i have a fighter who has all teh bow feats and max dexterity and he is supposed to be my 3rd melee person and sharpshooter ... he also hides in shadows to scout

thing is im getting a bit bored with him. Was thinking of maybe multiclassing him to a rogue but then the description says he'd be no good in close combat

was also thinking of making him a ranger but doesnt appear to be any benefit on this ... he'd build up hide and move silently quicker (but i can use magic items for this) but will lose feats and gain weak magic after 4 levels !

anyone have any ideas ? I want him to remain good with the bow and a strong meelee fighter

Hmm, what's his alignment like? If he's LG he could take a few Paladin levels. If he's not lawful, you could take some Barb levels. Rogue levels aren't bad either - while his BAB will only go up 75% as fast as a fighter's would, you would gain sneak attack damage, so if you are stealthy with him and hit people from behind or flank them, he'll be very nice in melee.

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Yup answer depends on stats, alignment,race, the rest of your party and if you do intend to take the party through Hof

If stats, alignment, race permits I would pick druid, if you don't have one already and you intend to play through HoF.

Druids are as versatile as a swiss army knife.
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jackal2513, you're looking for the perfect character. Doesn't exist. No character can do everything perfectly. It's all about tradeoffs, compromises.

If you want a character that's equally strong in melee and ranged, then you're probably looking for a Fighter.

But if you want to be a stealthy fighter, then you're gonna need some ranger or rogue levels to take those 1 point stealth skills.

If you wanted a stealthy archer/scout, I'd suggest a Ranger/Rogue multiclass. Sure, you won't have the same number of Feats as a pure fighter. But a R/R will be a stealthy monster and will be able to be almost as as good a an archer as that pure fighter. It's not like there are all that many archer feats ;)

50/50 R/R's are great stealthy warriors that can reek havok on enemy mages before any battle.

However, since you're acking about what you could do with your fighter if you seem to want to be a stealthy archer-scout, start taking some rogue levels and start pushing the skill points into the stealthy skills (Hide & Move Silently). Of course, you'll be trading some Feat points and a lightly lower BAB progression for these skills. Can't have everything.