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Kiyona
2007-07-17, 01:54 AM
Hi!

I am very new to this forum and somewhat a beginner in the D&D world.

This friday im starting a new campaign, and i am supposed to be playing the ranger. Inspired by numerous animeseries i want to give her something of a berserkability.

You know, almost all animecharacters get a lot more powerful when theyre angry. I want that. ^^

Although, i want to use a range weapon, maybe if she could imbue her arrows with something. Or maybe something to increase speed.

What do you say?

Is it possible? =)

ClericofPhwarrr
2007-07-17, 02:13 AM
Sounds to me like you want to play a barbarian.

What level are you starting at? What books are allowed/do you have access to?

SpiderKoopa
2007-07-17, 02:23 AM
I agree, barbarians have rage that make them... "Smash tiny monster!" ^^ What level are you starting out as? You might want to take a couple lvs in barb then shift gears to ranger.
I'm not sure about the enchanting arrow thing...

Kiyona
2007-07-17, 02:27 AM
Oh, i forgot. We are starting at level 10.
yeah... i thought about barbarian at first. But i really want an animal companion. ^^ Also, i would like to concentrate on using ranged weapons.

Oh, and at character creation i have acces to i think all available books. Not whilst playing though.

Jimbob
2007-07-17, 02:28 AM
depending on what level but I would start off as ranger, for the skills then barbarian for the rage, then a dip into a aracne casting class just one level so you can cast 1st level spells and then go arcane archer. Letting you imbue arrows doing lots of damage with range weapons.

Raltar
2007-07-17, 02:30 AM
Remeber that barbarian rage won't really help you a whole lot as a ranged attacker unless you have less than average str for that str bonus some bows will give.

ClericofPhwarrr
2007-07-17, 02:33 AM
Oh, i forgot. We are starting at level 10.
yeah... i thought about barbarian at first. But i really want an animal companion. ^^ Also, i would like to concentrate on using ranged weapons.

Oh, and at character creation i have acces to i think all available books. Not whilst playing though.

There really isn't a rage ability I can think of (other than from obscure books--see my later post) that helps out with ranged attacks.

I'd take a good look at Barbarian 10, and ask your DM if you can take this feat (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) from the Wizards website. It's not overpowered, and will give you the animal buddy you're after.

JackMage666
2007-07-17, 02:35 AM
Hmm... Beserker archer is kinda hard to do. If you're using a composite bow, you'll take a penalty if you're not at the right Str range. The Barbarian bonus to Str wouldn't allow you to do more damage with ranged attacks. Or, hit more acurately.
If you're going for a ranger who uses thrown weapons, though, this could work. The extra Str could be added onto thrown weapon damage, allowing you to do more when you rage. If you go TWF ranger, you can even throw a good number of Darts/Daggers/Javelins/Spears/whatever you're weapon of choice a round. An Archer style won't increase with Rage, sorry.
So, you may just have to roleplay it, and skip the Rage ability, if you're set on being an Archer. Or, talk to your DM. As is, though, it's shot (pardon the pun).

Dairun Cates
2007-07-17, 02:36 AM
Well, I'm not much of one for D&D character optimization, but one suggestion might be to politely ask the GM if he might consider the inclusion of action points. Done properly, they pull off that exact effect and can make for interesting role-play. Barring that, the best thing would be to pick feats that have strong drawbacks on them and should or maybe only can be used in emergencies. I honestly can't think of one off the top of my head, but there has to be one out there. You might check out the netbook of feats for that. A quick google search should find it. Remember though, the netbook is not official errata and therefore should be approved by the GM.

Jimbob
2007-07-17, 02:37 AM
if your 10th level here is my build.

