Totemist Swift Hunter Assistance

[Ithamar]

So I will shortly be starting a game over at DNDOG and wanted some assistance finalizing my build.  Character creation rules are:

1) Level 6 - 36 Point Buy
2) Gestalt - Using the "best at each level" approach, not fractional.
3) Your biggest HD is max HP, and you get 1/2 HP from your smaller HD.  (So Fighter || Wizard gets 10+2+CON HP.)
4) At levels 1, 3, 6, 9, etc. you get 2 feats instead of 1.
5) Max 2 flaws & 2 traits.
6) Max +2 LA, but cannot come from templates, only from base races.  LA takes up 1 side of the gestalt.
7) Nearly any source is acceptable, even some 3rd party stuff (Mongoose), but no homebrew.

So I plan on fulfilling the role of party scout, skill monkey, trapfinder, and ranged damage dealer thanks to Manticore Belt.  Build thus far is:

Duslking Totemist 6 || Ranger 1 / Scout 5

Feats:
Point Blank Shot
Precise Shot
Expanded Soulmeld Capacity
Indigo Strike
Swift Hunter (Scout 4 bonus feat)
Improved Skirmish
Bonus Essentia

1) Duskling race was largely for flavor, but the extra essentia is always nice.  Better suggestions?

2) I haven't chosen flaw feats yet.  Suggestions?  Any of the feats I've already listed should be dropped in favor of other feats?

3) I'm thinking the point buy distribution of:  16-16-16(18)-12(10)-10-8.  But I'm not married to that stat array, so if they can be better placed elsewhere, just let me know.

The rest of the group will tentatively be:
Barbarian || Favoured Soul - Should be capable of handling melee sufficiently well
Divine Wizard || Undecided (I'm pushing for Cloistered Cleric or Factotum) - Plans on being passive in combat, will prefer being the brain of the group
Soulknife || Whatever - I'm not sure what this guy has planned actually.

Thanks!

[Sinfire Titan]

Honestly, Azurin may be more useful. Duskling is great and all, but you look like you will be using the Manticore Belt, in which case the Duskling's speed boost won't help nearly as much as Flyby Attack or another option.

I'm going to suggest a few options for the non-Totemist side:


Scout 4/Ranger 2, continuing down the Ranger side for +19 BAB. This also gives you Ranged Combat feats for next to nothing.

Scout 4/Cleric 2, PrCing into Prestige Ranger (ASK before doing this, as PrC Ranger may be considered a Dual-Advancement class). More feat intensive, but allows Divine Metamagic or Devotion feats. You also get better spellcasting.

Swordsage 20 instead of Swift Hunter. This gives you a huge amount of options when you want to switch Soulmelds, and you are never at a loss for a trick. Also covers your saving throws.



FYI, you may need to cover another base. Someone in your party is planning on Soulknife, a very underwhelming class. Unless this person is a dedicated optimizer, he will be akin to a lantern without oil. This is why I suggested the Swordsage and Cleric builds.

[Ithamar]

I had considered Azurin, mainly for the bonus feat.  I'd have to tweak the stats a bit, as I need that 18 in CON obviously.  I'll give them another glance.

The way I understand the Rapid Shot & Many Shot (the Ranger bonus feats), they won't affect Manticore Belt, since it is its own standard action to activate.  So really only Imp. Precise Shot will matter, but that single feat does not seem like a good reason to give up on everything Scout has to offer.  Though if I'm mistaken (and I could be), then I'll definitely give Ranger another look.

I had considered a dip into Cleric for stuff like Travel Devotion, but I hadn't considered the PrC Ranger option.  The DM will probably be open to that suggestion, but I'll double check.  I would definitely need to re-do the stats though, maybe even change to something with a WIS bonus.

Since I'll be going for ranged attacks largely driven by Skirmish damage, would a small race perhaps be a good choice?  I could see Poisondusk Lizardfolk working well maybe, or even Whisper Gnome perhaps.

I had contemplated using Swordsage, but did not have as much of the wilderness'y vibe I was going for.  I suppose if I have to shore up the Soulknife weaknesses, I could switch to a combat focus (instead of ranged) and would benefit from lots of manuevers.

[Sinfire Titan]

I had considered Azurin, mainly for the bonus feat.  I'd have to tweak the stats a bit, as I need that 18 in CON obviously.  I'll give them another glance.

The way I understand the Rapid Shot & Many Shot (the Ranger bonus feats), they won't affect Manticore Belt, since it is its own standard action to activate.  So really only Imp. Precise Shot will matter, but that single feat does not seem like a good reason to give up on everything Scout has to offer.  Though if I'm mistaken (and I could be), then I'll definitely give Ranger another look.

I had considered a dip into Cleric for stuff like Travel Devotion, but I hadn't considered the PrC Ranger option.  The DM will probably be open to that suggestion, but I'll double check.  I would definitely need to re-do the stats though, maybe even change to something with a WIS bonus.

