Ranger/druid... advice on how to divide levels an build my character?

[Crimlock]

Hi! I decided that I want to play a ranger/druid multiclass character, but I am new to 5th edition. I was wondering*how more experianced players would build a ranger/druid. I was thinking the following:

I want my character to be very good with a long sword in melee, i want to be able to wild shape (not for combat, but more for stealth and exploration). Spells are also imporant but not as importent as sword fighting and wild shaping.

I'd start with 2 levels in (moon)druid to get wildshape. Then*I'd take 5 levels in hunter ranger to get the extra attack and*I will take the dueling style.*After those 5 levels*I think i want to continue with more druid levels to improve spell casting and wild shape capability. I am not sure how to precede after level 7...

I would like to play a woodelf and for stats*I was thinking about STR 15,*DEX 15+2, CON 12, INT 8, WIS 13+1, CHA 8. STR, DEX and a avarage CON to be good in melee. The wis I need to be able to multiclass into druid (and i think i need it to be an effective caster).

The first ASI points I will put in STR and DEX. The following I think I will put in CON...

What do you think? What would you change?

[Easy_Lee]

Too MAD. The biggest advantage of this multiclass, if you want to melee, is that you don't need strength or more than 14 Dexterity. Just use the druid cantrip Shillelagh.

With wood elf, you can easily start with 16 wisdom, 14 dexterity, and 14 constitution without even having to dump other stats. Take your first two levels in druid and pick up shillelagh. Take 3-8 or whatever in revised ranger: hunter for extra attack, favored enemies, and your level 3 feature. Then go where you want from there, probably more druid to get better spells. Wear medium armor and use a shield for competitive AC.

You'll have a SAD gish capable of wildshape and upcasting spells.

[Lombra]

Why such a high dex? I'd leave it at 14, 16 if you really want medium armor master but I don't see +1 AC that worthy (because if you plan to wild shape for stealth, armor won't be a problem, so you can wear half plate and be done at 14 dex for AC). I suggest to focus on STR and CON, WIS can be left low if you plan on picking spells that don't rely on it (spells without saving throws or attack rolls).

As for the levels, depending on how martial you want your character to be, any from druid 2/ ranger x to ranger 5/ druid x can work.

[Aett_Thorn]

Too MAD. The biggest advantage of this multiclass, if you want to melee, is that you don't need strength or more than 14 Dexterity. Just use the druid cantrip Shillelagh.

With wood elf, you can easily start with 16 wisdom, 14 dexterity, and 14 constitution without even having to dump other stats. Take your first two levels in druid and pick up shillelagh. Take 3-8 or whatever in revised ranger: hunter for extra attack, favored enemies, and your level 3 feature. Then go where you want from there, probably more druid to get better spells. Wear medium armor and use a shield for competitive AC.

You'll have a SAD gish capable of wildshape and upcasting spells.

Shillelagh won't let him use the longsword that he wants, though.

[Azgeroth]

druids cant use metal weapons or armour. so your longsword is out im afraid, unless your DM allows it.

you would be better dropping strength, using dex instead, you could dual wield scimitars (with dm fiat) from level 1 without the feat and be pretty effective in melee up until level 10. though you probably want to stop at 8 and then go moon druid..

but in all honesty, just go pure druid, you will be better in melee as a bear than a ranger, (bears have multi attack, so at level 2 you can make 2 attacks a round at 1d8 and 2d6) you could take 3 levels of ranger to get hunters mark adding 1d6 to every attack, but its going to set back your spell progression quite badly.

if its super important to the character concept, then go for 3-5 ranger, and the rest in moon druid. stopping at 3 means you miss an ASI but get your beast shape sooner, you could go all the way to 5, giving you better viability in your elf form, both melee and ranged but your not going to be able to dual wield at that point unless you take the feat and use clubs (unless your DM lets you use metal weapons).

