Help planning out my Ranger/Rogue/Wizard

[MitchellTyner]

So I'm new to D&D as a whole and really really new to 5th edition. My plan was to build a wizard that wears armor and a sword/board. Well that evolved into Ranger classes because I like the fluff etc. But I also noticed that I could take some Rogue and make the class very nice sneaky with wonderful abilities to aid in my dex build. So basically at the end of the last session I went up to level 2 and need some help.

Right now my character is this:
Vareint human with first feat being Lucky.
Urchin Background
STR 10
DEX 16
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 12
CHA 8

So basically I am going into the hunter subclass for the ranger but I need to know what would be the best level progression for this ranger, also after our first session I think I'm going to be using the bow a lot more than the sword and board simply because I can stay at range, and if rogue I can sneak attack the guys that the fighters are fighting and sling some spells when I need to.

So give me some advice folks!
Thanks!

Looking at the Ranger and the Rogue, they both look very good up to level 7. I mean Horde breaker and escape the horde looks amazing, and the rogue gets some of the abilities at level 3-7 that the ranger has to wait for level 14 to get such as evasion etc. But at the end of the day I want to sling spells around as well, wizard spells like fireball and lightning bolts etc. Plus my summon familiar :)

[Dralnu]

I would recommend sticking with Ranger until level 5 for Extra Attack. It's a huge damage boost, and if you start multiclassing before then you'll be behind in damage when everyone is getting Extra Attack before you. After that, you can keep on with Hunter Ranger, which is solid, or start branching out.


But at the end of the day I want to sling spells around as well, wizard spells like fireball and lightning bolts etc. Plus my summon familiar :)

It depends what you mean by slinging spells. If you want specifically fireball and lightning bolt, you'll need at least 5 levels of wizard. While the Wizard does give you cool spells, I wouldn't recommend it as a dip, because the Ranger wants to pewpew with a bow and the Wizard wants to pewpew with spells; for the most part you have to choose one or the other.

Also note that the Ranger does get spells, and some of them are cool, like Lightning Arrow.

You could dip into Rogue, specifically Arcane Trickster. That gives you Sneak Attack damage to your pewpew bow, but it also gives you some spells to work with, and you can pick up a familiar.

You can also pick up a familiar going straight Ranger by taking the Magic Initiate feat at level 4.

[DivisibleByZero]

You can't multiclass ranger with a 12 wisdom without DM fiat allowing it. Needs to be 13.

This is a combination that I was considering for a character as well. I was thinking about:
arcane trickster 13 / hunter 5 / (undecided specialty) wizard 2

As to above^, the wizard levels give some rituals and fix the deficit from AT, turning him into an half caster as far as slots are concerned, while also offering a few more spells available. An increased number of lower level spells, but higher level slots (and more slots) to use them in.
Less power, much more versatility.

[Mandragola]

I'd recommend going either full wizard or not wizard much at all. The problem you'd have with a multiclass like this is that by the time you could actually do a spell, the monsters you'd be throwing it at would be so powerful they wouldn't mind very much.

Ranger/rogue is a solid option and straight ranger does get some cool spells, as already mentioned. Taking a single level in wizard could be good, as it would give you your familiar, but going beyond that probably doesn't make sense. Level 2 for a specialisation like divination might be a plan. If you're doing that then you should probably stick to things like buffing spells which don't require a massive int score.

Alternatively you could be a high-elf wizard. They come with longbow proficiency, which is actually better than cantrips at low levels - though mechanically it's identical to the light crossbow any other wizard can use. If you were able to pick up stealth, perception and survival as skills, and if you had an ok wisdom score of 12-14 (bearing in mind you'll also want at least as much con) then you'd have a character who could sneak around, shoot stuff and learn spells. Eventually you'd get seriously good at magic and not need the bow any more, but you wouldn't be sacrificing anything at high level, and those skills would always come in handy. If you wanted you could fluff firebolt to say that it was you shooting firey arrows from your bow. Having a good dex is always a nice thing as it affects so many things.

Points buy for the wizard could look something like this:

S8
D16
C14
I16
W12
C8

[ChubbyRain]

I would recommend Light Cleric.

You get all the Blasty spells as bonus spells granted by the domain. You can build the class to be a ranger-esc cleric really easy if you go Wood Elf.

Wood Elf Light Cleric essentially can make you a Ranger/Wizard multiclass.

When in doubt, the Cleric is usually the answer.

Edit: make sure to fluff spiritual weapon as a floating bow that shoots people at point blank range... :D

[MitchellTyner]

Cool so my best bet would be to go to like 5-7 with ranger, then into arcane trickster rogue. I'm already a ranger so I wouldn't need the 13wis to go into ranger, just the dex or int to go into the others.

So the correct consensuses would be that I need to stick with ranger till level 5-7 to get the second attack asap?

[Madfellow]

I'm already a ranger so I wouldn't need the 13wis to go into ranger, just the dex or int to go into the others.

No, you still need at least a 13 Wisdom in order to multiclass out of ranger. It applies going both ways, in and out.

