Teleporting Archer class wanted

[Harlekin]

I'm the dm in a dnd 3.5 campaign and one of my players wants to play an teleporting archer. She said she wants to be like Nightcrawler (x-men) but with a bow. Aside from all-day, short-range teleport, she is interested in sneaky stuff like invisibility, later etherealness. First I suggested rogue/conjurer (abrupt jaunt)/unseen seer, but that was to much magic for her, she wants her character to be more more martial (eg. better BAB, less bookkeeping with spells, and so on). She is relatively new to dnd, so I'm trying to keep the character as simple and straightforward as possible.

The other party members:

Changeling Beguiler 6
Lesser Fey'Ri Swordsage2/Warblade3
Elan Vitalist (Pathfinder) 6

I'm now looking for suggestions, how to design this character. I told my players they can use all official books and I'm open to pathfinder and good homebrew classes. I'd like to keep this character in the tier 3 range, as all the other characters. The characters are not very optimised.

For the teleporting part i thought about totemist with blink shirt, maybe followed by mystic ranger... I'd also like homebrew tome of battle suggestions.

Maybe somebody can help me out and give me some ideas how to make this character concept work...

[peacenlove]

Swordsage has teleports in shadow hand. Could take the shadow hands gloves, although the class itself is a very good 2 level dip.
Shadowcaster has flicker, a 3rd level mystery so it can be bought in a wand. Also has hide in plain sight (the weak version) as a 2nd level mystery.

[Eldariel]

Swordsage can kinda-sorta do this though to really get it going, Shadow Blink is sadly a 7th level maneuver. Stuff like Blink Shirt shares the issue that you can teleport one turn and attack the next but the whole Nightcrawler deal is that you get to do both. To that end, quickened teleportation is necessary; I might look into Psychic Warrior, Psion or Ardent [Complete Psionics]. Ardent is a bit high on powerscale while PsyWar is just about right, but Ardent would get the powers to pull this off earlier. Ranger/Psion (Nomad)/Slayer is solid as well. Either way, Psionics is very good about action efficiency. Linked Power enables pretty free "delayed Quickening" of powers (basically, second power cast at the start of your next turn) and then you just need a power for teleportation and ways to recover Psionic Focus. Later on you can add stuff like Schism to get further extra actions into the deal, and Temporal Acceleration to quickly buff up and such.

While the power is abusable, for this purpose Synchronity works fine. Synchronity + Linked Power, use Synchronity to recover Psionic Focus and then the power you are actually using (probably Dimension Swap, Teleport or something of the sort). Dimension Hop from Freedom Mantle is a short range Swift Action Teleport from a 1st level powerslot so that's exactly what you'd want as well. You can of course use Expanded Knowledge to get any power as any class - thus your Psion or Psychic Warrior could also learn Dimension Hop if they so desired. On high levels (13+) one could even combine Dimension Hop with Divert Teleport to Divert your own Dimension Hops for massive distance (or just cast Inconstant Location and save yourself the trouble of casting each turn; Inconstant Location can teleport you each turn).


Either way, Psionics is good about buffing and teleporting so that's where I'd look first. Psionic Archery actually works pretty nicely and you have a sweet array of options on how to buff yourself. The Psionic Shot feats are good early on though once you begin to get volleys they kinda fall off. Still, yeah, my recommendation is either:
Ranger 1/Nomad 6/Slayer ->
Ardent
Ardent 8/Slayer ->
Psychic Warrior
Psychic Warrior 8/Slayer ->

Any of those is fine. Psychic Warrior is the only T3 option but it takes a bit of work to get enough Power Points for comfortable play with the class so for easier play it might be preferable to just pick up Ardent or Psion.

[Sayt]

Ranger into Horizonwalker gets D.Door every 1d4 rounds, and you might also lets the player grab the dimensional dervish line from pathfinder to teleport between attacks.

Edit: Note on Horizon Walker: 3.5 version lets you D.Door every 1d4 rounds at Horizon Walker 7, earliest. PF Horizon Walker gives it 3+Wismod/Day, but four levels earlier.