personally, start ranger, get to 5, go druid for 2 (so 7) one more ranger for 6 / 2 (8) then all druid. this way you get the colusus slayer, hunters mark, and bear form. hunters are 1/3 casters, so 5 levels nets you 1 caster level, the 2 druid levels nets you 2 more, making you a level 3 caster so you will have a second level slot, but no second level spells, the next level in ranger taking you to 6 gives you another caster level, making you a 4th level caster, you get some second level spells from ranger but not many, then you go the rest druid, and progress as normal..

in short, you will be delaying your spell progression, and never get 9th or 8th level spells or slots, but you will get 'some' combat viability in caster form, but tbh at higher levels this going to be so sub-optimal you wont want to bother.

ive played this myself, past level 11 it was really poor in comparison to other classes.. just go druid.

[Lombra]

I don't get why telling him to play a completely different character.

He's not gonna be a druid, he's gonna be a shapeshifting swordsman, with levels in the druid and ranger classes.

On the build: do you plan on going hunter or beastmaster? My gut tells hunter, in which case I suggest to look at which features from that subclass you want and stop the ranger at that level.

Have you considered land druid? If yo don't want to use wild shape to fight, short-rest spell restoration can come in handy.

From what I get reading the OP, you may find yourself satisfied with just two levels of druid, unless you are looking for specific high level druid spells.

[Crimlock]

Thanks! I have a couple of questions:

I thought druids could use metal weapons just not metal armour? They are proficiant with scimitars... (I am in the 5e forum aint i? :-))

I really like to use a sword and have minor wild shape options...

Why is 14 str or Dex enough? Isnt a high strenger better because i can hit more and do more damage? Isnt the Dex also a good stat which helps with defense?

Is a Druid/barbarian Better in what I want? This was my second choise...

[Tetrasodium]

Hi! I decided that I want to play a ranger/druid multiclass character, but I am new to 5th edition. I was wondering*how more experianced players would build a ranger/druid. I was thinking the following:

I want my character to be very good with a long sword in melee, i want to be able to wild shape (not for combat, but more for stealth and exploration). Spells are also imporant but not as importent as sword fighting and wild shaping.

I'd start with 2 levels in (moon)druid to get wildshape. Then*I'd take 5 levels in hunter ranger to get the extra attack and*I will take the dueling style.*After those 5 levels*I think i want to continue with more druid levels to improve spell casting and wild shape capability. I am not sure how to precede after level 7...

I would like to play a woodelf and for stats*I was thinking about STR 15,*DEX 15+2, CON 12, INT 8, WIS 13+1, CHA 8. STR, DEX and a avarage CON to be good in melee. The wis I need to be able to multiclass into druid (and i think i need it to be an effective caster).

The first ASI points I will put in STR and DEX. The following I think I will put in CON...

What do you think? What would you change?

I think that you might be stuck in a multiclassing mindset that took shape in an earlier version where this kind of thing might be useful for reaching some kind of PrC, but it sounds pretty terrible. It seems like 5 levels in fighter(eldritch knight) or rogue (arcane trickster) will get you a better footing with less pure irrelevant duplication than 5 of ranger for your second attack multiclass swim. You'd lose 1 caster level, gain all of the benefits from a 5th level EK fighter/AT rogue, & gain some wizard utility type spells

[nickl_2000]

Thanks! I have a couple of questions:

I thought druids could use metal weapons just not metal armour? They are proficiant with scimitars... (I am in the 5e forum aint i? :-))

I really like to use a sword and have minor wild shape options...

Yes, this is correct. The default starting equipment of the Druid has a Scimitar or a Simple Melee Weapon. So, you can certainly use metal weapons if you want. Personally with my Druid, he chooses not to use any metal to harm (although he has a dagger he uses for surgery), but this is purely a roleplaying choice and has nothing to do with the rules.

