Equipment suggestions for a level 7 Pathfinder Ranger

[Minwaabi]

Hey folks,

I'm rolling up a level 7 Ranger. I'm planning to go switch hitter (so ranged when I can, melee at other times). But, I've never played a character with this high a level before and I feel like I'm not sure what to do with all my money. (If only I had that problem in RL). I've also never played a martial character past level 3. So what equipment should I try to pick up? Particularly, what AC should I be shooting for? What other things should I be shooting for?

[avr]

It makes your budget easier if you get the Point Blank Master feat, so you only need one weapon (& don't need to switch during combat).

With a budget around 23500 gp you have less room to make big changes to your AC than you might think. A +1 mithral shirt, +1 ring of protection, +1 amulet of natural armor and maybe a Jingasa of the Fortunate Soldier would chew up a lot of that money, so much that it might be better not getting all those. More isn't likely to be an option - well, aside from a belt of incredible dexterity +2 which you're getting for other reasons.

You also want a +1 bow, +2 if you can. If you cast spells at all a pearl of power (1st) and a wand of cure light wounds are standard, a headband of wisdom +2 may be a luxury. Whatever level cloak of resistance you can afford, too. I'd get a handy haversack on any character of this level.

[Krazzman]

Look up the guide to the guides from nova (this forum) .
There should be a guide from treatmonk and some others. As well as guides to magic items.

Else:
Get either an +1 adaptive longbow or a composite longbow with your str mod.
Get your preferred melee weapon enchanted.
Get the best nonmagical armor you can get and enchant it.
Cloak of resistance is always nice and needed.
Then either str or dex boosting belt.
Get a wand of cure light wounds as well.
Look through wondrous items and think about if they fit or benefit you.
There are boots of favourable terrain which might be nice.

Good luck.

[Florian]

Hey folks,

I'm rolling up a level 7 Ranger. I'm planning to go switch hitter (so ranged when I can, melee at other times). But, I've never played a character with this high a level before and I feel like I'm not sure what to do with all my money. (If only I had that problem in RL). I've also never played a martial character past level 3. So what equipment should I try to pick up? Particularly, what AC should I be shooting for? What other things should I be shooting for?

A lot will have to do with what buffs your team-mates can provide and don´t have to be covered with your own equipment. The level we talk about, most buffs will start scaling enough to mostly always the better choice than what your equipment can provide.

As you did´t mention an archetype, I guess you go with the basic Ranger, meaning 2x Favored Enemy, 1x Favored Terrain, 2x RCS and just starting with 2nd level spells. I also guess that you´ve taken the Animal Companion instead of the Companions bond, something I´d potentially reconsider based on your group setup. (There´s interesting group-buff equipment for this)

Basically, I´d go with this:
- Elven Chainmail.
- Boot of Elvenkind
- Cloak of Resistance +2
- Bracers of Flacon´s Aim
- Comp. Longbow +1
- (5x) Net
- Cold Iron Greatsword
- Belt of Physical Might +2 (DEX, CON)
- Vest of the Vengeful Tracker
- (2x) Boots of Friendly Terrain (1x Underground!!!)
- Hunter´s Band

Some Wands:
- Magic Fang (if Animal Companion)
- Cure Light Wounds
- Lesser Restoration
- Gravity Bow.
(of note here: There´re two 8-hour-long spells that don´t scale with CL: Nature´s Path and Wild Instinct. Very good for wands, but low priority)

Misc Stuff:
- Ranger´s Kit
- Troll Slayer´s Kit
- Handy Haversack
- (x2) Regular Guard Dog, (x1) Regular Hunting Falcon
- Alchemical Stuff like Weapon Blanche, Sunrods and Thunderstones.
- Soul Soap

Like mentioned above, I´d go for Point Blank Mastery to simply focus on the Bow. I´d not go for Adaptive unless you have a great Buffer at hand. Also, I´d not pick any natural armor or deflection items, as that can be done via buffs.

