[3.5] Air Goblin ranged combat at sea: 5th level, 18kGP, no casting

[Bulwer]

I'm building a character for a pirate campaign. I'm not sure what kind of encounters we'll be facing, but it's a good bet that it includes some amount of kicking ass on other people's ships. I plan on playing an Air Goblin (-2STR +4DEX -2CON) because of the ability boosts and the Breathless ability, which means that I can swim forever as needed.

My stats are: 18/17/17/15/15/13, plus racial mods and a +1 at 4th level. How can I be a good sniper, but still effective if it comes to combat in a limited space? Are there items (within my budget of 18000GP) that would let me fly ahead of my ship? What about things that give a swim speed?

Thanks!

[Bozwevial]

You could always go Warlock/Hellfire Warlock. That Dex bonus would do quite well, you could grab Eldritch Glaive for melee combat, and Fell Flight would give you mobility at sea.

EDIT: To elaborate, Eldritch Glaive lets you use your eldritch blast as a reach weapon and make iterative attacks. Hellfire Warlock will, with the simple investment of a wand of Lesser Restoration, make your EB much more potent.

[Bulwer]

That sounds wicked fun, and I've been meaning to play a warlock, but we're not allowed any casting classes except Bard, and warlock is out.

[Bozwevial]

That sounds wicked fun, and I've been meaning to play a warlock, but we're not allowed any casting classes except Bard, and warlock is out.

That might have been helpful to know earlier.

[Bulwer]

In the title, mate, I just forget to put it in the text.

[Bozwevial]

In the title, mate, I just forget to put it in the text.

Well, technically speaking, it's not actually a casting class.

[Bulwer]

Well, yeah, but somehow I doubt my DM would see it that way.

At any rate, I'm looking at a Rogue level to get the sweet sweet skill points, followed by levels of Fighter. I'm not sure what the optimal way to go (or, indeed, weapon) would be. A composite longbow? A crossbow of some kind?

If Str is valuable, I'd go with 16/22/15/15/15/13, and if not, 11/22/16/17/15/15.

[Akalsaris]

Given the goblin's low str/high dex, why not a crossbow sniper?  PHB II has a feat to give 1/2 of your dex to damage with them, and lets you sneak attack with them from 60ft away. 

Something like: Rogue 1/Ftr 4
Char 1: EWP: Great Crossbow (gives 1d12 dmg and x4 criticals IIRC)
Ftr 1: Point Blank Shot
Ftr 2: Precise Shot
Char 3: WF: Great Crossbow (prereq for the next feat)
Ftr 4: Crossbow Sniper

Then you just need to find a way to get your opponents flat-footed, and to reload your crossbow efficiently, like the quick-loading enhancement from the MIC.  It's a decent lead-in to the Nightsong Enforcer PrC from Complete Adventurer also.

[Eldariel]

Great Crossbow is 2d8. Get Strongarm Bracers for 3d8 damage dice. Also, Fighter-levels grant you Weapon Spec which in turn gets you Ranged Weapon Mastery; very worthwhile for a ranged weapon. EDIT: Except Goblins are small which means you'd need Strongarm Bracers for 2d8 damage. Sigh.

That said, knowing what books you've got available would be handy; also if homebrew is like to get accepted. ToB is by far the easiest way to make a versatile combatant, so if you had the access, especially if you could use Falling Star-school, you'd be well off.

[woodenbandman]

Realistically I'd go for Bard. Well, I should say Divine Bard, if your DM allows, but normal bard is good.

Bard can UMD wands of anything, such as heroics, hunter's eye, invisibility, greater invisibility (or just cast em), and doesn't need AC because he has mirror image, greater mirror image, greater blink, greater invisibility, making him a fantastic sniper. Hell, you can even go Unseen Seer with a few divinations.

Next: Bard, besides having spellcasting, comes out of box with some shortbow proficiency, which should be pretty much fine at sea. If you NEED longbow proficiency, dip Crusader or Paladin (generally a decent idea anyway, but i digress).

Third: Combine these two, and you have what makes a good sniper: The ability to shoot things, and, more importantly, GET BONUS DAMAGE. Heroism for +2 damage/arrow, Hunter's Eye+greater invisibility for cool sneak attacks, Heroics to ease up the feat req's (via wand).

Now, if you can't get wands, then this makes your job a hell of a lot harder. But not to worry. See if your DM is allowing Divine Bard, then go with Divine Metamagic via a dip level of Sacred Exorcist or Cleric (and get armor profs). Domains FTW! See if you'll be allowed Knowledge Devotion, since Knowledge is your new forte. That one feat can add 2 or 3 damage/shot to every shot for free. If Knowledge Devotion's in, go cloistered cleric and say fuck all to armor.

Now, you can take levels of Contemplative to advance your divine casting. I'm sure that there's something somewhere that's a good spell to use as an archer on a domain list. If not, try Travel Domain, it's sweet.

With neither divine bard nor wands, you can even then make a decent archer, but in that case, I'd just go Ranger, since Favored Enemy/Knowledge devotion will grant you a great source of bonus damage. And if you're out at sea, you pretty much know what to expect so you can hate it unnaturally have experience killing it.