Tempest rangers

[yangmo3]

I hope its right and it helps!


Ranger Tempest requirements:

Action Points Spent Prerequisite: 16
Avaiable to Ranger class level 6
Requires: Two Weapon Fighting
Requires: Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Requires: Dodge
Requires: Mobility
Requires: Spring Attack

As strength determines the damage bonus for every hit, this particular ranger build can deal good damage making it a formidable melee and can actually be a frontline combatant if the situation calls for it. The ability to be effective in ranging can suffer a bit because of the relatively low dexterity score. The Wisdom score is also quite low but it is enough to get a decent amount of spell points to buff party members with necessary spells like Bark Skin, Jump, Resists, or Protection. Will saves will also suffer a bit because of the low Wisdom score.


28-PT BUILD
Class: RANGER
Race: ELF
Alignment: Lawful Good

Starting
Base Stats
Abilities (Level 1)
Strength 16
Dexterity 14
Constitution 14
Intelligence 8
Wisdom 12
Charisma 8

Modified Stats (without items)

Abilities (Level 16)
Strength 20
Dexterity 16
Constitution 14
Intelligence 8
Wisdom 12
Charisma 8

Hit Points: 198
Spell Points: 250
Fortitude: 12
Reflex: 13
Will: 6

FEATS AND ENHANCEMENTS

Level 1 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Undead
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons

Level 2 (Ranger)

Level 3 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Dodge

Level 4 (Ranger)

Level 5 (Ranger)

Level 6 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Mobility

Level 7 (Ranger)

Level 8 (Ranger)

Level 9 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons

Level 10 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Giant

Level 11 (Ranger)

Level 12 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Spring Attack

Level 13 (Ranger)

Level 14 (Ranger)

Level 15 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
Feat: (Selected) Toughness

Level 16 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity I
Enhancement: Elf Melee Attack I
Enhancement: Elf Melee Attack II
Enhancement: Elf Melee Damage I
Enhancement: Elf Melee Damage II
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Attack I
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Damage I
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Damage II
Enhancement: Ranger Extra Empathy I
Enhancement: Ranger Extra Empathy II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Attack I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Attack II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage III
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage IV
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Defense I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Defense II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Defense III
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Resistance I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Resistance II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Resistance III
Enhancement: Ranger Item Defense I
Enhancement: Ranger Tempest I
Enhancement: Ranger Energy of the Wild I
Enhancement: Ranger Energy of the Wild II
Enhancement: Ranger Dexterity I

========

Notes:

1. You can choose a Favored Enemy based on your preference. Normally, players choose the creatures that have several appearances at the quests they love to do. Undead is chosen at level one because of XP-rich low to mid-level quests in House J where the Undead are the main villains. Besides, there's a whole area that the Undead consider as home: Necropolis.

2. Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack feats are all requiremenst for the Ranger Tempest build.

3. As you can see from the Enhancement list, you can only get the Elven Dexterity I and Ranger Dexterity I because of the Tempest requirements. This means that you can only get your Dexterity to certain level and not maxed out. There's no need to be bummed about this because you can get a +2 or +3 Dexterity tomes as you keep playing.

4. Elf Melee Damage and Elf Melee Attack only applies to Longswords, hence this build will rely heavily in using Longswords. Rapier is a light weapon and will be more effective if used with a Dexterity-based ranger.

5. Weapon Focus: Slashing is a must since you will be using Longswords and not Rapiers.

6. Toughness is quite important for Rangers because there are times when they get way to much aggro. However, if you feel that your AC is enough to withstand attacks, then you can replace Toughness with Power Attack for additional damage when you hit. If you are sticking with Toughness, the Elf Melee Damage enhancement is enough to compensate for the lack of Power Attack.

7. Armor Class for stregth-based rangers will look something like this:

10: Base
08: Light Armor
04: From Dexterity score
02: Chaosgarde (from Xorian Cipher)
05: Protection +5 item (ring, cloak, necklace, etc)
05: Barkskin spell
02: Tempest ranger enhancement
05: With Shield (optional)

39: Total with shield
34: Total with Two-weapon fighting

[Gawna]

I have no idea what's going on right now.

[Hobgoblin]

just so you know you the elf and ranger dex enhanments wont let you meet the requirements for twf.

however, you get those for free being a ranger. other then that looks like a fairly standard tempest ranger

also switch out your feats so you have tempest at level 6 where it is usefull

hob

[Slink]

I have no idea what's going on right now.