1st ranger - pointblank shot
2nd barb -
3rd ranger - percise shot & archery combat style
4th ranger -
5th ranger -
6th ranger - weapon focus (bow)
7th arcane spell caster - giving you first level spells
8th aracne archer -
9th aracne archer - manyshot or extra rage
10th aracne archer -

just an idea, sure people will come out and find some thing wrong with it lol, but enjoy nether the less :smallsmile:

ClericofPhwarrr
2007-07-17, 02:38 AM
Hmm... Beserker archer is kinda hard to do. If you're using a composite bow, you'll take a penalty if you're not at the right Str range. The Barbarian bonus to Str wouldn't allow you to do more damage with ranged attacks. Or, hit more acurately.
If you're going for a ranger who uses thrown weapons, though, this could work. The extra Str could be added onto thrown weapon damage, allowing you to do more when you rage. If you go TWF ranger, you can even throw a good number of Darts/Daggers/Javelins/Spears/whatever you're weapon of choice a round. An Archer style won't increase with Rage, sorry.
So, you may just have to roleplay it, and skip the Rage ability, if you're set on being an Archer. Or, talk to your DM. As is, though, it's shot (pardon the pun).

Agreed. The thrown weapon idea is a good one.

Ulzgoroth
2007-07-17, 02:39 AM
I remember seeing a dex-boosting alternative rage somewhere...does that seem familiar to anyone else?

ClericofPhwarrr
2007-07-17, 02:42 AM
I remember seeing a dex-boosting alternative rage somewhere...does that seem familiar to anyone else?

There's one in Unearthed Arcana, and two in Dragon Magazine.

All of which are in the CrystalKeep indexes. Google search them if you don't know about them already.

JackMage666
2007-07-17, 02:45 AM
Ah, yes, Whirling Frenzy variant. How could I forget.

...Now I want to make a character like V from V for Vendetta using a Barbarian who uses Thrown Weapons (daggers, of course). Curse you GITP forums!

ClericofPhwarrr
2007-07-17, 02:49 AM
Ah, yes, Whirling Frenzy variant. How could I forget.

...Now I want to make a character like V from V for Vendetta using a Barbarian who uses Thrown Weapons (daggers, of course). Curse you GITP forums!

Somehow, I think a gnome alchemist might be more appropriate for a character like V. A barbarian's not going to be making the explosives, after all :smallwink:.

Kiyona
2007-07-17, 02:52 AM
Thanks guys ^^

All really neat ideas. I liked youre animal buddy feat, ClericofPhwarrr. And those feats with drawbacks sounded cool Dairun Cates. do you happen to know where i can find them? And whats a netbook?

Ulzgoroth
2007-07-17, 02:57 AM
Whirling Frenzy is probably what I was thinking of, but doesn't work for an archer. The Indomitable that ClericofPhwarrr points the way to might work very well, though.

ClericofPhwarrr
2007-07-17, 02:57 AM
One idea I just had would be the Duskblade from the Player's Handbook 2. That would let you imbue your arrows with spells, and would be a very effective ranged attacker--you have the arrow damage, and then the damage from a spell like Shocking Grasp. Or any of the other Duskblade spells. And there's been a few threads around here recently on how to build good Duskblades.

The animal companion could come from the feat I mentioned.

The only thing missing is the rage, which is not worth dipping into Barbarian for if you're going as Duskblade (you miss out on spell progression, and you can't fire your special spell-empowered arrows while raging). Actually, you can still get rage, sort of. Ask your DM about the feat Extra Spell, and take the level 3 Wiz/Sorc spell Rage. It's not going to be optimized at all, but you have the rage you want, just a level 3 spell away. And you get lots of spells per day as a Duskblade.

I'd definitely give them a look. Duskblades make fun archers (okay, they make fun characters in general, and normally they're meleers, but archery can work well for them).

Dairun Cates
2007-07-17, 03:49 AM
Thanks guys ^^

All really neat ideas. I liked youre animal buddy feat, ClericofPhwarrr. And those feats with drawbacks sounded cool Dairun Cates. do you happen to know where i can find them? And whats a netbook?

In all honesty, I only occasionally play a game of D&D and have never DM'ed it. So, my knowledge is limited. I do know there's are feats out there that are powerful but have a side effect (like using the feat also doing some kind of damage to yourself), but I can't honestly think of any right now, and they might be open content feats rather than official feats. The only other ones I can remember are either in the netbook (not official, but nice GM's might let you have a feat or two out of it), or in a different d20 system. The other option here is feats that grant once a day or so powers, but those are mostly limited to clerics using up their turn undead checks. There is a feat in a few of the d20 systems called heroic surge that gives an extra half action during any combat turn once a day per four levels. That might suit your liking, but the GM might not like you having it.

