Is Unearthed Arcana on the table? If so, you might see if the Fighter is down for the Sneak Attack Fighter variant, which will also encourage him to help the Rogue (which seems to be melee) set up flanking opportunities, as well as allow him to indulge in rolling lots of dice.
With the multiclass XP penalties in play, swift hunter is, unfortunately, less attractive for the Ranger, unless he'll go equal levels on ranger and scout. Though that'd rule out a mount, flying or no, and axe the utility of the already gimped animal companion, relegating it to more of a watchdog/extra pair of eyes and ears/scout role. If you're going to have him shooting into Melee a lot, then, yes, you'll want him to have Precise Shot. My understanding is that Mounted Archery is only going to come up as useful occasionally, as you can full attack while doing a single move without even taking the feat and have no penalties for doing so, and most things worth riding are going to have move speeds that are adequate for your purposes there. Especially if the rest of the characters are not built to be conducive to long-range hit-and-run kiting.
UA isn't specifically on the table, but he may allow stuff from it. I just need to sell the idea. The mounted combat sections doesn't say if there are any penalties for a single move, it only lists double moves or greater as having penalties so I'd be inclined to agree with you. It seems the rest of us are going for the pound em in melee approach, so no, long range hit and run won't work with this group. Although if we TPK.....
The fighter is really going for the CHARGE build, so I don't think he wants to sit around in melee with us. He's too cool for school and all that.
The ranger acf from phb2 goes well with the rogue if he doesnt want a mount, sub optimal but viable.
As for precise shot... Must have for archers... Single best archery enchantment requires it... Splitting anyone?
If he goes mounted combat you might also consider swift hunter with scout levels as mounted he can move and full round unless my systems are confused.
What race is the ranger? Scout 4/ranger 16 isnt bad. However, needs human or half elf to avoid multiclass exp.
Psy warriors second feat is 3rd not second I believe.
Ft def needs to multiclass, no more than 4 ft levels!! In regardsto charging, warblade for manuvers if you think he can figure them out, alternatively find a way to get pounce, spirited charge and valorous weapons please.
That's a neat ACF, I'll suggest that to him to see if he likes it. I know splitting requires it, but possible VERY low magic campaign. But since mounted archery doesn't seem like it will be a required feat, he can probably just pick up precise right away. That and the CC ACF that lets him trade spells in to get bonus feats will probably let him get a solid ranger build down very quickly. I'll also toss the Swift Hunter idea to him and see what he likes.
Psy Warriors second feat is at second level, according to the SRD. I like the idea of being able to yell GIANT BEAR CHARGE ATTACK, but I won't be able to do it often enough to make me immediately decide to take the levels. : <
-Related question: Does the bite attack from FoF's Feral Trance stack with the bite attack gained from becoming a bear? So my full attack would be Fist/Fist/Claw/Claw/Bite/Bite?
I know fighter will need to mc to remain effective, I just don't know into what. I'll run the warblade past him, sadly with xp penalties in, I don't think he'll be able to dip barb 1 to get pounce. We'll have to find another way. Not sure, but he might have already taken the feat Spirited Charge, will need to check in with them. Making a list of these magic item enhancements too, so I appreciate that!
Thanks for all the advice guys, we'll probably game sometime this weekend, so I'd love to hear anything else you can come up with.
RED BOX EDIT
This may be slightly cheesy but I like this rogue build:
14 Feat Rogue / 3 Swashbuckler / 3 Sneak Attack Fighter using Daring outlaw to to advance sneak attack damage. Pick up Craven, Martial Study / Martial Stance (any shadowblade technique) / Shadow Blade. Sneak attacks will do SA damage + character level + int mod + dex mod. Combine with Staggering Strike (CA) and Maiming Strike (EoE) to add some debuffs.
As for the ranger I would suggest atleast 3 levels of peerless archer for power attack with bows. Also, attempt to get a splitting bow asap.
Is your barbarian a dwarf? If so 2 levels of Stone Warden is amazing with Fist of the Forest.
We're really, really unlikely to hit 20 ever. I'll run the feat rogue by him and the DM though since that will let him get moar dice it looks like. I had only read the Rogue 4/Swashbuckler 16 build in the rogue handbook.
Where is peerless archer from?
I want
stone wardenDeep warden(?RoS, Con to AC?), but no idea how to fit it into the build with the feat prereqs and cc skill reqs for me. Mainly the feat. I just don't have room to pick up Endurance. I could try the cheesy retrain bonus armor prof feats from class levels to useful feats, but I don't think that's legal even by raw (It says "feat you selected" and those are bonus feats from your class. I could probably try to argue it, but he actually did the debate team. I could also try to get him to allow flaws from UA which is more likely to fly.) Supposedly, there's a ranger variant somewhere that gives power attack or IUS freeing up 2 feats for me (Barb 2/Ranger 3/FoF3/DW 2/BW 1/WS 4/BW4 is the build I think), but I think it's dragon mag and I have no access to those to even try to show the DM.
Thanks for the suggestions!
