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DSCrankshaw
2007-06-30, 12:27 AM
From the PHB:

Dwarf rangers are rare, but they can be quite effective. Instead of living in the surface wilderness, they are at home in the endless caverns beneath the earth. Here they hunt down and destroy the enemies of dwarvenkind with the relentless precision for which dwarves are known. Dwarf rangers are often known as cavers.
Has anyone tried building one of these? Granted, you can make a dwarf ranger easily enough, and there are enough advantages to make it worthwhile. The Charisma penalty affects Wild Empathy, but that won't exactly kill you, and the bonus to Con will help shore up the ranger's low hit points. Having a scouting type character who can see in the dark is a great advantage, and if you take Oversized Two-weapon Fighting, he can dual wield Dwarven Waraxes, which is fun. However, some ranger special abilities don't fit in too well with the caver concept, namely the spell list, Wilderness Stride, Camouflage, and Hide in Plain Sight, which are designed around the wilderness theme. Now, I suppose you can interpret Camouflage and Hide in Plain Sight to include natural caverns, and you can always choose spells which fit the caver theme... just because you have entangle doesn't mean you have to use it. But that still leaves Woodland Stride. Has anyone tried replacing this with something along the lines of, say, Rock Stride (ignore rough terrain caused by uneven floors and debris, as long as the floors are stone)? I'm wondering if some racial substitution levels for dwarf rangers would be worthwhile, or just overkill.

Lucky
2007-06-30, 01:03 AM
From the PHB:

Has anyone tried building one of these? Granted, you can make a dwarf ranger easily enough, and there are enough advantages to make it worthwhile. The Charisma penalty affects Wild Empathy, but that won't exactly kill you, and the bonus to Con will help shore up the ranger's low hit points. Having a scouting type character who can see in the dark is a great advantage, and if you take Oversized Two-weapon Fighting, he can dual wield Dwarven Waraxes, which is fun. However, some ranger special abilities don't fit in too well with the caver concept, namely the spell list, Wilderness Stride, Camouflage, and Hide in Plain Sight, which are designed around the wilderness theme. Now, I suppose you can interpret Camouflage and Hide in Plain Sight to include natural caverns, and you can always choose spells which fit the caver theme... just because you have entangle doesn't mean you have to use it. But that still leaves Woodland Stride. Has anyone tried replacing this with something along the lines of, say, Rock Stride (ignore rough terrain caused by uneven floors and debris, as long as the floors are stone)? I'm wondering if some racial substitution levels for dwarf rangers would be worthwhile, or just overkill.Another note with the spells is that you could always take the ranger without spellcasting variant found in C, the abilities added by this are not picky on what type of terrain you're on.

As for Woodland Stride, I'm sure you could talk to your DM about changing it.

Tor the Fallen
2007-06-30, 01:06 AM
Not that you'd ever really use wild empathy underground, since most non-intelligent things down there tends to be vermin or aberrations.

DSCrankshaw
2007-07-01, 11:23 AM
True, Wild Empathy is more of a surface ability, but it's usable underground.

Any thoughts on animal companions for a caver?

Illiterate Scribe
2007-07-01, 11:26 AM
Canary?

fillzorz

-Cor-
2007-07-01, 11:28 AM
Any thoughts on animal companions for a caver?

Bat? Or is that vermin?

Ferret?

ROFL @ Canary.

Tack122
2007-07-01, 11:32 AM
Canary?

fillzorz

[Invisible Thing] Kills Tweety in one hit.
[Caver Dwarf] Oh shi! Gas!

brian c
2007-07-01, 11:49 AM
True, Wild Empathy is more of a surface ability, but it's usable underground.

Any thoughts on animal companions for a caver?

Bat? That's the only thing I can think of.

Leush
2007-07-01, 11:55 AM
A No-Eyed Big-Eyed Spider

nerulean
2007-07-01, 12:18 PM
Any thoughts on animal companions for a caver?

Definitely a mole.

Leon
2007-07-01, 03:26 PM
Badger

Races of Stone has some good feats for a Underground Ranger - Tunnel Fighter + its chain, Moutain Warrior, Earth Sense + its chain

DSCrankshaw
2007-07-04, 10:46 AM
Along those lines, what do folks think makes a good build? I was actually thinking sword-and-board, with Improved Shield Bash, Oversized Two Weapon Fighting, and Power Attack. This increases the AC, and with the proper (magical) shield, does plenty of damage.

Leon
2007-07-04, 11:10 PM
Sounds good, Agile Shield Fighting from PH2 will help reduce the penalties asociated with sheild bashing

Edit: Having a look at it i dont think it stacks with TWF, its a option if you werent going downthe the TWF tree but wanted to still atack with a shield with less penalty

Quietus
2007-07-04, 11:15 PM
Could also get a lizard as a companion, and at higher levels I'm pretty sure there's a giant riding lizard somewhere out there.