Hey /tg/, need your help here So my group of friends starte

Desperation bump

Composite your bow up to your STR mod, and get it enchanted. Otherwise you seem to have decent selections, so blame shitty dice. See if you can get CON and DEX swapped. Remember to use Deadly Aim. Beg the wizard for Haste, or else get potions of it yourself any time you have a prep round/ambush/etc.

Just play something that's not D&D.

the way a ranger usually does tons of damage is via feats, special arrows and composite longbows.
I remember there's this set of enchanted arrows you can buy pretty cheap that increase one size category in damage and it's ridiculous.
you go from making 1d8+str to 2d6+str

other than that, get feats all around your bow game

>>48601821
Go up half a version, switch to 4e, or even higher to 5e, bards are now awesome.
Or try to focus on inspire courage, while throwing the most expensive arrows you can afford.
If inspire courage is worthless because you don't have any other melee guys with you, focus on your casting and go sublime chord asap.

Ok, the immediate thing I notice is that the attack bonus you have listed for you longbow is +4. Did you remember to include your Base Attack Bonus to that? You should have another +5 to add to your attacks (+7, with an additional attack at +2, if you haven't included the two more levels you have yet). If you haven't taken those two levels yet, pick up Manyshot as your next feat at 6th, if your Ranger Combat Style is archery, or 7th if it's not. That will let the first attack you fire in a full attack hit twice, which helps increase your damage. If you have archery style, pick up Clustered Shots at 7th. That will let all of your arrows count as one big attack for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction, which will help you punch through any resistances your enemies might have. If this is Core Rulebook only, Clustered Shots might be out of the question, but at that point, if you really need more accuracy, picking up Weapon Focus (longbow) wouldn't hurt too much, since you already have most of the things from Core that make archery good. Other than that, remember to apply your favored enemy bonus to hit and damage when it comes up, and if you have access to the Advanced Player's Guide, look into the Instant Enemy spell. You won't gain access to it until 10th level, but if you have extra cash, you might want to try finding a wand or a couple of scrolls of it for a backup until then.

>>48601821
anon, you need Precise Shot and Improved Precise Shot. Otherwise, you're taking a -4 to attack if somebody is threatening the enemy and the enemy is getting a +4 to AC if they have Soft Cover via an ally being in the way. For damage, you'll want a composite +3 and enhancements on the weapon. Your job is to hit a whole bunch of times, so haste is definitely your friend. Weapon Focus is also helpful. You can't get Improved until 6th, but if you can coordinate your positioning with your teammates and enemies aren't massive dicks, you won't need it for a while. Talk with your party to see if Manyshot would be better. More hits is always the aim. Consider Bracers of Falcon's Aim. Links to follow.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/precise-shot-combat---final

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/improved-precise-shot-combat---final

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/manyshot-combat---final

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/a-b/bracers-of-falcon-s-aim

>>48601821
>>48602988
missed the bit about you being level 7. Manyshot is good. Clustered Shot is great if you can't get through DR. Gravity Bow is a spell that makes your damage die move up in size. With the BAB progression and a bit of enhancement(we'll assume +2?) you'd be sitting at 7+4+2+1(if within 30 feet)-2(Deadly Aim)-2(Rapid Shot) for a total of 9 or 10 to attack. The first shot would deal damage twice, and you'd get one more attack at full BAB and a final attack at 4 or 5. They'd do 1d8+4+3+2+1(if within 30 feet). That's 14 average 4 times, which is pretty good, I think. You could get a bonus attack and a +1 to all of your attacks with haste, as well. You'd need a caster buddy or a potion for that, though.

Instant
Enemy

Get a a few pearls of power for it if you can.

Also, you may prefer to switch to Slayer or Hunter, they got the same theme and are both better designed classes.

>>48602470
Alright, pretend I'm stupid. How would I go about getting my bow up to the STR mod and getting it enchanted?

>>48605964
>pretend I'm stupid.

No need to pretend.

>How would I go about getting my bow up to the STR mod

You buy the fucking Composite Longbow that corresponds to your Strength rating.

>and getting it enchanted

Wizards.

Also, d20pfsrd.com -- go forth and learn.

>>48601821
Hey kid

Anons here are right, you wanna pick up at a minimum a Masterwork Mighty (+3) Composite Longbow (cost = 700gp), or ideally a +1 Adaptive Composite Longbow (3400gp) which will always be matched to your strength rating for the rest of your career as an archer. You also want the belt of Dexterity +2 (4000gp) to improve your chances to hit.

