Stealthy crossbow/crafter build

[Jamolotl]

Hi folks, looking for some general advice on my build. Going for a build where I can experience just about everything the game has to offer, including (non-asshole) dialogue and crafting. Melee and psi can wait for the next playthrough. I'm only at the GMS compound so restarting is still a possibility. I couldn't find any relatively up-to-date advice on this type of build so hopefully it can also help others. My plan so far is:

Stats:
Str 3
Dex 6
Agi 7
Con 3
Per 10+
Will 4
Int 7

Main skills:
Crossbows
Stealth
Hacking
Lockpicking
Mechanics
Electronics
Tailoring
Persuasion

Possibly 15 into biology for Doctor feat, 30 into dodge for Uncanny Dodge and some points into throwing for utility.

Feats:
Critical Power
Recklessness
Aimed Shot
Sprint   
Interloper
Marksman
Kneecap Shot
Special Tactics
Ambush
Sharpshooter

This leaves 4 extra feats, additions could be:

Nimble
Ninja Looter
Opportunist
Burglar
Power Management
Snipe
Expertise
Doctor
Uncanny Dodge
Disassemble
Sure Step
Skinner
Clothier

Any advice/criticism is welcome. I also have some more specific questions:

Is 15 points into Biology worth it to get Doctor for some extra healing and the quest?
How many points is required in throwing to really make it accurate enough to be useful? Utility is priority over damage.
Is a non-chemistry crossbow build viable enough? I figured serrated and shock bolts would be enough, but my experience is very limited.
Is persuasion worth it at all? I've read both of the dialogue skills are fairly underpowered but I'm someone who loathes missing out on dialogue options/content.
Is Disassemble worth it? It seems more a money-making skill than an ultimate crafting skill due to the -10% quality but I'm unsure.
Is Power Management worth it? What about other crafting feats?
Is 40 dodge worth it for Uncanny Dodge?

Cheers folks!

[SadBaxter]

I've never used a crossbow build and have only a little experience in the game, but here's my thoughts:

Stat distribution is fine, and the skills you've chosen all work well, but it'd be nice if you could include some points in traps as well. Being able to spot traps is useful, being able to disarm them is free exp, and being able to lay them yourself is excellent. Bear traps are cheap to make and incredible at blocking enemies from getting in close, and make an excellent combination with stealth. Sneak in, lay a bunch of bear traps to funnel enemies or block them off entirely, and presto.

Feats are good, as for the additional feats you were thinking of, nimble is good even with heavier armor, opportunist should be one of your core skills considering that you'll be using electrical bolts and knee shot (plus you can combine it with traps), ninja looter and burglar don't seem to have that much utility as pickpocketing/stealing from civilized peeps is not going to be a main source of income or loot. Power management is more for people going full tech (energy weapons/shields/cloaking devices), Snipe's pretty mediocre and doesn't compare to the crit bonuses you can get, expertise probably won't pay off much as the added damage is per hit and you'll be firing a few big shots rather than lots of little ones, uncanny dodge seems more like something you stack with the dodge skill? I don't think it's gonna be huge anyway. Disassemble is mediocre unless you want to recover weapon mods from weapons you craft/find rather than buy them (not worth a feat though), sure step is mediocre, skinner and clothier could be huge if you plan on making a lot of leather armor and cloth items (this includes tabi and balaclavas both of which are rather nice)

As to your specific questions
-Probably not. A good end to a quest that doesn't give you much extra is not worth a feat, neither is bandage healing as you can't do it in combat and healing hypos are not THAT rare.
-No idea, but you might be able to get away with 0 if you don't mind missing occasionally. I have 0 points in throwing and still use molotovs/grenades/caltrops. Just have to not rely on them.
-No idea, but you might want to get 10-15 points for crafting a certain kind of leather you'll find later on (it's not huge but still nice). Chemistry also allows you to craft grenades, apply poision to traps/caltrops, and will allow you to make fire arrows+molotovs, so it might be worth thinking about it.
-If you hate missing out on quest stuff or being unable to go in certain directions in quests, get persuade.
-Disassemble isn't really worth it, no.
-Some crafting feats are fantastic, and others can be kind of mediocre. Power management seems like one of those things to get if you're going HARD electronics use, like energy weapons and everything.
-No idea, I've never bothered with dodge or evade

Hope some of my rambling helps.

[UnLimiTeD]

In the past, Doctor was sort of Mandatory.
It's still good, well, good enough I get it with nearly every char, but you can do without it.
It saves you money, but later on, the game throws so much money at you you have to melt it down. 
Crossbows are relatively difficult nowadays, they've come a bit short on the feat selection.
Chemistry certainly helps; You could even combine it with a chemical pistol.
How useful a feat is depends on how often you intend to use it.
I'd say it's serviceable in case a heavy melee comes close.
I can't help but notice you're frail and not intending to skill into defense, either.
You might get some survivability problems later on.

