavanski pointed out (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20248122&postcount=7), lets you continually roll checks until you succeed, even if you normally wouldn't be able to. +2 Initiative is just icing on the cake.
Rapid Reload (**): Key for a crossbow user, which-- thanks to Crossbow Sniper-- is pretty much the only way to Skirmish at a decent range.
Shot on the Run (x): Don't. Just… don't.
Skill Focus (*): Iffy. If you really care about a single skill, maybe, but not worth it overall.
Spring Attack (x): It's a bad option for any melee fighter. Getting a few d6 of bonus damage when you do it doesn't make it much better.
Swift Ambusher (Complete Scoundrel) (*): I'm not the biggest fan of this feat-- it really only works for Rogues dipping Scout, since it doesn't progress any Rogue features you care about. But if that's your plan (**), this is a good time to get it.
Swift Hunter (Complete Scoundrel) (****):Would you like the key feat in your build as a bonus feat? Don't mind if I do!
Track (**): Decently useful, though by the time you can get it fliers and magic are becoming more and more common.


Evasion (***)
Always nice to have.

ACF: Dungeon Specialist (Player's Handbook 2) (***)
See Fast Movement
ACF: Spell Reflection (Complete Mage) (****)
This is… real good. AoE effects can hurt, but (ranged) touch attacks can kill without so much as a save. Between Dex and Skirmish, your touch AC is probably about as good as it gets. Plus, this is just crazy stylish.

Flawless Stride (*)
As someone who cares a lot about being able to move, you'll enjoy this, but Fast Movement means you can probably still trigger Improved Skirmish despite the halved speed. If you find a sufficiently large field of difficult terrain, you can use this ability to kite people to death, I suppose.

Camouflage (**)
Five levels before the Ranger? Yes please. But still not fantastic, especially since Invisibility should be on the table by now. And if you're really going for stealth, you could get full HiPS from Shadowdancer at the same level without too much trouble.

Hidden Stalker (Cityscape Web Enhancement) (***)
This is very good-- you can flat-out ignore some major stealth penalties, and literally hide behind other party members. Neutering Hide in Plain Sight later on is painful, but probably still a positive change.

Bindsense (***)
Great for scouting, though less for combat. It is fully (Ex) though, which isn't common.

Hide in Plain Sight (***)
Yay! I mean, you should be invisible by now, but yay!

Hidden Stalker (Cityscape Web Enhancement) (***)
See Camouflage

Free Movement (***)
Always-active, (Ex) Freedom of Movement is a dream come true… just very, very late. If you can't get easy-access FoM by 18th level, you've probably already been eaten by a dragon.

Blindsight (**)
It's… not much of a capstone, but it's yours.

[Grod_The_Giant]

BUILD CHOICES

Races

(Credit to Darrin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20254009&postcount=11) for good suggestions)
Air Goblin (Unearthed Arcana) (***): Small size (without a speed penalty!), racial bonus to Move Silently, +4 Dex? Great choice, even if they have Str and Con penalties. A Dragonborn Air Goblin (****) (see below) is even better, and probably the only LA+0 Dragonborn with a Dex bonus.
Ambush Drake (Web (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fc/20060728a)) (x): One of (the?) only races with Scout as a favored class, they're also a 7-level racial class that you have to take before anything else-- sort of a combination race/class. They get decent melee stats-- Str and Con bonuses, a bite and claw attack and natural armor-- along with flight and a debuffing breath weapon. Their telepathic link might or might not qualify your for Mindsight. Not a good choice, but certainly an interesting one.
Azurin (Magic of Incarnum) (****): If you're going to play with Incarnum, Azurin are a great choice-- they get a bonus feat and 1 essentia, which is really everything you need to get started meldshaping.
Changeling (Eberron Campaign Setting/Races of Eberron/Monster Manual 3) (x): Absolutely none of their racial abilities benefit a Scout. Why are they listed, then? Warshaper. Changelings can give you single-class access to the Warshaper prestige class in Complete Warrior, which in turn can give you an… let's say argumentatively high number of natural weapons. Which is good for anyone, but especially someone adding bonus damage dice to every attack. Even with a sane limit on how many weapons you can grow, it's a great combo (***).
Darfellan (Stormwrack) (*): A strength bonus and a natural bite attack make them a decent choice for melee scouts-- that's one more hit for full skirmish damage. The Dex penalty is less ideal.
Dragonborn (Races of the Dragon) (****): Halfway between a template and a race, it gives you a bonus to Con and a penalty to Dex… but you can combine those with the ability modifiers of your base race-- say, Elf-- to make up for weaknesses. Your best bet is, of course, the glide speed, but the race (with the right base) is good (***) even if that is ruled to take an action. Being Dragonblooded opens a whole bunch of nice options, and you can either grab flight, a crappy breath weapon, or a bundle of ever-improving special senses. Note that it's a template that can be added on at any point, even to an existing character, which offers some neat tricks-- you can swap any feat for a first-level-only dragonblood feat like Dragon Wings or Dragon Tail, and drop any feat if you started with a racial bonus feat. Both are great ways to replace crappy bonus feats like, say, the Ranger's Endurance feat.
Duskling (Magic of Incarnum) (**): You don't get the Azurin's bonus feat, but you get the potential for bonus speed and the Fey type, which gives you immunity to a fair number of spells.
Drow (Savage Progression (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040213a)) (***): Great stat boosts and proficiencies-- you can TWF with hand crossbows if you feel like it, and Hand Crossbow Focus (Drow of the Underdark) combines Rapid Reload and Weapon Focus for them-- and you can take a level of Hit-and-Run Fighter (Drow of the Underdark) to get a limited form of Dex to Damage. The downside rhymes with "Shizzet." The non-Savage-Progression version is, of course, awful (x) due to the LA.
Dwarves (**): Not great, but decent. The "flashiest" benefit, moving at full speed in heavy armor, isn't useful, but +2 to saves against spells sure is, not to mention core-only-race-splatbook-support. Jungle Dwarves (Unearthed Arcana) (**) are slightly better, changing skill bonuses to be more nature focused.
Elan (Expanded Psionics Handbook) (**): They're not bad in and of themselves, with the most power points of any psionic race and a couple inherent ways to use them. But if you intend on going the natural weapon route, these guys become very useful (***), since they can qualify you for Rapidstrike.
Elves (**): Eh. The Dex bonus is nice, as are the proficiencies (especially for a melee scout), but the Con penalty hurts. Wood or Wild elves (Monster Manual) (***) are better, with the former adding a Strength bonus and the latter replacing the Con penalty with an Int one, and Snow Elves (Frostburn) (***) are probably best of all with +2 Dex/-2 Cha.
Gnomes (*): They don't really have much of anything to recommend them to the class. Whisper Gnomes (***) are a different story, with better stats, speed, and skill bonuses to stealth and scouting skills.
Hadozee (Stormwrack) (****): If the Glide method works, these guys are pure gold. Even if not (***), the stats work out, and the glide speed (probably) opens up Flyby Attack from level one. Plus you're a pirate monkey, which is worth it all by itself.
Half-Elves (x): They're a crap race, and they will always be a crap race. Their trademark bonus to diplomacy is even less relevant than usual here.
Halflings (***): Not at all bad-- the lost speed hurts, but the stats fit, and small size gives you nice bonuses to stealth and accuracy. Add in the racial bonus to thrown weapon attack, and you can TWF or Rapid Shot with daggers without any net penalty. Strongheart Halflings (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting) (****) are even better, with all of the above benefits and a bonus feat in place of the save bonus. Ditto Ghostwise Halflings (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting) (****)-- they trade the save bonus for a tough of telepathy, which opens the door to the always-amazing Mindsight feat.
Half-Orcs (*): The mental stat penalties stink, but the Strength bonus is a nice touch. Desert Half-Orcs (Unearthed Arcana) (*) are often better, giving up the Charisma penalty and getting Run as a bonus feat, but they also trade the Strength bonus for the more common Constitution. Frostblooded Half-Orcs (Dragon Magic) (**) are also a significant step up-- they give you the Dragonblood subtype (with all the fun stuff that opens up), Cold Resistance 10, and Endurance as a bonus feat... which can be swapped for anything if you later get it as a bonus feat. (Say, as a Ranger. All are better if you're using a Barbarian dip for Pounce— there 2nd level racial substitution level from Races of Stone doubles the to-hit bonus.
Humans (****): Humans are just about always the best option. No questions asked-- the feat is just too good.
Killoren (Races of the Wild) (**): Another Fey race, these guys can change their racial abilities every morning, which is neat: Aspect of the Ancient gives you a big Knowledge (Nature) check, and Aspect of the Hunter gives you a +2 bonus to Initiative and all your main skills. Racial feats in the same book boost their power-- Killoren Ancient lets you use Knowledge skills (say, your heavily boosted Nature) in place of each other with time, and Killoren Hunter lets you take a move action to pinpoint nearby creatures, even ones who are hidding. (Aspect of the Destroy is Charisma-based, which you probably don't have).
Kobold (Monster Manual) (x): They stink on cheese if you take them straight from the Monster Manual. But when you start adding on splatbook support, they can get terrifyingly good— I'd rate a Dragonwrought Desert Kobold with the web enhancement rules a solid blue (***) if you're really into the natural weapons thing.


Desert Kobolds (Unearthed Arcana) (*) are a lot better, trading the Con penalty for a Wisdom one and losing Light Sensitivity.
The Races of the Dragon Web Enhancement (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a) alone is enough to make them solid (**), granting three natural weapons and Slight Build (for your purposes, this translates to "+8 size bonus to Hide checks"). Don't forget to still take Weapon Finesse, though, 'cause that -4 Strength is still around.
The Dragonwrought feat (Races of the Dragon) is helpful (**) by itself, opening up the Rapidstrike route (especially in combination with those natural weapons).f you go full cheese, you can be a venerable Dragonwrought Kobold (****) and get +3 to all mental stats, along with a whole host of other silly and argument-provoking things that I won't get into.

Mulhorandi Divine Minion (****) (web (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20050209a)): Okay, this is a template, not a race, but it gets a special shout-out here. As a Divine Minion of Anhur, you get to be an Outsider (yay, immunities and proficiencies!) and have at-will, free action Wild Shaping into a lion. A creature with five natural weapons and Pounce. For the low, low cost of only LA+1. It's brokenly good. The LA +2 gods can get you a few extra options, but nothing really beats the lion.
Orc (Monster Manual) (**): Decent stats for a melee character (at least one who doesn't need mental stats). Water Orcs (Unearthed Arcana) (***) and Arctic Orcs (Unearthed Arcana) (***) are better, with the former adding a Con bonus and a swim speed and the latter removing the light sensitivity.
Raptoran (Races of the Wild) (****): If your DM rules in favor of flight, this is an amazing choice. You start with the glide speed you need (it's the best of the bunch, in fact), and later get full-on flight to fly up under your own power. If gliding is a no-go (**), flight is still not a bad deal, and the +10 racial bonus to Jump checks is great for Sudden Leapers as well.
Shifter (Eberron Campaign Setting/Races of Eberron/Monster Manual 3) (**): Good ability bonuses and natural weapons. Longtooth and Razorclaw Shifters are good for melee types, and Longstriders are nice for anyone.
Tibbit (Dragon Magazine Compendium) (***): You're a kitty! Which gives you Tiny size for huge stealth bonuses and three natural weapons. You won't be doing any weapon damage, not with a total of -10 Strength, but Skirmish will work out well for you, especially at low levels. You'l need Weapon Finesse and really want Shadow Blade (Tome of Battle) to bypass that penalty, though.
Tiefling (Savage Progression (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040213a)) (**): Dex bonus and the Outsider type. Not only does that give you certain immunities, it comes with automatic proficiancy with all martial weapons-- a very nice upgrade for a class otherwise lacking in good proficiencies. On the other hand, it's not hard to get martial weapon proficiencies through normal multiclassing.
Warforged (Eberron Campaign Setting/Races of Eberron/Monster Manual 3) (**): Great immunities and race-specific support. Warforged Scouts (***) are even better, adding small size and a Dex bonus to the list of benefits.
Xeph (Expanded Psionics Handbook) (*): They're alright if you want to dabble in psionics, with a Dex and speed bonus.




Attributes
It depends slightly on your build, of course. Dex will always be a priority. Strength may or may not be, depending on whether you're an archer, melee, or melee-with-finesse character, but is probably worth a secondary, at least. Con is always useful, especially for a melee fighter. Wis helps with your perception and weak Will save, though you can get by without it. Ditto for Int-- no-one ever gets enough skill points, except maybe Beguilers, but 8+Int is enough to get by. Overall, I'd say:

Dex > Con, Str > Wis, Int > Cha

Though specific build decisions can impact this: A Crossbow Sniper doesn't need as much Con, a (Brutal Throw) thrower or melee fighter might prioritize Str, a Shadow Blade user can dump Str, and if you're using Travel Devotion you probably want a +1 Cha


Feats

Skirmish Feats

Dragonfire Strike (Dragon Magic) (**): Turn your Skrimish into Fire damage (or another energy type, if you have Draconic Heritage or are a half dragon) and deal +1d6. The change is optional, though, so you don't lose out on too much by taking it.
Evasive Reflexes (Tome of Battle) (**): Lets you take a 5ft step instead of an attack of opportunity. You only need to do this once a round to trigger Skirmish, but you also won't always be able to make AoOs. May not give you an extra 5ft step, though, in which case this is bad (*) and you should take Sidestep instead.
Extra Turning (**): Another two daily uses of Travel Devotion, if you find yourself running low.
Great Flyby Attack (Savage Species) (*): It's great if it works, but it won't work much.
Sidestep (Miniature's Handbook (***): Once per round, 5ft step after making an AoO. Steeper requirements than Evasive Reflexes, but explicitly gives you an extra step-- could be enough to Skirmish with the right build.
Flyby Attack (Monster Manual) (***): It's only a single standard action-- hopefully meaning Greater Manyshot-- but it's by far the best way to move and attack in the game.
Improved Skirmish (Complete Scoundrel (****): I know I've been talking about this feat a lot, but it's really good-- +2d6 Skirmish damage (and +2 AC) if you move at least 20ft. That's equal to another eight levels in Scout. If your Skirmish technique supports this, take it now. If it doesn't, still try to take it.
Pierce Magical Concealment (Complete Arcane) (*): Concealment shuts down Skirmish damage, and this shuts down a pretty common source of concealment. On the other hand, it requires two mediocre feats (though you can get Blind Fight as a bonus feat, so eh).
Shot on the Run (x): Don't. Just don't. There aren't enough words in the English language to say why this is a bad idea. (Costs two crap feats, only ever lets you make a single attack, you can keep a distance for ranged attacks with normal movement anyway)
Spring Attack/Bounding Assault/Rapid Blitz (Player's Handbook 2 for the latter two) (x): Less bad than Shot on the Run, but that's not saying much. You can eventually make three attacks, but only at BAB +18, which pretty much restricts this to Swift Hunters.
Snow Tiger Berserker (Unapproachable East) (***): Get pounce! Sweet! Only with light weapons, but you're probably already using those. Requires a Barbarian dip and some setting specific fluff, though, meaning it's only useful if Complete Champion's Spirit Lion Totem ACF is off the table.
Travel Devotion (Complete Champion) (*****): Can I give this a higher rating than light blue? This is the perfect Skirmish method. It honestly is. For one minute, move as a swift action. Simple and sweet. The fact that you can get it (and a bunch of extra uses!) with a Cleric dip and it only gets better.