Honestly I'd just build a generic Pathfinder Archer Ranger (Archer Combat Style, Rapidshot+Manyshot+Deadly AIm) and then go three levels of Horizon Walker, for the simplest build.

[ExLibrisMortis]

First, the blink shirt doesn't allow you to take actions after teleporting, so it's limited. It doesn't kill the ability, but keep it in mind.

Second, there's the Jaunter prestige class, which gets the ability to use benign transposition, baleful transposition, dimension door, teleport and plane shift, at class levels 1-4. It requires Dodge, Mobility and Spring Attack, so typical build is [human fighter 1 or martial abrupt jaunt wizard 1]/jaunter X, unless you use flaws. These powers don't allow full attacking, or even any attacking, as they all take a standard action. It's still a good way to get a few teleporty powers at a very low level, and it shares its prerequisite feats with Telflammar Shadowlord.

Third, there's the psychic warrior power, inconstant location. The power lasts a minute, and during that minute, you can teleport. This is a swift action, so it allows full attacking; maximum distance travelled is your speed, requires line of sight. It's not at-will (unless you persist it), and it's a sixth-level power, so it's a bit out of range for now.

The coolest (imo) and most powerful ability you can use is the Shadowpounce ability, as possessed by the Telflammar Shadowlord and Crintri Shadow Marauder. This requires houseruling, as it doesn't work with ranged attacks (but there's Bloodstorm Blade, if you want to get crazy); change it to be ranged attacks only, provided they are within sneak attack range (30' by default). Normally, Shadowpounce is a fairly high-level ability (character level 11 and 10 for those PrCs respectively), but nothing says you can't bolt it onto a scout or ranger. Add a little Swift Hunter goodness (allowing teleports to count as movement, naturally), and you're all set.

What it does? Oh, just this: you can make a full attack after any [teleportation] "ability, spell, or effect". Yes, you can make three full attacks with a standard + move + swift action teleport. Blink shirt + abrupt jaunt/dimension hop + shadow jaunt, for example.

I think you can RAW-legally get a ranged Shadowpounce with something like ardent 2/totemist 2/warblade 1/bloodstorm blade 2/telflammar shadowlord 4, though you'd need to pick up shadow jaunt with a feat, and you can't recharge it on the same turn you Shadowpounce. Better to houserule something to mesh the whole thing together.

[EldritchWeaver]

As you are open to homebrew then I'd suggest Spheres of Power. Compared to the other suggestions, you can have your at-will teleport already at level 1. If you choose a Low-Caster class like the Mageknight, you don't have much in the way of magic and those few things can be invested into Warp talents (the teleportation stuff). The Warp handbook will hopefully have a way to deal with the dimensional agility feat line, too, but that book isn't available as playtest yet.

[DarkOne-Rob]

In Pathfinder you could go with Variant Multi-Classing the Conjuration (Teleportation) wizard (earning a Dimension Door-style teleport around level 7) and the Dimensional Agility feat string.

[Seppo87]

Pathfinder has Path of War.
Stalker Class.

Disciplines Veiled Moon (teleport based) and Solar Wind (archery based)

Done

[Eldariel]

As you are open to homebrew then I'd suggest Spheres of Power. Compared to the other suggestions, you can have your at-will teleport already at level 1. If you choose a Low-Caster class like the Mageknight, you don't have much in the way of magic and those few things can be invested into Warp talents (the teleportation stuff). The Warp handbook will hopefully have a way to deal with the dimensional agility feat line, too, but that book isn't available as playtest yet.

Dimensional Hop available to Ardent (and on level 3 to other psionic classes) is likewise a swift action teleportation ability from level 1. It's not quite "at Will" but considering it only costs 1pp, it's quite affordable - even on level 1, you have 2 + 1-2 (ability score) + 0-2 (racial bonus). And it scales quickly from there.

Jaunter's primary problem is that all their abilities are standard actions and it's quite difficult to Quicken them (to Quicken DD, you need caster level 16; to Quicken Teleport, you need caster level 18 - Benign and Baleful are available at 10 and 12 but more limited). Even if you do Quicken them, it's only 3/day.

