I said to the ranger "Help me, help you!!!"

[djreynolds]

Let's make a cool ranger. With standard point buy for Adventurer's League, I'm going to make a strength based melee ranger. I wish to have at least whirlwind attack. I'm envisioning, the very broadest aspect, or I'm seeing a nagata wielding ronin or Little John or John Little or perhaps something more like Hiawatha.
You can multiclass or go straight ranger, though I'm leaning towards the former. I'm leaning in the direction of actually starting off a barbarian, with a magic amulet perhaps at a higher level I could ditch the scale armor.
I see him stalking and ambushing with javelins and hand axes and then rushing in for the kill.
Someone had posted a thread on a scouting barbarian and I'm having visions on the graveyard shift.

Thanks for reading

[Yorrin]

If you MUST go all the way to Ranger 11 for Whirwind Attack then Barbarian will indeed be your best friend for the bonus range damage on every attack. Ranger 11/Barbarian 9 gives you just enough room in the build for the +3 rage damage and bonus crit die at max level, for what it's worth. Having seen the tracker-barbarian thread that you speak of that 6th level barbarian feature will indeed fit this build quite well flavor-wise.

I advise two weapon fighting for a crit-fisher build that keeps your DPS up when whirlwind attack can't be used. Half-Orc with the Dual Wielder feat and a pair of battleaxes? Yes please! (note- champion fighter is strictly better than ranger for this build because of the expanded crit range)

[ZenBear]

(note- champion fighter is strictly better than ranger for this build because of the expanded crit range)

Champion doesn't get spells though. They're better at the crit fishing, but not necessarily better overall.

The problem with going STR Ranger is you still need 14-16 DEX to keep your AC high, or Heavily Armored and sacrifice stealth, a core mechanic for the Ranger. So SPB gives 15 14 13 12 10 8. Half-Orc: (14+2) 16 STR (15+1) 16 CON 14 DEX 12 WIS 10 INT 8 CHA. Your spells are going to suffer for this build, but so long as you pick spells that don't use attack rolls or saving throws until you can pump your WIS you should be fine. If you plan your ASI/Feats out ahead of time you can tinker with the stat allocation and be ready for Medium Armor Master/Heavily Armored, Resilient: CON, Observant, etc to round out your scores.

[djreynolds]

Thank you both, I like the idea of the ranger 11/ barbarian 9 and they seem to go well together. I just like the feel of strength based ranger. I like the idea of two battle or even hand axes, or one of each.

Also I understand the dilemma with a strength based ranger. You're correct about the armor class and the dexterity needing to be at least 14-16 and how that fusses with your spell casting abilities.

Half-Orc, with the savage critical as you both have mentioned, seems to be the front runner along with mountain dwarf and I guess Goliath.

Also good point about resilient con, that could be solved by going barbarian first but you do lose out on a skill for ranger.

So I got a part of the build. I was sure I wanted barbarian as a piece of the ranger build. Now do you, as a rogue, allowed to sneak attack only with ranged weapons that are shot and not thrown. Meaning I can sneak attack with bows and crossbows but not javelins, hand axes, daggers, or even darts.

[djreynolds]

If you MUST go all the way to Ranger 11 for Whirwind Attack then Barbarian will indeed be your best friend for the bonus range damage on every attack. Ranger 11/Barbarian 9 gives you just enough room in the build for the +3 rage damage and bonus crit die at max level, for what it's worth. Having seen the tracker-barbarian thread that you speak of that 6th level barbarian feature will indeed fit this build quite well flavor-wise.

I advise two weapon fighting for a crit-fisher build that keeps your DPS up when whirlwind attack can't be used. Half-Orc with the Dual Wielder feat and a pair of battleaxes? Yes please! (note- champion fighter is strictly better than ranger for this build because of the expanded crit range)

I'm curious, I want a strength based ranger build, but I "don't" have to go to 11, I just thought you want at least that for a ranger.

You ever see "Last of the Mohicans", that's another image to go on and Madeline Stowe too, that's for another forum.

[Yorrin]

Now do you, as a rogue, allowed to sneak attack only with ranged weapons that are shot and not thrown. Meaning I can sneak attack with bows and crossbows but not javelins, hand axes, daggers, or even darts.

According to Mearls thrown weapons in melee are Sneak Attack allowable. That being said, your DM may reserve the right to disagree, since RAW that's not the case.


I'm curious, I want a strength based ranger build, but I "don't" have to go to 11, I just thought you want at least that for a ranger.

The ideal amount of Ranger levels for most builds is 3-5. That extended dip goes well with some combination of Barbarian, Rogue, Fighter, and/or Monk.

[djreynolds]

According to Mearls thrown weapons in melee are Sneak Attack allowable. That being said, your DM may reserve the right to disagree, since RAW that's not the case.



The ideal amount of Ranger levels for most builds is 3-5. That extended dip goes well with some combination of Barbarian, Rogue, Fighter, and/or Monk.

I just like whirlwind attack and I'm trying incorporate that into a melee build. It just sounds awesome.