Archer Feats

Aquatic Shot (Stormwrack) (x): It's crap normally, but if you spend a *lot* of time underwater, it's necessary (**), I suppose? But if that's the case you might want to just give up on archery altogether.
Crossbow Sniper (Player's Handbook 2) (***): Crossbows aren't good right off the bat, meaning this feat effectively has two prerequisites (Weapon Focus and Rapid Reload), but it may well be worth it-- get half your sky-high Dex to damage, and extend the range of your Skirmish to 60ft.
Greater Manyshot (Expanded Psionics Handbook) (**):[/COLOR] We talked about this one before, but it's simple and reliable: Make up to four shots as a standard action, with precision damage (such as Skirmish) explicitly applying to each one... buuuut that's only if you have enough BAB for iterative attacks, and you'll be taking up to a -8 penalty on each shot. On the other hand, high BAB requirements restrict this to higher level Scouts and Swift Hunters (***) (who can also pick up some of the prerequisites for free). Probably not worth messing around with unless you've got no other options.
Improved Precise Shot (**): The benefits are solid for any archer, but they might also let you Skirmish targets with partial concealment. Ask your DM-- RAW might not quite work, but it's a quite reasonable interpretation.
Improved Rapid Shot (Complete Warrior) (**): Ignoring the -2 penalty is nice, but having to take Manyshot isn't.
Manyshot (x): It's a trap! You only get Skirmish damage on the first shot! It's a prerequisite for Greater Manyshot, though, so you might wind up taking it after all.
Plunging Shot (Races of the Wild) (*): If you're attacking from (well) overhead, deal extra damage. Good for flying skirmishers...but you have to be really precise about the distances.
Point-Blank Shot (*): It's not a good feat, but you'll be taking it anyway. Sorry.
Precise Shot (***): It's been argued that you can get around this with careful use of Delay (and potentially also Readied actions, depending on your level and Skirmish methods), but… you'll want this. It comes up too often not to.
Ranged Pin (Complete Warrior) (**): Complete Warrior had a couple feats for ranged combat maneuvers; this is the only one that matters. Your target will escape next turn, but it'll take up his standard action. May be worth it if you can't deliver a full Skirmish attack.
Rapid Shot (***): The first and favorite method of getting extra ranged attacks. Nothing fancy; just take it.
Woodland Archer (Races of the Wild) (**): You like making lots of attacks, don't you? This means you'll probably hit with them.


Throwing Feats
Most of the Archery feats also apply to you, as can the TWF feats from the melee section. A TWF/Rapid Shot combination will tank your to-hit, but give you an impressive number of attacks per round.

Boomerang Daze (Races of Eberron) (****): Can you say broken? If you're using a throwing weapon build-- or, god forbid, an Aptitude weapon-- this is just absurdly brutal. Daze on a hit, with a DC based on damage. Including, as far as I can tell, your Skirmish. Prepare for flying books.
Boomerang Ricochet (Races of Eberron) (****): Technically, the feat only specifies Sneak Attack, so by RAW Skirmish still works-- each attack you make can bounce off and hit a second target, doubling your damage output. Your DM probably won't allow it (x), though.
Brutal Throw (Complete Adventurer/Monster Manual V) (**): Strength to attack and damage with thrown weapons is nicely SAD, but you still need Dex to survive in light armor.
Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Skiprock) (Races of the Wild) (***): Skiprocks are a fun little weapon that, like Boomerang Ricochet, bounce around to hit a second target of your choice (though at a slight penalty). As a bonus, they're considered ammunition for most purposes, which makes it much cheaper to buy a stack of them and-- as far as I can tell-- bypasses the need for Quick Draw.
Far Shot (*): It's not great, but thrown weapon ranges are kind of bad. You might want this if you intend to use daggers (**), but probably not if you're going with javelins (x).
Power Throw (Complete Adventurer) (**): Do you like power attacking? Do you like power attacking at range? This is how you do that. On the other hand, you have your own source of bonus damage, and only a medium BAB. Goes up to blue (***) for a Swift Hunter.
Quick Draw (****): If you want to throw lots of things, you need this. Sorry. Feat taxes stink for everyone.


Melee Feats

Eagle's Fury (Sandstorm) (*): Make an extra attack with an exotic weapon. Two feats probably aren't worth it, but if you get proficiency somehow, this is solid.
Fleet of Food (Complete Warrior) (**): Turning during a charge can make your life much easier, but having to take Run to do it does the opposite.
Lightning Mace (Complete Warrior) (**): Okay with maces; abusive (****) with Aptitude kukris, and horrifying when you layer on more crit boosting stuff.
Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting (Complete Warrior) (x): Avoid at all costs. The damage boost is pathetic, and Scouts don't even have the proficiencies to take advantage of this.
Shadow Blade (Tome of Battle) (****): It takes some work to get this on your character sheet-- a couple feats, a Swordsage dip, a Warblade dip and a feat-- but it's worth it when you do. Dex as a bonus to damage, meaning you're still getting your Strength. If you're not doing a ToB dip for whatever reason (and they're worth it-- you can get a lot of tricks for a very low cost) this drops to black (**) due to cost (Martial Study, Martial Stance, and Shadow Blade make for a good chunk of your feats)
Snap Kick (Tome of Battle) (***): Get an extra (unarmed) attack whenever you make a melee weapon attack. At a penalty, but hey. Like Rapid Shot, but activates in even more circumstances.
Two Weapon Fighting (****)/Improved TWF (**)/Greater TWF (*): I've spent a lot of time talking about how you want to make multiple attacks for Skirmish; this is the one of the most basic ways to do it. Note that either TWF or Improved TWF can be purchased for a few thousand gold via Gloves of the Balanced Hand (Magic Item Compendium) (****). You'll also probably miss with the third iterative, so it might not be worth it to take more than the first feat.
Weapon Finesse (***): You'll want a high Dex regardless, and most of your damage will probably come from Skirmish. This reduces MAD considerably. If you're starting at a later level, you can potentially replace this with a Feycraft weapon (Dungeon Master's Guide 2).


Natural Weapon Feats
Natural weapons can be a potent tool, especially at low levels when it's otherwise difficult to get many attacks. Many of the general Melee feats apply here as well.

Deepspawn (Lords of Madness) (***): Grow two tentacles for a pair of primary or secondary natural attacks. Yes please! Steep prereqs, though.
Deformity (Teeth) (Heroes of Horror) (**): Evil only, but you gain a secondary natural weapon!
Dragon Tail (Races of the Dragon) (***): Gain a secondary natural weapon. Easier prerequisites boost this a bit.
Multiattack (Monster Manual) (****): If you have secondary natural weapons, you'll take this to reduce the penalty. End of story.
Shape Soulmeld (Sphinx Claws) and Open Least Chakra (Hands) (Magic of Incarnum) (****): Two feats and you can full attack with natural weapons at the end of a charge, short and sweet. You can avoid the first (and pick up some extra versatility) with a level or two of Totemist (same book).
Rapidstrike/Improved Rapidstrike (Draconomicon) (***): Make extra attacks with natural weapons. Requires a high BAB-- high enough to possibly put it in Swift Hunter territory, but hey.


Scouting Feats

Darkstalker (Lords of Madness) (****): Hide from special senses like blindsight that would normally auto-spot you. If you intend to be stealthy at high levels, you need this, no question. Even at low levels, this hides you from scent.
Deformity (Tongue) (Heroes of Horror) (**): If you wanted blindsense but multiclassed out, this will give you it back.
Keen-Eared Scout (Player's Handbook 2) (*): Gives you some interesting bits of information with a successful Listen check-- including weird things like type and subtype, without any need for a Knowledge check. Irritating prerequisite, though.
Mindsight (Lords of Madness) (****): It's not easy to qualify for-- you'll need to go Ghostwise Halfling or find a way to bind Shedu Crown (Incarnate 2 or Shape Soulmeld/Open Least Chakra), but if you pull it off, you can automatically detect any non-mindless creature in range. Automatically. Plus extra information. Pure gold for a scouty Scout.
Swift and Silent (Player's Guide to Faerun) (**): Move at normal speed while sneaking? Hello stealthy Skirmish! (Or, you know, generally fast scouting) It is a regional feat though, with all the attendant setting and level restrictions.
Track (**): Useful if you're not going Swift Hunter, I guess? Becomes a lot less useful at high levels, though.


Other Feats

Able Learner (Races of Destiny) (***): You have plenty of skill points to play with, but you might want skills not on your list-- or to keep up with skills while multiclassing. Either way, this is for you.
Agile Athlete (Races of the Wild) (*): Mostly useful for those using Sudden Leap, but Dex instead of Str can be a pretty big bonus.
City Slicker (Races of Destiny) (***): You know how I mentioned that you're missing a lot of classic Rogue skills? This gives most of them back to you.
Extra Favored Enemy (Masters of the Wild/Ghostwalk(X): A 3.0 feat, but still technically legal, it does exactly what it says on the tin. Probably not worth it, though, unless your campaign is weird--besides undead, most other sneak-attack-immune foes are rare and niche.
Healing Devotion (Complete Champion) (**): You might pick this up with a Cleric dip for Travel Devotion, in which case it can save your life. Probably not worth it on its own, though.
Improved Initiative (**): Going first is always good.
Indigo Strike (Magic of Incarnum) (*): Get up to 8 bonus damage when Skirmishing! I mean, you probably have better things to do with that much essentia, but it's an option. And it gives you a point, which is always useful. Blue (***) for anyone dabbling substantially in Meldshaping.
Knowledge Devotion(Complete Champion): (***) You like making lots of attacks, which usually means attack penalties. You also have lots of skill points, and a couple of the important Knowledge skills for identifying monsters. This can fix your problems-- +5 attack brings you even with a full BAB class, and +5 damage on every one of your multiple attacks is more than a die worth of Skirmish. You can even pick it up with the same Cleric dip you used to get Travel Devotion! It does lock down most of your skill points, though.
Law Devotion(Complete Champion) (**): If you're dipping Cleric, you might pick this up as well as Travel Devotion. It's a substantial attack or AC bonus.
Leap of the Heavens (Player's Handbook 2) (*): If you're using Sudden Leap, this is gorgeous (***), and pretty much all the optimization you need. Less good (**) at high levels when you can get Leaping Dragon Stance with the same dip (or a big modifier with skill points and items), and pretty much useless (x) if you're not using Sudden Leap.
Midnight Dodge (Magic of Incarnum) (**): It's like Dodge, but better! In that it gives you essentia and can potential give a higher bonus. Blue (***) for anyone dabbling substantially in Meldshaping.
Shape Soulmeld (Magic of Incarum) (****): It is my firm belief that there is not a single build in the game that can't be improved with a splash of Meldshaping. If you've got the feats, this can give you a bit of magic. Take Blink Dog Shirt and teleport! Airstep Sandals and fly a bit! Enigma Helm and avoid divination magic! Bonuses to pretty much any roll(s) you care about!
Swift Ambusher (Complete Scoundrel) (*): Unlike Swift Hunter, this one is kind of crap for a Scout, since it doesn't actually progress any Rogue class features. It does let you qualify for Ambush feats with Skirmish, but there aren't many good Ambush feats either, so… On the other hand, it's good (***) for a Rogue-- if you want to throw down preposterous handfuls of d6s, that's the way to go. (Though getting both Skirmish and Sneak Attack to work at the same time seems like it would be tricky). If you're interested, Daftendirekt has a handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?273733-3-5-Swift-Ambusher-s-Handbook-WIP), and PId6's Rogue Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?156350-3-5-The-Rogue-Handbook-A-Fistful-of-d6) would probably also be useful, but Rogue builds and tricks are beyond the scope of this handbook.
Swift Avenger (Dragon 357) (*****): Downsides: Dragon Magazine material, you're honestly just a Druid. Upside: you're a Druid with a full Skirmish progression, AKA pretty much the entire point of playing this nature-specific class, at the cost of a single lost level of spell and animal companion progression. Or, if you want to get really stupid...look at the example: a 4th level Druid/4th level Scout can Wild Shape 3/day. A 4th level Druid normally cannot Wild Shape, suggesting that the levels also stack when qualifying you for Wild Shape, meaning the Scout can gain almost-full Wild Shape for the cost of a single level dip. Which is nuts (if not horribly unbalanced-- it's honestly a weaker character than the intended Scout 1/Druid 19, all things considered), and if your DM accepts this go for it in a hot second. (Credit: Zombulian (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20255583&postcount=17))
Swift Hunter (Complete Scoundrel) (****): I'm including this here for completeness' sake; see the sections on "To Swift Hunter or not to Swift Hunter?" in the intro and "Swift Hunter" in Multiclassing for more details. I will note that this plus a single level of Ranger will let you damage undead and other foes normally immune to Skirmish, so that's something.
Tactical Trapsmith (Complete Adventurer) (*): Using Dex to find and disable traps is a substantial bonus over using Int. Up to you if it's worth it.
Up the Walls (Expanded Psionics Handbook) (*): If you're dabbling in psionics, this is fun. Not too effective, especially with Dungeon Specialist floating around, but it's fun.