/speechless

[kaidendager]

You don't really give enough information on how you will be equipping this toon to be of help in a critique. I can assure you running around the vale at level 16 (which by the way why did you stop the build at 16?) is going to get you dropped more often than a 20 STR ranger will drop trash mobs.

The details you have given us are...perplexing. You don't take tempest II, but you take 2 levels of ranged damage for a Tempest build?

Consider going over some of the already posted builds in the ranger sub-category of the forums and seeing what is common amongst them, this will give you a good baseline of where to start your own builds.

P.S. Weapon Focus: Slashing. No.

[Lehrman]

Ok, your feats on a NON-FINESSE tempest ranger should be:
Dodge -1
Mobility -3
Spring Attack - 6
Power Attack - 9
Toughness - 12 (Optional, but nice since you can get 42 hps between this and racial toughnessII. If you choose not to use toughness, then take Kopesh.)
Improved Crit - Slash or Pierce - 15
Oversized Two Weapon fighting - 18

Your favored enemies on a pure Ranger are given at lvls 1,5,10,15, and 20, so you will have five total. Usually these will be raid bosses or enemies that are immune to crits such as Elemental, Construct, Undead, and Evil Outsider. EO is a raid boss more often than not and only has partial fortification. That leaves one more to assign to anything.

On a NON-Finesse ranger Dex can be used as a dump stat to boost con or strength. If you are paranoid about losing the 3 points of reflex, then allot 6 character points to dex and start with a 16 as an elf. Wisdom is not as important for saves since they gimped enchantments.

Starting stats on a 28 elf point chould be:
Str 16
Dex 16
Con 12
Int 8
Wis 14
cha 8

OR

Str 18
Dex 16
Con 12
Int 8
Wis 8 (get a wisdom item if you want to cast spells)
cha 8

Kopesh out DPS's Longswords even with the racial enhancements, so the best reason--and possibly only reason--to take Elf is for the bow damage enhancements. Human or Halfling are probably better choices. Human for the extra feat and halfling for the sneak attack enhancement lines.

Alignment: Whatever you want, this is primarily a gear related choice since there are items in the game usable by Lawful or Chaotic or Good only--there are also those that benefit neutral only as well as give negative levels if used by those of the opposing alignment (Axiomatic, Anarchic, and Taint of Evil)

Enhancements:
Do not bother with Favored enemy resistance. A Resistance 5 item, Greater Heroism, and your base stats are often plenty. Do not bother with Favored enemy Defense if playing a DPS ranger, your AC will never be high enough for it to matter, even a Finesse Ranger's Ac is weak unless he or she splashes a monk level.

Must Haves:
Tempest I, II, AND III
Ranger FE Dmg I-IV
Ranger Dex I & II (RDII is a pre-req for Tempest II)
Sprint boost I (This is important both because it annoys the cleric and because its nice to get to your destination faster)
Ranger FE Attack I-III
Elf Ranged Damage I & II (Because for 20 seconds every 2 minutes, you can out dps any melee by using multishot)
Racial Toughness I&II (20 hps providing your took toughness as a feat)

This leaves a little under a third of your APs to spend as you please provided you took an elf. If you took a halfling, max out halfling cunning and guile. It more than makes up for the loss of 1 point of damage for having taken the race.

Good luck in your rangering endevours.

[Mts]

To the OP - I assume you are relatively new, but based on the starting stats I'm giving you I'm assuming you have access to a +2 tome.

If you are dead set on going pure Ranger and being an Elf (which I don't recommend), the below starting stats are a good starting point for a TWF Tempest Ranger:

Base stats:

Str: 16
Dex: 15
Con: 15
Int: 8
Wis: 8
Cha: 8

+4 str level-ups
+1 Con level-ups
+3 dex ranger class enhancement
+2 dex elf race enhancement

Add in your +6 items and a +2 dex tome

Final stats with basic gear:

Str: 26
Dex: 22
Con: 22
Int: 14
Wis: 14
Cha: 14

You can get these much higher if you start factoring in ToD rings, GS gear, Epic gear, etc - but this is a good starting point.

If I were you, I'd go dwarf. The extra dex from going elf will not help you to attain a useable AC end-game with out some very significantly high end gear.

Come find me in game if you want to chat.

[Qwijy]

Oversized Two Weapon fighting - 18

He was doing good until this point.

A tempest already has spring attack, OTWF is overkill.

[lord_of_rage]

He was doing good until this point.

A tempest already has spring attack, OTWF is overkill.

OTWF is a prereq for tempest 3.