[Deadline]

Warlock 6 can take the Flee the Scene invocation. It's at-will, and leaves an illusory duplicate of you behind for a round. Also, they get a built-in ranged ability (Eldritch Blast).

[Red Fel]

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned a PrC that was specifically designed to be a teleporting ambusher. I speak, of course, of the Blade of Orien class.

Blade of Orien is a PrC from Dragonmarked. Its requirements are low, except for the feat prereqs - you need the Least Dragonmark (Mark of Passage) with the Dimension Leap SLA, and the Lesser Dragonmark (Mark of Passage) with the Dimension Door SLA. Each of these feats gives you a 1/day SLA that's generally useful for this sort of thing, but the class takes them and advances them delightfully. Human race is required to take the Mark of Passage, but I doubt most players will complain about that.

First, Blade of Orien lets you use your Dimension Leap SLA 1 + 1/2 your class level times per day. Since this is a 10-level PrC, that gives you a total of 6 uses, more if you take a feat for them. Also, it lets you move in 5-foot increments instead of 10-foot increments, if you so desire.

Second, it lets you use Dimension Leap as a move action instead of a swift action, although doing so cuts your maximum range in half.

Third, you can transport creatures with you, in a specific exception to the general rule (Dimension Leap usually only allows you to teleport yourself). Later on, you can teleport small objects to your hand, swap positions with an ally, swap two allies, or even teleport an ally as you would yourself. Later still, you can even teleport enemies.

You also learn not to provoke AoOs while using your teleportation abilities, and as a capstone, you can make a full attack at the end of a Dimension Leap.

The class itself is good, with full BAB and a good Reflex save. You could easily fit it to an archery chassis (although good luck, archery in 3.5 is rubbish). After capstone, you're basically just teleporting about and firing full volleys of arrows. Bamf, fire, bamf, fire.

[CharonsHelper]

In Pathfinder you could go with Variant Multi-Classing the Conjuration (Teleportation) wizard (earning a Dimension Door-style teleport around level 7) and the Dimensional Agility feat string.

Seconded.

Either that or just have her pick an LA race with dimension door (Githyanki do - right? They're not in Pathfinder, so it's been awhile since I've looked at them.) but the short range teleport you get with the Variant Mutli-Class is probably more what she wants and will be less crazy to play with.

[WhamBamSam]

Chameleon is nice for cherry picking spells both for teleportation and archery, leaves you the first few levels of your build to dip around with things like, say, Martial Abrupt Jaunt Wizard 1, and can use its floating feat to pick up this or that to help you along (a scaling Martial Study for Shadow Hand teleports, to give one example).

[Harlekin]

Thanks, there are some great suggestions! I'm sure we will find something for my player.
I'll have to read a bit about your suggestions, and maybe will be back with more questions afterwards.

[Eldariel]

You could easily fit it to an archery chassis (although good luck, archery in 3.5 is rubbish).

Eh, Archery isn't that bad. Rapid Shot goes a good ways towards making it decent. It just takes more effort to reach adequate levels of competence compared to melee, but if you have any spellcasting on your side making archery do decent damage and potential on-hits is childs' play. Even magic items can carry one a good distance. And even without, if you have ways to stack bonuses and get numerous attacks, it can perform just fine even in dungeon terrain, let alone in the open.

[dascarletm]

The Psionic class: Marksman (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/marksman)

Your powers will provide the teleportation, and the class makes a decent archer.
(May be on the complicated side, but manifesting is the least complicated of all spellcasting like mechanics)
(convince your beguiler to go telepath to get metaconcert for the synergy between your three psionic classes:smalltongue:)

[CharonsHelper]

Eh, Archery isn't that bad. Rapid Shot goes a good ways towards making it decent. It just takes more effort to reach adequate levels of competence compared to melee, but if you have any spellcasting on your side making archery do decent damage and potential on-hits is childs' play. Even magic items can carry one a good distance. And even without, if you have ways to stack bonuses and get numerous attacks, it can perform just fine even in dungeon terrain, let alone in the open.