Skills

Class Skills

Balance (*):5 ranks is important to avoid being flat-footed. Though Uncanny Dodge might mean you're not flat-footed. (Or, at least, you keep your Dex bonus and can't be sneak attacked, which is probably all you care about)
Climb (*): Mildly useful (**) at low-levels, but it soon gets overshadowed by magic or the Dungeon Specialist ACF.
Craft (*): It's a living.
Disable Device (***): Added by the errata, you want this to take advantage of Trapfinding.
Escape Artist (*): You won't be winning any grapple checks, most likely, but this can keep you safe. But so can cheap magic items.
Hide (****): You're a scout. You have light armor and high Dex. Be sneaky.
Jump (*): Mediocre, unless you're using Sudden Leap, in which case you'll need it (****)--at least enough to reliably hit a DC somewhere between 10 (base Skirmish and running start simulator) to 40 (Improved Skirmish, no running start simulator)
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (*): Flavorful, but not useful except for Knowledge Devotion (***).
Knowledge (Geography) (x): Flavorful, but not useful.
Knowledge (nature) (**): Flavorful, and very important for Knowledge Devotion (***).
Listen (****): Key skill for any scout.
Move Silently (****): You're a scout. You have light armor and high Dex. Be sneaky.
Ride (x): Key (***) if you've persuaded your DM to let you be a mounted skirmisher somehow; otherwise not useful.
Search (***): You need this for Trapfinding. Skip it if you're not the party thief, though.
Sense Motive (**): You don't get any talky skills, but at least you can defend against them. It's not really your department, but it's good to have.
Speak Language (*): I'm not sure why you have this, but it's nice to have the option, I guess? Again, you're not a face, so it's not that useful.
Spot (****): The most important scouting skill. If you keep one skill maxed, it should be this one.
Survival (**): Useful in certain (low-level) games, even more so if you have Track, but either way its usefulness fades at high levels (*).
Swim (x): Maybe worth it in an aquatic game, but even then you probably have better options through race choice. And magic is more efficient if you only need this occasionally.
Tumble (****): Avoiding AoOs is gold, especially given how much moving you'll be doing. If Oriental Adventures applies, this can let you take 10ft steps and activate Skirmish, in which case it somehow becomes even more important.
Use Rope (*): It might be used at some point?


Cross-Class Skills

Autohypnosis (Expended Psionics Handbook) (***): Plenty of odd but powerful uses-- make skill checks instead of saves against fear, poison, even dying, and memorize the stuff you see while scouting.
Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information (*): You're not a face. Even if you get them as class skills, you probably won't have the Charisma to use them.
Concentration (*): Might be useable if you're splashing Tome of Battle material or Psionic feats, but you probably won't have enough maneuvers for the investment to be worth it.
Iaijutus Focus (Oriental Adevntures) (**): Free damage for a skill check. Takes a lot of investment, though a throwing weapons build (***) would enjoy it.
Knowledge (Arcana, Local, the Planes) (***): Key for using Knowledge Devotion, otherwise useless. Local is also good if you want to be more rogue-like. You can pick up one new skill from Knowledge Devotion, and all of them from Education (Eberron Campaign Setting, Ghostwalk, Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, or Player’s Guide to Faerun).
Open Lock, Sleight of Hand (***): If you want to be the party thief, you'll want to get these somehow. Initiate of Gond (Player's Guide to Faerun) gives you this if you dipped Cleric.
Use Magic Device (****): Probably the second best skill in the game, after Diplomacy. Always worth it. You can pick it up with Apprentice (Dungeon Master's Guide 2).


Skill Tricks
Complete Scoundrel introduced a new type of special ability: Skill Tricks. They're broadly similar to feats in scope, but with an added twist: they only cost two skill points, but usually can only be used once per encounter or once per minute. As a Scout, you'll have oodles of skill points, and Skill Tricks can be a great place to put them

Acrobatic Backstab (**): Move through an enemy's space and treat them as flat footed. This can help your accuracy, but it's much better on a Rogue-- all you care about is the movement part.
Back on Your Feet (***): Stand back up as an immediate action, without AoOs. This can be incredibly useful-- you need to be mobile, and falling prone is not going to help with that.
Clarity of Vision (**): As a swift action, pinpoint an invisible creature. Useful for scouting, though probably less so for combat-- they'll still have concealment, so Skirmish won't work.
Clever Improviser (x): If you get Open Lock somehow… this still isn't worth it, since the penalty you're ignoring is so small.
Collector of Stories (**): Decent for a scout-- it's good to know what you're looking at-- but fantastic (****) if you're using Knowledge Devotion.
Corner Perch (*): Bracing yourself in a narrow space is kind of neat, but it's also kind of situational. If you care about climbing, you can just take the Dungeon Specialist ACF.
Easy Escape (**): This basically nullifies your opponent's size bonus to grapple. If you're using Escape Artist, you might as well grab this too.
Escape Attack (*): Make a single melee attack when escaping a grapple. Probably not worth it, especially since you haven't moved enough to activate Skirmish.
Extreme Leap (*): If you jump at least 10ft, spend a swift action to move another 10ft that turn. It sounds like it should combo wonderfully with Sudden Leap, until you realize that they're both swift actions. Not worth it.
Leaping Climber (*): Climb a tiny bit more! Generally meh-- as with Corner Perch, it's a minor bonus to a niche use of a skill that's quickly redundant.
Listen to This (***): Ranges from solid (**) to necessary (****) for a scout, depending on how your DM handles things.
Nimble Charge (***): If you're using Pounce, you want this. If you're not charging, it's obviously not worth it.
Nimble Stand (**): Like Back on your Feet, but doesn't take your swift action. It does take your move, though, so the former is probably better.
Point it Out (**): Like Listen to This, the usefulness somewhat depends on how your table handles common knowledge, but it has the potential to be very useful with a stingy DM.
Quick Escape (**): Like Easy Escape, swift-action escaping is great if you've made the investment… but you probably shouldn't have made the investment.
Quick Swimmer (*): Swim faster! Unlike most aquatic-niche things, the cost here is low enough that it doesn't hurt to pick it up.
Shrouded Dance (****): Stealth is good. Concealment is good. This is basically Hide in Plain Sight. Get it.
Slipping Past (x): I've never, in my life, seen the rules for squeezing through a narrow space used.
Speedy Ascent (*): Climbing faster, hooray? Ask your DM if this works with the Climb speed from Dungeon Specialist. If it does, it's maybe worth a look.
Spot the Weak Point (***): This lets you make a touch attack next round. Basically a guaranteed hit. Fantastic, though the standard-action activation means you'll probably have to do it as part of an ambush.
Tumbling Crawl (*): Sure, you could move more easily while prone… or you could take Back on your Feet or Nimble Stand and just get back up.
Twisted Charge (****): Pivot during a charge. Great if that's your ballgame.
Up the Hill (x): I… don't think I've seen this rule (running up a slope) used either.
Walk the Walls (**): Run straight up a wall like you're in a wuxia movie. Fun. You've got a fast enough speed to use this, too.
Wall Jumper (**): Jump off a wall like you had a running start-- fun, and combos well with Sudden Leap.

[Grod_The_Giant]

MULTICLASSING

Swift Hunter

Most of the above information holds true for Swift Hunters as well as Scouts-- you still need to wear light armor, move and attack as many times as possible, and still are primarily skill-based in your interactions with the world. Most of this section, then, will focus on the Ranger side of things.

The Swift Hunter feat requires Skirmish 1d6/+1 and Favored Enemy. That translates to at least 3 levels of Scout and 1 of Ranger, meaning you'll probably take the feat at 6th level. The exact combination before that doesn't matter too much.

Ranger Class Features

Favored Enemy (***)
As written, the benefits are pretty small-- a minor boost to damage and skills (up to +8 at 20th level). However, for a Swift Hunter, there's an added benefit: you can deal Skirmish damage to Favored Enemies regardless of normal immunities. As the most common type of crit-immune foe, I recommend picking Undead as soon as possible. Constructs, elementals, oozes and plants are other good options.

ACF: Arcane Hunter (Complete Mage) (****)
Creatures with SLAs are incredibly common, and they and casters are probably your most dangerous foes. This is a fantastic choice.

Track (**)
It's a decent feat, and you get it for free.

Trap Expert (Dungeonscape) (**)
You already have Trapfinding, but this lets you keep up with Disable Device if you didn't take Able Learner.

Wild Empathy (*)
Diplomacy is good, but you probably won't get much use out of using it on animals. Especially since it's just level+Cha-- less than your ECL and your lowest score, respectively.

ACF: Voice of the City (Cityscape Web Enhancement) (*)
Communicate without a shared language, sort of. Could be useful in the right campaign, but probably not for you.
ACF: Spiritual Connection (Complete Champion) (***)
Speak with Animals or Plants 3/day is a nice ability, and very thematic.

Combat Style (*)
This is where it gets kind of tricky. If you start with Ranger levels, this can be useful. But it quickly falls behind-- you'll probably want the key TWF and Archery feats before they're granted with the three-level delay. (Improved TWF/Manyshot at ECL 9, Greater TWF/Improved Precise Shot at ECL 14). For that reason, I recommend looking into ACFs to replace this.

ACF: Shape-Changing (Unearthed Arcana) (****)
The famed Wildshape Ranger. It's a bit weaker for you, since you're starting a few levels behind and probably won't want to go straight into Master of Many Forms, but even if you don't use it for combat it's marvelous utility. Though it's quite combat-ready, even with lower HD forms. A Leopard is easily on the table for five-weapon Pouncing, and a two-level Master of Many Forms dip is dead-easy and solves the size (and uses/day) problem neatly enough.

Endurance (*)
It's a crap feat, but it's a prerequisite for some nice things like Steadfast Determination (Player's Handbook 2).

Animal Companion (x)
A Ranger's animal companion is already pretty bad, since it's based on half his level. Add another three level penalty and it's probably useless.

ACF: Spiritual Guide (Complete Champion) (**)
It's not much, but it's better than the alternative. The skill bonuses are small, but they apply to important skills and Commune with Nature is a nice divination.
ACF: Distracting Attack (Player's Handbook 2) (***)
Good, good. Your party will enjoy this, especially if there's a Rogue wandering around somewhere. If not, it can still be a nice bonus to hit for everyone.
ACF: Urban Companion (Cityscape Web Enhancement) (****)
Get a familiar instead of an Animal Companion. On a high-skill, high-BAB, decent-HP class. Oh, but it's better than normal, because it has 3/4 of your HP and doesn't make you lose experience points when it dies. If you want an animal buddy, this is how you should get it. Check out Dictum Mortuum's Familiar Handbook for more detail on that.

But wait, it gets better. As far as I can tell, there's nothing stopping you from taking Improved Familiar. Except maybe an arcane caster level— you'll need to get that via Sword of the Arcane Order. Or you can try to persuade your DM that "her functional level for determining the abilities of the companion" counts for Improved Familiar's caster level requirements— I'd personally accept that ruling.

Spells (*)
As the companion, so the spells. A Ranger isn't much of a caster as written, and the delay only makes it worse-- 1st level spells at ECL 7, 2nd level at ECL 11, 3rd level at ECL 14 and 4th at ECL 17. There are good spells on his list, but you'll be better off accessing them with spells and wands.


ACF: Variant Ranger (Complete Warrior) (x)
Give up the spells you get at 4th level for utterly crap abilities that start at... wait for it... 6th level. When you get Fast Movement. It goes downhill from there. Even if you don't have the Wisdom to cast Ranger spells, don't take this; the ability to use wands and scrolls is better.
ACF: Champion of the Wild (Complete Champion) (**)
Trade your spells for a couple bonus feats off a solid list. You're mostly giving up easy wand access, admittedly, so it's not as bad a trade as it would be for a straight-classed ranger. Still not fantastic.
ACF: Mystic Ranger (Dragon Magazine #336) (****)
This isn't a trade-your-spells-away ACF, but this is the local place to discuss it. Taking the option boosts your spellcasting substantially. You get early casting progression on par with a sorcerer, topping out with 5th level spells at level 10 (ECL 13). In return, it takes away your animal companion and pushes back your Combat Styles— two things substantially less useful to you than a normal Ranger. If it's on the table, take it with no questions asked. If it's not on the table, ask anyway-- magic is more powerful in this game than anything else, and you want as much of it as you can get your hands on. It's also worth checking if you can still use ACFs that trade out your Combat Style, since while you no longer get the features at the same levels, you get them all eventually. If so… Wildshape Ranger (****) all the way to be a poor man's Druid.

Woodland Stride (*)
As the Scout ability, just later.

Swift Tracker (x)
By the time you get this, flight, teleportation and divinations are common enough you probably won't notice.

Evasion (*)
Yes, you still get this. No, ECL 12 is not a level-appropriate time for it, but better late than never.

ACF: Spell Reflection (Complete Mage) (***)
Rangers get it too. It's even better at this level.

Camouflage (x)
At ECL 16, you're probably not going to get any use out of this.

Hide in Plain Sight (x)
Here it is, your capstone. Impressed yet?

Ranger Feats

Favored Power Attack (Dragon Compendium) (***): Get better Power Attack returns when attacking favored enemies. Quick good, especially if you're using the greatsword-and-armor-spikes TWF style.
Improved Favored Enemy (Complete Warrior) (x): +3 damage to your favored enemy. It's like Weapon Specialization, but worse. Don't bother.
Natural Bond (Complete Adventurer) (**): If you want to use your animal companion for some reason, you'll need this at least once. Preferably more.
Nemesis (Book of Exalted Deeds) (***): Magically detect favored enemies and deal +1d6 damage against them? The damage bonus isn't amazing, but the detection sure is nice. Well worth considering if you're Good aligned.
Sword of the Arcane Order (Champions of Valor) (***): Upgrade your ranger casting to wizard casting. Requires a good Intelligence score, but otherwise an amazing upgrade, especially on a Mystic Ranger (****).