[Emili]

/speechless

Funny I was just on my tempest minding my own business when I received a bloody blind /invite from a level five cleric who's name I did not recognize.

I took the invite anyway thinking must be someone knows me I suppose. My response in party was "Hello?" then they responded with "I wish to hire you for my strip club." Naturally I think to myself must be Akirra or the likes, I respond "Rudy?" Then they send in /tell "i'll pay you mones." - yes missing the y as such.

Realizing they must know me or of me I tell'd back "Sorry, but I only dance for a private particular audience." and left group. Of course, was followed about with two more blinds coming my way and the occasional "/tell wait!"

As such recommend skill points in perform, jump and tumble.

[Schmoe]

I'd like add my own thoughts.

First, I'm not sure why you're posting this here. It seems more appropriate for the character build forums.

Second, while it's great that you're offering help, I don't think that this is very good advice for people to follow. I see a few problems with what you've posted.

AC of less than 50 (probably higher, I haven't bothered finding out) is pretty much worthless at high levels, so there's no point in breaking down how this character achieves an AC in the 30's, and there's no point in spending any resources achieving it. Trust me, I typically have an AC of 42-45 on my ranger, and it doesn't help. Because of that, the enhancement points spent on FE Defense are wasted.

Weapon Focus is a pretty insignificant feat. A pure melee that hasn't neglected the primary fighting stat (STR in this case) hardly ever has difficulty hitting things. On a feat-starved character like an elf ranger, I would definitely avoid it.

A lot of the enhancements you've listed are filler and not really necessary, but you don't mark them as such. Energy of the Wild, Item Defense, FE Resistance, Extra Empathy - those are all more along the lines of personal play style choices, and a character won't feel less effective for the lack of them.

Finally, a rapier is not a light weapon. While it can be finessed like a finesse weapon, you get full strength bonus and can Power Attack with it. Because of the increased threat range, rapiers are often a better choice than longswords. I don't know if the Elf damage enhancements affect rapiers, but if they do, I would strongly recommend focusing on rapiers instead of longswords.

[stainer]

Funny I was just on my tempest minding my own business when I received a bloody blind /invite from a level five cleric who's name I did not recognize.

I took the invite anyway thinking must be someone knows me I suppose. My response in party was "Hello?" when they responded with "I wish to hire you for my strip club." Naturally I think to myself must be Akirra or the likes, I respond "Rudy?" Then they send in tell "i'll pay you mones." - yes missing the y as such.

Realizing they must know me or of me I tell'd back "Sorry, but I only dance for a private particular audience." and left group. Of course, was followed about with two more blinds coming my way and the occasional "/tell wait!"

As such recommend skill points in perform, jump and tumble.

You know that we could market this and pay for our guild ship upgrades.

/pimphat

[Emili]

You know that we could market this and pay for our guild ship upgrades.

/pimphat

Quite sure is people misunderstanding the PrE is "Tempest", not "Temptress", although cannot tell thought has not crossed my mind - but am a good catholic girl.

[stainer]

but am a good catholic girl.

I will pay extra for that!

[Renvar]

I hope its right and it helps!


Ranger Tempest requirements:

Action Points Spent Prerequisite: 16
Avaiable to Ranger class level 6
Requires: Two Weapon Fighting
Requires: Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Requires: Dodge
Requires: Mobility
Requires: Spring Attack

As strength determines the damage bonus for every hit, this particular ranger build can deal good damage making it a formidable melee and can actually be a frontline combatant if the situation calls for it. The ability to be effective in ranging can suffer a bit because of the relatively low dexterity score. The Wisdom score is also quite low but it is enough to get a decent amount of spell points to buff party members with necessary spells like Bark Skin, Jump, Resists, or Protection. Will saves will also suffer a bit because of the low Wisdom score.


28-PT BUILD
Class: RANGER
Race: ELF
Alignment: Lawful Good

Starting
Base Stats
Abilities (Level 1)
Strength 16
Dexterity 14
Constitution 14
Intelligence 8
Wisdom 12
Charisma 8

Modified Stats (without items)

Abilities (Level 16)
Strength 20
Dexterity 16
Constitution 14
Intelligence 8
Wisdom 12
Charisma 8

Hit Points: 198
Spell Points: 250
Fortitude: 12
Reflex: 13
Will: 6

FEATS AND ENHANCEMENTS

Level 1 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Undead
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons

Level 2 (Ranger)

Level 3 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Dodge

Level 4 (Ranger)

Level 5 (Ranger)

