Easy_Lee
2015-05-06, 08:40 PM
So here's a fun idea I had for a build. This build hinges on two largely overlooked ranger features to create an interesting, effective build: Natural Explorer and Giant Killer.
Concept
Meet Mighty Max, or Maxy for short. He's a stout halfling who kills big things. We'll be mixing rogue (Thief) with Ranger (Hunter) to have some fun with an unusual cross-class combo.
Race / Stats / Skills / Background
Race is stout halfling, but only because it fits the theme. Wood elf actually has the best stat breakdown for this build, and variant human would do fine too.
For stat breakdown, DEX > WIS > CON > STR. I'll use point buy, since the standard array is BS for anyone with more than one dedicated statistic. Using 25-point buy (same as the standard array uses), I'll take 14 STR, 14->16 DEX, 13->14 CON, 8 INT, 15 WIS, 8 CHA. This is not an unreasonable starting stat estimation. If you have to use standard array, do what you can with it.
For skills, we want athletics and stealth. All other skills are up to you, though wisdom and dexterity skills will work very well. In particular, I would make sure to include sleight of hand, perception, and survival. You can get one of the latter two from ranger when you multiclass (the multiclass rules are kind for multiclassing into ranger).
Background is up to you, just pick what you want based on the skills you want.
Level Breakdown
1-4: Rogue to Thief. Nothing fancy here. Take +2 DEX at level 4, and take expertise in stealth and athletics. Use a rapier. We're doing pretty good right now; rogues, thieves in particular, are fantastic at low levels. Let's make it better.
5-7: Ranger time. We qualify for the multiclass with our high dexterity and wisdom scores. From the multiclass, we gain a skill, shield proficiency, medium armor, and martial weapons. That's a really nice set of bonuses just for multiclassing into ranger. We won't be wearing medium armor just yet; stick to studded. Take up a buckler in your offhand, bringing your AC to 18. Not even bad for 5th level. Pick a large favored enemy, such as giants or dragons. Pick a favored terrain that you think will come up often in the campaign (by level 4, you should have some idea).
Here's the fun thing about natural explorer: while in his favored terrain, the ranger can move stealthily at a normal pace and effectively has expertise on proficient wisdom and intelligence checks related to the terrain. From favored enemy, we also have advantage on survival checks used to track a favored enemy. That means that, if we're searching for our favored giant enemy, and he's in our favored terrain, we're going to find him. Not only that, we'll be able to find just about anything in there, moving the plot right along in the direction we want it to go (which is always going to be towards the next big thing you want to kill).
At ranger 2, take the armored or dueling fighting style; your choice, though I prefer armored because it benefits a high-AC character. This brings AC to 19.
At ranger 3, take the hunter archetype. Choose Giant Killer as your perk. This lets you take a reaction attack against any large or larger creature within 5 feet hits or misses us with an attack. Spotted the synergy with rogue, yet?
We also now have three first level spells known, and three spell slots to use them with. Pick ensnaring strike, hunter's mark, and your choice (I like fog cloud for obvious reasons).
And because of thief, we can still move our rapier to our shield hand any time we want to drop caltrops, pick some pockets, disable a trap, arm and drop a disabled trap that we picked up earlier, or whatever we like.
8+: And right back to rogue. That was a fun little venture. We now have a favored large enemy, and a favored terrain in which to kill him. We're sitting on 19AC with our kickass rapier, shield, and armored fighting style. How can we make this better?
Well, uncanny dodge certainly isn't going to hurt. Now, if we take a hit from someone other than a large target, we can use our reaction to halve that damage. That plus 19AC is very good tankiness. We'll also get more expertise (perception would be one of my choices), more sneak attack, and evasion by character level 10. Then 11 happens, and we get our second ASI. Bit of a delay on that, but it's going to be worth it. Take Medium Armor Master, and pick up some half-plate (preferably, half plate made from the bones or scales of your favored enemy). Now our AC is 21, and we can sneak in that crap. Now that's nice.
Everything is good from here on out. We get excellent rogue features every level, more ASIs (take observant for awesome bonuses and an extra boost to our WIS), we continue to tank so well that the fighter's jealous, and we're still getting sneak attack all the time. And we have a great capstone to look forward to: the level 17 thief ability to take two turns at the start of any combat. If your favored large enemy was dead before, he's even deader now.
