Gestalt Swift Hunter; What for the other side?

[StormTAG]

I have a character who is supposed to be a ranger, a guide and a tracker. The obvious main class would be Swifthunter. Tasty tracking, arrow shooting goodness. The character also is supposed to be very pious and a devout follower of Elhonna. So the obvious answer would be Swifthunter // Cleric. However, the character wouldn't feel right if he had access to great, divine power. He'd be the one bouncing off of three different canyon walls to land six arrows in a giant's shielded eyeball, not the one bringing the power of the Gods down to smite the thing. He should really be skills monkey in nature. So I'm having some trouble in finding the right class to pair Swifthunter with while taking a *SINGLE* level Cleric dip for mostly devotion related stuff.

The rest of the party looks like this:

Cleric // Paladin, Crusader, etc.  Holy Warrior of smitey smiting.
Archivist // Wizard, Incantatrix. Spell caster extraordinaire (and pretty squishy too!)
Swordsage // Daring Outlaw. Stabby McStabber. DPS to the Holy Tank above. Frankly silly amount of damage output.
Druid // Barbarian, Fist of the Forest, etc. OHJESUSITSADINOSAURRUNAWAY!!

So with three(!) characters with full spell casting, three characters capable of mixing it up in melee pretty well and one skill monkey, adding some ranged damage and massive skill monkery is necessary.

So...

Swift Hunter, 1 level Cleric Dip for Devotions + What?

[Noliar]

11 ranks factotem for uber-skillmonkey goodness and resistance bypass, a little fighter to offset BAB loss from scout and fill out your archery feat trees, maybe some order of the bow initiate - you'd qualify.

[Tshern]

No Order of the Bow Initiate, it is definitely not worth it.

[sirpercival]

+1 to factotum.  It's the ultimate skill monkey, and breaks the action economy.

[Havok4]

You could go with many dips to enhance your ranged abilities.
Targeteer fighter for dex to damage as well as exotic weapon proficiencies with ranged weapons, if you stick around for another level you could pick up arrow storm to get even more attacks per round.
Whirling frenzy barbarian for pounce and the extra whirling frenzy attack.
Some warblade or swordsage for some boosts and counters to enhance your character. The tiger claw maneuvers that add extra attacks are especially tasty for your character.
Chameleon could also be a good pick as you can get a nice wide range of low level spells especially the good archery spells, which seems more appropriate for your character.
If you are looking for something different maybe you could go with shadow pouncing on the other side. That requires a lot of investment but a level of cleric is good for that as well.

[Noliar]

No Order of the Bow Initiate, it is definitely not worth it.

+1 having just reread it.
Dip incarnate for sighting gloves or psychic warrior for offensive prescience?

[Havok4]

Oh, I know what would be good, totemist. You get lots of nice nature flavored abilities and manticore belt is amazing for swift hunters. You also get a lot of nice ways to boost your skills.

[Shadowhunter]

Would a cleric just focused on self-buffing still go under the "smiting things" umbrella?
Since it's a flavor thing, maybe it would be different if you just did buff spells.

I'm primarily thinking of the very nice SpC spell Divine Agility, especially if you've picked up either Targeteer or Deadeye (or both) since those grant DEX to ranged damage.
Divine Agility is a level 6 cleric spell that nets +10 bonus to Dexterity.


Anyway, I'll do a +1 for useful dips, such as a few levels in Targeteer, some Incarnum for bonuses to hit etc.

[StreamOfTheSky]

You already get 6 + Int skill points on the swift hunter side, and already need a level of (cloistered) cleric for travel devotion anyway.  I'd just do cloistered cleric / some cleric PrC.

I also like Havok's dips idea.  Hit and Run Fighter would especially be useful to take a few levels in the ~level 5-8 range when you hit the point that all the mid level feats become available (Swift Hunter, Improved Skirmish, Woodland Archer, possibly Manyshot and Improved Rapid Shot but not likely, more I'm forgetting...) and are sorely lacking in feat slots.

[snakeman830]

I'd suggest Deepwood Sniper, since you will almost surely meet the prerequisites.  That said, it's 3.0 material and only 2 levels are really worthwhile.  You can get Keen blunt arrows fromit, though

[X-Codes]

Druid 4 -> Cleric Dip -> Seeker of the Misty Isle.

IIRC there's also a PrC that gives Druids domain slots.  Pick that up before going Seeker if possible.

[Rebel7284]

IIRC there's also a PrC that gives Druids domain slots.  Pick that up before going Seeker if possible.

Holt Warden in Complete Champion gives you the plant domain and some domain slots.

[X-Codes]

Right, so... Druid 4/(Cloistered) Cleric 1/Holt Warden 1/Seeker of the Misty Isle X

[Noliar]

It's amazing the way the thread drifts towards maximising divine casting despite the OPs stated preference.

[StormTAG]

I ended up going a marginally subpar route but one that fit the character best flavor wise IMO. As I mentioned there are already 3 full divine casters in the party so another full stack of divine casting didn't really fit the character. 

Scout 15 // Cloistered Cleric 1, Ranger 4, Stalker of Kharash 10

With that spread I get basically all of the important Scout and Ranger class abilities, 8+Int skills every level, devotion goodness, full Favored enemy progression + Favored Enemy(Evil) and full Ranger casting, which fits far more thematically than Cleric or Druid casting. Only overlap I've come up with is I get Hide in Plain Sight twice. Any good Scout ACFs that trade it away? The build only goes up to level 15, so any thing that might cap it off would probably be welcome. Just trying to keep the theme of Rangery type.

[X-Codes]

It's amazing the way the thread drifts towards maximising divine casting despite the OPs stated preference.

He said cleric.

[ImperatorK]

Yes, he did, quite clearly:

So I'm having some trouble in finding the right class to pair Swifthunter with while taking a *SINGLE* level Cleric dip for mostly devotion related stuff.

Swift Hunter, 1 level Cleric Dip for Devotions + What?

>.>

Plus:

However, the character wouldn't feel right if he had access to great, divine power. He'd be the one bouncing off of three different canyon walls to land six arrows in a giant's shielded eyeball, not the one bringing the power of the Gods down to smite the thing. He should really be skills monkey in nature.

[X-Codes]

Yes, he did:

So I'm having some trouble in finding the right class to pair Swifthunter with while taking a *SINGLE* level Cleric dip for mostly devotion related stuff.

Swift Hunter, 1 level Cleric Dip for Devotions + What?

>.>
Plus:

However, the character wouldn't feel right if he had access to great, divine power. He'd be the one bouncing off of three different canyon walls to land six arrows in a giant's shielded eyeball, not the one bringing the power of the Gods down to smite the thing. He should really be skills monkey in nature.

Right.  I did a 1-level Cleric dip.  That guy casts as a 1st-level cleric.

[ImperatorK]

Aren't ya a smart-ass. ;P
Whatever. The OP already decided.