Way of the Sniper lets you Hide whenever you Reload. I wanted to try to find a way to make that useful, since in all likelihood, there won't be anywhere to hide when you need to reload. This character's strategy is to create a persistent cloud of smoke to hide in. The Emberkin feat in the Assimar Versatile Heritage allows us to see through smoke. If that isn't available, similar feats exist in the Ifrit Heritage and Yaksha Ancestry. In the worst case, we could take Druid Dedication and Fire Lung, but it would be nice to not have to. This build comes online as soon as we can cast Eat Fire, which we can do at level 2.
Aasimar Ratfolk
Str-1 (-rat)
Dex+4 (rat)(background)(free)(gunslinger)
Con+1(free)
Wis+3 (rat)(background)(free)
Int+2 (rat)(free)
Cha+0
--Ancestry Feats--
1 Emberkin (see through smoke)
5 Sublime Mobility (climbing)
--Class Feats--
1 Way of the Sniper
1 Crossbow Crack Shot
2 Witch Dedication (The Inscribed One, Arcane, Cantrip: Eat Fire, Familiar with Manual Dexterity and Independent)
4 Basic Witch Spellcasting (Sure Strike, Sure Strike, Jump)
6 Sniper's Aim / Munitions Crafter / Basic Witchcraft (Cantrip Expansion)
--General Feats--
3 Incredible Initiative
--Loadout--
Arbalest
--Strategy--
Start battles hidden
First turn: Strike with arbalest, then have our independent familiar spend one action to touch us with a lit candle. We react by casting Eat Fire to mitigate the damage, stride into a good position, and spend an action exhaling smoke.
Arbalest has Backstabber, which boosts damage while hidden, but we also have Crossbow Crack Shot, which boosts damage even more when attack an off-guard target with a Backstabber Crossbow.
Second turn: cast Sure Strike, Hide and reload, strike (activating alchemical ammo or casting sure strike reveal our position. We have to hide again before striking)
Other options: activate alchemical ammo, hide and reload, strike
Other options: hide and reload, sniper's aim
other options: hide and reload, strike, hide and reload (lets us end the turn hidden)
Choosing to be an arcane Witch lets us use Ring of Wizardry eventually.
--Extra--
If the GM rules that our familiar can't touch us with a lit candle or drop a lit candle on us, since familiars can't attack, then we may have to touch the candle ourselves on our first turn instead of striding. This would be a lot easier if our familiar could just use a smoke ball, but familiars can't activate items. During exploration, our familiar has to hold that lit candle, but also keep a cover over the flame, so we can reasonably try to Avoid Notice.