Looking for help with a Spell-sniper build

[E_Samurai]

Hey, guys!

So, I'm starting off in a new 3.5 campaign, and I've got a character concept in mind that I'm having some trouble translating into mechanics. We're going to be playing in a Steampunk-inspired world, with guns, airships, and mad science all around. We're going to be playing at 15th level, with a group of about 6.

I want to play a character who casts spells at his opponents by using a clockwork sniper rifle, from a fair distance away. I'm thinking either ray spells or area of effect spells, like Fireball. The Arcane Archer is pretty attractive in concept, but I really don't care for its special abilities. Is there a similar class that does the same thing, but more effectively, and using guns instead of bows? Mobility is important; I'd like to be able to keep a space between myself and the battlefield.

The DM has ruled that there are wands in this setting that effectively look and act like guns, so that's one possibility, although I'd be missing out on multiple attacks per round. The Scout class from Complete Adventurer is also nice, but I'm uncertain whether its abilities would be wasted if I'm using wands.

Any advice on class, feats, and good magic items would be greatly appreciated. What do you guys think?

[Sstoopidtallkid]

There's a few options. You can homebrew the Duskblade to working at range, you can use one of the several fixes for AA out there, or, if you want closer to RAW, you can take an Artificer and refluff the wands. There's even various items that allow you to use several wands at once.

[T.G. Oskar]

Technically, anything that would work on a crossbow would work on a gun. It depends on the gun's reloading mechanism, but usually anything that would work on a crossbow (such as Rapid Reload, and quite probably Crossbow Sniper) would work with a gun.

Scouts and their skirmish are good if you're moving effectively. If you can spare Rapid Reload, you can do well with Skirmish, but it's not the same if you can't move. Sniping usually implies standing still to fire, usually with a pretty high Hide modifier.

If you're going with a spell-based sniper, there's a class in Complete Mage called the Spellwarp Sniper. It enhances those classes that use mostly ray spells, and has the ability to turn various area spells into ray spells for many purposes. Wands usually don't get that benefit, so it's relatively pointless in that sense; however, if you end up thinking about spellcasters, this could make a great spell-based sniper.

Wand-wise, there's little you can do. Artificers are the master wandmakers and wand-wielders, since they get UMD, infusions, and pretty much all Item Crafting feats, such as Craft Wand. Some of their infusions tend to work on altering the fundamentals of a wand, for example, or allow to use Metamagic feats on a wand (think Split Ray and Twin Spell for maximum damage potential). There's also a rod that allows you to use more charges from a wand to fire all wands at a time.

In general, you pretty much seek Point-Blank Shot and Precise Shot (so you don't get troubles in melee). Point Blank Shot opens the entire Archery feat tree (so to speak), which serves as prerequisite to most of the sniping feats. Also, as mentioned before, ask if you can treat Crossbow Sniper as effective for guns, since that means at least half of your Dex is added to the damage, which can be effective in the long run (though not the same for wands).

Finally, are you familiar with Iron Kingdoms? They have a good assortment of guns and quite probably fits with the intended setting. That's as much help as a gun-user can get, even with wands.

As for Arcane Archer: it is well known that the former is a trap, unless your intention is to enter it and use it to advance only range (and that's a big problem). First or second level of AA is the usual recommendation: anything else, and you're risking trouble. One close, but not usually good enough class is Order of the Bow Initiate, but it's mostly bow-based, and the only proper benefit is Ranged Precision and Close-Combat Shot (so you can shoot in melee); otherwise, it's quite a waste.

P.S.: Skirmish works with ranged touch attacks that deal damage (such as Scorching Ray), but in most cases you can only do it with one casting (unless you somehow can quicken it). It works mostly as Sneak Attack except you don't have to flank or catch the opponent unaware (aka, no restrictions of denying Dex bonus for them to work), but they still have the same immunities. Also, most of what works for Sneak Attack doesn't work for Skirmish. Finally, the bonus to AC is competence-based, which is a rare type of bonus for what it grants.

[JeminiZero]

Maybe Try Warlock/Sorc or Wiz/Eldritch Theurge. Get the Eldritch Spear invocation to shoot blast from 240 ft away. Eldritch Theurges get Spellblast Essence which lets them add an area spell to their eldritch blast. So you could say, imbue your blast with a fireball, and it would go off when your EB hits.

[Eloel]

there's a class in Complete Mage called the Spellwarp Sniper

Spellwarp Sniper is in Complete Scoundrel. /nitpick

[E_Samurai]

Thanks for all the helpful replies so far! I'm looking forwards to checking all of these classes out.

Is anyone familiar with the Gun Mage from Iron Kingdoms? I just discovered this class today, and it seems, fluff-wise at least, to be what I'm looking for. Is it any good as a class, though?

[CTLC]

honestly?
incarnate 1, warlock 8 [or is it 9?], hellfire 3, trickster rest
eventually deal eldritch + hellfire damage through a spear, incarnate 1. gets rid of the con damage, and 2. gives you sighting gloves. warlock gives options and spear. hellfire gives you tons of damage and hellfire shield which helps against the surprise attack

[The_Scourge]

Gun Mage in Iron kingdoms is decent, then prestige into rifleman ( a sniper class) no spell progression but it can make the spells you do have do ludicrous amounts of damage.

[Gametime]

Alternatively, you could make a sniper that uses conventional weaponry and spells as sniping aids. It might not be quite what you're looking for, though. Unseen Seer, using Advanced Learning to nab Hunter's Eye, Sniper's Shot, and Guided Shot to allow Sneak Attacks from several hundred feet at no penalty. Use Persist Spell once you get 7th and 8th level slots, and you can do it all day.