Help with epic level Ranger 3.5

[Jgosse]

Me and some friends are picking up an old campaign and I need to rebuild my old character. We have to try and stay as close to the old character as possible for flavor.
I am building a 22nd level Githzeria ranger. He has fave enemy dragon, outsider Evil, and undead and blank.
There are no multi-classing penalties as it stands right now 14 levels of ranger 4 levels of scout and 4 deep wood sniper.
I am using the lone hunter and champion of the wild ACF. I can use any Wizards of the cost source.
hp is 260 skill points are 206

abilities
5 Str 14 +6 =20
15 Dex 18 +6 +6 +5 +5 =40
5 Con 14+0 +6 = 20
5 Int 16-2 +6 = 20
5 Wis 12+2 +6 = 20
3 cha 10 +6 = 16

I have 1.2 million gold.

I have already purchased: Modified Energy Bow
Price: 215,000 gp
Body Slot: — (held)
Caster Level: 6th
Aura: Moderate; (DC 18) evocation
Activation: See below
Weight: 3 lb.
Special Ability’s dragon bane, dragon hunter, hunting, and collision
Simply drawing your fingers in the air near this finely crafted bow causes it to be strung with an arrow of glimmering energy.
Hank’s energy bow acts as a +5 composite Greatbow that accommodates a user of any Strength. Although unstrung, it fires arrows of pure magical force that deal 2d6 points of damage. As they are force effects, the arrows do not suffer a miss chance when used against incorporeal creatures. The bow can be used to fire normal or magic arrows, but in such cases the bow does not confer its damage due to force. When drawn, the energy bow sheds light like a torch.
In addition, Hank can use the bow to make power shots. To do so, before making attack rolls, choose a number to subtract from your attack rolls up to Hank’s base attack and add this same number to the damage dealt by the bow with any attack that hits. The penalty on attack rolls and bonus on damage rolls last until Hank’s next turn.

+6 belt of magnificence 200k
Manual of gainful quickness+5 - 137.5k
Bracers of grater Archery 25k
Charm of Arrow minded 8k
Charm of Hunters mercy 32k
Quiver of plenty 18k
Mantal of great Stealth +30 hide and move silently, 20% concealment, and non-detection. 242k
eyes of the eagle 2.5k

880k


Feats1 Scout SF,FF,FF
2 ranger
3 scout 3LF
4 ranger
5 scout
6 ranger 6LF
7 scout 4LSBF
8 ranger 4LRBF
9 ranger 9LF
10 ranger
11 ranger
12 ranger 8LRBF 12LF
13 ranger
14 ranger
15 ranger 11 LRBF 15LF
16 ranger
17 ranger
18 ranger 14 LRBF 18LF
19 DWS
20 DWS
21 DWS Epic Feat
22 DWS



1 EWP great bow
2 Wf GB
3 Point blank shot
4 Animal Cohort
5 Weapon spec
6 Precise shot
7 Greater weapon focus
8 Far shot
9 Greater weapon spec
10 Improved Rapid Shot
11 Dead Eye
12 improved favored enemy
13 swift hunter
14
15 (Epic) Distant shot


So any other suggestions on what to take?

[Snowbluff]

Bow is build weird. It should be +1 Seeking Collision Distance Hank's Energy Bow and your ammo could be Raptor Arrows, which give Bane. For +5 never pay the GP amount. Always cast Greater Magic Weapon or use a Tooth or Leraje (Tome of Magic).

I like the Distracting Attack ACF from PHB 2. If you have Champion of the Wild, make sure to pick up some UMD so you can use Wands.

[gorfnab]

What about a Swift Hunter (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=103.0)?

Swift Hunter
1. Scout - Point Blank Shot
2. Scout
3. Scout - Precise Shot
4. Ranger - (Arcane Hunter ACF), B: Track
5. Scout - B: Swift Hunter
6. Scout - Improved Skirmish
7. Ranger - B: Rapid Shot
8. Ranger - B: Endurance
9. Ranger - (Distracting Attack ACF), Sword of the Arcane Order
10. Ranger
11. Ranger - B: Manyshot
12. Ranger - Greater Manyshot
13. Ranger
14. Ranger - (Spell Reflection ACF)
15. Ranger - Nemesis: Arcanists
16. Ranger - B: Improved Precise Shot
17. Ranger
18. Ranger - Darkstalker
19. Ranger
20. Ranger

These two archery handbooks may have some useful information as well.
Archery Handbook (http://www.brilliantgameologists.com/boards/?topic=642.0)
Archer Build Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284283)

[Jgosse]

Bow is build weird. It should be +1 Seeking Collision Distance Hank's Energy Bow and your ammo could be Raptor Arrows, which give Bane. For +5 never pay the GP amount. Always cast Greater Magic Weapon or use a Tooth or Leraje (Tome of Magic).

I like the Distracting Attack ACF from PHB 2. If you have Champion of the Wild, make sure to pick up some UMD so you can use Wands.

Distance and seeking are kinda useless in this build. my Epic Feat "Distant shot" is far better it allows me to hit anything I see with no range penalty at all. Seeking is only slightly better then Improved precise shot so I won't bother. The bow build is partially for flavor as part of this character is that he hates Evil dragons with every fiber of his being. for Ammo I am trying to find the quiver of unlimited every thing but adamantine, that you only get 5 times a day. Greater magic weapon is no good because I need to balance the bow +5 +5.

as for the UMD My DM allows custom magic Items so for the 2 or 3 spells I will miss I will create magic Items that have no body slot. He is allowing them to be called bow charms and are attached to the bow.

[Soranar]

Instead of dragon as a favored enemy, use the ACF that targets arcanists instead (covers all dragons since they all cast spells + everyone else who casts spells)

I would second the suggestion for a swift hunter build. With arcanist, undead, constructs, elementals and plants you cover every crit immune creature you're likely to encounter and your damage output will be considerably higher.