[Minwaabi]

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I appreciate it. As for build, I'm still figuring some of that stuff out. (I actually have another thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?482084-Ranger-Build-advice-experience-with-skirmisher)on here from a couple of days ago about that, but no one has responded yet). So here's what I've got so far:

Half-Orc ranger, STR 18, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 12, WIS 13, CHA 7. I'm not 100% sure on archtype, but was at this point mainly thinking about a vanilla ranger or a skirmisher archtype. But, none of that is set it stone. I've just always wanted to play a ranger in a wilderness setting and...

The campaign: We're running a module that the DM has described as "fighting magical foresty, nature type things" in a forest with a growing shadow of doom/evil. So I think I'm taking magical beasts and fey as my favored enemies and forest as my favored terrain are logical choices.

The party: We've got an incanter (build your own wizard class from Spheres of Power - going BFC, buffs, heals), an armorist (front liner who can summon different armor/weapons onto himself), and a barbarian.

[Elder_Basilisk]

standard wealth by level is 23,500.

Here's what I would recommend:

+1 mithral agile breastplate. 6500 or so
+1 adaptive composite longbow 3400 or so
+3 cloak of resistance 9000 or so
masterwork cold iron longsword (or greatsword--I recommend longsword for flexibility reasons: you can use it in a grapple, you can wield it with a buckler, and you don't need to drop your bow in order to use it so you can draw it, attack, then drop it and full attack with the bow in the next round)
mithral dagger (mithral daggers are relatively cheap--not much more than masterwork) and give you a way to deal with dr/silver for minimal extra cost.

You've got around 4000 gp left. That's enough for one or two more items: Here are items you should consider. Which ones you take will depend upon your party and what buffs/tactics they use and your personal preference:
Bracers of the Falcon's Aim
Belt of Dexterity +2
Belt of Strength +2
Amulet of Natural Armor +1
Ring of Protection +1
+1 buckler (If you +2 AC when flatfooted and
Make your melee weapon out of adamantine rather than cold iron (useful for dealing with monsters with DR / adamantine because adamantine arrows are expensive; also useful out of combat for hacking down doors, sawing through stone pillars, etc)
Efficient Quiver (makes it hard to run out of arrows in a fight and lets you automatically get the right specialty arrow you're looking for)
Jingasa of the fortunate soldier (negate crits and stacking AC bonus)
item with heightened continual flame cast on it (at least level 4 spell--to deal with deeper darkness)

Consumables. Maybe spend as much as 2000gp on consumables
Snapleaf (escape plan)
potion of cure light wounds (so that anyone in your party can stabilize you--if the fighter is the last man standing, he can still stabilize you).
potion of cure serious wounds (emergency burst healing)
Oil of bless weapon (to enable you to deal with DR/good)
Potion of lesser restoration (to eliminate fatigue/ability penalties in combat)
wand of cure light wounds
ghost salts (weapon blanch to enable you to hit incorporeal creatures with your bow. This works best with an efficient quiver so you can automatically get the right arrow when you want it and never get it by accident when you don't).

This plan puts a lot of emphasis on saving throws with the +3 cloak of resistance. I think saves are that important (failed saves are much more likely to cause TPKs than missing another +1 attack, damage, or AC), but if you are less worried than that, you can free up 5000gp by settling for a +2 cloak of resistance. That will let you get a +2 weapon or +2 armor, or more of the miscellaneous items and consumables.

[thompur]

And rope. Don't forget rope.

[Florian]

@Minwaabi:

Ok, you´ve got two dedicated front liners, no need for switch-hitting there, as that cramps your style.
Go all-out archery and full attack as much as possible.

Switch H-Orc to Elf (Envoy ART) so you can pick Elven Accuracy (Forest terrain is prone to give cover and concealment) as a feat and have an easier time allocating your PB.

Stick with a plain-vanilla Ranger but make sure that the GM _tells you_ what FE and FT to pick, everything else is not really effective.

When you won´t rise above lvl 7th, chose the Companions bond and buy a Horn of the Huntsman to share the full FE bonus with your team. You won´t get a bigger buff going. (The Hunter´s Band mentioned above also buffs Companions bond)

Keep your spellcasting. As a divine caster with an active CL, you will always be able to use Scrolls, Wands and Staffs.