In addition, the following feats we mentioned earlier are somewhat better for you than they are for a pure scout: Defensive Sweep, Greater Manyshot, Power Throw, the Spring Attack chain, and Robilar's Gambit



Dips

Ardent (Complete Psionic) (****)
The Ardent is a 9th level manifester, which is always nice, but there's a fun twist: they learn powers based on their manifester level, not class level. The Practiced Manifester feat from the same source gives you +4 ML (to a max of your HD). Pick both at the same time and it's almost like getting five levels for the price of one, enough to jump straight to 3rd level powers. (I mean, you might have trouble powering them, but hey). You also get some weird Domain-esque abilities from Mantles. I'd probably go ahead and take two levels for a few extra options.

Barbarian (****)
You can get a lot from dipping Barbarian. Pounce we talked about already, but Rage is great for any melee character, and the Totem Barbarian (Unearthed Arcana) gives some nice low-level bonuses-- A climb speed and Improved Trip are the biggest two. Whirling Frenzy (****) (Unearthed Arcana) gives you an extra attack each round... including ranged attacks, oddly enough, making it fun for everyone. All that plus proficiencies make it great even for ranged Scouts.

Binder (Tome of Magic) (**)
Improved Binding means you can get 2nd level Vestiges with only a single level, which is nice. That gives you an awful lot of variety on a day-to-day basis. Leraje is nice for archers, Dahlver-Nar helps your resilience, and Malphas and his bird is just fantastic for scouting.

Cleric (****)
I've talked about this one a lot, haven't I? A level of Cleric is so good there's literally a handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=2773.0) for the subject. You're looking for free Travel Devotion and the Turn Undead uses to power it, but it doesn't hurt to get the wand use either-- Cleric spells and, with the Magic domain, Wizard as well. It's probably worth paying close attention to Domains, as those will be the main benefit you get from the dip-- either from granted powers or by trading them for Devotion feats, as mentioned above. Bonus points for using Cloistered Cleric (Unearthed Arcana) (****) for more domains and skill points, since the weaknesses (lower BAB and armor proficiencies) don't matter for you. Various Domain bonuses of note:
Baator (Spell Compendium) (**) lets you see in darkness, even magical darkness, and gives you Bluff.
Bestial (Book of Vile Darkness) (***) gives you scent.
Celerity (Spell Compendium) (****) gives you increased speed, or can be traded for Travel Devotion.
Demonic (Fiendish Codex 1) (*) gives you a small bonus to unarmed attacks and natural weapons, if that's a thing you're using
Elf (Spell Compendium) (***) gives you Point-Blank Shot
Hunger (Spell Compendium) (***) gives you a bite attack
Knowledge (***) gives you all skills as class skills, which can be nice when paired with Able Learner. Or you can get Knowledge Devotion this way.
Liberation (Spell Compendium) (***) gives you a second save against charm, compulsion, and fear effects.
Luck (***) can give you a reroll
Pride (Spell Compendium) (****) lets you reroll natural 1's, which is just brilliant.
Time (Spell Compendium) (***) gives you Improved Initiative
Travel (Spell Compendium) (****) gives you a 1/day Freedom of Movement escape button, but you'll almost certainly take Travel Devotion instead.
Undeath (Spell Compendium) (**) gives you Extra Turning, if you need more uses for your Devotion feats
War (**) gives you a free weapon proficiency and Weapon Focus, which can be useful for both offense and prerequisites.


Dragonfire Adept (Dragon Magic) (**)
The breath weapon doesn't do you much good (though you can always throw on Entangling Exhalation and use that particular bit of battlefield control, if you have the feats). But getting the Dragonblood subtype opens some nice options for you, and there are invocations:
Aquatic Adaptation (*): If you regularly need to work underwater for some reason but don't want to play an aquatic race, I guess you can use this.
Draconic Knowledge (***): Now this is a reason for the dip. If you want to use Knowledge Devotion, this invocation will serve you well-- it alone gives you an even shot at the +2 bonus.
Magic Insight (**): Free Identify will make you everyone's best friend. On the other hand, if-- as in many groups I've been a part of-- magic item details are handed out freely with Detect Magic or something similar, this is worthless (x).


Factotum (Dungeonscape) (**)
If you need class skills and/or have a high Intelligence, this is where to go. A single level gets you Int to most combat rolls twice/combat, while three levels give you a smidgeon of magic and Int as a bonus to Strength and Dexterity skills and checks (including initiative). It's a fair bit of lost Skirmish progression, though.

Fighter (**)
Yes, it's boring. Yes, two levels can be really useful, especially for styles as feat-hungry as archery and TWF. On the other hand, Psychic Warrior offers you the same bonus feats with some magic powers to go with them.

ACF: Hit and Run Fighter (Drow of the Underdark) (***)
Give up heavier armor proficiencies for +2 initiative and Dex to weapon (not just melee!) damage against nearby flat-footed opponents. The first bonus alone is half a feat, and it's not like you'd ever use the armor you gave up. Dex to damage is icing on the cake. (The easiest way (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?186283-Flat-footing-compendium-%283-5%29) to get it is to throw marbles everywhere and force opponents to make Balance checks-- most won't have the 5 ranks they need not to be flat-footed)

Magic of Incarnum (****)
I'm a firm believer in splashing Incarnum in everything. One level gives you a huge list of options, all of which scale well with character level, not class. Totemist 2(****) is just gorgeous for natural weapon users and scouts-- even with Manticore Belt off the table, things like Girallon arms are easy ways to load up on natural weapons, and Sphinx Claws can give you Pounce with natural weapons (You might need Open Least Chakra for that, though). On top of that, most of their skill-melds are focused on stealth and perception skills. On the other hand, Incarnate (***) gives you more all-around skill boosts, and two levels opens up Shedu Crown bind to qualify you for Mindsight.

Monk (**)
You can get a surprising amount out of a one or two level Monk dip. You can get some nice feats out of the Fighting Style Monk (Unearthed Arcana)-- Sleeping Tiger is a winner, with Weapon Finesse and Improved Initiative-- Flurry is yet another extra attack option, you can get Evasion back, and Invisible Fist (Exemplars of Evil) for swift-action invisibility is just beautiful. Halfling Monk Substitution Levels (Races of the Wild) (***) even give you more Skirmish.

Psion (Expanded Psionics Handbook) (***)
Psionic powers work just fine in armor, and you give you access to Psionic feats to boot. (Which you can get with that first level bonus feat). Including a Psycrystal for doubling skill use.

Astral Construct + Skin of the Construct (Complete Psionic) (***) is a dead-easy way to get (slow) flight, or a variety of bonus feats.
Psionic Minor Creation (****) is just delightfully useful, even if you're not using it for poisons.
Control Object (**) is a surprisingly potent bit of telekinesis.
Mindlink and Missive (**) let you report back to your teammates.
Synesthete (**) does all kinds of weird stuff, giving you bonuses to perception checks in the process.

More levels only open up more possibilities, but at a certainly point you're more psion than Scout.

Psychic Warrior (Expanded Psionics Handbook) (***)
Good for all the reasons Psion is, with a lot of the bonuses of Fighter as well.
Bite of the Wolf (**) and Claws of the Beast (***) both give you natural weapons, with a decent duration.
Chameleon (***) gives you a major stealth boost.
Expansion (**) and Compression (**) can be good for reach weapon builds and Stealth, respectively-- though you need a ML of 3 or more to make them useful.
Mighty Spring (Complete Psionics)** gives you a big bonus to a Jump check, which might be nice for a Sudden Leaper.

More levels, of course, open more possibilities-- but the slower progression makes it harder to reach second-level powers like Hustle (***), Perfect Archery (Complete Psionics) (**) and Psionic Lion's Charge (**).

Rogue (x)
You might be tempted because of Swift Ambusher. You would be wrong. The class features are redundant, and it's hard enough reliably landing Skirmish or Sneak Attack, much less doing both. Pass.

Swashbuckler (*)
Get Weapon Finesse for free, and potentially also Int to damage. Though you don't have much need for Int, so I wouldn't bother with the second and third levels.

Tome of Battle (****)
We talked about these guys a bit before, but all are worth using. Swordsage (***) gives you the most tricks for your buck, and is the only class that gives you access to the stealth-focused Shadow Hand maneuvers. On the other hand, Warblade (***) is the only one who can make Sudden Leap work frequently. Crusader (**) is the worst of the three (for these purposes, at least), but still can add something to any Scout. Remember to stop and think about when to dip, since every level counts towards your Initiator level a little bit-- the later you wait, the more high-level maneuvers you can get.

Warlock (Complete Arcane) (***)
Another good option for a touch of magic. Particularly for…

All -Seeing Eyes (Complete Mage) (**) gives you nice scouting bonuses.

Baleful Utterance (***) is always fun-- shatter everything you see, all day long.
Eldritch Glaive (Dragon Magic) (****) gives you a full-attack touch attack to use with Skirmish. If you're worried about hitting, this is the way to go.
Entropic Warding (**) isn't bad either-- no trail, no scent, and defense against arrows.
Leaps and Bounds (**) gives you substantial bonuses to Balance, Jump and Tumble, which you might need if you're going for 10ft steps or Sudden Leap.
See the Unseen (***) gives you constant see invisibility, which is nice for a scout.
Serpent's Tongue (Complete Mage) (**) gives you scent, if you really want it.
Spiderwalk (***) lest you walk on walls, which is fun.




Prestige Classes

Prestige Classes as a whole are kind of a mixed bag for the Scout. There really aren't that many classes that continue to advance Skirmish, unfortunately. On the plus side, that means I can look at all of them.

Daggerspell Shaper (Complete Adventurer) (x)
This one is real specific: for Wildshape Ranger Swift Hunters only. (Or Druid/Roguelike multiclasses, I suppose). It looks tempting, with 9/10 casting, full wild shape, and +3d6 precision damage, but there's a catch. Two catches, actually. First, while you can qualify as a Scout, it only progresses Sneak Attack damage. Second, it only improves Wild Shape duration, not how powerful an animal you can turn into. If your DM fixes those issues (***), it's quite nice, giving you the bigger and smaller forms that Wildshape Ranger normally likes, as well as a bunch of mostly-useless dagger stuff— but while the first is an easy stretch, the latter is a little more finangle-y.

Dervish (Complete Warrior) (*)
It's a way to move and full attack. It's not a good way to move and full attack, not since you have to give up Skirmish progression to get a meaningful number of uses per day, but it's a way.

Dragon Devotee (Races of the Dragon) (**)
It's a weird bit of flavor, but it does give you +2d6 skirmish damage in 4 levels (out of a 5 level class). You also get two levels of Sorcerer casting, which is a bit odd, as well as a few ability boosts and a pair of claws. It's a decent enough option, and it opens a path into Unseen Seer if you so desire-- Scout 7/Dragon Devotee 4/Unseen Seer 9 gives you 7d6 Skirmish and 4th level spells, which isn't a bad place to end up.

Elocater (Expanded Psionics Handbook) (x)
Take an extra 5ft step at 7th level! Get 7/10 manifesting advancement! But no Skirmish and only a medium BAB. Not worth it outside of gestalt.

Eye of Lolth (Drow of the Underdark) (x)
Like the Daggerspell Shaper, you can qualify with Skirmish, but it doesn't advance Skirmish, only Sneak Attack. If that gets fixed (***) it's not a bad PrC, granting +3d6 damage, 5 levels of divine casting advancement, and a number of perception and stealth boosts that you can share with your teammates. (Yes, you need a Cleric dip to qualify, but let's be honest-- you were probably going to do that anyway. No, it's not a good caster PrC, but it's great for a scout-who-dabbled). It also requires you to be a Drow.

Hand of the Winged Masters (Dragon Magic) (**)
Another Draconic skirmisher. I don't know why there are so many (well, okay, there are two, but that's, what, a little less than half the total Skirmish-progressing classes?), but this gives you +3d6 Skirmish over eight levels, with another +1d6 and a bit from Dragonfire Strike. Nothing else too fantastic, though-- the capstone is a weaker version of Darkstalker.

Highland Stalker (Complete Adventurer) (***)
The other high-BAB Scout option-- sort of the poor man's Swift Hunter. Easy to qualify for, and gives you full BAB and Skirmish advancement. Everything else is kind of niche, but if combat is more important than skills (and, I guess, Swift Hunter is off the table for one reason or another), this is your friend.

Master Thrower (Complete Warrior) (***)
Unfortunately, the Rules Compendium volley rules sink the most obvious tricks (Palm Throw and Double Toss). On the other hand, Weak Spot is ludicrously good, Two with One Blow will certainly work with Skirmish, and Trip Shot doesn't lose you anything to attempt. And if your DM isn't using the Rules Compendium nerf… take this (****) and never look back.

Peregrine Runner (Races of Stone) (**)
Full Skirmish advancement and a hawk animal companion. On the downside, crappy prerequisites and not much else.

Shadowdancer (**)
The classic core-only stealth PrC, you're here for one reason: Hide in Plain Sight. You can get it at ECL 6 if you try. After that, the rest of the class is kind of crap (*), especially for you.

Swiftblade (Web) (*)
Included more for completeness than anything else, it gives two dice of pseudo-Skirmish, full BAB and 6/10 casting. On the other hand, it also gives the Spring Attack chain, extra attacks, and extra actions. If you took Unseen Seer to completion, it's not a bad way (**) to finish out your build.

Telflammar Shadowlord (Unapproachable East) (x)
A mildly famous PrC, mostly for its trademark Shadow Pounce ability: make a full attack after teleporting. Given the existence of standard, move and swift action teleport effects, that sounds like a great combo for a Scout, right? Wrong! The Rules Compendium ruling is based on action type-- a full attack doesn't count if it's not also a full-round action. That pretty much sinks his utility as a Skirmish enabler, though it's still quite a solid PrC for those with a stealth focus. (If the nerf isn't in effect? 5/4 stars (*****), and start working out how many teleport effects you can trigger in a turn).

Tempest (Complete Adventurer) (x)
The feat requirements are awful, and the only benefit you care about (two-weapon Spring Attack) doesn't come until 5th level, and still isn't very good.