[DivisibleByZero]

No, you still need at least a 13 Wisdom in order to multiclass out of ranger. It applies going both ways, in and out.

This.
If you're a Ranger with a 12 wisdom, then you can't multiclass at all without DM hand waving fiat.

[MitchellTyner]

oh well they didn't say anything when I did it so I guess it's okay. We are all new to 5th so probably no one knows about it.

So to my other question, should I stick with ranger till level 5-7 or do like 1 ranger / 1 rogue then up one or the other?

thanks!

[Madfellow]

So to my other question, should I stick with ranger till level 5-7 or do like 1 ranger / 1 rogue then up one or the other?

Stick with ranger until at least level 5, when you get your extra attack and 2nd level spells.

[Easy_Lee]

I'd just stick ranger. Rangers don't multiclass well, particularly not when you're new to the system. Pure ranger is fine if you understand the abilities and learn how best to use them.

[Flashy]

I'd just stick ranger. Rangers don't multiclass well, particularly not when you're new to the system. Pure ranger is fine if you understand the abilities and learn how best to use them.

Tack ritual caster onto it for a little of that wizard feel. You won't get the big flashy stuff like fireball or lightning bolt but you'll get a hefty percentage of the utility spells, including find familiar.

[MitchellTyner]

honestly looking at the ranger I don't understand how it does NOT multiclass well.. I mean it offers absolutely nothing after level 7... not a durn thing worth taking.

Honestly I think I'd be a fool not to go with rogue multiclassing.

[Easy_Lee]

honestly looking at the ranger I don't understand how it does NOT multiclass well.. I mean it offers absolutely nothing after level 7... not a durn thing worth taking.

You're forgetting about spell progression and being MAD in two stats, three if you count constitution. Those are both very good reasons not to multiclass.

[MitchellTyner]

You're forgetting about spell progression and being MAD in two stats, three if you count constitution. Those are both very good reasons not to multiclass.

I have no clue what MAD stands for, but honestly the ranger spells do not look very good to start with so I'm not really interested in them post level 1 or 2 anyway, but regardless the benifits to going with rogue far outclass the meager spells of the ranger. I mean by level 7 in the rogue you get the same good evasion of the ranger that he gets at 14 so honestly it's like a better continuation of the ranger, so you can sneak attack multiple d6 of damage on top of every turns attack. Plus I'm more interested in the arcane tricksters spells as it is.

Honestly I think I'm just gonna ride the ranger till level 5 or 7 then break of into rogue.

[Easy_Lee]

MAD stands for multi attribute dependent. In 5e, it means that there are at least two attributes you want high or maxed for the sake of your character. In the case of Rangers, you won't get diddly out of most of your spells without WIS of 16+, and you always want your melee stat maxed.

And since attribute boosts are based on class, rather than character level, it can be very difficult to multiclass when you're MAD.

[Flashy]

I have no clue what MAD stands for, but honestly the ranger spells do not look very good to start with so I'm not really interested in them post level 1 or 2 anyway, but regardless the benifits to going with rogue far outclass the meager spells of the ranger. I mean by level 7 in the rogue you get the same good evasion of the ranger that he gets at 14 so honestly it's like a better continuation of the ranger, so you can sneak attack multiple d6 of damage on top of every turns attack. Plus I'm more interested in the arcane tricksters spells as it is.

Honestly I think I'm just gonna ride the ranger till level 5 or 7 then break of into rogue.

MAD stands for Multiple Attribute Dependent. It's worth asking, are you doing a melee or a ranged character? Swift Quiver is pretty much unbeatable for an archery build, and the Ranger spell list has excellent support for archery in general.

Edit: Ninja'd


And since attribute boosts are based on class, rather than character level, it can be very difficult to multiclass when you're MAD.
Yeah, you'll be an ASI behind a single class character through 17th level and if you're going Arcane Trickster you'll likely want some points in int too. Multiclassing rogue isn't necessarily a bad choice, but it's also not exponentially better than a single class ranger.

[MitchellTyner]

Yeah I'm leaning to a ranged archer.

Well that might be how it's suppose to be run, but the 4 dm group decided the attribute bump would be handled by overall character levels not class levels since that's literal trash way to make it. Honestly so far 5th edition really blows I believe. But they had a hard on to play it since 3.5 was "way to powerful characters, the monsters can't keep up"... urg lol.

But seriously right now my guy is gtg on the stats, I'm not worried about wisdom since they haven't said a word since I already multiclassed him at the end of the last meeting and he only has a 12 wis. But as I said Im not worried about it, his spells while "neat" aren't really that useful to dump points into wisdom. I'd rather hit 20 dex by level 8 then maybe worry about bringing my int up to 16 or doing some Resilient feats to boost the saving throws for wisdom since there are a few spells that would like to see that high.

The only spells I find useful out of the first and second levels are pretty much, hunters mark - cure wounds - hail of thorns for first in that order. and second would be spike growth and silence in that order as well. So really out of the two levels that really all I'd want and I think that is covered by 7 levels.