Playstyle
With our ranger slots, we can drop hunter's mark for when we want to hit just a bit harder (the big boss), and drop ensnaring strike on anyone who's prone to running away but not strong enough to make the save (such as spell casters). We can also belt the buckler any time we want to grapple with someone, using expertise to ensure that they aren't getting away anytime soon. Try using this tactic to latch onto the back of your giant target and see how your DM feels about it; it should make for a fun little moment.
Obviously, we're searching for sneak attack opportunities every step of the way. That means that we want the large targets attacking us. Consider taking the Sentinel feat, if you can afford it, to ensure that they don't have much choice (it creates a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for any large target in your range; he has no choice but to take a reaction attack from you if he makes an attack his turn).
Since we have such high dexterity and wisdom, and expertise in perception and stealth, we both notice and avoid pretty much everything that the DM chooses to throw our way. In our favored terrain, nothing can hide from us for long, particularly not our favored enemy. Make sure that you're using active perception checks every chance you get, just to see if you notice anything out of place. Take insight too if you want to really bring the RP element into dialog.
Also, insist that everyone use your full name or Maxy when addressing you. Don't let them forget that they're talking to Mighty Max.
Variants
You can drop medium armor mastery and armored in favored of sentinel and the two weapon fighting style. This type of rogue can pull an interesting combination where he uses his main attack to shove a target prone, then his TWF bonus to attack. The shove action doesn't specify that it can't be done with a weapon, and is an attack, meaning that this works by the RAW. However, you'll have to check with your DM to see what he thinks. This variant will do more damage overall, having an extra source of generating sneak attacks, though you won't have anywhere near 21 AC (17 after you max dexterity, assuming no magical boons).
You can take 5 levels of ranger for extra attack. This variation is better in the short term, since extra attack boosts our DPR and chance of landing SA by quite a bit. In the long run, it won't get as many rogue features, nor will it get them as quickly, and doesn't get a good capstone.
You can also take 8 levels of ranger for unbroken ASI progression, more ranger spells, and Multiattack defense. This is an extremely tanky option, though if I was going to do it I would rather play a barbarian / ranger mix.
Weaknesses
Ranged attackers and charisma / int saves are no fun. Our strength save isn't too great either, which could be bad if we aren't actively keeping an eye out for oozes and the like. The build has a lot of choices for bonus action, which could lead to analysis-paralysis in some cases.
Concept
Meet Mighty Max, or Maxy for short. He's a stout halfling who kills big things. We'll be mixing rogue (Thief) with Ranger (Hunter) to have some fun with an unusual cross-class combo.
Race / Stats / Skills / Background
Race is stout halfling, but only because it fits the theme. Wood elf actually has the best stat breakdown for this build, and variant human would do fine too.
For stat breakdown, DEX > WIS > CON > STR. I'll use point buy, since the standard array is BS for anyone with more than one dedicated statistic. Using 25-point buy (same as the standard array uses), I'll take 14 STR, 14->16 DEX, 13->14 CON, 8 INT, 15 WIS, 8 CHA. This is not an unreasonable starting stat estimation. If you have to use standard array, do what you can with it.
For skills, we want athletics and stealth. All other skills are up to you, though wisdom and dexterity skills will work very well. In particular, I would make sure to include sleight of hand, perception, and survival. You can get one of the latter two from ranger when you multiclass (the multiclass rules are kind for multiclassing into ranger).
Background is up to you, just pick what you want based on the skills you want.
Level Breakdown
1-4: Rogue to Thief. Nothing fancy here. Take +2 DEX at level 4, and take expertise in stealth and athletics. Use a rapier. We're doing pretty good right now; rogues, thieves in particular, are fantastic at low levels. Let's make it better.
5-7: Ranger time. We qualify for the multiclass with our high dexterity and wisdom scores. From the multiclass, we gain a skill, shield proficiency, medium armor, and martial weapons. That's a really nice set of bonuses just for multiclassing into ranger. We won't be wearing medium armor just yet; stick to studded. Take up a buckler in your offhand, bringing your AC to 18. Not even bad for 5th level. Pick a large favored enemy, such as giants or dragons. Pick a favored terrain that you think will come up often in the campaign (by level 4, you should have some idea).
Here's the fun thing about natural explorer: while in his favored terrain, the ranger can move stealthily at a normal pace and effectively has expertise on proficient wisdom and intelligence checks related to the terrain. From favored enemy, we also have advantage on survival checks used to track a favored enemy. That means that, if we're searching for our favored giant enemy, and he's in our favored terrain, we're going to find him. Not only that, we'll be able to find just about anything in there, moving the plot right along in the direction we want it to go (which is always going to be towards the next big thing you want to kill).