Uncanny Trickster (Complete Scoundrel) (**) and Legacy Champion (Weapons of Legacy) (*)
There aren't many good classes that progress Skirmish, so if you fall in love these might be worth considering? (Probably Unseen Seer, maybe Dragon Devotee). Uncanny Trickster is probably the superior class, but Legacy Champion is longer.

Unseen Seer (Complete Mage) (****)
It's the best arcane/rogue gish class out there, and it'll work for you, too. +4d6 damage over 10 levels and 10/10 casting advancement, and you only need a one-level caster dip to qualify. Well worth considering for any Scout.

Warshaper (Complete Warrior) (****)
You'll need either a specific race (Changeling) or to be a Wildshape Ranger Swift Hunter, but… Warshaper lets you grow natural weapons. There are a lot of ambiguities about how many you can grow at once, but even a conservative reading can give you upwards of half a dozen attacks a round. The rest of the class probably isn't worth it, though. (I mean, I love Multimorph, but it's hard to eat the four levels of lost progression leading up to it)



Gestalt

Scout is a very passive class, all things considered. Your abilities are pretty much either always on, or are activated as part of another action. That's noty a bad thing--it means you can combine it with most anything. Scout brings a lot of skill points to the table, and very few classes are harmed by doing extra damage when they move.

Warrior Types (****) are probably your best bet in a pairing. The high skill points and secondary stealth/perception role patch up the most common weakness in lower-tier warriors (nothing to do out of combat), while the increase in raw combat power makes up for the Scout's lower BAB and HD. And of course Skirmish stacks well with anyone who's interested in full attacking.
Casters (***) aren't a terrible, especially those who have a decent skill list but not enough points to use it, but that's mostly because they're already very strong. You pretty much stop being a Scout-- the casting business will quickly dominate your build, leaving you only minor traces of this class. I mean, the Wizard sure isn't complaining about the chassis upgrades, but it's not like he particularly needed them, and there's not a lot of synergy. The exception is if you're going for a blaster (****)-- Skirmish will add once to any spell with little effort, but if you're a spontaneous caster (ab)using metamagic to cast as a full-round action, even the humble Magic Missile can become a force to be reckoned with.
Skillmonkeys (*)are a bad choice, as you're already decent at the job. You might be able to pick up a few more skills and/or tricks, but they're mostly redundant.


As for a few specifics…

Cleric (****)
Surprise? You'll often want a Cleric dip for Travel Devotion, so you might as well turn it into a whole thing. It's certainly not a bad way to build a Cleric archer, at any rate-- take Zen Archery (Book of Exalted Deeds), take your Soulblade (Expanded Psionics Handbook) and Soulbow (Complete Psionic) dips on the Scout side and then TWF with Wis-based energy blasts. (You'll still need some Dex, though-- light armor, remember)

Druid (****)
The flavor fits perfectly, giving the nature-focused Druid some of the nonmagical skills he really ought to have, and-- as previously mentioned-- Skirmish goes great with natural weapons and Pounce. Plus, you know, Tier 1 caster.

Duskblade (Player's Handbook 2) (**)
A strong Int focus leaves you with an absolutely stupid amount of skill points-- don't you dare leave Knowledge Devotion off the build. (And maybe a Factotum dip with Able Learner). Skirmish offers more punch to your Arcane Channeling, which in turn helps put off the need for full attacks until you unlock full attack channeling.

Factotum (Dungeonscape) (**)
The Factotum goes well with anything in a gestalt, true. And extra standard actions can help you move or Greater Manyshot more often. But you're already a passable light skillful type-- doubling down on that doesn't help you so much, and you won't be able to use Cunning Surge enough to want to rely on it.

Monk (*)
You're already finding a way to move and full attack, so getting more attacks during said full attack is just gravy. Monk benefits nicely from the expanded skill points, and they have plenty of nice ACFs. On the other hand, you're not that much stronger than either individual piece.

Ranger (*)
Swift Hunter may well not be on the table, thanks to gestalt's recommended bans on dual-advancement things. You can do the combination as a classic gestalt, but I don't recommend it-- you're just not gaining enough compared to, say, Warblade. Wildshape Ranger (***), Mystic Ranger (***), or both (****) change the equation somewhat, though. (So can your DM allowing Swift Hunter to give you double Skirmish and Favored Enemy progression, but good luck getting that to fly.)

Tome of Battle Classes (***)
ToB classes mostly rely on Strikes-- ie, standard-action attacks--meaning they're very mobile. The Warblade (****) works particularly well, since they can make good use of the expanded skills and effortless access to Sudden Leap. The Crusader (***) suffers a bit from wanting to be a tank but not getting to use his heavy armor, but is still an great melee combatant, and both he and the Warblade will love the extra skill points (The Riposte ACF is great (****) here. Swordsage (**) is probably the worst of the lot, since his chassis is pretty much the same as yours-- you'll wind up as a Swordsage with a bit of extra damage, rather than a synergistic new whole.

Warlock (Complete Arcane) (***)
I really like this combo. Eldrich Blast is a standard action, meaning you can move and Skirmish without any effort and with extreme accuracy. Slap on Scout and Hellfire Warlock and you're rocking a 20d6 ranged touch, fully loaded with rider effects. Which is… not the best thing in the world, admittedly, but when you pick up Eldrich Glaive or Eldrich Claws (Dragon Magazine) to dish that out several times a turn it starts to look pretty nice (You'll still need a dip to pick up free movement, especially for the glaive, but eh. Try throwing on some Highland Stalker or Swift Hunter on the Scout side for more iteratives). You can also pick up a variety of sensory and stealth-supporting Invocations, while bringing along the skill points to back them up. The Warlock gets the skills and bonus damage he needs, while the Scout gets the magical augmentations he needs. All in all, a wonderfully synergistic Tier-4-only gestalt.

Sorcerer (***)
Scout's not bad for a wannabe blaster, adding another couple of d6 to your damaging spells. If this is your plan, you'll want to focus around things like Magic Missile and Scorching Ray that launch multiple attacks each round-- and you'll probably need to be a spontaneous caster with metamagic, given that you need full-round actions to get full Skirmish damage. Twin Spell and Repeat Spell are your friends here-- the more the merrier— and Invisible Spell (Cityscape) will let you cast everything as a full-round action without extra slots. You can even get a bit SAD if you want-- Charming the Arrow (Web (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fey/20030815a)) on a Fey race lets you use Cha for attack with bows, a dip in Battle Dancer (Dragon Magazine Compendium) or Monk-with-Ascetic-Mage (Complete Adventurer) gets to Cha to AC, and Gauntlets of the Heartfelt Blow (Dragon Compendium) and Slippers of Battledancing (Dungeon Master's Guide 2) both let you add it in melee.. Warmage (**) works the same way, but is obviously less powerful.

Totemist (Magic of Incarnum) (****)
Another case where the flavor and mechanics both indicate a perfect match. The Totemist is absolutely amazing at coming up with boatloads of natural attacks, and the Scout can add big chunks of damage to all of them. And both have a strong focus on stealth and perception in their mechanics.

[Grod_The_Giant]

EQUIPMENT
I'm only going to discuss items that are specifically useful to Scouts here. For more general utility and defensive items, I direct you to more specific resources, like:

Ernir's List of Necessary Magic Items (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items)
Bunko's Bargain Basement (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?445114-quot-Bunko-s-Bargain-Basement-Magic-Items-That-Are-a-Steal!-quot-%28from-Wizards-forum%29)
Shax's Indispensable Haversack (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?148101-3-x-Shax-s-Indispensible-Haversack-%28Equipment-Handbook%29)
Darrin's list of Utility Wands (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=15150359&postcount=16) (if you get UMD as a class skill somehow)


Skirmish-boosting Items
See also the section on Movement-Boosting Items-- those will usually help you enable Skirmish, while these are dedicated to getting more out of your Skirmish.

Boots of Haste (**): More attacks, more Skirmish.
Carpet of Flying (***): It's not clear if it uses your actions to fly or not. If it flies by itself, it's a good way to get your Skirmish on. If not, you can still get a bigger one and have a buddy steer it for you. You're not technically mounted, so Skirmish should still work.
Demolition Crystal, Greater (Magic Item Compendium) (***): Deal Skirmish damage to Constructs. If you're not using Swift Hunter to bypass the immunities, you'll want one sooner or later.
Gloves of Agile Striking (Magic Item Compendium) (***): 2/day deal +2d6 Skirmish damage for a round. Limited use, but cheap.
Rogue's Vest (Magic Item Compendium) (****): +1d6 Skirmish damage, no if's and's or but's.
Skirmisher Boots (Magic Item Compendium) (***): +2 damage when skirmishing, and make an extra attack twice/day. Cheap and useful.
Speed weapon enhancement (**): More attacks mean more Skirmish damage.
Truedeath Crystal, Greater (Magic Item Compendium) (***): Deal Skirmish damage to Undead. Like the Demolition Crystal, if you're not a Swift Hunter you'll want one sooner or later-- probably sooner than the Construct one though, as Undead are pretty common.


Melee-Specific Items

Gloves of the Balanced Hand (Magic Item Compendium) (****): Gives you TWF if you don't have it, or Improved TWF if you do. An amazing bargain at the price.
Boots of the Battle Charger (Magic Item Compendium) (*): Normally it would be nice to charge as a standard action, but doing so would actually negate most of your Skirmish damage. (Thanks, Rules Compendium!). Moving through ally's squares is nice, though.
Feycraft Weapon (Dungeon Master's Guide 2) (***): Use Weapon Finesse with a normally non-finesseable weapon, or automatically finesse one that is normally finessable. Lovely, and can potentially save you a feat (if custom magic items are easily available to you).
Slippers of Battledancing (Dungeon Master's Guide 2) (x): If you move Skirmish-level distance, you can use Charisma for attack and damage. That's not too useful for your average scout, but they could be important given the right multiclass combo (***). (Perhaps a Scout/Sorcerer/Unseen Seer)


Archery-Specific Items

Bracers of Archery (Greater) (**): These can give you proficiency with longbows if you find yourself needing to engage at long range (not recommended). The attack bonus doesn't hurt, but it's not a priority.
Exit Wound (Complete Warrior) (**): For a +2 bonus, add 1d6 untyped damage and your arrows continue on in straight lines, potentially hitting multiple targets. As far as I can tell, Skirmish would still apply. You are pretty good at moving around and attacking, so lining up shots shouldn't be a problem. Might not worth it for your main weapon unless you fight lots of big crowds, but it could be worth picking up some ammo for those situations when the set-up is right for big damage bonuses.
Precise weapon enhancement (**): Not great for a dedicated archer (x) who probably already has Precise Shot, but fantastic (***) for anyone who wants to pick up a backup bow.
Seeking weapon enhancement (**): Great (***) if bypassing concealment lets you Skirmish against normally-concealed foes, mediocre (*) if not. Ask your DM.
Splitting weapon enhancement (Champions of Ruin) (****): The number one most desired and most broken weapon enhancement for archers. Literally triple your damage output. If you can get it, never look back. If it's banned, don't complain-- it's earned it.


Throwing-Specific Items

Alchemical Items (***): So you can make a dozen thrown weapon attacks a round. But with all those stacking penalties, how do you hit? Well, you can always use flasks of Acid or Alchemist's Fire to make them as touch attacks. It can get a bit pricey, but 10gp per attack (5gp if someone crafts them for you) isn't too bad for a high level character.
Gloves of Endless Javelins (Magic Item Compendium) (***): Infinite magic throwing weapons, no Quick Draw required What's not to like?
Helm of the Hunter (Magic Item Compendium) (**): Gives you Far Shot and a perception bonus.
Returning weapon enhancement (*): It's not ideal, since the weapon doesn't return until the start of your next turn.


Defensive Items
If this section is small, it's because Scouts don't really have any unique defensive needs. Ernir's List of Necessary Magic Items (above) is almost entirely dedicated to this kind of thing, though.

Mithril Breastplate (***): If you happened to have lower Dex for whatever reason-- perhaps you're going for an AoO melee build-- this offers a bit more armor bonus than a chain shirt while still counting as light armor.
Mithril Chain Shirt (****): Your default armor option. No armor check penalty, good max Dex bonus, core-only.
Thistledown Padded Armor (Races of the Wild) (**): At high levels, this has the highest max Dex bonus of anything you'll find short of Bracers of Armor, but it'll be a long time until it's worth it.


Wildshape Ranger Swift Hunter Items
If you're using this particular ACF (and you probably should) there are some specific items worth looking into:

Armor of the Beast (Complete Champion) (***): Grants an extra Wild Shape use, explicitly stacking with a Druid's Vestment. If you also have a Mantle of the Beast (x) and a Ring of the Beast (x) from the same book you gain an effective wild shape level, which explicitly applies to types of form as well as hit dice. (You did dip Master of Many Forms, right?)
Beastskin armor enhancement (Magic Item Compendium) (*): Keep your armor while wild shaped… but it costs an extra daily use. Wild does the same thing without the added cost, but is more expensive.
Cloudwalker Anklets (Magic Item Compendium) (*): Constant Air Walk, even while Wild Shaped. Not bad, but it's probably better to slap a Wilding Clasp on a normal flight-granting item.
Druid's Vestment (**): One extra use of Wild Shape every day, simple and to the point. Get as many of these as you can afford-- as far as I can tell, nothing stops you from taking one off and putting on another.
Owlfeather Armor (Magic Item Compendium) (**): Get a small boost to scout-y skills, a 1/day Wisdom boost and 5-round flight 3/day as a swift action-- even while in Wild Shape. There are a few similar items in the same book, but I think this one is best-- it's an easy way to give wings to something that normally can't fly.
Wild Shape Amulet (Magic of Faerun) (****): Increase your effective Wild Shape level by 4, effectively wiping out the levels you lost from Scout. Expensive, but worth it.
Wilding Clasp (Magic Item Compendium) (****): For a reasonably small price, keep an item when you Wild Shape. You'll probably wind up getting a couple of these for belts, amulets and the like.


