Bloodborne Ranger (for a Ravenloft campaign)

[RafeJolonNightw]

So me and my siblings and my dad, he's the DM, are playing a campaign which is a crossover between forgotten realms and Ravenloft, we're right now in a subworld of Ravenloft can't remember the name exactly, but we're going to be going to Ravenlofts prime world to hunt an Anti-Paladin Werewolf enemy of ours, We have a Sorcerer/Rogue Fey'ri, level 4 I believe (level adjustment), an Elf Cleric of Hanali, level 4, she had died previously so she should be level 5, a Aarakokra Paladin level 5 I think( he's also played by my brother who plays the fey'ri) a Human Druid level 5, he chose predatory form over an animal companion and has chosen to have him take a vow of poverty, he's surprisingly one of our buffers, a gnome bard who was played by another player but is now played by the DM, and finally my current character a Human Ranger using normal progression. So those are the current people in the story and I was wanting to make a back up character should my ranger be killed and can't be resurrected, character concept he's a Ranger from Ravenloft, with HEAVY influence from the Hunter in Bloodborne, so I was thinking about going a Knowledge Devotion heavy damage route, but I'm not really good at optimizing so I needed help. He should be made as a level 5 character, possibly maximum level 10, dice rolling for stats 4d6, reroll any one 1 once, afterwards discard lowest number for the total stat, my DM is very Hot and cold about other books, when it comes to classes and races but he's more open to feats skills and spells and ACF. I'll try to answer any questions as best I can, sorry for the potentially long text wall. OH my current ranger has Str 18 Dex 16 Con 12 Wis 15 Int 11 and charisma 10, feats are Track Stealthy TWF Rapid Shot Endurance and Two weapon Defense, level 6 was when I was going to get Knowledge Devotion, I know he's Not really optimized at all, hadn't thought about it than when I made him.

[Venger]

always a good starting point (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=4621.0) and if you want a more plug and play character (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=8722.0)

For future reference, throw some line breaks in every now and again. It makes your post a lot easier to read and will help get responses from people more quickly.

I'm unclear on what exactly you're looking for. Do you want your backup character to also be a ranger? Do you want to try playing another sort of character?

Your mention of an "antipaladin" leads me to believe you're not playing 3.5. Are you playing pathfinder? tagging the thread with that may also be useful so people who are familiar with the system can offer advice. I myself don't play pathfinder, so don't want to give a list of 3.5 things which won't end up being relevant.

you mentioned your dm being deliberately vague about what is and isn't banned, but if you can provide us with at least some idea of what is and isn't allowed that will also help you get more useful advice.

as far as your existing character, why do you have knowledge devotion? 1) you're a ranger, so are badly MAD already and only have 2 monster knowledge skills which you won't be able to toss any points in. 2) you have no int bonus. if you haven't taken it already, which it seems is the case, don't.

[RafeJolonNightw]

Sorry I was in a hurry when I wrote the post. It's 3.5, my DM created the Antipaladin as being the exact opposite of a normal Paladin in everyway, the person in question, Friar Tuck, decapitated an entire group of orphans in the local orphanage and than burned the orphanage down and framed our group for it. We are using the core 3 rulebooks, but skills feats spells equipment and ACF's and races with +0 LA from any SRD source that can be referenced is acceptable.

Anyway, my ranger when he was first made was NOT optimized in any way shape or form, so my back up ranger who would be an entirely different and better optimized, should my current character die he would be replaced with a better version.

Thematically I've always thought the Ranger would be a good Monster hunting type, and I love Bloodborne so being able to play a Hunter in D&D would be really awesome for me, not just in background and imagination but it actual skills and stats and the like. The build should be really emulate what the Hunter can do within reason that also doesnt require a lot of homebrewing. So doing Melee and really taking advantage of dealing damage through a combination of Knowledge and high damage weapons.

[Venger]

Sorry I was in a hurry when I wrote the post. It's 3.5, my DM created the Antipaladin as being the exact opposite of a normal Paladin in everyway, the person in question, Friar Tuck, decapitated an entire group of orphans in the local orphanage and than burned the orphanage down and framed our group for it. We are using the core 3 rulebooks, but skills feats spells equipment and ACF's and races with +0 LA from any SRD source that can be referenced is acceptable.

Anyway, my ranger when he was first made was NOT optimized in any way shape or form, so my back up ranger who would be an entirely different and better optimized, should my current character die he would be replaced with a better version.

Thematically I've always thought the Ranger would be a good Monster hunting type, and I love Bloodborne so being able to play a Hunter in D&D would be really awesome for me, not just in background and imagination but it actual skills and stats and the like. The build should be really emulate what the Hunter can do within reason that also doesnt require a lot of homebrewing. So doing Melee and really taking advantage of dealing damage through a combination of Knowledge and high damage weapons.

Ok. It sounds like what you're looking for is a swift hunter, so check out the link to that handbook and see if that content is allowed.

I don't know what you mean about sourcing, since it sounds like knowledge devotion, which is from complete champion, is allowed, and it's not part of OGL. just fluff your knowledge as coming from your favored enemy ability rather than the mechanical knowledge skill and you'll probably be fine.