Gnome cavalry! Epic! Unyelding! Belly rubs!

[Mortheim]

CLICKBAIT! Oh, no, wait, not really. And sorry for caps.
Ii'm really too fond of gnomes. If i create a character i would ask myself "How gnome could fit?" (the answer is "Easy - they are small"). After really huge time without playing and only DMing, one player from my group decided to DM. His own setting, UA is usable, campaign will be difficult with usage of sanity. And i decided "holy crap, i should play gnome ranger". I was inspired by Binabik - character from "Memory, Sorrow, Thorn". I really like him. The character relies more on tactics and cunning than on sheer force, and has quest on collecting magic lore for his tribe and future students.
And for this group it will be first ranger.

Goals for the campaign are:
1) have mount, animal companion, familiar (bonus points for pseudodragon) and 3 different critters;
2) be as stealthy and as cunning as possible;
3) rely on tactics more than on brute force;
4) don't be party leader;
5) collect as much rituals and lore knowledge as possible;

So, it is now serious business. I'm buying my gear and i had GREAT wealth rolls - all 4s. Stats are point-buy.
Stats will be:
STR 10
DEX 15+1 from forest gnome
CON 14
INT 10+2 from gnome
WIS 14
CHA 8
At 4th level i will take Ritual Caster feat (wizard). Will dip into knowledge domain cleric (thanks to The Ship's dog for this idea) for additional skills (Nature and History) and spells.

Background: Outlander.
Skill prof: Athletics (back), Survival(back), Animal Handling(need to train my critters), Investigation(lore-seeker), Perception(???) (oh boi, i need more).
At start i will have mastiff and hawk/owl (hope they will live long enough).
Gear will be:
Saddlebags and pack saddle; shield+lance/spear for mounted combat; shortbow for range combat; studded leather; and some other stuff (like book already containing two rituals which i will learn to get feat).
I will have spare 13 gold.

Main tactic is hit&run - move towards target (40 feet), attack with lance, mount dashes (40 feet).
Alternative tactic is parthian shot - move and shoot.
Minor illusion will be used as often as possible - creating places to hide (booshes, rocks, big nests in tree branches, creating distracting sounds when hidden already etc).

It feels thought out, but i have some questions (consider that campaign will be hard and some decisions will affect my survivability):
1) would you allow Help action from hawk/owl if it is trained by ranger forest gnome with animal handling?
2) would it be legitimate tactic for you to command hawk/owl to use Help action for advantage and then fly away?
2) should i go more optimized root with lance and light crossbow rather than more logical root with spear and shortbow? Main question is lance or spear, cause shortbow and light crossbow damage difference is not noticible. The only reason why i want lance - reach;
3) heck, would you even allow using lance as gnome on mastiff (later - wolf)?
4) i'm still doubting proficiency in Perception, cause i WANT stealth, but other skills are too good for character concept =(
5) i want to go more utility spells than damaging, can i? Control proved efficient, but ranger doesn't have THAT great control spells.

[The Ship's dog]

So someone has already done what you are doing, except with a Halfling, and with the express desire of breaking the game with the non-revised Ranger Beastmaster. The link to the thread is here:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?376418-Breaking-BM

I'm sure it will be useful to you for mechanical decisions and you can probably convert the entire build over tithe Revised Ranger quite easily.

[Mortheim]

So someone has already done what you are doing, except with a Halfling, and with the express desire of breaking the game with the non-revised Ranger Beastmaster. The link to the thread is here:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?376418-Breaking-BM

I'm sure it will be useful to you for mechanical decisions and you can probably convert the entire build over tithe Revised Ranger quite easily.

Thank you xD I've read this thread before, but it reminded me that lance uses STR. And it doesn't answer other questions :)

[The Ship's dog]

Thank you xD I've read this thread before, but it reminded me that lance uses STR. And it doesn't answer other questions :)

Ah, fair enough, sorry I didn't really answer your questions, it wasn't really that helpful.

I would say that Perception proficiency is really important, especially if you are playing a stealthy character as you really need to be able to notice and look for the enemy that you are stealthing around.

If you really are having a hard time with your skills, why not take a level in Knowledge Cleric? You get more skills, more languages, and it fits with your character theme of a lore seeker.