Movement-Boosting Items

Anklet of Translocation (Magic Item Compendium) (***): Swift action to teleport 10ft 2/day, for pennies on the dollar. Don't rely on this for Skirmish, but get a few anyway because swift action teleports can save your life.
Belt of Ultimate Athleticism (Magic Item Compendium) (**): As a swift action, take 10 on most mobility skill checks, including Jump and Tumble. Helpful (***) if you're going for the DC 40 Tumble check; less so (x) if you're trying to work Sudden Leap or Travel Devotion, due to action conflict.
Boots of Agile Leaping (Magic Item Compendium) (**): Dirt cheap, and lets you use Dex for Jump checks (and potentially stand as a swift action). This is amazing (****) for Sudden Leap-ers.
Boots of Sidestepping (Magic Item Compendium) (**): Extra 5ft steps give you enough juice to activate Skirmish, or Improved Skirmish if you can normally take 10ft steps. Not useable often enough to be a reliable method, but it can be a nice way to get out of trouble.
Boots of Striding and Springing (x): The movement bonus doesn't stack with yours, meaning you're just paying too much for a small Jump boost.
Chronocharm of the Horizon Walker (Magic Item Compendium) (**): Probably the cheapest way to move as a swift action, but only useable 1/day with no loopholes. Still, at only 500 gold it's worth keeping one for emergencies.
Easy Travel armor property (Magic Item Compendium) (*): Carry a medium load and still Skirmish. Not expensive, but probably not worth it unless you really dumped Strength.
Finned Gauntlets (Magic Item Compendium) (*): If you find yourself in an aquatic game (***), this is a really cheap way to get a swim speed. If not, it's are probably too niche (x) to bother with.
Quicksilver Boots (Magic Item Compendium) (*): Move up to your speed as a swift action 2/day, even across water. Not too expensive, but you've got better options for swift movement.
Ring of Jumping (**): Classic standby for Sudden Leap-ers.
Transposer Cloak (Magic Item Compendium) (**): Swap positions with an ally 3/day as a swift action. Gives you Skirmish, but plenty of other uses too. A (Eternal) wand of Benign Transposition is cheaper if you picked up UMD somewhere, though.
Vanguard Treads (Magic Item Compendium) (**): If you multiclassed out of Scout before getting Flawless Stride, this can give you the benefit back.


Stealth

Boots/Cloak of Elvenkind (**): Cheaper than the armor properties, but more likely to cause slot conflicts. Your choice, but they're still a Competence bonus and thus won't stack with much.
Cloak of Etherealness (**): Makes infiltration fun-- 10 minutes is a long time if you're just using it to ghost through the occasional wall, especially with your fast movement.
Dust of Tracelessness (x): You have a class feature for this.
Eversmoking Bottle (**): Your own endless smoke bomb! With the right sort of preparation-- a Blindfold of True Darkness, perhaps-- this becomes golden (***) defensive item as well.
Hat of Anonymity (Magic Item Compendium) (**): Continual Nondetection is real useful at high levels. This is cheaper but slightly less powerful than the Amulet of Proof Against Detection and Location (*).
Hat of Disguise (**): Be a little short of a Stormtrooper. Go on, do it. This isn't really your forte, but it's cheap enough that it doesn’t hurt to grab one just in case.
Ring of Entropic Deflection (Magic Item Compendium) (****): If you move at least 10ft-- which you will-- you get a 20% miss chance against ranged attacks, or 50% if you have a speed-boosting item. This is good for anyone, but gold for you.
Ring of the Darkhidden (Magic Item Compendium) (**): Invisibility against Darkvision. Niche use, but cheap enough to be worth looking into.
Shadow and Silent Moves armor enhancements (**): Simple and classic and don't take up an item slot. Competence bonuses are pretty commonplace, though.


Perception

Blindfold of True Darkness (Magic Item Compendium) (***): Cheap way to gain Blindsight, with enough range to still use Skirmish normally. And if you combine it with some sort of darkness or cloud cover— perhaps an Eversmoking Bottle— it becomes a great defensive combo as well.
Chronocharm of the Celestial Wanderer (Magic Item Compendium) (**): A cheap way to reroll a botched perception check 1/day.
Eyes of the Eagle (**): Another simple +5 competence bonus item from the DMG, this one for Spot.
Gem of Seeing (*): True Seeing for 30 minutes a day is very useful… but also very pricy, and you might not be able to use it at the same time as a weapon very easily. Go with a Scout's Headband or three instead.
Gloves of Object Reading (Magic Item Compendium) (**): Gain information about an object's last owner. A fun bit of information for a tracker.
Goggles of Minute Seeing (**): Might be worth it for a trapfinder, but a Lense of Detection is probably better if you can afford it.. You probably have time to swap them in and out whenever you need to go hunting for traps, so don't worry too much about slot conflict.
Ioun Stone, Dark Blue (**): A small bonus to perception, but as slotless as it gets
Lens of Detection (***): Solid choice for you, as you're likely both a trapfinder and (often) a tracker.
Medallion of Thoughts (**): A reliable way to spot people, I suppose. A Helm of Telepathy (*) does the same thing for more money.
Ring of X-Ray Vision (**): It can be real useful to see through walls.
Rod of Alertness (**): It gives you a lot of special perception powers, but it's not cheap.
Rod of Enemy Detection (**): Automatically detect hostile creatures 3/day, for a decent duration each time.
Scout's Headband (Magic Item Compendium) (****): A minor bonus to Stealth, and a few charges to gain varying levels of special senses-- including True Seeing, for a phenominally low price.


Other

Belt of Battle (Magic Item Compendium) (****): Three charges that can be spent to gain extra actions. At the very least this can let you move and attack; at most you can make two full attacks in a turn, enough to lay most things out.
Chronocharm of the Laughing Rogue (Magic Item Compendium) (***): Rerolling a Disable Device check you just failed might just save your life. Like all Chronocharms, it's dirt cheap but only useable 1/day.
Extradimensional Storage (**): You can't Skirmish with more than a light load and you probably don't have much use for Strength. Picking up a Bag of Holding, Portable Hole, Handy Haversack or something of that nature isn't a bad idea for any adventurer, but especially for you.
Nightstick (Libris Mortis) (**): They're famously cheesy for providing arbitrary amounts of Turn Undead uses for Divine Metamagic builds, but grabbing a single stick isn't going to wreck anything. Good if you're running a Travel Devotion build, useless (x) otherwise.
Reliquary Holy Symbol (Magic Item Compendium) (***): The bargain basement version of the Nightstick; for a fraction of the price (a mere thousand gold!) they provide anywhere from +1 to +3 Turn attempts to power Travel Devotion, depending on your feats and skills. If you want abusive stacking, use these.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Final Reserved Post. Post away!

[Cerefel]

Skirmish only applies to attacks made on the scout's turn (CAdv p.12) I'm pretty sure this kills most of the AoO build ideas for the scout, unfortunately.

[Triskavanski]

Quick Reconnoiter(Complete Adventurer) (x): I… honestly don't know when this would be relevant.

Much of it depends on your GM and the current environment your're in and enemies you're fighting. Got an invisible enemy? Well normally if you failed the check (DC 20 spot check within 30 feet if they're living and moving) You have to use a move action to make a spot check against that enemy again to be able to 'see' them.

You might have a GM who loves to throw things where you've gotta think quick as your running down a hall and suddenly you're ambushed, but you can make the free spot check every round to notice something you might have missed earlier. (a lever for example just above the door you came in.).

In a high espionage type campaign, getting this feat makes it very very hard to keep a disguise against you. Cause every single round you can try again. It could also be argued that you could use quick reconnoiter to, as a free action, read lips. I'm sure there are things that give new uses to listen/spot. Essentially you're gonna be always rolling to spot/listen things pretty much every six seconds allowing you to "roll twice and take the better result" almost each and every time.

But if you got a dm who is like "MONSTERS!" every time and starting up final fantasy battle music and swirling the map, Its usefulness does start to go down as he isn't making you do spot/listen checks. But if you got that DM who has kobolds hiding under your bed, in your closet and the like, its usefulness goes up alot.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Skirmish only applies to attacks made on the scout's turn (CAdv p.12) I'm pretty sure this kills most of the AoO build ideas for the scout, unfortunately.
My understanding is that the errata overwrote that limit.


Much of it depends on your GM and the current environment your're in and enemies you're fighting. Got an invisible enemy? Well normally if you failed the check (DC 20 spot check within 30 feet if they're living and moving) You have to use a move action to make a spot check against that enemy again to be able to 'see' them.

You might have a GM who loves to throw things where you've gotta think quick as your running down a hall and suddenly you're ambushed, but you can make the free spot check every round to notice something you might have missed earlier. (a lever for example just above the door you came in.)
Eh, point.

In any case, formatting should all be online now.

[rrwoods]

You can't sudden leap and then refresh it with a full attack in the same turn. The warblade refresh requires a swift action followed by either an attack or an empty standard -- the full attack alone isn't enough -- so you'll have to settle for sudden leap every other turn.

[Droopy McCool]

Formatting error under Class Features section Bonus Feats. Quick Reconnoiter is blue, but not bold (misplaced bracket).

Not that I'm looking for errors. This is really great, just gotta finish reading it!

McCool

[Darrin]

In any case, formatting should all be online now.

The formatting! Yeesh... that was a lot of formatting. This is an outstanding piece of work.

Some notes on races:

Air Goblin might be worth a mention. Also the only LA +0 race that can take Dragonborn and still have a Dex bonus.

Speaking of Dragonborn... you can use this to swap an existing feat for Dragon Tail, which gives melee scouts a secondary natural weapon to add to their full attack. If you must have a breath weapon, then taking the Heart aspect and swapping an existing feat for Dragon Wings puts you just one feat away from having a flight speed. Flying + Archery vs. non-flyers = Win button.

Dwarves: Jungle Dwarves (UA) are a decent choice for Swift Hunters. Weapon familiarity with dwarven waraxes pairs up nicely with TWF, and favored class = ranger if your DM is being a poophead about enforcing multiclass XP penalties. I don't see the slower movement as much of an issue, as Scouts get Fast Movement and there are a couple other easy dips that can be stacked for additional Fast Movement.

Elves: Painted Elves (***) also avoid the Con penalty, but are not as smart as their frosty cousins (Dex +2, Int -2). One of the advantages for elves is there are a few elven deities with portfolios that make a Cloistered Cleric dip very tempting. Sehanine Moonbow has Knowledge, Travel, and Elf domains (the latter grants Point Blank Shot as a bonus feat). Vandria Gilmadrith has Elf, War, and favored weapon: longbow. In the Forgotten Realms, both Shevarash and Solonor Thelandira have the same: Elf, War, and favored weapon: longbow.

Frostblood Orcs/Half-Orcs get a "bonus feat" if they take at least three levels of Ranger, and thus are a decent choice for Swift Hunters.

Killoren: If I'm looking for something fey, I think I prefer these over Dusklings.

Consider adding Savage Progression Drow (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040213a) (Dex +2, Con -2, Int +2) and Savage Progression Tieflings (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040213a) (Dex +2, Cha -2). Unlike the Lesser Planetouched Tiefling, it's still a full-blooded outsider, and thus has proficiency with all martial weapons.

Ambush Drake (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fc/20060728a). This is an odd one... it has Scout as a favored class, but I'm not sure I could explain why any of them would want to take any Scout levels. The 7-level template class is one of the few ways to play a dragon without any Level Adjustment. Worth mentioning just as a curiosity, if nothing else.

[Triskavanski]

One of my builds was a Scout 3/Rogue 14/uncanny Trickster 3. Gave nearly full amounts of Rogue's sneak attack progression. (I do not know how it interfaces with Swift Ambusher though, if I count as a 19 rogue 19 scout or 19 rogue 17 scout)

Certain skill tricks where needed, like Acrobatic Backstab, hidden weapon, flick of the wrist ect. Giving us the ability to qualify for both skirmish and sneak attack on a fairly constant basis.

[Odin's Eyepatch]

Nice ressource! This appeared just in time for one of my upcoming characters! I like it how you've kept each ACF attached to their main class feature, so that it is easier to sort through them.

Just one tiny nitpick...




Balance (**): 5 ranks (***) is important to avoid being flat-footed; after that it's not that important (*).


Unless I missed something, taking 5 ranks in balance is sort of redundant anyway for a scout, since they gain Uncanny Dodge at level 2, and thus they are never caught flat-footed.

[Dread_Head]

Nice ressource! This appeared just in time for one of my upcoming characters! I like it how you've kept each ACF attached to their main class feature, so that it is easier to sort through them.

I agree with this, superbly laid out handbook.

It might be worth mentioning in the Bonus Feat section that both Swift Hunter and Improved Skirmish (and possibly a couple of others from CS) can be taken as scout bonus feats. This is especially useful for a Swift Hunter as it lets you go Scout 3 / Ranger 1 / Scout +1 getting you Swift Hunter before 6 and leaving you able to take Improved Skirmish with your level 6 feat.

[Grod_The_Giant]

You can't sudden leap and then refresh it with a full attack in the same turn. The warblade refresh requires a swift action followed by either an attack or an empty standard -- the full attack alone isn't enough -- so you'll have to settle for sudden leap every other turn.
:smallmad: Iiiii'm a blind moron. Downgraded all those ratings.


Formatting error under Class Features section Bonus Feats. Quick Reconnoiter is blue, but not bold (misplaced bracket).

Not that I'm looking for errors. This is really great, just gotta finish reading it!

McCool
Thanks! Should be fixed.


Unless I missed something, taking 5 ranks in balance is sort of redundant anyway for a scout, since they gain Uncanny Dodge at level 2, and thus they are never caught flat-footed.
Hmm... that does seem to be the case. I never noticed that.


It might be worth mentioning in the Bonus Feat section that both Swift Hunter and Improved Skirmish (and possibly a couple of others from CS) can be taken as scout bonus feats. This is especially useful for a Swift Hunter as it lets you go Scout 3 / Ranger 1 / Scout +1 getting you Swift Hunter before 6 and leaving you able to take Improved Skirmish with your level 6 feat.
Oooh! I did not know that.