Plus, unlike melee, you'll get a full attack nearly every turn. They have less trouble with DR (not hard to deal with silver/cold iron/adam. DR) and at very high levels have Bane arrows for everything.

It's not as crazy powerful as it is in Pathfinder (pretty much universally considered the most powerful combat style) but it's still very potent in 3.5, just a bit feat intensive.

[Demidos]

You mentioned homebrew possibly being open. If so, the Ebon Marksman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?218101-Ebon-Marksman-(3-5-Base-Class-PEACH)) is so similar to your concept it could have been made to order.

[Eldariel]

Plus, unlike melee, you'll get a full attack nearly every turn. They have less trouble with DR (not hard to deal with silver/cold iron/adam. DR) and at very high levels have Bane arrows for everything.

Well, I wouldn't say "less trouble with DR", but an easier time bypassing it, certainly. A golfbag of arrows is really quite useful. Melee (well, two-handed) is better at just plain punching through it though (thanks to Power Attack & its ilk, 1½ x Strength, but also maneuvers and the like). Creatures with DR/- or DR/Epic are particularly annoying as an Archer (though to that end you should get a Force-bow and/or some DR-ignoring class feature/spell).

And yeah, the full attack part is mostly nice; though if you need to move or have the surprise round, archery has but poor options without Manyshot, and not that amazing with it especially with the range limit (compared to a standard action charge with pounce or multipliers or both). Melee has to work for movement + attack, though higher level melee characters should basically always have at least some means of doing it (or to hit so ridiculously hard on that one charge hit that it doesn't matter you only get one; or a massive overkill by doing both).


There are some abilities that are really problematic as an Archer though. Ragewalker (and by extension, anyone with Supernatural Fey shapechanging ability) has the Repel Arrows-ability that's pretty annoying to get by, there's the Infinite Deflection Epic feat (Dragons have an easy time getting it pre-Epic if they can just manage/bypass the Dex-requirement; Old White is CR15), Wind-effects block basically all Archery (though it's rather easy to argue Force-arrows should have no trouble, this isn't RAW), etc. It takes effort to be a good archer and it's never perfect, but one can do rather well with it.

[Sayt]

My understanding of the problem with archery in 3.5 ideas that it is twofold: 1. Windward exists, and 2. Lack of flat damage.

Pathfinder eventually patched the first with the cyclonic weapon special ability. And the second with deadly aim and clustered shots

[PraxisVetli]

Pathfinder has Path of War.
Stalker Class.

Disciplines Veiled Moon (teleport based) and Solar Wind (archery based)

Done
Don't forget Tempest Gale!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mmEGGV-7j6ZGZqPXblPeY8cPzYtTweDtggVA0kqyAmM/edit?usp=docslist_api

[EldritchWeaver]

Don't forget Tempest Gale! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mmEGGV-7j6ZGZqPXblPeY8cPzYtTweDtggVA0kqyAmM/edit?usp=docslist_api A friend of mine suggested to combine the PoW approach with Basic Magical Training, using Warp, from SoP, to provide the at-will teleport.

[CasualViking]

Desgin goals: Level 6, easy to operate.

My first entry: Polymorphed (with PAO) Blink Dog [Archer classes] 5. Constant Blink, Quickened Dimension Door at will, qualifies for Dimensional Agility. PAO costs 1200 gp and is permanent. Some kind of protection from dispelling would be nice.

EDIT: Derp, that's a PF build.

[CasualViking]

Less crazy, a single level of Mageknight gets you 3 talents, a spell pool, +2 fort and will, +1 on all saves vs magic, and crucially, +1 BAB so you can have that sweet manyshot + iterative at level 6. Warp, Quick Teleport, Emergency Teleport. Combine with 5 levels of archer build.

[digiman619]

Also suggesting at least a dip into Spheres of Power; Here's (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/start) the wiki if you want to dabble in this without buying the book.