Since I'll be going for ranged attacks largely driven by Skirmish damage, would a small race perhaps be a good choice?  I could see Poisondusk Lizardfolk working well maybe, or even Whisper Gnome perhaps.

I had contemplated using Swordsage, but did not have as much of the wilderness'y vibe I was going for.  I suppose if I have to shore up the Soulknife weaknesses, I could switch to a combat focus (instead of ranged) and would benefit from lots of manuevers.

The main reason for Ranger over Scout is BAB, something the Totemist is a bit lacking in. The feats really don't matter unless you switch off your Manticore Belt and need a backup weapon (in which case you can switch between Ranged and Melee on cue).

If you are going to be using the Manticore Belt, I recommend you use a race that doesn't penalize Strength. It needs strong damage boosts such as Knowledge Devotion (another reason to go Cleric), Sighting Gloves (more points for Azurin, as Shape Soulmeld is your best friend), and spells (more Cleric).

Tiger Claw Swordsage not feral enough for you? Reflavor the class. It's within your power to do so. Swordsage Boosts also affect your Soulmelds rather nicely.

[Ithamar]

I wasn't really worried about BAB because we're doing the gestalt as literal "best of" for BAB & Saves, so I can stagger the Totemist & Scout levels to acheive perfect BAB and great saves.  I was definitely going to carry a back up weapon (or 2), just in case an AMF pops up, or we encounter a spellcaster that has that spell that unshapes melds.

I had considered the feat to take Sighting Gloves, but wasn't sure it was better than Indigo Strike.  Sighting Gloves will give me max +2 damage by having 2 essentia in there.  But putting the same 2 essentia into Indigo Strike (granted that is locked in there for 24 hours) gets me +4 damage.  They are both Insight bonuses unfortunately.  But I was thinking about this, and maybe I'm getting too rules lawyer'y with this, but would Sighting Gloves be an Insight bonus to the Weapon damage, and Indigo Strike would be an Insight bonus to the Skirmish damage?  Or would it all just be considered one big chunk of damage?

Swordsage is definitely alluring, that's for sure.  And I noticed that Giant Killing Style stance (Setting Sun 3) gives you an unnamed +2 to hit and +4 damage on all attacks against larger foes.  It does not specify melee attacks like so many stances typically do.  Thus if I choose a small race (with no STR penalty) that could actually be a really useful stance.  Hmmm...

[CrimsonDeath]

Not too many Small races without a Strength penalty.  Off the top of my head, I can only think of Mephlings (+1 LA, but Earth Mephlings actually get a Strength bonus).

Sighting Gloves give +1 damage without any essentia at all; investing two would increase the bonus to +3.  Also, unlike Indigo Strike, you can pull the essentia out of the gloves if you need it somewhere else (or just don't need it there).  If you do plan to lock yourself into one strategy, though, Indigo Strike may be better.  (Does it trigger when you qualify for a Skirmish attack but your target isn't subject to precision damage?)

[Ithamar]

The only +0 LA small race with no STR penalty I've been able to find are Vrill from DotU.  But I'm not so sure the DM will let those in his campaign world.

I must've mis-read Sighting Gloves, guess I need to go check them out again.  And good point about critters immune to precision damage.  Thankfully Swift Hunter would eventually solve a lot of those issues, but might still be problematic in early levels.  Guess that feat needs a re-read as well.

[Ithamar]

Decided to drop Indigo Skirmish and go with Shape Soulmeld (Sighting Gloves) just in case we do run up against precision immune foes.  Plus, by binding it to my hand chakra, I get Precise Shot for free, thus giving me another feat slot.

Is Shape Soulmeld (Incarnate Avatar [Chaos]) a decent choice?  Right now I'll have enough essentia to put 2 into it, thus getting a +2 insight bonus to attack.  I figured every little bit helps.

Would Far Shot affect the range of the Manticore soulmeld?  I don't think I'll have enough GP to buy Horizon Goggles any time soon unfortunately.

[Sinfire Titan]

Decided to drop Indigo Skirmish and go with Shape Soulmeld (Sighting Gloves) just in case we do run up against precision immune foes.  Plus, by binding it to my hand chakra, I get Precise Shot for free, thus giving me another feat slot.

Is Shape Soulmeld (Incarnate Avatar [Chaos]) a decent choice?  Right now I'll have enough essentia to put 2 into it, thus getting a +2 insight bonus to attack.  I figured every little bit helps.

Would Far Shot affect the range of the Manticore soulmeld?  I don't think I'll have enough GP to buy Horizon Goggles any time soon unfortunately.

The Incarnate Avatar isn't really worth it, you should be a little more worried about your damage than the attack rolls right now.

As for dealing with Undead and such, Swift Hunter solves the problem nicely (Construct, Undead, Plant, Elemental, Ooze).

Ask your DM about Far Shot.

[KellKheraptis]

Be sure to snag the Quintessential Elf if Mongoose is allowed.  Spinning Shot trick arrows will do a SHIT PILE of damage with a decent skill check to make them.