[RPG] How to optimize a bard’s ability with a bow in Pathfinder

For Pathfinder, as mentioned in the comments above, Crossbow Mastery is pretty useful. Otherwise, as far as feats go, you've got 'em covered.

The Far Shot feat will turn the -2 range increment penalties into -1, which can be very useful to shoot from long range.

Here's where some cheese comes in-- when you take a 1-level dip in Rogue with the Sniper Archetype, you gain the Accuracy ability, which that further by half. This does stack RAW, which effectively doubles your range increment distance before you even see a penalty. For example, you can pick stuff off from almost half a mile away with only a -4 penalty. Granted, you'd need scrying or something to spot your targets, but your stealth check gets hilarious... Your GM will probably scowl at you for this. Pay him back by taking Leadership and Siege Engine feats... and chuck donkeys at the BBEG from the next county. On a more serious note, the Ballista is good and can be used every turn like this.

If your GM allows material from 3.5e, then you can take both Crossbow Sniper and Improved Crossbow Sniper. The former grants you half your Dex modifier to damage and a +30 feet to Sneak Attack and Skirmish ranges, and the latter bumps it up to full dex and an additional 30 feet. Furthermore, a 1-level dip in Rogue grants you a Sneak Attack, and the Craven feat from 3.5 will grant you your character level as bonus damage to SAs (at the cost of -2 will saves against fear effects).

If your GM will allow things from 3.0, you can attach a Gnome Crossbow Sight to your xbows to ignore the first two range increment penalties.

As a GM, I allow pretty much all things regarding crossbows in Pathfinder, because they're already such a sub-optimal weapon compared to bows, thanks to the absence of the strength modifier to damage and manyshot. You'll probably be using the Launching Crossbow as an Alchemist, so your experience won't be as bad as most classes, but the feat tax for using any crossbow is almost ridiculously heavy.

A little bit more cheese, but if you take a 1-level dip in Oracle, choose the Waves mystery, and take Water Sight as your first-level revelation, you'll be able to lay down Obscuring Mist a few times a day and be able to see through it without penalty. Being able to shoot with guaranteed total concealment is a huge plus to tactical fighting (its the basis for my Sniper using crossbows in my current PF game, in fact, since the concealment guarantees Sneak Attacks)

The best way that I can see you improving your combat effectiveness is through the specific spells you choose.

As you had said, money is sort of tight in your campaign, so you need to make due with what you have at your disposal naturally. Luckily, this isn't hard considering that you have a +4 Cha score (Giving you anywhere between 1-4 additional spells per day at your current bonus). So considering your want to improve how well you do in combat, focus on preparing combat buff spells

These are the spells that I think you should prioritize (keep in mind that I only have the core rule book on hand):

+Bless Weapon(1st): A very situational buff, but powerful when used against the right enemies (ya did good on this one)

+Magic Weapon(1st): Prepare this instead of Bless. Bless may give you a bonus against fear, but Magic Weapon increases your damage as well as your attack bonus.

+Bull's Strength(2nd): I know that you put most of your stuff into Ranged Weapons, but everything on the list available to me is either a buff you don't need or something that seams too underhanded for a "rock star" (also, I don't think you need a spell that lets you take half of the damage that your friends take when there is a fully-functioning tank). As you may already know, Bull's Strength increases your Strength Ability by 4, so at the very least, you increase your Combat Maneuver Scores. This means it's easier to absolutely wreak an enemy's day by affecting how they move, inflicting statuses on them, or simply moving through them.

+Greater Magic Weapon(3rd): THIS is one of the key spells you should prepare when you get into the upper echelons. It's like Magic Weapon, but it gives you additional bonus amounts for every four levels your character has. Also, this spell specifically states that you can cast this spell on up to 50 arrows in the same quiver; this means that if you have to switch to another bow, or if your party also invests in bows, the spell is used to its maximum potential between multiple weapons.

+Prayer(3rd): Anyone in a 40ft radius of you receives a +/-1 to every roll depending on their loyalties; That's an increased advantage of 2 against whatever enemies you are fighting!

+Dispel Chaos/Evil(4th): these two spells give you +4 against the attacks of the designated alignment and automatically dispels effects cast by said creatures or spells that are of that alignment

This last one is just in case you attempt to build physically or your Fighter is being cornered by a Demon or something...

-Holy Sword: PROS: weapon automatically becomes +5 AND deals an additional 2d6 damage to Evil Creatures. CONS: Can only be applied to melee weapons and negates the powers of whatever weapon it is used on (that last bit could be fun to use against an enemy using an all-powerful cursed weapon, but again, this is a bit situational)

I hope this helps.

P.S.: Your party should invest in Heavy Repeating Crossbows once you hit level 10
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