Ranger/AA question

[Ashlayna]

Ok, reading the info here, I'm left slightly confuzzled about some details. From what I understand on what I've read so far, a Ranger can get AA at lvl 6? No spellcaster pre-req? Or, is it that it's just available at lvl 6 Ranger, if the conditions are met? The former is a logical conclusion, since my first attempt at it letting the game do it had 8 INT, which is too low for spell casting. Nublette questions are FTL I know, but I can't make heads or tails of the info on the Wiki.

[cpito]

A ranger's spellcasting ability is based on WIS not INT.

[RDeLove]

Ok, reading the info here, I'm left slightly confuzzled about some details. From what I understand on what I've read so far, a Ranger can get AA at lvl 6? No spellcaster pre-req? Or, is it that it's just available at lvl 6 Ranger, if the conditions are met? The former is a logical conclusion, since my first attempt at it letting the game do it had 8 INT, which is too low for spell casting. Nublette questions are FTL I know, but I can't make heads or tails of the info on the Wiki.

The Ranger uses WIS for its spell casting stat, you would need to have a 14 to be able to cast all your Ranger spells. For the AA pre you would need Point Blank Shot, WF: Ranged Weapons and Mental Toughness or one of the SP enchancements ( Arcane Prodigy; past life would suffice as well ); and a Ranger level req of 6.

[PurpleTimb]

A ranger is a spell casting class, so the requirement to have a blue bar is fulfilled by having at least 4 levels of ranger. If you were a non-spell casting class, you'd have to take at least one level in a spell casting class to fulfill the blue bar requirement. That's why Kensai III AAs will take one level of bard or wizard.

[Ashlayna]

Thx for the replies, I guess my confusion comes from the general rules, which were altered for DDO, since AA's required Arcane Spell Casting in every other game I've played with the Prestige Class included. At least I now know I'm not doing anything wrong. That's a bonus.

[goodspeed]

you could also splish splash and get aa while taking a class other then ranger. All you'd need is either elf or helf to get it at lv 8 instead of 6. Of course taking ranger allows you the two weapon line for free without needing the 17 base dex.

lil more wiggle room to take some extra str or con or what I did was split the stats to start with 14 wis and use human adaptability to make up the point in str and con to also get an extra 10 hp. Then with 14 wis I could take the cleric dili which I use to whip scrolls like divine favor to jack up combat with the eventual near no fail heal/raise dead scroll at lv 14 I think.

You can play with it even more if you were going the melee route instead of aa where you wouldn't really need dex. Being able to focus on melee stats without being hindered by base dex is nice to.

All up to how ya wanna play it.

[unbongwah]

Thx for the replies, I guess my confusion comes from the general rules, which were altered for DDO, since AA's required Arcane Spell Casting in every other game I've played with the Prestige Class included.

I came to DDO from NWN 1/2, so I shared your confusion: "How can I be an Arcane Archer if I'm a divine caster?" You get over the cognitive dissonance pretty quick, though.

[Ashlayna]

you could also splish splash and get aa while taking a class other then ranger. All you'd need is either elf or helf to get it at lv 8 instead of 6. Of course taking ranger allows you the two weapon line for free without needing the 17 base dex.

lil more wiggle room to take some extra str or con or what I did was split the stats to start with 14 wis and use human adaptability to make up the point in str and con to also get an extra 10 hp. Then with 14 wis I could take the cleric dili which I use to whip scrolls like divine favor to jack up combat with the eventual near no fail heal/raise dead scroll at lv 14 I think.

You can play with it even more if you were going the melee route instead of aa where you wouldn't really need dex. Being able to focus on melee stats without being hindered by base dex is nice to.

All up to how ya wanna play it.

In the online modules I played most in NWN's, I did a lot of "I wonder what would happen if I did ....". The end results were sometimes amusing, sometimes scary bad, and every once in a while they were "Why hasn't anyone figured this out yet???". I'm fudging here and there, not being a dedicated min/max'er to try to balance out this toon. Granted, it's not lvl 4 yet, but I not only have effective melee, I have two sets of melee weaponry for emergencies, and bashing containers; what can I say, I'm cheap. With items that I expect to find, and enhancements, I should be equally effective no matter which way I have to go. I'm unfamiliar with the DDO system, but not with 3.5 overall. First toons are learning experiences, and that's what I'm doing now.

I came to DDO from NWN 1/2, so I shared your confusion: "How can I be an Arcane Archer if I'm a divine caster?" You get over the cognitive dissonance pretty quick, though.

Yeah, that's what I was going through. It makes the info in the wiki make a little more sense, now that I know.

[unbongwah]

My advice would be to forget what you know from NWN, PnP, etc. and re-learn from scratch; while the core mechanics are essentially the same, DDO puts enough twists on the rules to be its own beast. A lot of elements are missing, a lot are radically different (e.g., PrEs vs PrCs), while others have no counterpart in other D&D games (e.g., stat tomes).