[Azgeroth]

on allowing non-familiar animal companions the help action, i would personally say if you spent enough time training the animal a specific behaviour, such as..

ally 1 holds his sword, ally 3/4/5/etc stands opposite, with food held in his lips, when ally 1 raises his sword, bird retrieves food.
with enough practise that would tell the animal, when this guy raises his sword, grab some food from the guy opposites mouth.. theres your help action!

if that works in combat, or how reliable it is, i would put down to circumstance and training.. being a forest gnome with proficiency in animal handling is going to make this training a hell of a lot easier..

i did once find some homebrewed animal training tables, with varying level of training/skill with tied DC's in a progressive manner, so first is obedience, then retrieve, sit, stay, followed by attack/allow mounting. you could always homebrew your own.

[Mortheim]

I would say that Perception proficiency is really important, especially if you are playing a stealthy character as you really need to be able to notice and look for the enemy that you are stealthing around.

If you really are having a hard time with your skills, why not take a level in Knowledge Cleric? You get more skills, more languages, and it fits with your character theme of a lore seeker.

Any reply is helpful ;)

Also, dip into knowledge cleric if truly great idea. Getting 2nd level will hurt mine companion (is we will survive till level 20) with getting ASI, but it is soooo great (at least as i see it for character). Starting without nature as ranger will be strange, but Blessing of Knowledge gives small choice =(
And what cantrips could you suggest for this dip? Thaumaturgy is obvious choice to get as another source for distraction.




on allowing non-familiar animal companions the help action, i would personally say if you spent enough time training the animal a specific behaviour, such as..

ally 1 holds his sword, ally 3/4/5/etc stands opposite, with food held in his lips, when ally 1 raises his sword, bird retrieves food.
with enough practise that would tell the animal, when this guy raises his sword, grab some food from the guy opposites mouth.. theres your help action!

if that works in combat, or how reliable it is, i would put down to circumstance and training.. being a forest gnome with proficiency in animal handling is going to make this training a hell of a lot easier..

i did once find some homebrewed animal training tables, with varying level of training/skill with tied DC's in a progressive manner, so first is obedience, then retrieve, sit, stay, followed by attack/allow mounting. you could always homebrew your own.

Interesting, but hawk hunting is known thing and you don't need food for that during command execution. Same goes for owls. It is not easy and you need practice, but you can work with them.

[furryblueelf]

I have nothing mechanical to answer in my reply.

I just want to salute someone who enjoys playing Gnomes as much as I do, and wanting to shoehorn any character concept into a little person :D

[The Ship's dog]

Also, dip into knowledge cleric if truly great idea. Getting 2nd level will hurt mine companion (is we will survive till level 20) with getting ASI, but it is soooo great (at least as i see it for character). Starting without nature as ranger will be strange, but Blessing of Knowledge gives small choice =(
And what cantrips could you suggest for this dip? Thaumaturgy is obvious choice to get as another source for distraction.

*snip*

Just base on pure power levels, I would say that Guidance one of the best out of combat Cantrips, simply because adding 1d4 to any ability check is just too good to pass up. Because your Wisdom probably won't be too high, you might not want
to pick up Sacred Flame as it is a Dex Save rather than an attack roll. Beyond that, Resisitance isn't get good because it uses your action and isnt very impactful.

[Mortheim]

I have nothing mechanical to answer in my reply.

I just want to salute someone who enjoys playing Gnomes as much as I do, and wanting to shoehorn any character concept into a little person :D

Gnomes in 5e are super cool. They feel unique and interesting. It is good to find fellow gnome player :biggrin:



Just base on pure power levels, I would say that Guidance one of the best out of combat Cantrips, simply because adding 1d4 to any ability check is just too good to pass up. Because your Wisdom probably won't be too high, you might not want to pick up Sacred Flame as it is a Dex Save rather than an attack roll. Beyond that, Resisitance isn't get good because it uses your action and isnt very impactful.

Yeah, my wisdom will stay +2 to the end. And i will have bow :)
So, thaumaturgy, mending (to repait stuff) and guidance. And two prepared spells of 1st level. Yeah, it will be good. Thank you for help :3

[The Ship's dog]

Gnomes in 5e are super cool. They feel unique and interesting. It is good to find fellow gnome player :biggrin:




Yeah, my wisdom will stay +2 to the end. And i will have bow :)
So, thaumaturgy, mending (to repait stuff) and guidance. And two prepared spells of 1st level. Yeah, it will be good. Thank you for help :3

Well in fact you would get 3 prepared spells with one level of Cleric, plus the Command and Identify that are auto-prepared from the Knowledge Domain. Also no problem, I always enjoy helping people out with janky character ideas.

