How's about some magic item advice.

[inexorabletruth]

My DM is giving us all a choice:
1. Discard a +1 magic item for a totally different +2 magic item.
2. Trade in my +1 magic item for two +1 magic items.
3. Upgrade my +1 magic item to a +2 magic item.

I'm looking to amp up the fun. At this point, I'm getting tired of wading through enemies without a scratch. We rolled stats (as opposed to using an array), and I got basically two good stats, so I built an Archery Ranger.

Here's the sheet (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=410937).

He may not look it, but he's nigh unbeatable. Most sessions, I take no damage. Nothing gets close to him. But, once he's in town, I'm bored. He's big, dumb, and socially awkward. His only real talent is in battle where I do crowd control while the fighter and barbie distract the boss. It's a dungeon delver campaign, so RP is hard to come by as it is. I took some feats that make him more of a spetsnaz style warrior (fantasy edition, so it looks more like the Matrix, really), which has made the battle a little more fun, and I've just learned about Skill Powers, which I'm going to use to take more advantage of his incredible Acrobat skills. But now, I'm trying to figure out what to do with him other than shoot things.

What can you recommend that will round out my character and make him more fun to play? Are there magic items that can bring a little fun to the group experience?

[Kurald Galain]

You can't go wrong with an Immovable Rod - you'd be amazed how versatile those are.

[incandescent]

Hedge wizard's gloves and magician's ring. Cantrips could offer some out of combat stuff for you to do.

[Onikani]

Reading Spectacles are fun too.
:)

Maybe spend your level 6 feat on ritual caster or alchemist to give you something else to do in town (Shopping!)

[tcrudisi]

A couple of things.

First, if you aren't taking any damage, you are doing it wrong. Yep, even as an archer. Your AC is good, but it's not as high as a defenders. If the enemy isn't getting anywhere near you, that's a testament to how you are playing, not how you are unbeatable.

Remember this: hit points and healing surges are a party resource. If, after the third combat, the Fighter and Barbarian are out of healing surges and you've not gotten hit once, you have to stop for the day. In combat, your healer (likely) only has two heals. If they both get used up healing the same person and that person still goes unconscious, the damage needs to be spread around. And it's your job, as a teammate, to take some of that damage to alleviate pressure on your other allies.

Yes, it's difficult to do properly. But you also have an incentive to do it: Prime Shot. Especially once you hit level 11 and suddenly you find that you'll get something like +2 to hit and +10 to damage for doing it.

As a Ranger, you'll find yourself mostly bored inside a city. That's not very surprising to me. But if you want to spice up your magic items, Hedge Wizards Gloves is a great first choice. I'm partial to Eternal Chalk. So much fun can be had with chalk that cannot be erased. Polyglot Gem is a minorly useful magic item. I'm not a fan of Reading Spectacles because I find that usually you need to communicate verbally.

However, the low level nature of this campaign is really reducing what we can suggest. What's the max level of the magic item that you can receive? 10? 6? That would help us suggest more.

Also: Cloak of Distortion was errata'ed. It now only gives its enhancement bonus as a penalty, not a set -5. Yes, it used to be one of the best neck items in the game. Now, at the +1 level, it only gives a -1 penalty.

Finally, as a suggestion: get training in Thievery. You are already trained in Stealth. Combine that with Thievery and it would give you something to do in town.

edit: I should not say "doing it wrong" when it comes to taking damage. I apologize. If you are having fun as the guy who never gets hit, that's how you have fun. I should say: 4e is a team based game and healing surges and health is a party resource. It needs to be spent as such. If you aren't using your healing surges and hit points, then you aren't contributing your fair share. The defenders job isn't to take all the damage; it's to take enough of the attacks so that no one is in any real danger. But if you take no damage, then you are forcing him to up his share more, which puts him in a more precarious situation.

[obryn]

it's your job, as a teammate, to take some of that damage to alleviate pressure on your other allies.

Yes, it's difficult to do properly. But you also have an incentive to do it: Prime Shot. Especially once you hit level 11 and suddenly you find that you'll get something like +2 to hit and +10 to damage for doing it.
This.

I had an Archer Ranger (using the Hunter instead of Archer class feature, because it's simply better; Sharpshooter is likewise a very good PP) in my high-paragon game.

Make it your job to run into combat and shoot things right in the face. Give yourself some escape options like Invigorating Stride or Step of Morning Mist, but run in there for your Prime Shot bonuses. Get them every round. Even a +1 to-hit is great when you're attacking twice.

