Sharp Shooting Ranger

[UHF]

So for Hoard of The Dragon Queen, one of my players has decided to take a Human (variant) Ranger (Forest, Kobolds) with the Sharp Shooter feat. That feat is dynamite with a long bow.. 600 foot range, full attack bonus, ignore all but full cover. That means that from the Keep, he can pretty much hit and drop anything.

Other Party members... Dwarven Evoker (wearing armor, and carrying a big hammer), Dwarven Fighter Champion (Heavy Armour), Elven Monk (mook?), Elven Rogue (Arcane Trickster), and a Copper Dragon Born Paladin (of Bahamut). The back story is that all (but the ranger) were in a thieves guild but weren't really that good at it, so they went on the be caravan guards. (All can sneak.)

There's no cleric but I expect the Ranger and Paladin to pick up the healing slack.

[JamesT]

I wonder how realistic this really is in play, however. I mean, being 600 feet away puts you very far away from the party - is it realistic to assume you are safe? How about if there is a surprise attack where you are positioned?

Really depends on the DM and adventure you are playing.

[hymer]

There's also the issue of being unable to shoot what you can't see. The DM should let the distances reflect opposed stealth/perception rolls somehow. It should be a lot easier to hide from someone at that range than when you're near them. There are also plenty of environments (dungeons being a noteworthy one) where there's no way you notice someone at 600', and the encounter starts instead when you're much closer.
Finally, the DM should let the ranger have his day in the sun now and again. But also make sure the player is keeping track of how many arrows s/he's has.

[Shadow]

You've got six players. Tell one of them to play a bard/cleric/druid.
It is in their best interest to do so. The first few levels of that advanture are brutal.
If you use the milestone alternate leveling system then it will be better though. If they do not want to have a dedicated healer in a party of six, I recommend using milestones.

[UHF]

You've got six players. Tell one of them to play a bard/cleric/druid.
It is in their best interest to do so. The first few levels of that advanture are brutal.
If you use the milestone alternate leveling system then it will be better though. If they do not want to have a dedicated healer in a party of six, I recommend using milestones.
Thanks. I'm of the opinion that the character's damage output will dramatically increase over those first few levels. In addition their defense will also increase a lot. (Dwarf Wizard can't afford good armor just yet.) Cure spells appear at level 2 for both the Ranger and the Paladin. (Paladin isn't the brightest player, so this could be an issue.) Monk is well, ahem, useless at level 1.

I figure the first component of the adventure will pretty much be won by the Ranger. He can peg Kobolds at will. He can shoot the dragon all he wants.

I feel that the biggest component is whether the players choose to think their way through it. I'm not convinced they are all that swift. :smalltongue: The smartest player is the Wizard, and she seems to have an excellent grasp of tactics.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Unless you're always going to be on open ground in an elevated position you probably won't have 600' of visibility most of the time. Nor should you probably allow paranoia level constant Perception checks or whatever, so the ranges can easily be a fraction of that potential

However you've seemed to have encountered a mild example why letting that variant human rule fly is really powerful. That Ranger has a 16 Dex and Archery Style they can Power Attack with a positive to hit bonus even. Feats are not the half measures they were before, 5E ones are equivalent to like 2-3 worth of 3.5/PF ones and even then it was enough to make human a great choice at anything.

So if you're concerned (which I infer from posting something like this) maybe you don't allow the feat until level 4.

[UHF]

I played the first time on Sunday, and the game was great. The Ranger rocked, but not overly so. The Monk got lucky and did OK.

But mostly, my players did a little thinking and solved numerous problems with skillful luck. (Rogue used Mage Hand to open the back door (grate) over top of the Rat Swarms, and the Wizard used Thunder Wave to blast the rats out the tube. It was a big fricken rat cannon.)