thoughts about the ranger [Archive] - Dungeons & Dragons Online Forums

Statagem

10-19-2010, 04:49 PM

First off, I have been playing around with the char generator much more than actually playing the game so my thoughts about the ranger class are purely hypothetical and any ideas from vets is more than welcome. Many builds employ the TWF style but not all are tempests. So I built an elf str based char (I won't bore you with the char sheet, he has all the nuts and bolts...power attack, toughness etc with 20str, 14con, 14wis at level 20.), keeping in mind he would not be barreling into a mob, and he would be using his unique ranger/elf abilities mainly for boss fights and emergencies. The ranger class, on it's own, has a good amount of skill points(making it flexable enough to focus on either sneaking OR trapping(not both unfortunatly) at the same time keeping a respectable(20-22) UMD score, can self heal, has a few nice buffs and when leveled to 11, provides the full TWF chain for free...not too shabby. The one thing I don't like all that much is the cost of the tempest line. 3 feats, and 14 AP(I think) and lose some AC, which by all accounts doesn'tmatter later in the game). Here's my thought. Taking an elf, for example, you could splash 1 level rogue, 1 level fighter and run ranger to 18(typical exploiter build). By forgoing the tempest line, you would save 3 feats(4 if you don't take OTWF), taking instead lets say two dragonmark feats to gain inviso + displacement(vs bosses or for emergency use). The other could be spent on extend if one wished to be displaced for longer periods of time, maximize or empower heal for boosting self healing, maybe quicken for some people, or even improved critical ranged(bows) to go along with improved crit "melee", fully juice up both melee and long range lines of the elf. With 14 AP's saved by not taking tempest 1 through to 3(8 AP), and ranger dex 1 and 2(6 AP), those points could be spent on skill boosts, elf enchantment resistance, or even elf dex 1 + ranger dex 1(4 AP), or many others that may interest you. Of course this build would be giving up some DPS, but he would not be a mob cleaner, he would of course have to try to soften up enemies with long range or draw 1 or 2 opponents away from mobs to be effective I would think. A tactical fighter more than a brute, I guess. What do you think? Using the right tactics, would this kind of build work?

DasLurch

10-19-2010, 06:06 PM

I'm going to cut up your post some from my expieriences with the class. Those expieriences are more tempest focused (because they still haven't finished the sniper line yet but that's for another time), so take that into consideration as well...

(my comments in BOLD)

First off, I have been playing around with the char generator much more than actually playing the game so my thoughts about the ranger class are purely hypothetical and any ideas from vets is more than welcome.

This is welcome new to vets. We love to see people use the character planner. It really does help to make better characters in the long run.

I built an elf str based char (I won't bore you with the char sheet, he has all the nuts and bolts...power attack, toughness etc with 20str, 14con, 14wis at level 20.), keeping in mind he would not be barreling into a mob, and he would be using his unique ranger/elf abilities mainly for boss fights and emergencies. The ranger class, on it's own, has a good amount of skill points(making it flexable enough to focus on either sneaking OR trapping(not both unfortunatly) at the same time keeping a respectable(20-22) UMD score, can self heal, has a few nice buffs and when leveled to 11, provides the full TWF chain for free...not too shabby. The one thing I don't like all that much is the cost of the tempest line. 3 feats, and 14 AP(I think) and lose some AC, which by all accounts doesn'tmatter later in the game). Here's my thought. Taking an elf, for example, you could splash 1 level rogue, 1 level fighter and run ranger to 18(typical exploiter build). By forgoing the tempest line, you would save 3 feats(4 if you don't take OTWF)

The 3 feats are a high price to pay, but if you are planning a heavy hitter melee type it's not a big deal. You are still getting a ton of bonus claass granted feats to take any sting away. And of all those pre-req feats only 1 is really a hurtful one to have to take. And you really whouldn't need to take OTWF for a lot of reasons, but you really shouldn't have too many issues hitting anything in the game. That would be a wasted feat IMO.Especially since you would be an Elf using Rapiers and Longswords. The racial bonuses offset any need for that feat.

taking instead lets say two dragonmark feats to gain inviso + displacement(vs bosses or for emergency use). The other could be spent on extend if one wished to be displaced for longer periods of time, maximize or empower heal for boosting self healing, maybe quicken for some people, or even improved critical ranged(bows) to go along with improved crit "melee", fully juice up both melee and long range lines of the elf.

Metamagic feats are really not a priority for a ranger IMO. With the wisdom you are talking about, you are looking at a pretty solid SP base. Add in a SP item and a Wis item, you should have no problem with having enough SP to heal yourself up betwween fights. Being a level 18 ranger, your spells will last long enough that extend will be a bit of a waste. If you can't make it between shrines every 18 min's , you have other problems extend will not solve. Empowered healing to me is a bit of a waste as well. Carry a devotion item and you should be ok. Even without one, your CSW's should still hit for 35-55 with a few ranger enhancements. And I'm glad to see that you can heal up yourself some on a ranger. It kills me when rangers don't have 1 cure spell loaded, even if they are WF. Rangers are never that short on slots since there are some nice buffs, but not enough to make that many hard choices. As far as the "Crit" feats go, that is where I'd reccomend you go. Being an elf, you'd want both crit-slash (longswords) and crit-pierce (rapiers). The ranged one is a luxury unless you plan on fighting with a bow more than 50% of the time. You will find the melee feats of much more use.

With 14 AP's saved by not taking tempest 1 through to 3(8 AP), and ranger dex 1 and 2(6 AP), those points could be spent on skill boosts, elf enchantment resistance, or even elf dex 1 + ranger dex 1(4 AP), or many others that may interest you. Of course this build would be giving up some DPS, but he would not be a mob cleaner, he would of course have to try to soften up enemies with long range or draw 1 or 2 opponents away from mobs to be effective I would think. A tactical fighter more than a brute, I guess. What do you think? Using the right tactics, would this kind of build work?

You'd be building a ranger that is STR based but will be using a bow fairly often is what I've been understanding. Why would you ever skip out on adding Dex to your build? Bows use Dex to hit. Not STR. That would just make using a bow even less effective than it is already. And any concerns about AC are more or less pointless with this build. It will not be able to hit a high enough AC to really matter. It won't have the super high dex, the bonuses from being a Tempest (you GAIN some AC for 2WF, not lose it. It is about the same as having a small shield equipped at Tempest 3), and you'd be taking a fighter level instead of a monk level for the wisdom bonus (both give you an extra feat BTW).

Using the right tactics and adding in some luck any build CAN be successful, but as of now the build has some disadvantages compared to a Tempest build. Can it still do exactly what you want? Sure it can. It just isn't optimized as much as it could be.It's just a decent ranger that you might have alot of fun playing. And there's nothing saying that you can't have just as much fun as the guy playing the person playing the tricked out Tempest build. He'll just be a bit better at most of the things you'd be trying to do combat wise.