Something like Scout 4, Ranger X would be a perfect combination for that

The ACF that can trade your animal companion for a familiar like creature would also be worth it for you: the familiar like creature is way more survivable and can serve as a decent scout

as for other feats, the feat sword of the arcane order also works for rangers (you must worship Mystra though) and lets you cast arcane spells up to level 4, which is always handy.

And finally hank's energy bow is a must for any high level archer: force arrows are always required at that level and power shots are also very useful

[Jgosse]

Instead of dragon as a favored enemy, use the ACF that targets arcanists instead (covers all dragons since they all cast spells + everyone else who casts spells)

I would second the suggestion for a swift hunter build. With arcanist, undead, constructs, elementals and plants you cover every crit immune creature you're likely to encounter and your damage output will be considerably higher.

Something like Scout 4, Ranger X would be a perfect combination for that

The ACF that can trade your animal companion for a familiar like creature would also be worth it for you: the familiar like creature is way more survivable and can serve as a decent scout

as for other feats, the feat sword of the arcane order also works for rangers (you must worship Mystra though) and lets you cast arcane spells up to level 4, which is always handy.

And finally hank's energy bow is a must for any high level archer: force arrows are always required at that level and power shots are also very useful


arcanists is interesting but it won't work on dragon type creatures who are not casters and that falls from the flavor.

As for hanks energy bow I have this now

Modified Energy Bow
Price: 215,000 gp
Body Slot: — (held)
Caster Level: 6th
Aura: Moderate; (DC 18) evocation
Activation: See below
Weight: 3 lb.
Special Ability’s dragon bane, dragon hunter, hunting, and collision
Simply drawing your fingers in the air near this finely crafted bow causes it to be strung with an arrow of glimmering energy.
Hank’s energy bow acts as a +5 composite Greatbow that accommodates a user of any Strength. Although unstrung, it fires arrows of pure magical force that deal 2d6 points of damage. As they are force effects, the arrows do not suffer a miss chance when used against incorporeal creatures. The bow can be used to fire normal or magic arrows, but in such cases the bow does not confer its damage due to force. When drawn, the energy bow sheds light like a torch.
In addition, Hank can use the bow to make power shots. To do so, before making attack rolls, choose a number to subtract from your attack rolls up to Hank’s base attack and add this same number to the damage dealt by the bow with any attack that hits. The penalty on attack rolls and bonus on damage rolls last until Hank’s next turn.

[Snowbluff]

Greater magic weapon is no good because I need to balance the bow +5 +5. Um... is this a homebrew thing? That kind of sucks. :smallfrown:


as for the UMD My DM allows custom magic Items so for the 2 or 3 spells I will miss I will create magic Items that have no body slot. He is allowing them to be called bow charms and are attached to the bow.

That certainly helps.

[Jgosse]

What about a Swift Hunter (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=103.0)?

Swift Hunter
1. Scout - Point Blank Shot
2. Scout
3. Scout - Precise Shot
4. Ranger - (Arcane Hunter ACF), B: Track
5. Scout - B: Swift Hunter
6. Scout - Improved Skirmish
7. Ranger - B: Rapid Shot
8. Ranger - B: Endurance
9. Ranger - (Distracting Attack ACF), Sword of the Arcane Order
10. Ranger
11. Ranger - B: Manyshot
12. Ranger - Greater Manyshot
13. Ranger
14. Ranger - (Spell Reflection ACF)
15. Ranger - Nemesis: Arcanists
16. Ranger - B: Improved Precise Shot
17. Ranger
18. Ranger - Darkstalker
19. Ranger
20. Ranger

These two archery handbooks may have some useful information as well.
Archery Handbook (http://www.brilliantgameologists.com/boards/?topic=642.0)
Archer Build Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284283)


While I am a fan of the swift hunter build I am not liking it for this character. unless my DM allows me to use it with the sniper ACF for the scout.

[Bronk]

It looks like you're really interested in hunting dragons! What does the 'Dragon Hunter' weapon enchantment do, and where is it from? I have a few suggestions as well...

When you modify your 'Hank's energy bow', you might want to add 'magebane', which would help against true dragons and all other spell casters. You could also look at 'holy' and 'blessed'. If you can't fit it all in, take the minimum the bow could have, add the enchantments, then bring it up to +5 with a permanencied 'greater magic weapon' spell from scrolls.

You might look into getting the 'improved favored enemy' feat from CW. Adds +3 to all FE bonuses of all of your FEs.

You might want to look at the 'Girdle of Hate' from Dragon 314. Every morning you choose a favored enemy, and the bonuses against them are doubled for the day.

[Jgosse]

It looks like you're really interested in hunting dragons! What does the 'Dragon Hunter' weapon enchantment do, and where is it from? it is from MIC it increses your crit multiplier by 1 so for this guy that is x5 and dealls 1 point of str damage per hit. but only on dragons.


When you modify your 'Hank's energy bow', you might want to add 'magebane', which would help against true dragons and all other spell casters. You could also look at 'holy' and 'blessed'. If you can't fit it all in, take the minimum the bow could have, add the enchantments, then bring it up to +5 with a permanencied 'greater magic weapon' spell from scrolls. we have a house rule that you have to have both sides balanced so it has to be +5 +5


You might look into getting the 'improved favored enemy' feat from CW. Adds +3 to all FE bonuses of all of your FEs. I had planed on taking it and with lone hunter it has double the effect.


You might want to look at the 'Girdle of Hate' from Dragon 314. Every morning you choose a favored enemy, and the bonuses against them are doubled for the day. While that is nice my current belt is much more useful.