Slayers d20 actually had a system where every feat had a drawback, but was doubly powerful. Weird stuff like great fortitude being a +4 to fort, but the players needed to eat twice as often as the average human. The only one there that might work is Code which gives you a +1 to all attack rolls, skill checks, and saves when applying to a certain code and giving a +4 to saves to avoid breaking the code. However, if you fail to follow said code, you get -1 to the same rolls until you make amends. There actually is a feat in there where a person that becomes irritated lashes out violently for one turn and gets a huge buff to damage, but it's specifically for a taunting mechanic that's unique to the system.

That's all I can remember on those specific trees of feats. If I see anything else while randomly lurking around the internet, I'll post it. If anyone would like to chime in for me if they can remember that'd be nice.

As for the netbook of feats, this should be the most recent version.
http://datadeco.com/nbofeats/nbofeats012.html

It's a nice source of about every kind of feat imaginable, but you should ask for GM approval before taking any of them, and it can be difficult to navigate.

Edit: You might looked at Charmed or Fortune in the netbook of feats. These kind of luck feats might help simulate a quick surge of extra-heroic action.

Double edit: Fury of the mountain (also in the netbook) pulls off what you wants, but the prereqs are most likely out of your range of choices. Still, you might suggest an alternate version to your DM.

Bloody Triple edit because I keep finding new ones: ...Continuing down the potential open source netbook feats. Check out Last Ditch.

Xuincherguixe
2007-07-17, 04:19 AM
I wonder if there's anything like "deceptively cute". Your character is cute and harmless looking, but anger them and the mushroom cloud follows shortly.


It's not anime if you don't leave a trail of destroyed villages in your wake.

Dairun Cates
2007-07-17, 04:23 AM
I wonder if there's anything like "deceptively cute". Your character is cute and harmless looking, but anger them and the mushroom cloud follows shortly.


It's not anime if you don't leave a trail of destroyed villages in your wake.

Actually, Slayers has a cute feat that doesn't effect your power at all. It basically gives a bonus on charisma based skills, but you get a rather large minus on intimidate and seduction checks and no one takes you seriously. Quite a bit of a fluff feat unless you're like a 12 year-old diplomat, but still amusing.

Xuincherguixe
2007-07-17, 04:26 AM
I really need to be in a game of this :P

Kiyona
2007-07-17, 04:34 AM
Hahaha!

Deceptivly cute is perfect ^^

It would fit my ranger perfectly. I have her already finished in my mind, now just to get in on paper...

And thank you Dairun Cates, the netbook was really helpful. =)

Dairun Cates
2007-07-17, 04:39 AM
I really need to be in a game of this :P

Good luck finding the book. I found my copy by pure luck on someone's clearance sale at a con. All in all, it pretty much D&D except for a few significant differences:

1. Spell-casting is fort-based and drains subdual or lethal HP when it's used. You can knock yourself unconscious with only lethal damage from spells (and I have in one of the most statistically impossible fights ever).

2. All the feats are about twice as powerful as regular feats, but have huge defects. This is used to give the players some simple role-playing hooks for the GM to play around with.

3. The base classes are different, but similar to other D&D classes (ie. Bounty Hunter is similar to Rangers, Priests are like more magic oreinted Paladins, etc).

4. The game contains mechanics for taunting, fear, and confusion attacks that cause minuses to the player's rolls and force them to sometimes run away. With the right feats, you can also do lethal damage with insults.

Haakon
2007-07-17, 08:31 AM
I believe that Wildrunner, which is an elf only prestiege class, offers a boost to dex and strength is the in Races of the Wild book.

The thrown weapons are a good idea though.

Person_Man
2007-07-17, 09:11 AM
Arcane Archer is a really bad prestige class. It also requires levels in an arcane caster class. Rangers are divine casters, and thus cannot enter that PrC.

