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Man With Dog
2010-07-16, 05:31 PM
Hiya Guys,

A friend of mine is making a Ranger at level 8 but is pretty much new to decent DnD and i dont want it to be too tricky for him to play.

Is it a good idea just to go with Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot and the usual 'Basic Ranger Build' or does someone have a better idea?

Like i said, i wanna keep it simple for him
(He has OK stats, 1 x 18 and is Human)

Yorrin
2010-07-16, 05:49 PM
How optimized is the party he'll be playing with? That makes a big difference on how you build him. After all- you want to make things simple, but you also dont want him to feel completely inferior to the party.

If the party has a marginally high level of optimization you'll want to show him the Swift Hunter. (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872750/The_Swift_Hunters_Handbook_--_2007) It's a bit more complicated than a regular Ranger, but it's one of the few ways to be a decent archer.


If you dont want him to have to deal with casting you can go with a non-spellcasting variant. There's one in Complete Champion or one in Complete Warrior. I prefer the C.War version myself, especially on a swift hunter, but that might be because I use ACFs to trade out my combat styles...

IonDragon
2010-07-16, 05:53 PM
I don't know what exactly you're looking for... however presumably, yes Archery focused Ranger is the better form of Ranger. Though if you want them to be GOOD take a look at the Swift Hunter (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872750/The_Swift_Hunters_Handbook_--_2007).

I personally have a really strong inclination toward playing characters with a lot of their power invested into their pets, so I like to dip one Beastmaster to buff my Animal Companion and get Natural Bond [Complete Adventurer].

Beastmaster 1 gives you +4 effective Druid levels for your Animal Companion, and Natural Bond gives you +3 effective Druid levels (not to be greater than HD) so you just apply that first. That means you're effectively a

(7/2) [Ranger] +4 [Beastmaster] +3 Natural Bond = 10th level druid for purposes of Animal Companion. OP? No, not really. But way better than the level 3 Animal Companion you would have otherwise.

Man With Dog
2010-07-16, 05:55 PM
How optimized is the party he'll be playing with? That makes a big difference on how you build him. After all- you want to make things simple, but you also dont want him to feel completely inferior to the party.

If the party has a marginally high level of optimization you'll want to show him the Swift Hunter. (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872750/The_Swift_Hunters_Handbook_--_2007) It's a bit more complicated than a regular Ranger, but it's one of the few ways to be a decent archer.


If you dont want him to have to deal with casting you can go with a non-spellcasting variant. There's one in Complete Champion or one in Complete Warrior. I prefer the C.War version myself, especially on a swift hunter, but that might be because I use ACFs to trade out my combat styles...


Its a high powered campaign i guess but thats due to the DM helping us along now for his story purposes and it is likely to get very hard soon.
There is likely to be a Druid with a very big companion, a greyguard and an arcane.
I didnt want to push him into Variants and such just yet as he is 'that' new but yeah, i also dont want him to feel too low powered.
He is happy with his idea of getting a Dire Badger when possible and a Bow

Thrice Dead Cat
2010-07-16, 05:59 PM
Swift Hunter shouldn't be too difficult to learn. Just focus primarily on Ranger levels. I imagine the most difficult thing will either be the spells or the animal companion.

Yorrin
2010-07-16, 06:12 PM
If he's excited about his animal companion then getting the Natural Bond feat if probably a good idea for him, as IonDragon said. It sounds your party is mid-op, considering the grey guard.

If you're not going for ACFs at all then the most important part of a straight ranger archer is equipment. Give him a magic bow with several bonuses to damage (Collision, Shocking, etc.). Combined with rapid shot/manyshot from combat style mastery he should feel like a contributing member of the team.

Though I hold that Swift Hunter is easy to learn, and it's good to get people familiar with multiclassing rules as early as possible, so if he feels up to it I say try that first.

Man With Dog
2010-07-16, 06:28 PM
If he's excited about his animal companion then getting the Natural Bond feat if probably a good idea for him, as IonDragon said. It sounds your party is mid-op, considering the grey guard.

If you're not going for ACFs at all then the most important part of a straight ranger archer is equipment. Give him a magic bow with several bonuses to damage (Collision, Shocking, etc.). Combined with rapid shot/manyshot from combat style mastery he should feel like a contributing member of the team.

Though I hold that Swift Hunter is easy to learn, and it's good to get people familiar with multiclassing rules as early as possible, so if he feels up to it I say try that first.

I might have a read through Swift Hunter first - i have heard it mentioned as a replacement for Ranger, Druids etc just as a complete change so it might well be worth a read through for future even if its not used now :smallsmile:

Thanks alot for your help

fryplink
2010-07-16, 07:12 PM
Well, this is a varient, but wildshape ranger is a bit more powerful, especially if you take a feat that pumps up wildshape forms (such as Aberration Wild Shape, Frozen Wild Shape, Dragon Wild Shape)

It's strictly weaker than the party druid, but more powerful than he would have been, and a lot of fun to play (who doesn't want to turn into a dragon and maul your enemies?) for a newbie and easier too!

Thrice Dead Cat
2010-07-16, 08:23 PM
Honestly, Wildshape is one of the more complicated aspects of DND. Most shape-changing stuff is, too. As such, I would avoid it for a newbie unless he feels comfortable with it after having a few sessions without it or simply with dealing with the usual party buffs.

fryplink
2010-07-16, 08:35 PM
Honestly, Wildshape is one of the more complicated aspects of DND. Most shape-changing stuff is, too. As such, I would avoid it for a newbie unless he feels comfortable with it after having a few sessions without it or simply with dealing with the usual party buffs.

depends on whether someone pre-stats his common shapes, if he only ever turns into a bear, a bird and a horse, then its simply a matter of pulling their relevant stats onto a sheet of paper

then again after suggesting that he takes feats to expand his pool of potential forms pokes holes in that

that being said, if i have to pull all the relevant stats together for a newbie, he isn't learning the game as much as following a pattern you set out for him, so i guess you're right

Thrice Dead Cat
2010-07-16, 08:50 PM
depends on whether someone pre-stats his common shapes, if he only ever turns into a bear, a bird and a horse, then its simply a matter of pulling their relevant stats onto a sheet of paper

then again after suggesting that he takes feats to expand his pool of potential forms pokes holes in that

that being said, if i have to pull all the relevant stats together for a newbie, he isn't learning the game as much as following a pattern you set out for him, so i guess you're right

Actually, that's not a terrible idea. You could have maybe one or two common forms each for various things at, say 5th level when he gets the ability, then, when he levels up, you could go through the (hand)books with him to see his new options and guide him along the way, picking out his new options and all.

Yeah, it'd be a pain, but if it looks like he's got a quick grasp of the basics, I would go for it. If not, then avoid Wildshape altogether. If somewhere in between, go slower maybe with the 'shapes?

EDIT: TL;DR is really just a large "depends."