Looking for advice on crossbow sniping class

[Dalkael]

Hi there, my GM is starting a new campaign soon which will have large battles, so I decided to make a crossbow focussed character that will have a small squad under him at lvl 20. Not sure if we will be doing epic lvls, but I'll take that as it comes. Now, I've been reading up about how to make a decent damage dealing crossbow character, and I came up with the following build:

Human
Lvl Class Feats - Class Abilities
1 Scout 1 PBS, Precise Shot - Skirmish (+1d6), trapfinding
2 Scout 2 Battle Fortitude +1, uncanny dodge
3 Scout 3 WF (heavy crossbow) - Fast Movement (+10 ft), Skirmish (+2d6, +1 AC), Trackless Step
4 Fighter 1 Crossbow Sniper
5 Fighter 2 Ranged Weapon Mastery
6 Fighter 3 Dodge
7 Fighter 4 Mobility
8 DWS 1 Keen Arrows, Range Inc. +10 ft/lvl
9 DWS 2 Craven - Concealment red. 10%, magic weapon, improved crit +1
10 DWS 3 Safe Poison Use
11 DWS 4 Take aim +2
12 DWS 5 Rapid Reload - Consistent aim 1/day
13 DWS 6 Concealment red. 20%, keen edge
14 DWS 7 Consistent aim 2/day, improved crit +2
15 Scout 4 GWF (heavy crossbow), Improved Precise Shot
16 Dread Comm. 1 Sudden Strike (+1d6), Team Initiative Bonus
17 Dread Comm. 2 Armored Ease 2
18 Dread Comm. 3 GWS (heavy crossbow) - Sudden Strike (+2d6)
19 Dread Comm. 4 Armored Ease 4, stealthy movement
20 Dread Comm. 5 Sudden Strike (+3d6)

So there you have it. I'm not 100% sure if it's an entirely legal build, which is why I thought I'd post it here for the experts to look at. I'm not looking to make the perfect character, as this character has a bit of fluff to him, which is why the chosen classes fit rather well. What I'd love to have input on, is maybe the order of levelling, should I put all the scout levels together, etc. I'd also like to know if all the feats I've chosen are in a decent order, nothing illegal afaik.

I'd also be very interested in any tips on what items, armor etc I should try to purchase. There are so many things to choose from, like the Gnomish Crossbow Scope, and all the +dex items. Any tips would be much appreciated!

[Sian]

Light Crossbow is likely better, since you can take 'Rapid Reload' to load as a free action instead of only getting move action (instead of standard action without the feat) with Heavy Crossbow ... only way around this would probably be work with a Self-Loading Crossbow (A&EG p116).

That said are you aiming for a character that fires a few strong shots (via Manyshot, which argubly doesn't work with Crossbows) or a character that fire volleys?

[Dalkael]

Light Crossbow is likely better, since you can take 'Rapid Reload' to load as a free action instead of only getting move action (instead of standard action without the feat) with Heavy Crossbow ... only way around this would probably be work with a Self-Loading Crossbow (A&EG p116).

That said are you aiming for a character that fires a few strong shots (via Manyshot, which argubly doesn't work with Crossbows) or a character that fire volleys?

I hadn't heard of the self-loading crossbow, that's quite genius. I'll probably try to get one of those as soon as I can. I am aiming for a character that will do a lot of damage with few shots. I am aware I will likely only get one attack per round, so I'd like to let that hit as hard as possible.

[Darrin]

Here's my Crossbow Sniper/Swift Hunter build:

Race: Human, Azurin, Strongheart Halfing, or Frostblood Orc/Half-Orc
1) Ranger 1. Feat: Travel Devotion (Complete Champion), Human: PB Shot, Bonus: Track. Wild Empathy -> Spiritual Connection ACF (Complete Champion). Favored Enemy: Undead.
2) Ranger 2. Bonus: Rapid Shot.
3) Scout 1. Feat: Rapid Reload. Skirmish 1d6
4) Fighter 1. Bonus: Weapon Focus: Light Crossbow.
5) Scout 2. Skirmish 1d6.
6) Scout 3. Feat: Crossbow Sniper (PHBII). Skirmish 1d6AC+1.
7) Scout 4. Bonus: Swift Hunter. Skirmish 2d6AC+1.
8) Ranger 3. Bonus: Endurance. Skirmish 2d6AC+2.
9) Ranger 4. Champion of the Wild ACF -> Bonus: Manyshot (Complete Champion), Feat: Improved Rapid Shot. Animal Companion -> Distracting Attack ACF (PHBII) or Spiritual Guide ACF (Complete Champion).
10) Ranger 5. Favored Enemy: Constructs. Skirmish 3d6AC+2.
11) Dragon Devotee 1.
12) Dragon Devotee 2. Feat: Improved Skirmish. Skirmish 4d6AC+2/6d6AC+4.
13) Dragon Devotee 3. 1st level Sorcerer casting (pick at least 2 divination spells, such as true strike and sniper's shot, ask DM to let skirmish count).
14) Dragon Devotee 4. Skirmish 5d6AC+2/7d6AC+4
15) Unseen Seer 1. Feat: Travel Devotion (x2). Skirmish 6d6AC+2/8d6AC+4
16) Unseen Seer 2. Advanced Learning: hunter's eye (PHBII spell)
17) Unseen Seer 3.
18) Unseen Seer 4. Feat: Travel Devotion (x3). Skirmish 7d6AC+2/9d6AC+4
19) Highland Stalker 1.
20) Highland Stalker 2. Skirmish 8d6AC+2/10d6AC+4

Take Dragonblood of Bahumat after ECL 8 for the Wings aspect, drop Endurance instead of your human bonus feat. (This also removes the multiclass XP penalty for the fighter dip.) As for items/equipment, I'll have to take a look at that later. If this is starting as an ECL 20 build, are you getting WBL, or do you have a budget of some sort? Sourcebooks allowed? Online sources, campaign settings, dragon magazine, etc.?