The Barbarian alternative that gives Dex instead of Con is called Ferocity. It can be found here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a).


OK, so correct me if I'm wrong, but you want:

1) Ranged attacks
2) Animal companion
3) Grrr.... Hulk Smash!
4) Anime flavor

The easy build is to go Ranger 10, and buy the Spell Compendium. The Spell Compendium has a lot of very useful and powerful Ranger spells. Some grant very cinematic effects, such as allowing you to shoot everyone within your range at once, granting the Pounce ability, adding magical properties to your weapons, etc.


The more difficult but powerful build would go something like:

Paladin 5/Beastmaster 1/Halfling Outrider X

Paladin has a Special Mount.
Beastmaster gets an Animal Companion as a Druid of X+3 levels. So one level in Beastmaster gets you a 4th level Animal Companion.
Halfling Outrider (Complete Warrior) levels stack with Paladin levels AND Druid levels to determine their bonuses.
The Devoted Tracker feat from the Complete Adventurer allows you to designate your Animal Companion as your Special Mount, gaining both sets of bonuses.

Viola! You now have an animal companion more powerful then most players. Sit on its back and shoot arrows or use a lance as it walks around the board eating your enemies. There are a large variety of Supermount options like this out there.

FYI, the classic archer trick is to buy a very powerful bow, (+1 Flaming Wounding, for example) and then have a friend cast Greater Magic Weapon to improve the enhancement bonus on the bow (if its an 12th level caster, it then becomes a +3 Flaming Wounding bow) and then find a spell in the Spell Compendium to enchant your arrows with some other magical property (Shocking, Frost, etc) or just buy them. Now you fire +3 Flaming Wounding Shocking Frost etc. attacks. It's actually LESS powerful then the Power Attack tree, and can be a lot more expensive if you don't have the right spells in your party, but you don't have to stand anywhere near the front line of combat. Also be sure to have arrows of different materials available (adamantine, cold iron, silver) in case you run into enemies with damage reduction.

EntilZha
2007-07-17, 09:18 AM
You also have to be an elf or a half-elf to be an arcane archer.

Kiyona
2007-07-17, 09:24 AM
OK, so correct me if I'm wrong, but you want:

1) Ranged attacks
2) Animal companion
3) Grrr.... Hulk Smash!
4) Anime flavor

Yes, essentially =)

Not necesseraliy number 3 though. Only something powerfull, possibly with drawbacks.

It doesnt need to be hulk-like. Maybe to increase your speed or something similar. Anyone watching bleach? Bankai light anyone? ^^

EntilZha
2007-07-17, 09:36 AM
Also, check out the Order of the Bow in Complete Warrior. It has several cool features, including the ability to shoot a bow in melee without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Person_Man
2007-07-17, 10:37 AM
Also, check out the Order of the Bow in Complete Warrior. It has several cool features, including the ability to shoot a bow in melee without provoking an attack of opportunity.

OoTBI is a trap. Their signature ability fires ONE arrow as a standard action with a moderate damage bonus. A normal Ranger with the ranged combat tree firing multiple non-magical arrows does more damage - firing magical arrows, ANY other full BAB build would far outpace the OoTBI in damage.

The only strong pure archer PrC out there are Soulbow (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060403a&page=2) and Peerless Archer from Silver Marches (which is 3.0 material). But neither will progress her animal companion. Animal Companions without a special combo are already inherently fragile at higher levels. If she abandons its progression by leaving Ranger, then its useless.


If you want some sort of Bankai-like effect, I'm surprised you want ranged attacks. Psychic Warrior or Tome of Battle classes are filled with that sort of over the top attacks - but neither will have ranged abilities or an animal companion.

Kiyona
2007-07-17, 02:40 PM
If you want some sort of Bankai-like effect, I'm surprised you want ranged attacks. Psychic Warrior or Tome of Battle classes are filled with that sort of over the top attacks - but neither will have ranged abilities or an animal companion.

I suspected as much... i just hoped there would be som obscure feat out there that would get me what i wanted.

Oh well, maybe im better of with TWF anyway.

Thanks for all the help! ^^