[tieren]

I'm playing a gnome paladin/warlock now and loving it.

I'm just using a quarterstaff from dog-back with a shield. I'm picturing him wielding it like a lance as he charges up and pokes things with it (or whacks them or whatever).

I'm going to go tome-lock and pick up shillelagh to make the QS damage die a d8, overcome resistance to non-magic weapons, and make my attack stat Cha to solve the MAD problem. May or may not eventually go Polearm Master.

I don't see any benefit to going spear, and I can't conceptualize a lance on the small character.

[Mortheim]

Well in fact you would get 3 prepared spells with one level of Cleric, plus the Command and Identify that are auto-prepared from the Knowledge Domain. Also no problem, I always enjoy helping people out with janky character ideas.

True, I will have 5 spells prepared always (they will be rituals ofc).
XD Well, I hope he won't be useless)


I'm playing a gnome paladin/warlock now and loving it.

I'm just using a quarterstaff from dog-back with a shield. I'm picturing him wielding it like a lance as he charges up and pokes things with it (or whacks them or whatever).

I'm going to go tome-lock and pick up shillelagh to make the QS damage die a d8, overcome resistance to non-magic weapons, and make my attack stat Cha to solve the MAD problem. May or may not eventually go Polearm Master.

I don't see any benefit to going spear, and I can't conceptualize a lance on the small character.

More gnomes! Yay!

I was thinking about magic initiate for some time. But ritual caster felt better for concept.

I won't go pam. And spear feels more logical as weapon on the back of your companion and as melee choice ( 2handed 1d8 is not that bad, imho, especially for small character).
Lance is good cause it is 1d12. And I also can't conceptualize it on small character only if there were light lance with 1d10 for small races. And it also pretty logical cause you use your speed and weigh to deal heavier damage. Using quarterstaff is strange (not considering that it can be used with shillelagh).

[mgshamster]

Bonus points if the cav group calls themselves Gnomercy.

[Mortheim]

Bonus points if the cav group calls themselves Gnomercy.

I prefer to be serious about my characters :3 But it can be fun idea for wolf-mounted gnome mercenaries/

[The Ship's dog]

*snip*
I won't go pam. And spear feels more logical as weapon on the back of your companion and as melee choice ( 2handed 1d8 is not that bad, imho, especially for small character).
Lance is good cause it is 1d12. And I also can't conceptualize it on small character only if there were light lance with 1d10 for small races. And it also pretty logical cause you use your speed and weigh to deal heavier damage. Using quarterstaff is strange (not considering that it can be used with shillelagh).

Wait wait wait, so you are intentionally nerfing your damage by quite a lot? I mean, your character concept is a Gnomish cavalry-person, it's already a bit of a silly concept, so why not use a proper lance? It would be quite funny

[Mortheim]

Wait wait wait, so you are intentionally nerfing your damage by quite a lot? I mean, your character concept is a Gnomish cavalry-person, it's already a bit of a silly concept, so why not use a proper lance? It would be quite funny

Totaly. From d12 to d6 xD Maybe i will be able to convince GM that spear will deal more damage and will get d8 instead. But, yeah, from 6.5 to 3.5/4.5.
And concept is lore seeker. Riding dog and firing arrows, while wolf fights in melee xD Also, maybe i forgo dog (it will die too fast and i'm too much of a dog person) and will ride wolf when it isn't in melee.

[tieren]

Once I get find steed I am totally pushing for giant frog mount.

[8wGremlin]

Gnomeish vulture squadron.
Large enough to ride, for special trained skinny gnomes. With bows, and splash potions

With perhaps gnomish heavy bomber artificer giant owl construct.

[Mortheim]

Cause UA is allowed in party, i was thinking about Starter Spells UA. There is interesting spell "Zephyr Strike" - no AoOs, bonus action cast-time, +30 feet move. It takes concentration and lasts for 1 min.
But there is a lot of good spells :3 Like, Hunter's Mark and Hail of Thorns. TWF benefits a lot from Hunter's Mark how it is writen, but i really don't wont to fight in melee until i'm forced to. Hail of Thorns is situational and WILL hit my teammates.