Regarding feat selection, you're missing out on quite a few of the main archery feats you need to do effective damage, particularly Deadly Aim, and Presice Shot. Dodge and Alertness are generally pretty weak compared to other options available to you, especially when you're pursuing a feat intensive combat style like archery. A more typical feat selection would be something as follows:

1: Point-Blank Shot
1(Human Bonus): Presice Shot
2(Combat Style): Rapid Shot
3: Deadly Aim
4: Endurance
5: Iron Will
6: Improves Presice Shot (get this here and get it 5 levels earlier than you normally would!)
7: Manyshot

Looking at your high CON and STR, it looks like you may have been thinking of switch hitting, which is an older build that uses the ability to ignore archery feat prereqs to grab the fun archery feats while focusing on melee smashing with 2-handed power attacking. It's no longer the most optimal, but fun and stylish. I'll assume you're aiming for pure archery for the rest of this post

Regarding your attack routine, remember that for ranges attacks, you add DEX to BAB to hit, and STR (capped at the mighty rating of your composite longbow) to the damage dice for damage. Just using your current feat selection, you should have an attack routine that looks something like this:

Rapid Shot Deadly Aim Mighty (+1) Composite Longbow
+4/+4(1d8+5)

This means you get 2 attacks with a +4 bonus to hit, and do 1d8+5 damage

As Above within point-blank shot
+5/+5(1d8+6)

As Above vs. +4 Favored Enemy
+9/+9(1d8+10)

And so on. If you like, I can whip up a sample level 5 build for you in a few hours when I have more free time

>>48608956
More stuff

At a glance, you look like you're really behind on Wealth By Level. In 3.pf, money is power, and the game expects you to be roughly around the WBL chart found here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/character-advancement

At 5th level, you should have about 10,000gp worth of gear, but from what you've posted, you're closer to about 3000gp assuming about 1500gp in misc. purchases. Let your DM know that you've fallen behind, and try to figure out a solution that works for you and your group.

What are your favored enemies? knowing literally nothing about your campaign, solid choices are typically Human (monst campaigns have a bunch of these), Undead (common, lots of nasty immunities, and undead templates override all other creature types and subtypes), Evil Outsiders( they run the whole CR spectrum, are strong for their CR, and you're likely to see more of them as your level increases) and Magical Beasts (there's a bunch of these and you'll probably see quite a few at lower levels). If in doubt, it's pretty reasonable to ask the DM for a broad strokes list of useful favored enemies (paizo even gives a list of the best FE for their adventure paths in the player's guides, if you're playing an AP be sure to read that AP's player's guide)

That's about all I can think of for now mate.

>>48609151
Yeah, everyone else has been buying stuff, and I had no idea what to buy. I've pretty much just been hoarding gold this whole time, so I've got more than enough to buy some items

Appreciate all the advice

One last little question. Animal companion.

I've got that falcon just hanging around, but I've literally never used him. Do I roll initiative for him too when we get into combat?
And how do his attacks work? I tried to look it up online, but there didn't seem to be a clear answer

>>48611896
In my experience, this is something that is decided on a group by group basis. My advice is to follow the lead of the other characters; if you see the druid or wizard roll initiative for their pet, then you roll. Of course, the easiest way for you to find out is to ask the DM. If he has any social graces whatsoever he will answer without being a dick.

File: bard vs ranger.jpg (152KB, 500x1310px) Image search: [Google]

152KB, 500x1310px

>>48611896
hey mate

standard procedure in most groups is that animal companions act on your initiative to simplify bookkeeping. I recommend teaching the birb the Aid trick (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/handle-animal) (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/combat#TOC-Aid-Another) for a free +2 to hit on any asshole of your choice. It's cool if it gets liquidated once in a while, because rangers and druids only have to spend 24 hours in mourning/ritual to summon another exactly like it. Your animal companion is more like a daily resource than a real bird, but making an effort to take care of it means it helps you for longer, and keeps the group happy.

Unrelated note: what a nice and civil 3.pf thread.

>>48611812
didn;t see this
In pf, the six most important items to spend your money on are as follows:

Magic Weapon
Magic Armor
Cloak of Resistance (Bonus to all saves!)
Stat Booster (Belt of STR/DEX/CON, headband of INT/WIS/CHA. Goes up to +6, and combo versions exist for multiple stats)
Ring of Protection (Bonus to AC!)
Amulet of Natural Armor (Bonus to AC!)

That's not to say spend all your cash, or never buy fun stuff (Feather token: Tree is a blast, as are elixirs of hiding, and don't forget you can use scrolls and wands without a check if you have the spell on your spell list), but keep those 6 items in mind, and you'll do just fine.