Finishing Arcane Hunter, Urban, Mystic, Wild Shape Ranger

[ahenobarbi]

Soo... at last game my Cleric was killed by a Death Giant (as a result of poor decisions made by multiple people). The giant escaped alive so my character can not be resurrected (Death Giants trap souls of folks who die close to them). So I'm building a twin brother of my character to find & slay the giant to enable resurrection of my cleric. As this is a twin brother race (human) and age (middle aged) and so on are fixed.

ECL is 12. I want to try out Mystic Ranger so I came up with the following:


Aligment: NG
Diety: Mystra
Human, middle aged
Levels: Arcane hunter, mystic, wildshape, urban ranger 7 / Human Paragon 3 / ?? 2
Stats (15,14,13,12,11,10 array):

Str: 10 (11 - 1(age))|
Dex: 9 (10 - 1 (age))
Con: 18 (13 - 1 (age) + 2 (human paragon) + 4 (enchancment))
Int: 15 (14 + 1 (age))
Wis: 22 (15 + 1 (age) + 2 (level 4& 8 increase) + 4 (enchancement))
Cha: 13 (12 + 1 (age))


Feats:
1: ?
1, human bonus: ?
3: ?
Ranger bonus: Endurance
6: Sword of the arcane order
9: Natural spell
Human paragon bonus: Exalted Wild shape
12: ?

Items: Pearl of Speech, Monks Belt (with con enhancement added), multiple low level pearls of power (there are some nice low f Xlevel buffs with short duration), +Wis item.


I want to focus on killing enemies with natural attacks from range (Blood Wind spell from Spell Compendium) preferably flying with as many long term (mage armor, heart of X line, ...) and short term low level buffs (Blood Wind, Haste) up. Preferably I'd be in blink dog form so I can reposition myself at end of my round (but it has only one weak attack so unless I significantly improve that I'll have to forgo free action DD and use a fleshraker instead). What feats, items and last two levels do you recommend to enhance that (or brush up defenses)?

[Darrin]

Totemist is usually the go-to class for most anything involving natural attacks. Otherwise, Nature's Warrior or Warshaper might be nice.

[gorfnab]

The feat Magical Training (PGtF) gets you your own spellbook for Sword of the Arcane Order. The Nemesis (BoED) combos nicely with The Arcane Hunter ACF.

[GilesTheCleric]

I'm also currently working on an ACF Mystic Ranger in another thread, though I haven't determined my combat focus yet. For you, I'd recommend Beast Strike (Drag355 76) if you're going for size increases; Lion's Pounce (CD 82) is pounce if you don't feel like using ACF chaining to pick up Lion Totem (I opted for Bear Totem in my build).

If you're okay with playing exalted, exalted wild shape (BoED) is a big boost to power. Improved Assume Su Ability (SS) is great as always. There's also Nexus Method (Drag319 60) if you need more firepower on the field. Multiattack (MM1) or Flyby Attack (MM1) should be useful.

[ahenobarbi]

Totemist is usually the go-to class for most anything involving natural attacks. Otherwise, Nature's Warrior or Warshaper might be nice.
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I take a look at Totemist; It seems I do not have enough levels free to use it properly ;(


The feat Magical Training (PGtF) gets you your own spellbook for Sword of the Arcane Order. The Nemesis (BoED) combos nicely with The Arcane Hunter ACF.

My DM is rather permissive so I won't need the feat to get a spellbook of me own for one session.


I'm also currently working on an ACF Mystic Ranger in another thread, though I haven't determined my combat focus yet. For you, I'd recommend Beast Strike (Drag355 76) if you're going for size increases; Lion's Pounce (CD 82) is pounce if you don't feel like using ACF chaining to pick up Lion Totem (I opted for Bear Totem in my build).

Thanks, those seem useful.


If you're okay with playing exalted, exalted wild shape (BoED) is a big boost to power. Improved Assume Su Ability (SS) is great as always. There's also Nexus Method (Drag319 60) if you need more firepower on the field. Multiattack (MM1) or Flyby Attack (MM1) should be useful.

Since this is a short-lived character I'm fine with it being exalted and I am going to use Exalted Wild-Shape. thanks for suggesting other feats :D

[Grod_The_Giant]

Totemist actually works very well as a dip. You can shape any meld from level 1, although you don't get the more powerful binding effects, and essentia capacity is based on CHARACTER level, not Meldshaper. Toss on Bonus Essentia later in your build and you'll be fine. Two levels is enough for the key Totem binds to boot.

Why Human Paragon, if I might ask?

[ahenobarbi]

Totemist actually works very well as a dip. You can shape any meld from level 1, although you don't get the more powerful binding effects, and essentia capacity is based on CHARACTER level, not Meldshaper. Toss on Bonus Essentia later in your build and you'll be fine. Two levels is enough for the key Totem binds to boot.

I never played a character using incarnum before, I guess I misunderstood what the book says.


Why Human Paragon, if I might ask?

I wanted Sword of the Arcane Order, Exalted Wildshape and Natural Spell. All of which I can't take in level 1-3 slots. And I misunderstood and thought I'm building for level 11, not 12 (so I'd have only 6th and 9th level feats so I needed a bonus feat). When I learned the character will be level 12 I forgot to fix that. Thanks for spotting.

[Darrin]

I wanted Sword of the Arcane Order, Exalted Wildshape and Natural Spell. All of which I can't take in level 1-3 slots. And I misunderstood and thought I'm building for level 11, not 12 (so I'd have only 6th and 9th level feats so I needed a bonus feat). When I learned the character will be level 12 I forgot to fix that. Thanks for spotting.

If you change the race to Frostblood Orc or Half-Orc (Dragon Magic), you can pick up Sword of the Arcane Order as a bonus feat at Ranger 4. Frostblood Orcs/Half-Orcs start with Endurance, but they get a racial ability to swap that for another bonus feat if they get it later. Mystic Ranger delays Endurance to Ranger 4, exactly when you qualify for Sword of the Arcane Order.

You can also add Dragonborn of Bahamut after that, if you like. You lose Endurance but keep the bonus feat. You can also trade away Track (or some other feat) for Dragon Wings or Dragon Tail (Races of the Dragon p. 10).

[ahenobarbi]

If you change the race to Frostblood Orc or Half-Orc (Dragon Magic), you can pick up Sword of the Arcane Order as a bonus feat at Ranger 4. Frostblood Orcs/Half-Orcs start with Endurance, but they get a racial ability to swap that for another bonus feat if they get it later. Mystic Ranger delays Endurance to Ranger 4, exactly when you qualify for Sword of the Arcane Order.

That's not an option because the charakter is a twin od an established charakter who is a human. Thanks for the info anyways, I'll add it to my repertoire :)


Anyways, the giant died, my original character got resurrected. Thanks for help everyone!