[Dalkael]

Take Dragonblood of Bahumat after ECL 8 for the Wings aspect, drop Endurance instead of your human bonus feat. (This also removes the multiclass XP penalty for the fighter dip.) As for items/equipment, I'll have to take a look at that later. If this is starting as an ECL 20 build, are you getting WBL, or do you have a budget of some sort? Sourcebooks allowed? Online sources, campaign settings, dragon magazine, etc.?

That's a good looking build, and I think I might adjust mine a little after looking at it. :) We will not be starting as ECL 20, so wealth will come as the GM sees fit, or depending on what we do. Most sourcebooks are allowed, I think the only thing we don't use are magazine articles.

[Darrin]

Here's a variation that uses a Cloistered Cleric dip instead of a Fighter dip. With Mouqol as our deity, we can grab Travel Devotion, Knowledge Devotion, and the Trickery Devotion. With Frostblood Orc/Half-Org (Dragon Magic), we can pick up a bonus feat at ECL 5 and grab Planar Domain -> Catalogues of Enlightenment -> War domain (Planar Handbook), which gets us Weapon Focus: Light Crossbow (Mouqol's favored weapon). This opens up our 15th/18th level feats for something else, such as Extra Turning and Woodland Archer (Races of the Wild).

Race: Frostblood Orc/Half-Orc.
1) Ranger 1. Feat: PB Shot, Bonus: Track. Wild Empathy -> Spiritual Connection ACF (Complete Champion). Favored Enemy: Undead.
2) Ranger 2. Bonus: Rapid Shot.
3) Scout 1. Feat: Rapid Reload. Skirmish 1d6
4) Cloistered Cleric 1. Bonus: Travel Devotion, Knowledge Devotion, Trickery Devotion.
5) Ranger 3. Endurance -> Planar Touchstone -> WF Light Crossbow.
6) Scout 2. Feat: Crossbow Sniper.
7) Scout 3. Skirmish 1d6AC+1.
8) Scout 4. Bonus: Swift Hunter. Skirmish 2d6AC+1.
9) Ranger 4. Champion of the Wild ACF -> Bonus: Manyshot (Complete Champion), Feat: Improved Rapid Shot. Animal Companion -> Distracting Attack ACF (PHBII) or Spiritual Guide ACF (Complete Champion).
10) Ranger 5. Favored Enemy: Constructs. Skirmish 3d6AC+2.
11) Dragon Devotee 1.
12) Dragon Devotee 2. Feat: Improved Skirmish. Skirmish 4d6AC+2/6d6AC+4.
13) Dragon Devotee 3. 1st level Sorcerer casting (pick at least 2 divination spells, such as true strike and sniper's shot, ask DM to let skirmish count).
14) Dragon Devotee 4. Skirmish 5d6AC+2/7d6AC+4
15) Unseen Seer 1. Feat: Extra Turning. Skirmish 6d6AC+2/8d6AC+4
16) Unseen Seer 2. Advanced Learning: hunter's eye (PHBII spell)
17) Unseen Seer 3.
18) Unseen Seer 4. Feat: Woodland Archer (RotW). Skirmish 7d6AC+2/9d6AC+4
19) Highland Stalker 1.
20) Highland Stalker 2. Skirmish 8d6AC+2/10d6AC+4

Dragonblood of Bahumat might still be possible (Frostblood orcs would lose Endurance as a racial bonus feat, but still keep the bonus feat they got for Ranger 3), but this might not be advisable, since you worship Mouqol instead of Bahumat. Probably best to stick with Mouqol. Multiclass XP penalty might be a concern either way (Dragonborn get Fighter as a favored class, not cleric). If your group plays with this penalty... there's not much room for the Extra Favored Class feat (Unearthed Arcana) unless you take a flaw.

[Crimson Wolf]

Well to help here is part of my reply from another thread.

The book Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting adds a feat that you guys might find valuable.

Page 218

Crossbow Mastery
You can load crossbows with blinding speed and even fire
them in melee with little fear of reprisal.
Prerequisites: Dex 15, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Reload,
Rapid Shot.
Benefit: The time required for you to reload any type of
crossbow is reduced to a free action, regardless of the type
of crossbow used. You can fire a crossbow as many times in
a full attack action as you could attack if you were using a
bow. Reloading a crossbow for the type of crossbow you chose
when you took Rapid Reload no longer provokes attacks of
opportunity.
Special: A fighter may select Crossbow Mastery as one of his
fighter bonus feats. A ranger may select Crossbow Mastery in
place of Manyshot for his improved combat style at 6th level.