If you REALLY want to buff your damage output and be a good team player, flank a monster with your party's Defender (assuming he has the monster marked) and then shoot them in the face. If they take an OA, the Defender will punish them. With everything you can stack on your AC vs OAs and the mark penalty, you're fairly unlikely to be hit. Either way, you get your Prime Shot bonuses.

-O

[inexorabletruth]

I don't have Prime Shot. I took the Hunter Fighting Style (From Martial Power 2) to get Running Attack so that I can have more combat RP and to aggro for AoOs when the party is starting to take too much of a beating (I am a team player :smalltongue:). The group chose the strategy. They want the Barbie and Fighter busting down the door, the Healbot in the back, and me bouncing around the room like Neo in the Matrix, blasting minions with Twin Strike so no one can get around to flanking the tanks. In rare cases, when a tank gets bloodied or dropped, I also serve as a backup healer, running in and doing heal checks. I tried playing my hand at advanced scout, nat 1'd on my Perception check and got us ambushed. They blamed me (they can't all come up 20s, sheesh) and made me take flank from that point on. :smallsigh: Que sera, sera.

He never stated a limit on the level; just on the bonuses. As I stated in post one:


My DM is giving us all a choice:
1. Discard a +1 magic item for a totally different +2 magic item.
2. Trade in my +1 magic item for two +1 magic items.
3. Upgrade my +1 magic item to a +2 magic item.

Anyway, thanks for the magic item suggestions. Do you have book references for Wizard's Gloves and Magician's Ring? I'm also a bit curious about the Immovable Rod. I didn't know non-casters could use rods in 4E.

[tcrudisi]

If it feels like I'm being abrasive, I apologize. That's not my intention. But I'm going to give some input here.

Incurring OA's is rarely a good thing. Why? Because the monster will only do it when it is beneficial to do so. Once they've taken one OA on you and realize how hard you are to hit, no intelligent monster will do it again. And they'll warn their friends. So you can move around all you like, but they aren't going to take that swing when it means your Fighter buddy gets to punch them in the face for it.

And, it doesn't draw any heat off of your allies. The monster uses up his OA for your turn. That doesn't mean that he can't OA next turn. In that regards, it doesn't help any.

You are giving the monster a choice. They can choose to do whatever they like with it. They will only take the OA if it is beneficial for them to do so. In that regards: incurring an OA is a bad thing.

Instead, to draw heat off your allies, you need to get close to the melee. Encourage the enemy to get in your face. You want to be close enough to draw some heat off your allies and yet just far enough away that you can escape if the heat becomes unbearable. That's why Prime Shot is such a great ability. If your DM will let you retrain into it, I'd do so, especially if this will hit paragon. A lot of your bonus damage will come from Prime Shot related feats. If you won't hit Paragon, it won't hurt quite as much. I'm speaking from an optimizers perspective, mind you, not from a RP perspective. Although from a RP perspective, there's not any real difference.

[inexorabletruth]

I feel like we're getting sidetracked. The strategy is what it is. The team wants it this way. What I want to know is:
What magic items can I use to round out my character's options?

Right now, he's kind of min-maxed for the game level, so I'm bored with him. I'm looking for new options that will be fun. I have lots of materials to pull from, but not a lot of knowledge about the materials. I sort of inherited them from a guy who quit D&D. I was just hoping you guys could recommend a magic item (sourcebook would be nice) that you've had fun with in the past that added a little spice to your character. I don't need to optimize Ash. He's already doing his job just fine. I just want to add a fun dynamic to the character. Perhaps he discovers some magical nature item that gives him the ability to speak with animals, or plants or something. Idk. I'm not sure what's out there.

Kurald Galain, incandescent, and Onikani are all making good suggestions. Thank you. Can you tell me where I might find these magical items, though?

[Tegu8788]

This (http://www.wizards.com/dndinsider/compendium/database.aspx) will tell you the basics about just about everything you want. The very basics. If the item is in multiple places, it will tell you it's in multiple places. Not what those places are, just that the item is in multiple places.

[INDYSTAR188]

I believe that the Enshrouding Candle (AV Lvl 7 wondrous item) might be interesting for you both outside of dungeons AND inside them. Especially if you're able to take Thievery. This everburning candle creates a dim corona of light that helps conceal you from foes.