[Azgeroth]

i only suggest that as ive tried this concept myself, and it was fine up untill level 10. at which point it started to seriously lag behind, problem being higher levels in ranger focus on range not melee, and starting caster levels at that point puts you a good bit behind everyone else.

its going to be easier to help, if we can get a better idea of the character concept, you mentioned you want to use a longsword and a shield, and also dual wielding, you also want beast shape for what purpose? melee/scouting?

any idea what level the campaign is running to?

as a ranger, if you can get your dm to let you use a 'longsword' one handed as a finesse(dex) weapon power to you, a rapier is 1 handed 1d8 finesse, shouldnt be too hard to argue to let you have it be slashing and look like a longsword.

depending on the overall character concept is going to dictate what you take at level 4, if you want dual wielding, obviously the feat is going to be handy. but if your happy to just use schims you could take a +2/+1 +1/shield master/sharpshooter

[Lombra]

Thanks! I have a couple of questions:

I thought druids could use metal weapons just not metal armour? They are proficiant with scimitars... (I am in the 5e forum aint i? :-))

I really like to use a sword and have minor wild shape options...

Why is 14 str or Dex enough? Isnt a high strenger better because i can hit more and do more damage? Isnt the Dex also a good stat which helps with defense?

Is a Druid/barbarian Better in what I want? This was my second choise...

Druids don't use metal armor. Is your character a druid? Because it doesn't look like it to me. (I'm a big fan of class abstraction, but if your DM doesn't allow it I can understand going studded leather and pumping DEX)
I assumed that you could use medium armor since ranger gives proficiency with them, and since you can't give more than +2 to AC with your DEX score to medium armor AC calculation, that's why I suggested to stop at 14 DEX, plus if you start ranger you will have proficiency in DEX saves so you're good on that front.

Druid barbarian can certainly work if you don't want more spells, you' ll be better at fighting and can rage while wildshaped (moon druid 2/barbarian 2 is a really powerful level 4 character, but it's far from your character concept)

There is a shifter race in some playtest material that looks fitting with your character concept if you are intreasted and if your DM allows it.

[Crimlock]

We will be playing the strahd campaign... that Goes up to 10? Or more? I'm not sure...

My concept is of a Druid which had his village destroyed by something supernatural and he then lived with rangers who hunt the supernatural... i like the natural flavour and the ability yo shape shift... i just like a Blade fighting demon hunter more... so i like 2 things and so i came to a ranger/Druid. Druid mainly just for a 2 level dip, but maybe more depending what i think is going to help the party...

So i want a long sword fighting elf who hunts undead, fiends and others... he just also uses shape shift to scout/track/sneak around.

Hope this helps :-)

[Aett_Thorn]

Crimlock, you may also want to check out the Oath of the Ancients Paladin. It's got the woodsy feel, but is also good at hunting down the supernatural. But this build would be very MAD, as you'd need to throw in some Charisma there as well.

Definitely go for your Ranger/Druid combo if that's what you prefer, though. It's a fine combo, especially if you're just dipping Druid (I would say go 3 Druid/Ranger X) so that you can get some second level spell slots, but that's just me. Probably go 2 Druid, then 5 Ranger, then a Druid level, then the rest Ranger.

[Crimlock]

Is it really lacking at higher levels or is it ok? Also what stats do I minimal need?

[Tetrasodium]

Is it really lacking at higher levels or is it ok? Also what stats do I minimal need?
Ranger/druid for wildshape is already a bit of a stretch for possible synergy between the two, tossing in "but with a long sword too!" mostly invalidates the reason for wildshape (unless you were using it for Stealth/scouting, but that's a terrible investment compared to even a single level of rogue)

It's difficult to answer the "What do I need" question because nobody seems to really have a finger on the pulse of what your goals are with the combination of X Y & Z

[Crimlock]

Oh man... I'm totally lost with all suggestions :-)

[Beelzebubba]

druids cant use metal weapons

Uh, that's like an OD&D thing. Druids are fine with metal weapons.

You're right about the metal armor though.

[Easy_Lee]

Here's the trouble. Druids need high wisdom, and to use a longsword effectively in combat you want high strength. That's already two stats. If you add dexterity, and Rangers work best with dexterity due to their limitation of medium armor, then that's three stats you need. Since you'll be in melee, you can't afford to dump constitution, so that's four stats.