At ranger 2, take the armored or dueling fighting style; your choice, though I prefer armored because it benefits a high-AC character. This brings AC to 19.
At ranger 3, take the hunter archetype. Choose Giant Killer as your perk. This lets you take a reaction attack against any large or larger creature within 5 feet hits or misses us with an attack. Spotted the synergy with rogue, yet?
We also now have three first level spells known, and three spell slots to use them with. Pick ensnaring strike, hunter's mark, and your choice (I like fog cloud for obvious reasons).
And because of thief, we can still move our rapier to our shield hand any time we want to drop caltrops, pick some pockets, disable a trap, arm and drop a disabled trap that we picked up earlier, or whatever we like.
8+: And right back to rogue. That was a fun little venture. We now have a favored large enemy, and a favored terrain in which to kill him. We're sitting on 19AC with our kickass rapier, shield, and armored fighting style. How can we make this better?
Well, uncanny dodge certainly isn't going to hurt. Now, if we take a hit from someone other than a large target, we can use our reaction to halve that damage. That plus 19AC is very good tankiness. We'll also get more expertise (perception would be one of my choices), more sneak attack, and evasion by character level 10. Then 11 happens, and we get our second ASI. Bit of a delay on that, but it's going to be worth it. Take Medium Armor Master, and pick up some half-plate (preferably, half plate made from the bones or scales of your favored enemy). Now our AC is 21, and we can sneak in that crap. Now that's nice.
Everything is good from here on out. We get excellent rogue features every level, more ASIs (take observant for awesome bonuses and an extra boost to our WIS), we continue to tank so well that the fighter's jealous, and we're still getting sneak attack all the time. And we have a great capstone to look forward to: the level 17 thief ability to take two turns at the start of any combat. If your favored large enemy was dead before, he's even deader now.
Playstyle
With our ranger slots, we can drop hunter's mark for when we want to hit just a bit harder (the big boss), and drop ensnaring strike on anyone who's prone to running away but not strong enough to make the save (such as spell casters). We can also belt the buckler any time we want to grapple with someone, using expertise to ensure that they aren't getting away anytime soon. Try using this tactic to latch onto the back of your giant target and see how your DM feels about it; it should make for a fun little moment.
Obviously, we're searching for sneak attack opportunities every step of the way. That means that we want the large targets attacking us. Consider taking the Sentinel feat, if you can afford it, to ensure that they don't have much choice (it creates a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for any large target in your range; he has no choice but to take a reaction attack from you if he makes an attack his turn).
Since we have such high dexterity and wisdom, and expertise in perception and stealth, we both notice and avoid pretty much everything that the DM chooses to throw our way. In our favored terrain, nothing can hide from us for long, particularly not our favored enemy. Make sure that you're using active perception checks every chance you get, just to see if you notice anything out of place. Take insight too if you want to really bring the RP element into dialog.
Also, insist that everyone use your full name or Maxy when addressing you. Don't let them forget that they're talking to Mighty Max.
Variants
You can drop medium armor mastery and armored in favored of sentinel and the two weapon fighting style. This type of rogue can pull an interesting combination where he uses his main attack to shove a target prone, then his TWF bonus to attack. The shove action doesn't specify that it can't be done with a weapon, and is an attack, meaning that this works by the RAW. However, you'll have to check with your DM to see what he thinks. This variant will do more damage overall, having an extra source of generating sneak attacks, though you won't have anywhere near 21 AC (17 after you max dexterity, assuming no magical boons).
You can take 5 levels of ranger for extra attack. This variation is better in the short term, since extra attack boosts our DPR and chance of landing SA by quite a bit. In the long run, it won't get as many rogue features, nor will it get them as quickly, and doesn't get a good capstone.
You can also take 8 levels of ranger for unbroken ASI progression, more ranger spells, and Multiattack defense. This is an extremely tanky option, though if I was going to do it I would rather play a barbarian / ranger mix.
Weaknesses
Ranged attackers and charisma / int saves are no fun. Our strength save isn't too great either, which could be bad if we aren't actively keeping an eye out for oozes and the like. The build has a lot of choices for bonus action, which could lead to analysis-paralysis in some cases.