Drow ranger help (Not drizzit)

[chrisgray86]

Hey guys I am in a 3.5 campaign right now and am currently a level 6 Ranger who happens to be a drow. It was not on purpose I wanted to be a drow and then we found a prestige class I liked well the class could either be cleric or ranger and we already had a cleric so I went ranger and I like all the attacks the ranger gets its pretty cool. But anyway is there any good equipment that would benifit my ranger. I am using studed leather armor so It does not bring down my +5 dex and A +1 rapier and then a rapier that gives me + 1 to attack rolls but its not magic. And I have a +4 Strength bow. I specialized in two weapon fighting. So would there be any cool toys that would make things more interesting?

[Chilingsworth]

Well, the best ranger-specific item I know of is the Spirit Enemy Pouch from the Magic Item Compendium (Pg. 97) It increases you favored enemy bonus for one type of creature by 2, and gives you +1 to attacks against that creature type. Alternatively, you can use it to effectively add another favored enemy (though it will always be at a +2 bonus unless you take it as an actual favored enemy.) The think only costs 2,100 gp. Also, the magic item guidelines in the DMG indicate that you might be able to make it an unslotted item by doubblinng its price (check with you DM before trying this.) It's normally a neck slot item. Even if you can't get it unslotted, you can get multiple examples to use when you fight different creature types.

Additionally, the hunting weapon property (Magic Item Compendium, Pg 36) is a +1 property that increases the damage you deal to any favored enemy by 4.

Other than those items, I'd consider items that boost your search and survival skills, to aid in tracking.

As for Armor, I'd get blueshined (MIC Pg 9) Nimble (MIC Pg 13) Mithril Breastplate For light armor that gives +6 ac (assuming you make it +1) has a max dex of +6, and no armor check penalty. Also, it will be immune to rust attacks and the like, and give you a +2 bonus to hide checks.

EDIT: If your DM allows use of material from Dragon Magazine, I'd suggest you have your mithril breastplate comissioned with the reninforced and segmented properties, which improve the ac bonus and max dex bonus by +1 respectively.

[Darrin]

As for Armor, I'd get blueshined (MIC Pg 9) Nimble (MIC Pg 13) Mithril Breastplate For light armor that gives +6 ac (assuming you make it +1) has a max dex of +6, and no armor check penalty. Also, it will be immune to rust attacks and the like, and give you a +2 bonus to hide checks.


Instead of Blueshine, add the Durable property (500 GP, Dungeonscape) for 1/3rd the cost, and slightly better protection (Blueshine doesn't protect against green slime).

A mithral breastplate has a Max Dex Bonus of +5 and an ACP of -1, so Nimbleness may not be entirely necessary. However, you can combine Nimbleness with Hellforged (DMGII) on a Mithral Tumbler's Breastplate (Races of Stone) to get a +2 circumstance bonus to Tumble checks.

450 GP, Tumbler's Breastplate
4000 GP, Mithral (medium armor)
1000 GP, Hellforged template
--------
5450 GP

AB: +5 MDB: +5 ACP: 0 ASF: 20% SPD: 30 WT: 15#

While this is Exotic Armor that requires the Exotic Armor Proficiency feat to wear without a penalty, the ACP is zero and thus the non-proficiency penalty is zero.

You can get a slighty better armor bonus (+6) with a Chain Shirt + Dastana + Chahar-Aina (Oriental Adventures), although some DMs don't allow this. Cheaper, too, although you may have to throw mithral or darkleaf on the chahar-aina to have it still count as light armor.

100 GP, Chain Shirt
750 GP, Darkleaf

25 GP, Dastana
150 GP, Masterwork

75 GP, Chahar-Aina
2250 GP, Darkleaf (medium armor)
-------
3350 GP total

AB: +6 MDB: +5 ACP: 0 ASF: 20% SPD: 30 WT: 40#

As for equipment, get an Elvencraft Longbow (300 GP, Races of the Wild) and put two Wand Chambers into it (100 GP, Dungeonscape), and a Wand Chamber in each of your melee weapons. Start collecting some 1st level wands, in particular:

Blades of Fire (Spell Compendium, Rgr/Sor/Wiz 1). Swift action, +1d8 fire damage on two melee weapons for 1 round.

Instant of Power (Forge of War, Brd/Dru/Rgr 1). As an immediate action, grant an ally (including yourself) a +4 enhancement bonus on the next attack, save, or damage roll.

Haste, Swift (Spell Compendium, Rgr 2). Awesomesauce on toast, and unlike other swift spells, this one lasts 1d4 rounds.

Hunter's Eye (PHBII, Rgr 2). +1d6 sneak attack for every 3 caster levels... which, unfortunately for Rangers, is going to suck, but still worth +1d6 or +2d6 here and there.

