Help with 3.5 ranged rogue

[Benane]

Hi all,
I'm actually playing a rogue lvl 10, but I'm not happy with the build, so I consider building a new one, or changing some of the feats.
Basically it's a skillmonkey, but i'd like to be able to compete in battles, rather than fleeing cause the tank sucks.
The main Problem is the group, which consists of a bloodmagus, a druid who is rather fighting on his own, and a fighter with a halberd, which is in my oppinion nonsense

So here we go
Lvl 10 Rogue
My stats are
Str: 10
Dex: 20
Con: 13
Int: 18
Wis: 8
Cha: 8

Feats: Combat Expertise
Deft Strike
Point Blank shot
Quick Reconnoiter
Precise Shot

Special Ability: Crippling Strike

Fighting with a Longbow +2 and unlimited +2 Arrows

the rest of my equippment is:
Cloak of resistance +2
Healing Belt
Slippers of Spiderclimb
Mithral Chainshirt +2

Mainly i'm missing AC 21 atm cause the melee fighters fail too often, and therefore we miss loot which makes it hard to keep up with monsters of the challange rating.

Sneak attacks fail to often to rely on them, therefore i'm searching for some equippment with invisibility if someone knows a cheap one

The books I can choose from are: Phb, complete adventurer, complete arcane, complete warrior, complete mage, complete divine, and the magic item compendium
No psionics

Thx for the help

[Shadowhunter]

You want to be a skillmonkey and an archer, check.
Open up Comp. Adventurer, look at the Scout. Note the skill points and the Trapfinding. Do note that the errata gives scouts Disable Device as a class skill because the original creators had a brainfart.

Next up, look in the PHB. Look at the Ranger.

Then, click on the spoiler and look at Swift Hunter, a feat from Comp. Scoundrel.

Swift Hunter

Prerequisite: Favored enemy, skirmish +1d6/+1 AC
Benefit: Your ranger and scout levels stack for the purpose of determining the extra damage and bonus to Armor Class granted when skirmishing. For example, a 4th-level scout/1st level ranger would deal an extra 2d6 poiints of damage and gain a +1 competence bonus to AC when skirmishing, as if she were a 5th-level scout.
Your ranger and scout levels also stack for the purpose of determining when you select additional favored enemies, as well as the total bonus granted against your favored enemies. For example, a 4th-level scout/1st-level ranger would have two favored enemies and could allocate an extra +2 bonus against one of those enemies, as if she were a 5th-level ranger.
In addition, your skirmish extra damage applies against any creature you have selected as a favored enemy, even if it is normally immune to extra damage from critical hits or skirmish attacks.
Special: A scout can select Swift Hunter as one of her scout bonus feats (Complete Adventurer 13)

Finally, once you see the beauty of this, check out the handbook:

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=103.0

[Benane]

Thx for this information, i was looking for a rogue handbook, but couldn't find any, and most rogues where build with twf, so i'll check this one

[nightshade]

some thoughts:
-get a new enchantment for your bow (the bonus of your bow and arrows does not stack)
-get rapid shot (making more attacks is also a way to hit more regularly  )
-get improved invisibility cast on you by your wizard or grab yourself a ring of blinking (almost always sneak attacks)

[Benane]

The bow is a rule by our GM, according to him i need a +2 bow to be able to use +2 arrows, which lets me spend double gp for enchantments
rapid shot will be the next feat if i keep the rogue,
and for the invisibility, the mage concentrates on protecting himself and damage spells, so i 'll look up that ring

[Unbeliever]

The bow is a rule by our GM, according to him i need a +2 bow to be able to use +2 arrows, which lets me spend double gp for enchantments

Seriously?  Any other "fuck you archers" rules he has lying around? 

And, if that's the case, why would you ever get magic arrows?  Right now they're absolutely useless to you, unlimited or not.  Somehow I think a bag of holding, Hank's Energy Bow, or some other way to cart around 10,000 arrows would be more efficient.  Or, hell, just Craft (Fletcher) and say you make another dozen every evening at camp. 

[nijineko]

i'm fond of the quiver of plenty: infinite wood, steel, silver, and cold iron arrows. plus 5 adamantine arrows per day. non-magical, but still. could be argued that you could pull any normal type of arrow out of the quiver: screaming, dye, swiftwing, snaketounge, etc.. this claim might go over better if you have craft:bowyer (fletcher is officially folded into bowyer per skill desc and rules).

[Solo]

and a fighter with a halberd, which is in my oppinion nonsense

[Dawnmor]

i'm fond of the quiver of plenty: infinite wood, steel, silver, and cold iron arrows. plus 5 adamantine arrows per day. non-magical, but still. could be argued that you could pull any normal type of arrow out of the quiver: screaming, dye, swiftwing, snaketounge, etc.. this claim might go over better if you have craft:bowyer (fletcher is officially folded into bowyer per skill desc and rules).

What book is Quiver of Plenty in ?.

Benane: I highly suggest you go and look up the ENERGY BOW, or better yet, here, http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a298/animefunkmaster/EnergyBow.jpg

As for fixing your character, I suggest you quickly take Warlock ASAP.  You wont get the high end stuff, but you will have unlimited attacked using EB and EB negates Natural Armor, and any type of armor in general.  So you add your Dex to see if you hit the bad guys.  You also add your 5d6? Sneak attack to your EB? anyways, so thats like instant GANK on most things.