[SadBaxter]

PS. SadBaxter, high perception alone is enough to detect traps if you're slowly sneaking around. (trap detection is 75% Detection or 50% Detection + 75% Traps, whichever is higher)

Ah, well there we go then. I still think it's a damn useful skill, especially compared to so many other RPGs where the trap skill tends to be useless.

[Jamolotl]

That's exactly the sort of information I was looking for and nearly all of it ties in nicely with my initial thinking. Maybe Nimble, Opportunist, Skinner and Clothier as the extra 4 feats. If I do go down the traps route (which is looking increasingly likely) I'll switch out Nimble or something else for Deadly Snares. Traps do sound a lot of fun, my only gripe with that route is being so starved of skill points. I'll think about what skills I could feasibly take as 'half skills'. Any advice in that regard would be great as I have no idea how most of the skills scale or when they stop being useful.

Ninja Looter is a remnant of the little text document I made of possible stats/skills while I was fleshing out the idea. It shouldn't really have been listed, oops. Pickpocketing on a crafter just doesn't seem worth it at all.

Thanks for taking the time to write these lengthy posts guys, much appreciated. Really friendly forum.

[SadBaxter]

Traps could probably be taken as a half-skill I think. Bear traps require 0 skill to set, the skill itself scales with lockpicking and mechanics so that'll boost it quite a bit, plus you can also chuck on a trapper's belt for an extra 10% and also 70% reduced cooldown for setting traps, which is very beneficial. You could also potentially skip levelling stealth occasionally, as you can make up for it with the higher-quality stealth-boosting armor you'll be making. I even carry two full sets of armor, one heavier one for full combat stuff, and another lighter one to boost my stealth for sneakin' purposes. Clothier could help a lot with making stealth gear as black cloth items give a LOT of stealth bonus, particularly black cloth tabi (Get yourself a tabi blueprint as soon as you can)

Deadly snares might be good? I mean it's guaranteed crits but the main reason I use beartraps is to lock an enemy down so I can focus on the ones still moving around. Quick tinkerer might be fun but that'll require an extra point in dexterity and your build has other options for keeping distance during combat, like stuns or kneecap shot+sprint.

[Jamolotl]

I was thinking the same with stealth, maybe 80 or so. Obviously I'm ranged so figure I don't need quite as much stealth as a melee character, since I can generally set up traps/ambushes without getting too close. The bonuses on gear are pretty big too as you say. It doesn't seem to have any requirements linked to it either, just scaling. From a quick calculation I gather that the skill cap is 135 for the moment which seems far more than a lot of the skills really require.

After looking at the wiki it seems like Biology crafting materials don't really have any scaling requirements like most of the other crafting skills do, with the exception of Regenerative Vests which I wouldn't use anyway. At a glance the max requirements seems to be 50 for poisons and 70 for drugs/extraction, so that would make a great half skill alongside stealth and traps. Hunting things and using their body parts to create deadly poisonous traps for more murder just sounds too awesome to pass up.

Yeah, Deadly snares definitely seems fun. I'm thinking it may be worth dropping Recklessness in that case. 10% crit is great, but when you have two ways to consistently guarantee crits it really starts to lose it's value in a game with so many good feats.

[UnLimiTeD]

One thing to factor in is progression.
In the long run, you have more than enough skill points.
In the beginning, everything is a bit more scarce.
So Biology is a very good 'half skill', but you'll need to pump it high enough as fast as possible to get something out of it; 15 for doctor, then some more for poisons. An effective 40 is a good value for most things you'd want to do with it.

[Jamolotl]

@UnLimiTeD - Yeah, the plan I think is to pump Biology early on at the expense of the other crafting skills then gradually max those once I reach 40-50 Biology. Early armour/weapon crafting seems to be more about a quick cash boost than anything else in the early game and since Biology is great for cash AND has the utility too it seems to be a far better early game choice. I really haven't come across money issues so far anyway.

@Epeli - Yeah, after doing the maths I've started to realize that too, which is very encouraging. I'm thinking I can easily get at least 11 different skills to where I want them, which is more than enough to create a character that feels fully fleshed out both thematically and mechanically. The fact that trappers are so underplayed just makes me want to play one more, hah. One day I can be one of those 0.4%!

Silly thing is I've barely got my head around this build and I'm already getting excited about other builds. A chemical pistol build with throwing for example sounds awesome. Having to use my very limited willpower to stick with this build because the different options are so interesting, which is a pretty rare thing for me nowadays.