To add to all of that, you're going to be behind on your ranger features in order to pick up shapeshifting from druid. And you're going to lose an ASI (ability score increase) for stopping at druid 2, since ASIs are based on class level (WotC screwed over multiclassing this edition).

In short, the build as presented has major problems and there's no good way around them. You don't get your first ASI until level 6, so starting stats are important here. At a minimum, you need 14 dexterity to get the full benefit of medium armor, 14 constitution to not die immediately in combat, 16 starting strength to make use of a longsword, and 16 starting wisdom so that your spells are effective.

And buddy, on an elf with standard array or point buy, that ain't happening.

Someone asked why people are suggesting alternate builds. This is why. Flavor or not, nobody wants to be ineffective and behind the curve just because the system didn't fit the concept.

[rbstr]

You'll be perfectly fine with your concept but you can make some tweaks within that to make it work a bit better.

1st: If you want to use a Longsword for certain take a 14 (after racial) in Dex and no more or less. Use medium armor. Starting at 15 strength is OK, but you'll want to get it to 16 on your first ASI. If you're using your spells more for utility, 13 would be OK...but if you ant to use them for attacking you're really going to want it to be higher. You could do Str15 Dex14 (12+2) Con 14, Int 8, Wis 15 (14+1), Cha 8. Take +1str +1wis at your first asi.
(Alternatively you can take a lot of dex, pretend a Rapier is a Long Sword, and dump strength entirely...this is far more "optimal")
2nd: Take a Land Druid instead of Moon. You're not wanting to fight in wildshape (And would be bad at it anyway), Land can still shift into various scouting forms. A Land circle will give you some interesting spells (that are always prepared!) and spell slot recovery.

Getting to Ranger 5 and extra attack is pretty important. I wouldn't delay it by more than one level. However you want to do that is kind of up to you. Starting Druid 1 then going 5 in ranger wouldn't be too bad. If you start Ranger I'd get to Ranger 2 at the very least before you take a druid level.

[Lombra]

I say go for it. Druid 2/ ranger x will give you the flavour/utility of wildshape and the martial hunter vibe, you have healing so you will not be useless to the party ever.

I suggest starting ranger 1, then druid 2, then ranger for the rest, to start with the longsword hunter feel, alternatively you could start druid to gain shapeshift sooner if you prefere that.

In any case, you will not be useless, if that's what you're afraid of.

[Crimlock]

Ok i changed my initial concept:

Still a wood elf but with these stats: STR 15, DEX 14, CON 15, INT 8, WIS 14 and CHA 8. The first ASI will go to STR and CON. I'll start with 5 levels in ranger and then dip 2 levels of druid and maybe more (depending if the melee fighting is still doable or i need more hitpoints).

Thanks for the input so far, if there are any other remarks or suggestions I'm happy to hear them!

[Lombra]

Ok i changed my initial concept:

Still a wood elf but with these stats: STR 15, DEX 14, CON 15, INT 8, WIS 14 and CHA 8. The first ASI will go to STR and CON. I'll start with 5 levels in ranger and then dip 2 levels of druid and maybe more (depending if the melee fighting is still doable or i need more hitpoints).

Thanks for the input so far, if there are any other remarks or suggestions I'm happy to hear them!

I think that extra attack will be needed as early as possible if, from what I understand, you want to be primarly fighting with your longsword.

Bottom line: try to keep in mind advice but don't trade your character concept for optimization, nobody has fun with a character that hey don't feel right.

[Specter]

1) Unless strenght is vital for this concept, go with a DEX, rapier build. It makes you much less MAD, and since you can turn into many animals the need to swim and climb becomes null and void most of the time.

2) I'd go Land instead of Moon. You said you don't want wild shape for combat, and extra attack won't help any beast who already has multiattack. With Land's Natural Recovery, you can make sure you never run out of Hunter's Mark, Hail of Thorns and other good stuff.