Ranger Build advice / experience with skirmisher?

[Minwaabi]

Hey playground,

I'm going to be trying out a Pathfinder half-orc switch hitter ranger in my groups next session. And I was interested in some general advice as well as input on some archtypes. We'll be starting at 7th level and I doubt we will gain more than a couple levels. First, my stats (we are using a 20 pt buy):

Str: 18 [16 + 2 from half orc]
Dex: 16 [ 15 + 1 from attribute increase at 4th level]
Con: 12
Int: 12
Wis: 13
Cha: 7

Any thoughts on that distribution? I'm planning on playing a sort of rough around the edges quasi outcast from society ranger who prefers to keep to the woods when he can.

Next, I'm wondering what peoples thoughts and experiences are with the skirmisher and trap finder arch types. I can only really cast 2 1st level spells anyways and will never reach the point where I can cast 3rd level spells. Would it be better to pick up skirmisher or trap finder? Also, is it just me or is trap finder very difficult to actually use? There are three reasons behind this question: (1) I don't get many spells anyway so maybe another class feature would be more useful, (2) flavor: I've never understood why rangers cast spells anyway (3) party synergy: we don't have any divine casters at the moment (the casters are going Spheres of Power), so maybe having the ability to use certain wands without a UMD check is too useful, but we don't have any trapfinding/disable device users either. I was thinking of taking a trait like vagabond child to give +1 to dd and make it a class skill, then we can at least try to deal with locks and some traps. But alternately I could go trapper, which makes a lot of sense to me flavor wise, but they seem really weak compared to a normal ranger.

[avr]

You're right, trapper rangers are weak compared to the base or to most archetypes. And being able to use some wands and scrolls is very useful; more so than skirmisher. If you don't actually want to play a caster though those are options. Personally I prefer the guide archetype to either or the base if you won't hit 10th level.

It may be more useful to drop Int to 10 and push one of con or Wis to 14. You'll still have 6 skill points/level after all.

The trait you want is trap finder (http://www.archivesofnethys.com/TraitDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Trap%20Finder), BTW.

[Geddy2112]

Yeah, trading away spellcasting is almost always a bad idea from an optimization perspective. The only time you want to do this is when you are dipping and you won't hit your spells anyways(bloodrager, paladin, ranger...). If you have to trade away spells, skrimisher> trapper.

Trapfinding is not all that useful, as normal perception can spot traps(and you will have great perception). Disable device is good, and trap spotter trait makes it a class skill. Even with decent dex and maxing it you would be okay without the class skill bonus.

While you don't get many spells per day, you can prepare anything on your list and use a wand/scroll without a UMD. This is huge for cure light wounds alone(if nobody else can cast it). Also, some of the ranger spells are pretty ace like lead blades and magic fang. Rangers get some cool nature juju like a druid, but less hardcore communing with nature and more just getting a bit of ability.

Make sure you talk to your DM about the potential favored enemies and terrains, so you don't pick swamps and spend the whole game in the desert. If you really are not sure, you can trade these away.

Also, second guide for a cool archetype.

[Minwaabi]

I'd love to take the trap finder trait, but the DM said no to campaign traits. So I'm going with vagabond which I think is the next best thing.

Definitely considering trying to increase wisdom to 14.

As for favored enemies, we're running a module that the DM has described as "fighting magical foresty, nature type things" in a forest with a growing shadow of doom/evil. So I think magical beasts and fey as my favored enemies and forest as my favored terrain are logical choices.

[AZGrowler]

While not technically a Ranger archetype, the Slayer is essentially a ranger that trades his animal buddy and spells for some Rogue abilities. You can still get the combat styles to be an effective switch hitter, but you get to add sneak attack when you can (extra damage is always nice), and trapfinding is a talent you can pick up. The sniper archetype can even make you a slightly better archer.

[Florian]

While not technically a Ranger archetype, the Slayer is essentially a ranger that trades his animal buddy and spells for some Rogue abilities. You can still get the combat styles to be an effective switch hitter, but you get to add sneak attack when you can (extra damage is always nice), and trapfinding is a talent you can pick up. The sniper archetype can even make you a slightly better archer.

As much as I love the Slayer class, I don´t think that ranged combat is really the forte here.

But with the information given, a Slayer with (1x/2x) Terrain Mastery and twice Seething Hatred might perform well in this scenario.