Suggestions
Thanks! Good calls all, though I disagree about Jungle Dwarves being particularly noteworthy. (A couple skill bonuses, hurray!)

[nyjastul69]

Nice ressource! This appeared just in time for one of my upcoming characters! I like it how you've kept each ACF attached to their main class feature, so that it is easier to sort through them.

Just one tiny nitpick...



Unless I missed something, taking 5 ranks in balance is sort of redundant anyway for a scout, since they gain Uncanny Dodge at level 2, and thus they are never caught flat-footed.

Nitpick: Uncanny dodge allows the character to retain their dex bonus while flat-footed. I don't think it removes the flat-footed condition. Having 5 ranks in balance means not being flat-footed while balancing. They aren't completely redundant. A Barbarian with UD that is balancing without 5 ranks in balance is flat-footed, but still retains dex to AC. They wouldn't be able to take AoO's, but also can't be SA'd without being flanked. At least that how I read it.

[Zombulian]

How would Riposte measure up if it could be considered Skirmish for a Swift Hunter build? I always thought that Scout would work well with a Jack-B-Quick type build, but the squishyness is definitely a problem...

Also, while it's not really a Scout build if you're taking this feat... Swift Avenger (DM 357) is incredible. It only takes 1 level of Scout to qualify for, unlike most of the other "Swift" feats. While Wildshape is obviously super good for Scouts anyhow, you could also stick to a more "Scouty" feel and use the Druid deadly hunter variant. Pick up Zen Archery for serious SAD with the fact that you also get Wis to spells and AC. You also get the Monk's fast movement and even Favored Enemy so you can pick up Swift Hunter to bypass enemy's immunities to Skirmish.
(If you wanna get super wonky - and very dubiously legal - you could take the Druidic Avenger variant to pick up Rage, and then trade Rage out for Whirling Frenzy for dem extra attacks.)

[Odin's Eyepatch]

Nitpick: Uncanny dodge allows the character to retain their dex bonus while flat-footed. I don't think it removes the flat-footed condition. Having 5 ranks in balance means not being flat-footed while balancing. They aren't completely redundant. A Barbarian with UD that is balancing without 5 ranks in balance is flat-footed, but still retains dex to AC. They wouldn't be able to take AoO's, but also can't be SA'd without being flanked. At least that how I read it.

Oops, forgot about that.

Hmm... so the need for 5 ranks in Balance is even more specific. It's only if you are playing an AoO focused scout that you need the ranks, to avoid the flat-footed condition while balancing. Otherwise, it's not your primary concern.

[Grod_The_Giant]

How would Riposte measure up if it could be considered Skirmish for a Swift Hunter build? I always thought that Scout would work well with a Jack-B-Quick type build, but the squishyness is definitely a problem...
Hmm... throw on Mongrelfolk Dragonborn, though?


Also, while it's not really a Scout build if you're taking this feat... Swift Avenger (DM 357) is incredible. It only takes 1 level of Scout to qualify for, unlike most of the other "Swift" feats. While Wildshape is obviously super good for Scouts anyhow, you could also stick to a more "Scouty" feel and use the Druid deadly hunter variant. Pick up Zen Archery for serious SAD with the fact that you also get Wis to spells and AC. You also get the Monk's fast movement and even Favored Enemy so you can pick up Swift Hunter to bypass enemy's immunities to Skirmish.
(If you wanna get super wonky - and very dubiously legal - you could take the Druidic Avenger variant to pick up Rage, and then trade Rage out for Whirling Frenzy for dem extra attacks.)
Holy cow, what? That's nuts.

[Zombulian]

Hmm... throw on Mongrelfolk Dragonborn, though?

Or an Arctic Dragonborn Lesser Ooze Paragenasi?


Holy cow, what? That's nuts.

Tier 1's at it again. Stealing all the nice things from lower tiers.

[Rebel7284]

As I recall, there is a dragon magazine article somewhere that trades regular skirmish for mouted skirmish.

Also, do note that you can save a feat by using feycrafted weapons to replace Weapon Finesse. Decreases your weapon damage down by a die size, but not like you care about the base weapon damage anyway.

A tier one on the other side of a Swift Ambusher build would be amusing, all the d6s and magic to meet the conditions easily.

[Grod_The_Giant]

As I recall, there is a dragon magazine article somewhere that trades regular skirmish for mouted skirmish.

Also, do note that you can save a feat by using feycrafted weapons to replace Weapon Finesse. Decreases your weapon damage down by a die size, but not like you care about the base weapon damage anyway.

A tier one on the other side of a Swift Ambusher build would be amusing, all the d6s and magic to meet the conditions easily.
I dug up the issue in question (346). It trades a couple things for a modified Paladin mount... but does not, as far as I can tell, do anything to overrule the errata. I imagine most sane DMs would accept that as RAI, but the feature as written does bupkiss. (As the other ACF is a craptacular "trade skirmish for the ability to make a long-ranged attack with the same bonus damage as a full-round action, I'm not too optimistic)

On the plus side, as near as the hive mind and I can tell (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?474020-Glide-Speed&p=20261770), you can glide around as a free action and make Skirmish attacks that way.

[Riculf]

BUILD CHOICES

Shot on the Run (x): Don't. Just don't. There aren't enough words in the English language to say why this is a bad idea. (Costs two crap feats, only ever lets you make a single attack, you can keep a distance for ranged attacks with normal movement anyway)
[/LIST]

I know I'm the lone voice in the wilderness here but... I like "Shot on the Run" <ducks for cover>

Slowly raises head above parapet to see if it gets shot off...

Anyhooooo... Admittedly the campaign I'm in is rather "Sub-optimal" but SotR works well with a single shot, skirmish-swift hunter-Bow Initiate who's all about the single arrow overcoming DR. Not optimal, I know, but fun. These words were brought to you by "The Finite Words of the English Language [TM]

[Grod_The_Giant]

I know I'm the lone voice in the wilderness here but... I like "Shot on the Run" <ducks for cover>

Slowly raises head above parapet to see if it gets shot off...

Anyhooooo... Admittedly the campaign I'm in is rather "Sub-optimal" but SotR works well with a single shot, skirmish-swift hunter-Bow Initiate who's all about the single arrow overcoming DR. Not optimal, I know, but fun. These words were brought to you by "The Finite Words of the English Language [TM]
<Bang!>

Spring Attack has some vanishing usefulness in that situation, but you can already move around and make a single ranged attack without blowing three feats. No need to duck in and out when you can just dodge around the periphery. (I also don't think your build is RAW legal, as SotR only works with the attack option, while OotBI's Ranged Precision is a standard action of its own)

[Riculf]

<Bang!>
)


Arg..... Slumps bleeding, thinking about the pub he was about to open when he retires next week...


Spring Attack has some vanishing usefulness in that situation, but you can already move around and make a single ranged attack without blowing three feats. No need to duck in and out when you can just dodge around the periphery. (I also don't think your build is RAW legal, as SotR only works with the attack option, while OotBI's Ranged Precision is a standard action of its own)

Not how we've interpreted it (seems like most of D&D falls easily into this category). This "interpretation" has, at least, made a duck-and-cover archer workable however I agree with the cost of the feat tree. This option at least makes the cost worth it to me.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Update: Fiddled with the formatting and remembered that Divine Minion exists and can give you Pounce.

[Droopy McCool]

I think Grod the Giant started a scout handbook a few weeks ago. Maybe you should collaborate.Yeah, it sank pretty quick (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?473666-New-Scout-Handbook), for some reason.

That surprised me as well. However, I have read through this entire handbook, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots of information, lots of ideas. I've even referred it to a friend to help him for our upcoming campaign, which he said helped immensely.

Don't give up Grod! Yours is the only true Scout handbook! :smalltongue:

[Grod_The_Giant]

That surprised me as well. However, I have read through this entire handbook, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots of information, lots of ideas. I've even referred it to a friend to help him for our upcoming campaign, which he said helped immensely.

Don't give up Grod! Yours is the only true Scout handbook! :smalltongue:
Haha, thanks. I'd hate to think I wasted my entire winter break.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Updated with some new, RAW-stupid tricks related to mounted combat. I'd love to hear some feedback about whether I'm rules-lawyering correctly? Reposting the new content here for simplicity:


A DC 20 Ride check lets you mount or dismount as a free action, provided you still have a move action available. Which you still will if you haven't full attacked that round yet. There are a couple of ways that you could get stupid with that.
Fast mount from one side, fast dismount on the other. You're now ten feet away from where you started without having used a move action. This is goofy, but not entirely unreasonable, assuming you're doing some kind of vault or somersault.
Fast mount, have the mount move, fast dismount. You can't make multiple melee attacks, but there's nothing in there about archery. And you haven't used any move actions yet. The text specifies that you can make a full attack while your mount is in motion, but doesn't specify whether or not you can make a ranged full attack once you arrive. (If you really want a book thrown at your head, once you dismount you're not using mounted combat rules anymore, and so you have your full set of actions). This is very dumb.

Rig up a chariot (**). There... really aren't good rules about this anywhere, though. The Arms and Equipment Guide has some stuff, but that's 3e, and not very thorough-- I mean, the "Ranged Attack" section of the vehicle rules is just a paragraph about weather penalties. It's also really hard to use a chariot in a dungeon.

Dragon Magazine 346 introduces some stuff for Scouts, including the Light Calvary ACF-- trade Fast Movement, Camouflage, Hide in Plain Sight and Free Movement for a slightly modified Paladin mount. Now, as written, the ACF is crap, as it doesn't address the errata's mounted Skirmish. But it's pretty obvious that it should allow it, because c'mon, it's a goddamn mounted combat focused entry. So maybe the author just didn't know about the errata? Except that they mention the addition of Disable Device on the same goddamn page. (And given the fact that you still magically summon your mount, and how utterly craptastic the second ACF they present is, I'm not going to make any assumptions about the author's abilities). Also, it's Dragon content. I honestly can't even start to evaluate this-- if it overrules the errata, it's good but you should still probably get a Wild Cohort instead of the paladin mount. If it doesn't overrule... it's still actually kind of interesting, since there are plenty of combat-capable paladin mounts and none of the features you're losing are honestly that good. But it probably won't be approved.

[ben-zayb]

Nice work! If anything, this color is just so much harder and more annoying to read. Maybe Turquoise or Teal would be a better choice?

I'd also point out that its Uncanny Dodge is poorly worded enough to be considered as one of the few non-magical tricks to be never flatfooted. Ever.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Nice work! If anything, this color is just so much harder and more annoying to read. Maybe Turquoise or Teal would be a better choice?

I'd also point out that its Uncanny Dodge is poorly worded enough to be considered as one of the few non-magical tricks to be never flatfooted. Ever.
Good idea. Also, I literally never noticed that, but you're right-- that's not the usual wording. Neat.

[Xandegar]

A few interesting races that I have played (as well as others in my group) that have been tested to be VERY good for a Scout are the Hybsil [Monsters of Faerûn, correctly updated to 3.5] and the Fey'ri (Planetouched Tiefling) [Races of Faerûn] with the racial

[Seharvepernfan]

Blind-fight should probably be a (x) feat, because skirmish damage is precision damage and you don't get that if your opponent has a miss chance.

[Nifft]

Also, while it's not really a Scout build if you're taking this feat... Swift Avenger (DM 357) is incredible. It only takes 1 level of Scout to qualify for, unlike most of the other "Swift" feats. While Wildshape is obviously super good for Scouts anyhow, you could also stick to a more "Scouty" feel and use the Druid deadly hunter variant. Pick up Zen Archery for serious SAD with the fact that you also get Wis to spells and AC. You also get the Monk's fast movement and even Favored Enemy so you can pick up Swift Hunter to bypass enemy's immunities to Skirmish.

(If you wanna get super wonky - and very dubiously legal - you could take the Druidic Avenger variant to pick up Rage, and then trade Rage out for Whirling Frenzy for dem extra attacks.)


Holy cow, what? That's nuts.

I came here to talk about the awesomeness of Swift Avenger.

It is indeed quite nuts.

It makes the "big cat" Pounce builds very, very effective.

[SirNibbles]

Extra Favored Enemy (Masters of the Wild, page 22) may be worth mentioning for Swift Hunter builds. Getting that extra Skirmish immunity-breaker a bit early could be useful.

[Doctor Awkward]

I'd also point out that its Uncanny Dodge is poorly worded enough to be considered as one of the few non-magical tricks to be never flatfooted. Ever.

Except is also directly refers you to the Barbarian class feature in the Player's Handbook, making it the primary source for the ability.

Per the errata rules, whenever two sources conflict, the primary source takes precedence.

[Grod_The_Giant]

A few interesting races that I have played (as well as others in my group) that have been tested to be VERY good for a Scout are the Hybsil [Monsters of Faerûn, correctly updated to 3.5] and the Fey'ri (Planetouched Tiefling) [Races of Faerûn] with the racial


Blind-fight should probably be a (x) feat, because skirmish damage is precision damage and you don't get that if your opponent has a miss chance.
Was that specified in the Rules Compendium? Sneak Attack specifically says "The rogue must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. A rogue cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment," but Skirmish only has the vague-r first clause.


I came here to talk about the awesomeness of Swift Avenger.

It is indeed quite nuts.

It makes the "big cat" Pounce builds very, very effective.
That feat is honestly insane.


Extra Favored Enemy (Masters of the Wild, page 22) may be worth mentioning for Swift Hunter builds. Getting that extra Skirmish immunity-breaker a bit early could be useful.
Hmm. 3.0 but never updated, so I guess legal. I'm not crazy about it, since everything other than undead are pretty niche enemies, but I'll include it for completeness' sake.


Except is also directly refers you to the Barbarian class feature in the Player's Handbook, making it the primary source for the ability.

Per the errata rules, whenever two sources conflict, the primary source takes precedence.
...dang.

[Doctor Awkward]

Was that specified in the Rules Compendium? Sneak Attack specifically says "The rogue must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. A rogue cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment," but Skirmish only has the vague-r first clause.

The Rules Compendium on page 42 created the "precision damage" type, and included in the umbrella "any extra damage that functions by striking a vital area", and lists as examples sneak attack, skirmish, and sudden strike. It then provided a list of conditions for all of those abilities that includes the following:


To deal precision damage, the attacker must see (or otherwise
sense) the target accurately enough to pick out a
vital spot. Any degree of concealment foils the ability to
deal precision damage.