Start saving towards items and enhancements that add energy damage to your attacks. Lesser Crystals of Acid Assault (3000 GP, MIC) are going to be the most affordable at first, then you can stack them with Flaming, Psychokinetic, Screaming, etc. Gloves of the Uldra Savant (3100 GP, MIC) can add Frost 3/day for 5 rounds, Bracers of Lightning (11000 GP, MIC) can add Shock as a swift action every round.

[herrhauptmann]

Darrin,
Why doesn't blue shine protect against green slime? Isn't it just another rust or acid attack?
I'd also recommend against energy damage like flaming unless you know you'll have enemies with weaknesses to it, like flaming in an arctic game. With just a little bit of resistance, they'll ignore your flame/frost weapon, and with how costs increase, you'll beggar yourself putting elemental damage on your weapon.
Crystals offset some of that, but there's better choices out there.

Everbright weapons are good for resistance to acid/rust too. Ignore the blind effect unless you're against mooks. Every time I used it, only my allies in range failed the save. :smallmad:

The feats favored power attack and nemesis. Doublehit, and improved/greater combat reflexes for a full attack on a single AOO. If your umd is high enough, and you get a wand of invisibility or some other way of guaranteeing invisibility: spectral skirmisher.

Check the link in my sig, weapon effects. Lots of different things there, though avoid life-drinker if you don't have soulfire armor.

[Lonely Tylenol]

A mithral chain shirt costs 1,100gp (100gp for the chain shirt + 1,000gp for the mithral make of light armor), and can be fairly easily made into a +1, which gives you 5 AC with a max DEX of 6 for 2,100gp. This will serve you well until your DEX is high enough that you actually need to pursue other options, like silkweave, in the later levels.

What feats and ability scores do you have for your character? There are things that I want to suggest based on what I already know (feycraft light weapons, certain weapon enhancements), but they may not be suitable for your character based on the bigger picture.

[Darrin]

Darrin,
Why doesn't blue shine protect against green slime? Isn't it just another rust or acid attack?


Nope. Per the DMG, it's untyped damage:

"Against wood or metal, green slime deals 2d6 points of damage per round, ignoring metal’s hardness but not that of wood. It does not harm stone."

Even if it were acid damage, Durable is still 1000 GP cheaper than Blueshine.

[herrhauptmann]

Nope. Per the DMG, it's untyped damage:

"Against wood or metal, green slime deals 2d6 points of damage per round, ignoring metal’s hardness but not that of wood. It does not harm stone."

Even if it were acid damage, Durable is still 1000 GP cheaper than Blueshine.

Is the green slime a monster? Because I'm not seeing it. http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/monsters.htm Not under traps either.

[Darrin]

Is the green slime a monster? Because I'm not seeing it. http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/monsters.htm Not under traps either.

Under "Dungeon Ecology", DMG p. 76, directly after the Trap section.

Green slime, yellow mold, and brown mold aren't exactly creatures, objects, or traps, although they can be treated as such under various circumstances. Per the DMG: "For purposes of spells and other special effects, all slimes, molds, and fungi are treated as plants. Like traps, dangerous slimes and molds have CRs, and characters earn XP for encountering them."

They are treated as plants or living matter for most effects, but don't have stat blocks and thus aren't considered "creatures". Another nice trick: you can get rid of green slime with Defoliator (20 GP, A&EG), which can be thrown as a splash weapon that instantly kills any normal non-creature plants medium-sized or smaller on a direct hit, and kills any normal non-creature plants smaller than medium-size in a 5' splash radius.

(Your DM may try and weasel around this by claiming the patch dropping on you is larger than medium-sized or that green slime is not a "normal" plant, but in that case he's most likely just trying to be a d-bag, and you've probably got much bigger problems with him than arguing over semantics.)

[herrhauptmann]

Ecology section of the SRD, gotchya.
I'm away my books, so page numbers don't help me much.

I know dungeonscape has a similar trap, higher level though. Some sort of ooze that auto destroys pretty much everything you've got that isn't immune to acid damage. As a warrior, I was very glad I had everbright and blueshine, so I've been assuming they were proof against ALL ooze types.
I felt bad for the psion. Lost everything, including his underwear.

[chrisgray86]

A mithral chain shirt costs 1,100gp (100gp for the chain shirt + 1,000gp for the mithral make of light armor), and can be fairly easily made into a +1, which gives you 5 AC with a max DEX of 6 for 2,100gp. This will serve you well until your DEX is high enough that you actually need to pursue other options, like silkweave, in the later levels.

What feats and ability scores do you have for your character? There are things that I want to suggest based on what I already know (feycraft light weapons, certain weapon enhancements), but they may not be suitable for your character based on the bigger picture.

Sorry got lost in all the cool stuff that people posted......

Feats include Daylight Adaptation, Stealthy (needed for a prestige class) and Weapon finease. Ones given to me are Track, two weapon fighting, endourance, and improved two weapon fighting.

Abilitys include STR 17 DEX 20 Con 13 Int 15 Wis 15 Cha 14

[herrhauptmann]

Boost that str asap, until you do, you take a penalty with +4 str bow.