Level 6 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Mobility

Level 7 (Ranger)

Level 8 (Ranger)

Level 9 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons

Level 10 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Giant

Level 11 (Ranger)

Level 12 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Spring Attack

Level 13 (Ranger)

Level 14 (Ranger)

Level 15 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
Feat: (Selected) Toughness

Level 16 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity I
Enhancement: Elf Melee Attack I
Enhancement: Elf Melee Attack II
Enhancement: Elf Melee Damage I
Enhancement: Elf Melee Damage II
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Attack I
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Damage I
Enhancement: Elf Ranged Damage II
Enhancement: Ranger Extra Empathy I
Enhancement: Ranger Extra Empathy II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Attack I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Attack II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage III
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage IV
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Defense I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Defense II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Defense III
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Resistance I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Resistance II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Resistance III
Enhancement: Ranger Item Defense I
Enhancement: Ranger Tempest I
Enhancement: Ranger Energy of the Wild I
Enhancement: Ranger Energy of the Wild II
Enhancement: Ranger Dexterity I

========

Notes:

1. You can choose a Favored Enemy based on your preference. Normally, players choose the creatures that have several appearances at the quests they love to do. Undead is chosen at level one because of XP-rich low to mid-level quests in House J where the Undead are the main villains. Besides, there's a whole area that the Undead consider as home: Necropolis.

2. Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack feats are all requiremenst for the Ranger Tempest build.

3. As you can see from the Enhancement list, you can only get the Elven Dexterity I and Ranger Dexterity I because of the Tempest requirements. This means that you can only get your Dexterity to certain level and not maxed out. There's no need to be bummed about this because you can get a +2 or +3 Dexterity tomes as you keep playing.

4. Elf Melee Damage and Elf Melee Attack only applies to Longswords, hence this build will rely heavily in using Longswords. Rapier is a light weapon and will be more effective if used with a Dexterity-based ranger.

5. Weapon Focus: Slashing is a must since you will be using Longswords and not Rapiers.

6. Toughness is quite important for Rangers because there are times when they get way to much aggro. However, if you feel that your AC is enough to withstand attacks, then you can replace Toughness with Power Attack for additional damage when you hit. If you are sticking with Toughness, the Elf Melee Damage enhancement is enough to compensate for the lack of Power Attack.

7. Armor Class for stregth-based rangers will look something like this:

10: Base
08: Light Armor
04: From Dexterity score
02: Chaosgarde (from Xorian Cipher)
05: Protection +5 item (ring, cloak, necklace, etc)
05: Barkskin spell
02: Tempest ranger enhancement
05: With Shield (optional)

39: Total with shield
34: Total with Two-weapon fighting

To comment on this and some following posts:

1) Drop the Dex. It's unnecessary on a str based ranger.

2) Don't start a melee with a CON of 12. You didn't but a subsequent response did. IMO that is a rough choice for any melee class.

3) Dont take Weapon Focus slash. As mentioned order your feats to get Tempest at level 6. Take Power Attack instead. More damage and you should not be having to hit issues at high levels.

4) Don't use longswords or Khopeshes on an Elf ranger. Go with Scimitars. Much better crit range. Lose some damage with the x2 multiplier vs. the x3 on the Khopesh but the extended crit range makes up for some of that and does not cost a feat on a feat starved build. There is no benefit to longswords over scimitars. Unless it is an RP/personal preference thing.

5) Don't even think of having a melee without toughness. You had it in your feat list but made it sound optional. IMO, it is not optional. Rangers have a reduced hit die that puts you off by 40 HP vs other melee (80 hp off a barb.). You are in a race that has a -2 to CON. That's another 20 HP off the mark at cap. To give up another 42 HP on this build would put you at over 100 HP below a Human fighter (for example). And your class has no healing amplification. You aren't killing things that fast. You need to be able to take more hits.

To Stainer: If you do that, get the minor experience shrine on the boat. It looks like a pole...

[Renvar]

I will pay extra for that!

There are some great wardrobe choices there too on the classic Catholic school girl look. The pleated skirt, white button down...hmmmmm....

[Renvar]

I have no idea what's going on right now.

That OP made me feel like I fell into the hot tub time machine and flashed back to 2007...

[Qwijy]

OTWF is a prereq for tempest 3.

Doh! I stand corrected, thanks, apologies Lehrman.

Also, that's ********.

[Slink]

You know that we could market this and pay for our guild ship upgrades.

/pimphat

[stainer]

I was thinking it would be you we could get all the money from!