[X-Codes]

If you're being allowed to re-build your character, then the aforementioned ideas (skilled city-dweller variant Scout/Ranger) is the way to go.  The standard is 4 levels of scout for the bonus feat, although 5 nets you an extra instance of Evasion (which is can be traded for Ray Deflection in Complete Arcane).

Rapid Shot and Manyshot are bonus feats, and those with Point Blank Shot qualify you for the key feat: Greater Manyshot.  Beyond that, you don't *need* any more archery feats, although Precise Shot will help keep down the cost of your bow (afterall, once you get a +1 Force, Splitting Bow, Precise adds another what... 13k?  17k?  That's almost enough for a Wand of Dimension Door).

EDIT: To answer the inevitable question--"Well, what if I want to use skills that Scout/Ranger doesn't use?"

You're basically talking about social skills in this case, and you're also talking about being a primarily skill-based character.  I'd suggest something along the lines of Rogue 2/Monk 2/Sorcerer 1/Unseen Seer, using Charming the Arrow to make attacks with your bow Charisma-based, and also get your Charisma to AC with Ascetic Mage.  Two sources of Evasion means you can turn one into Spell Deflection, and with your ridiculously high Touch AC it'll work wonders.  That said, Monk's primary purpose is the Invisible Fist ACF, which is absurdly versatile for any sort of sniper build.

If you're looking for a more dedicated Archer build, sans spellcasting, then consider something like Halfling Feat Rogue 16/Monk 2 with an extra 2-level dip leftover for whatever.  Never fail a reflex save again, and make a full attack while sniping.  Invisible Fist gives you cover to hide behind whenever you need it.  If your DM stacks Skirmish in such a way that two separate sources of 1d6 damage give you 1d6 damage and +1 AC, then topping the build off with Scout and taking the first Halfling Monk sub-level qualifies you for Swift Ambusher, which opens up a whole 'nother set of options for you.

[Benane]

I'm trying to get the complete scoundrel book to keep the option for the swift hunter,
i'll take a look at these bows later, and thx for the feats suggestions, quite hard to keep up with all those books.
Social skills aren't that important, because my DM rates roleplaying over skillpoints

[cru]

grab yourself a ring of blinking

We have a wizard/rogue/arcane trickster/unseen seer in our group. He's doing really much better after getting the ring of blinking. Get it. Love it. Worth it.

[Cagemarrow]

Does the ring of blinking suffer the concealment miss chance that the blink spell does? If so you can't sneak attack targets while its active, which sucks. Hate that rule as it practically gimps rogues even further.

[X-Codes]

Does the ring of blinking suffer the concealment miss chance that the blink spell does? If so you can't sneak attack targets while its active, which sucks. Hate that rule as it practically gimps rogues even further.

I'd hate it, too, if I invented it.

A blinking rogue sneak attacks just fine.  Blink doesn't give enemies "concealment," just a 20% miss chance.  Yes, there is a difference.

[CrimsonDeath]

Fighting with a Longbow +2 and unlimited +2 Arrows

Wondering about this rule.  Where are these +2 arrows coming from?  Or is it just a restatement of the rule that a bow confers its enhancement bonus on arrows fired from it?

Does the ring of blinking suffer the concealment miss chance that the blink spell does? If so you can't sneak attack targets while its active, which sucks. Hate that rule as it practically gimps rogues even further.

I'd hate it, too, if I invented it.

A blinking rogue sneak attacks just fine.  Blink doesn't give enemies "concealment," just a 20% miss chance.  Yes, there is a difference.

Specifically, in this case, the difference is that a Blinking rogue has no problem seeing his target (and therefor finding weak points to attack), merely that he has a chance of being on a different plane during his swing.  A ghost-touch weapon would take care of this miss chance.

[ninjarabbit]

There's a 1st level assassin spell in SC that gives you unlimted range to a ranged sneak attack but it only applies to one attack.

[X-Codes]

Does the ring of blinking suffer the concealment miss chance that the blink spell does? If so you can't sneak attack targets while its active, which sucks. Hate that rule as it practically gimps rogues even further.

I'd hate it, too, if I invented it.

A blinking rogue sneak attacks just fine.  Blink doesn't give enemies "concealment," just a 20% miss chance.  Yes, there is a difference.

Specifically, in this case, the difference is that a Blinking rogue has no problem seeing his target (and therefor finding weak points to attack), merely that he has a chance of being on a different plane during his swing.  A ghost-touch weapon would take care of this miss chance.

I don't think a ghost-touch weapon would work, but that's an obnoxious RAW argument that I'm not going to continue here.

The only surefire way to get around the 20% miss chance without being a sitting duck for DM smiting is to use the 5th-level version of the spell instead (don't remember if it's called Improved Blink or Greater Blink, but that's a minor detail).  Note that not even making your weapon a force effect will help, since those only go one-way from Material to Ethereal, not the other way around.

[Ithamar]

Or be a high enough level ninja.  They can attack from the ethereal plane onto the material plane.

[nijineko]

or use an effect that negate miss chance. i can think of a few archery related ones.

[CrimsonDeath]

or use an effect that negate miss chance. i can think of a few archery related ones.

Those usually work on concealment, which this isn't.