Thus, if you accept the primacy assertion of the Rules Compendium, skirmish is subject to the same concealment rules as sneak attack.


It might also be worth noting that there is a minor rules dysfunction regarding Favored Enemy. In two separate instances in the Dungeon Master's Guide, it says this:


Incorporeal creatures are immune to critical hits, extra damage from being favored enemies, and from sneak attacks.
Source. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#incorporeality)


Invisibility does not, by itself, make a creature immune to critical hits, but it does make the creature immune to extra damage from being a ranger’s favored enemy and from sneak attacks.
Source. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#invisibility)

Additionally, on page 302 of the Dungeon Master's Guide there is another entry which has since been errata'd out. But it used to read this:

Creatures blinded by darkness lose the ability to deal extra
damage due to precision (for example, a ranger’s favored enemy or
a sneak attack).

Again, due to the primacy rule, these instances cannot simply declare the damage bonus from Favored Enemy to be precision damage. The class ability itself is the primary source, and it makes no such claims.

However, while those creature abilities cannot define Favored Enemy in general, they can create an exception for themselves which states that Favored Enemy damage does not work in those conditions. Here, specific-trumps-general: rather than trying to redefine what Favored Enemy is (in which primacy asserts itself), they can define a special case which acceptably contradicts the general rules. Thus while Swift Hunter can make those enemies vulnerable to skirmish damage, they are still immune to the damage of being a Favored Enemy.

And hilariously, also Improved Manyshot (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/feats.htm#improvedManyshot)

Special
Regardless of the number of arrows you fire, you only apply precision-based damage (such as sneak attack damage or the ranger’s favored enemy bonus) once. If you score a critical hit, only one of the arrows deals critical damage (your choice); all others deal normal damage.


Isn't it fun when an Epic feat is measurably worse than a low-level general feat (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#greaterManyshot)? :smallbiggrin:

[Zombulian]

Regarding Swift Avenger, Grod, you say that a Scout gets almost full WS from a 1 level dip. This is slightly misleading I think, since you're essentially only getting the WS of a WS Ranger. Small and Medium animal forms are quite useful, but I wouldn't call that almost full.
Pretty much just a nitpick though, and my own semantic values may be more at fault than your words. Still love this guide.

[DEMON]

Hmm. 3.0 but never updated, so I guess legal. I'm not crazy about it, since everything other than undead are pretty niche enemies, but I'll include it for completeness' sake.

Ghostwalk had the feat as well, so it's 3.5 updated (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20031225a).

[Doctor Awkward]

Ghostwalk had the feat as well, so it's 3.5 updated (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20031225a).

Ghostwalk is a 3.0 book.

Printed in June 2003, one month before the core set for 3.5.

You can tell because the very first monster in it, the Artaaglith Demon, has DR of 10/+1 (the 3.0 notation for damage reduction), and the Fire Spectre has Intuit Direction, a 3.0 skill rolled into Survival.

[DEMON]

Ghostwalk is a 3.0 book.

Printed in June 2003, one month before the core set for 3.5.

You can tell because the very first monster in it, the Artaaglith Demon, has DR of 10/+1 (the 3.0 notation for damage reduction), and the Fire Spectre has Intuit Direction, a 3.0 skill rolled into Survival.

And the link I posted is the official 3.5 update of that book and the Extra Favored Enemy feat is converted to that edition in this update.

[Ethernil]

Would shifter make a good race for scouts or swift hunters? Considering they get not so bad ability score bonuses and can get pounce.

[Zombulian]

Would shifter make a good race for scouts or swift hunters? Considering they get not so bad ability score bonuses and can get pounce.

Yeah and they're already listed in the races section. The Saurian Shifters from Dragon 328 do deserve a shoutout though.

What do you mean they get pounce?

[Ethernil]

What do you mean they get pounce?

My bad, i meant the level 3 feature of the prc Weretouched Master that gives you pounce if you pick tiger as your chosen animal. Tiger also has the second best ability scores just behind bear at level 5. I believe a scout 4 ranger 11 weretouched master 5 would be a rather fun build, you do delay ranger spells even further but you can use animal buffs on yourself and arcane spells such as enlarge person(if using sword of the arcane order) which is extra nice for stacking increases to your natural weapon damage.

[Zombulian]

My bad, i meant the level 3 feature of the prc Weretouched Master that gives you pounce if you pick tiger as your chosen animal. Tiger also has the second best ability scores just behind bear at level 5. I believe a scout 4 ranger 11 weretouched master 5 would be a rather fun build, you do delay ranger spells even further but you can use animal buffs on yourself and arcane spells such as enlarge person(if using sword of the arcane order) which is extra nice for stacking increases to your natural weapon damage.

Wait what? Does Weretouched Master change your typing while you shift?

[Doctor Awkward]

Wait what? Does Weretouched Master change your typing while you shift?

It does not.
5th Level Weretouched Master grants you Alternate Form, which explicitly retains your original type when you change yourself with it.

[Ethernil]

It does not.
5th Level Weretouched Master grants you Alternate Form, which explicitly retains your original type when you change yourself with it.

My book copy says that he can shift into animal form as if using the polymorph spell on himself. Alternate form is the name of the ability. The fact that the next paragraph says: a slain weretouched master reverts to his humanoid form when slain would be redundant if he was already in humanoid form while transformed. That is the prc level 5 ability, different from the shifters racial shift ability.

[Doctor Awkward]

My book copy says that he can shift into animal form as if using the polymorph spell on himself. Alternate form is the name of the ability. The fact that the next paragraph says: a slain weretouched master reverts to his humanoid form when slain would be redundant if he was already in humanoid form while transformed. That is the prc level 5 ability, different from the shifters racial shift ability.

That's because the Eberron Campaign Setting was written using the original text description of Alternate Form from the 3.5 Monster Manual.

On page 305 it says exactly the following:

Alternate Form (Su): A creature with this special quality has
the ability to assume one or more specific alternate forms. This
ability works much like the polymorph spell, except that the creature
is limited to the forms specified, and does not regain any hit
points for changing its form. Assuming an alternate form results
in the following changes to the creature:

However that ability has undergone numerous errata over the 3.5 life-cycle. The SRD contains the most updated version: (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#alternateForm)


A creature with this special quality has the ability to assume one or more specific alternate forms. A true seeing spell or ability reveals the creature’s natural form. A creature using alternate form reverts to its natural form when killed, but separated body parts retain their shape. A creature cannot use alternate form to take the form of a creature with a template. Assuming an alternate form results in the following changes to the creature:

The exceedingly confusing comparison to the Polymorph spell was removed. However, both the errata and the original Monster Manual entry say the following about the ability:


—The creature retains the type and subtype of its original form.
It gains the size of its new form.

So even if the text of Weretouched Master in the ECS is worded such that it can be interpreted slightly differently, it does not assert primacy over the Monster Manual, which is the original source of the ability.

[Ethernil]

That's because the Eberron Campaign Setting was written using the original text description of Alternate Form from the 3.5 Monster Manual.

On page 305 it says exactly the following:


However that ability has undergone numerous errata over the 3.5 life-cycle. The SRD contains the most updated version: (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#alternateForm)



The exceedingly confusing comparison to the Polymorph spell was removed. However, both the errata and the original Monster Manual entry say the following about the ability:



So even if the text of Weretouched Master in the ECS is worded such that it can be interpreted slightly differently, it does not assert primacy over the Monster Manual, which is the original source of the ability.

Polymorph, at least in the srd who should be the most updated version, says that the creature does gain the type and sybtypes of the assumed form though. And since alternate form says it works as the polymorph and not alter self i suppose that is the rulling followed.

[Doctor Awkward]

Polymorph, at least in the srd who should be the most updated version, says that the creature does gain the type and sybtypes of the assumed form though. And since alternate form says it works as the polymorph and not alter self i suppose that is the rulling followed.

The ability is in question isn't Polymorph. The ability is Alternate Form (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#alternateForm).

And even the pre-errata version of Alternate Form states that the creature retains its original type.

[theonetruenerd]

One reason it might be worth dipping into a casting class/talking the party mage to get "imbue with spell ability" is the "sniper's shot" spell. Its 1st level so is easy to get access to through either of the mentioned routes (as well as many others I'm sure), and allows a ranged sneak attack to be made at any range for 1 round. While technically it doesn't include skirmish damage by RAW, RAI would suggest it does include it, and would make an archery scout much more capable.

[Ethernil]

The ability is in question isn't Polymorph. The ability is Alternate Form (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#alternateForm).

And even the pre-errata version of Alternate Form states that the creature retains its original type.

The ability in question is not the monster ability of the monster manual. If it were it would be referenced instead of just the polymorph spell. If it is the same ability then it is pretty sick since Weretiger has a bunch of really good ex abilities like initiate a grapple when landing a claw attack which you would get if it was the same ability. It is not the only time 2 abilities, feats, classes, binder vestiges... whatever that have the same name but is not the same thing since probably they didn't pay much attention to other books when writing their own.

[Doctor Awkward]

The ability in question is not the monster ability of the monster manual. If it were it would be referenced instead of just the polymorph spell. If it is the same ability then it is pretty sick since Weretiger has a bunch of really good ex abilities like initiate a grapple when landing a claw attack which you would get if it was the same ability. It is not the only time 2 abilities, feats, classes, binder vestiges... whatever that have the same name but is not the same thing since probably they didn't pay much attention to other books when writing their own.

Your assertion of the authors simply not reading other books is wholly speculative, and likely incorrect. The Eberron Campaign Setting was created by Keith Baker, and co-designed by Bill Slavicsek and James Wyatt. Bill was the Director of RPG R&D for Wizard's until 2011, throughout all of the 3.0 and 3.5 print run and well into 4th Edition. James Wyatt was also a contributor since 2000, writing for the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, dozens of adventure paths, Magic of Incarnum, Oriental Adventures, and the Draconomicon, not leaving the company until 2016. Both of them are also listed in the credits for the 3.5 Monster Manual, and probably knew exactly what they were doing when designing the classes and races for Eberron.

If that ability was not intended to be Alternate Form (as is used by all lycanthropes upon whom shifters are based) then it wouldn't have been called Alternate Form. It would have been called something else, as is the standard convention for naming abilities in 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons.

And for the record, I have to add that you are picking a very strange hill to die on here. Is there some reason in particular why you feel that Weretouched Master simply must change your creature type with it's capstone ability?

[gooddragon1]

Isn't there a stance that lets you take 2 five foot steps in a single turn? Seems like it would be perfect for the scout.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Yeah and they're already listed in the races section. The Saurian Shifters from Dragon 328 do deserve a shoutout though.

What do you mean they get pounce?
Not really planning on going through all the Dragon stuff; only the Scout specific options.


My bad, i meant the level 3 feature of the prc Weretouched Master that gives you pounce if you pick tiger as your chosen animal. Tiger also has the second best ability scores just behind bear at level 5. I believe a scout 4 ranger 11 weretouched master 5 would be a rather fun build, you do delay ranger spells even further but you can use animal buffs on yourself and arcane spells such as enlarge person(if using sword of the arcane order) which is extra nice for stacking increases to your natural weapon damage.
Regardless of the animal type debate, I'm... not a huge fan, honestly. It's locked to a pretty mediocre race, its abilities only function during your limited shifts, and there are just... better options for getting Pounce.


Isn't there a stance that lets you take 2 five foot steps in a single turn? Seems like it would be perfect for the scout.
Um, hmm. Shifting Defense doesn't work because it's off-turn; Press The Advantage...does work, but getting a 5th level maneuver is pretty difficult without extensive multiclassing. Wolf Pack Tactics gives you a bunch, but as an 8th isn't feasible without gestalt.

[Doctor Awkward]

Um, hmm. Shifting Defense doesn't work because it's off-turn; Press The Advantage...does work, but getting a 5th level maneuver is pretty difficult without extensive multiclassing. Wolf Pack Tactics gives you a bunch, but as an 8th isn't feasible without gestalt.

Wolf Pack Tactics is also counterproductive for a Skirmish build, since if you attack before you move you won't get skirmish for those strikes. A character making a full attack and only getting skirmish damage on his latter attacks (the ones least likely to hit), is more often than not going to have lower damage than another one using Rapid Blitz to move first and get three strikes.

Furthermore, Press the Advantage does not function with Improved Skirmish. It's also unnecessary, since any skirmisher with 30 ft. base speed can go the requisite 20 ft. on a Tumble check without penalty and pick up a Belt of Ultimate Athleticism to Take 10 on those checks, which will auto-succeed against up to five enemies by level 6 with just skill ranks and an 18 Dex. Add in Cat's Grace and you auto-succeed at tumbling through an occupied square too.

[Ethernil]

Your assertion of the authors simply not reading other books is wholly speculative, and likely incorrect. The Eberron Campaign Setting was created by Keith Baker, and co-designed by Bill Slavicsek and James Wyatt. Bill was the Director of RPG R&D for Wizard's until 2011, throughout all of the 3.0 and 3.5 print run and well into 4th Edition. James Wyatt was also a contributor since 2000, writing for the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, dozens of adventure paths, Magic of Incarnum, Oriental Adventures, and the Draconomicon, not leaving the company until 2016. Both of them are also listed in the credits for the 3.5 Monster Manual, and probably knew exactly what they were doing when designing the classes and races for Eberron.

If that ability was not intended to be Alternate Form (as is used by all lycanthropes upon whom shifters are based) then it wouldn't have been called Alternate Form. It would have been called something else, as is the standard convention for naming abilities in 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons.

And for the record, I have to add that you are picking a very strange hill to die on here. Is there some reason in particular why you feel that Weretouched Master simply must change your creature type with it's capstone ability?

Well i suppose i am at fault jumping to conclusions based on speculations and not on solid data. If that is the case, then weretiger is even stronger than the other forms, said alternate form grants you the creatures ex special attacks, in our case: improved grab, pounce and rake. Let's not drag this further as we are derailing the topic away from the scout class and i feel bad about it.