How optimal is a sneak attack archer?

[Keldar]

The dependency on Feats is why a Fighter is better archer than a Ranger.

Depends.  Rangers get some sweet spells that augment archery.  Core Fighter vs. Core Ranger, you are most certainly correct, but Rangers get much better support outside of Core.

Or you could take Fighter to get the plethora of feats, then take a PrC for a few levels to get all the good Ranger archery spells in half the levels.

[Masakan]

The dependency on Feats is why a Fighter is better archer than a Ranger.

Depends.  Rangers get some sweet spells that augment archery.  Core Fighter vs. Core Ranger, you are most certainly correct, but Rangers get much better support outside of Core.

Or you could take Fighter to get the plethora of feats, then take a PrC for a few levels to get all the good Ranger archery spells in half the levels.

Personally I would just go Martial Rouge, get a bunch of skill points and secondary features on top of feats

[SorO_Lost]

Or you could take Fighter to get the plethora of feats, then take a PrC for a few levels to get all the good Ranger archery spells in half the levels.

Ur Priest can be entered at level 5, then you can enter Prestige Ranger for two levels before cutting into any other divine caster progression PrC and you get the Ranger's 4th level Spells four levels sooner than the Ranger does.

It's pretty Feat extensive through. Iron Will, Spell Focus, Endurance, Track, and either Rapid Shot (which requires point blank) or Two-Weapon fighting. But on the upper end of the optimization spectrum, you can Chaos Shuffle away the Elf's four expressly bonus Feats, take some Flaws, sell your soul off through an Insidious Pact, and worship an Elder Evil and shuffling those out for like ten bonus Feats before you PrC out. Throw something like Dark & Rogue into it and boom uber stealth archer.

[eggynack]

It's pretty Feat extensive through. Iron Will, Spell Focus, Endurance, Track, and either Rapid Shot (which requires point blank) or Two-Weapon fighting. But on the upper end of the optimization spectrum, you can Chaos Shuffle away the Elf's four expressly bonus Feats, take some Flaws, sell your soul off through an Insidious Pact, and worship an Elder Evil and shuffling those out for like ten bonus Feats before you PrC out. Throw something like Dark & Rogue into it and boom uber stealth archer.

You can also use the otyugh hole for iron will and perhaps gloves of the balanced hand for TWF. Y'know, for something less high end than chaos shuffling and elder evil worshiping.