Bugbear, Reach, Ranger, Druid, Oh MY!!!

[Grorl]

Howdy folks in the playground! Grorl here!

So, I'm about to join a new game where we begin at level 5. For the fun of things, and the fact that I have yet to play a beast race, I decided to roll my stats.

16
17
16
14
18
14

With these, I went with bugbear, making him:

18
18
16
14
18
14

Insane, right?!

With this spread, I decided to roll classes I have yet to play and that peak my interest. I managed to convince my DM to let me use the revised ranger, so I started as that. I had a theme for this character, seeing as the two choices of class that I had made, did make a thematic sense. So, I took beast conclave! I got me an ape (Chimpanzee named Caesar!!!!). For my 5th level, I took druid. Now, I aim to take Circle of The Shepard, going for a summoner type of build. For the ranger 4th I took a feat, polearm master. Given his stats, He is currently using a glaive with backup quarterstaff and longbow. But that is as far as physical combat he is going to go as he was planned to be support as a druid to level 20 or wherever we get to.

The summon beast spell (Conjure beast?) scaled rather well with higher slots, given the cheese of mighty summoner at 6th and bear totem to boost further and just have meat shields or even grappling machines with some sort of bear or apes?

Now, the question for me is... should I just go with Ranger 4/Druid 16? Or should I cross over to something else(caster preferably for higher spell slots) after 10th level which would be Ranger 4 /Druid 6? (Mighty summoner ability at druid 6th)

Also, at 4th druid, Resilient con or Warcaster?
Looking for ideas in general.
What do you all think of this obscure build? Any tips? Spell recommendations? Etc...
I thank you all for taking a peek at this.

-Huzzah!

[CTurbo]

Sorry but I don't like it at all. I was going to just not post at all, but decided I'd give my opinion anyway.

For starters, I feel like those awesome stats would be completely wasted on a Druid. Also, Beastmaster is already weak enough, but to ONLY take 4 levels of Ranger would pretty much make your Ape useless forever as your companion scales only with Ranger levels.

Maybe I'm just missing the point, or maybe the concept doesn't appeal to me, but that's my 2 cents.

If anything, I'd make it a Ranger with a small Druid dip instead.

[Man_Over_Game]

Sorry but I don't like it at all. I was going to just not post at all, but decided I'd give my opinion anyway.

For starters, I feel like those awesome stats would be completely wasted on a Druid. Also, Beastmaster is already weak enough, but to ONLY take 4 levels of Ranger would pretty much make your Ape useless forever as your companion scales only with Ranger levels.

Maybe I'm just missing the point, or maybe the concept doesn't appeal to me, but that's my 2 cents.

He does mention that he's working with the Revised Beast Master, which is a lot better than the normal Beast Master. I agree on the stats, though. Ranger doesn't need a third stat, as they lack very many saving throw abilities and most of their spells don't scale with Wisdom. Similar with Druid, who is going to stay at range for the majority of the time to get the most use out of it. Most Druid spells are Concentration, so they'll usually want to stay out of combat.

For those kinds of stats, I'd honestly recommend Monk. Like, a lot. Their reliance on Wisdom, Dexterity and Constitution means that you will be an overpowered, reaching power-puncher. Be Open Hand and make that 15 foot push into a 20. Knock enemies prone without any chance of them getting an Opportunity Attack on you.

[CTurbo]

He does mention that he's working with the Revised Beast Master, which is a lot better than the normal Beast Master. I agree on the stats, though. Ranger doesn't need a third stat, as they lack very many saving throw abilities and most of their spells don't scale with Wisdom. Similar with Druid, who is going to stay at range for the majority of the time to get the most use out of it. Most Druid spells are Concentration, so they'll usually want to stay out of combat.

For those kinds of stats, I'd honestly recommend Monk. Like, a lot. Their reliance on Wisdom, Dexterity and Constitution means that you will be an overpowered, reaching power-puncher. Be Open Hand and make that 15 foot push into a 20. Knock enemies prone without any chance of them getting an Opportunity Attack on you.


I know the Revised Ranger IS much better. That's why it would probably make a solid pure Ranger Beastmaster build.

I like the Monk idea, but that just takes it further from what he was going for.

[Grorl]

Sorry but I don't like it at all. I was going to just not post at all, but decided I'd give my opinion anyway.

For starters, I feel like those awesome stats would be completely wasted on a Druid. Also, Beastmaster is already weak enough, but to ONLY take 4 levels of Ranger would pretty much make your Ape useless forever as your companion scales only with Ranger levels.

Maybe I'm just missing the point, or maybe the concept doesn't appeal to me, but that's my 2 cents.

If anything, I'd make it a Ranger with a small Druid dip instead.

The beast from the ranger scales with character level, least last I read, not ranger level.

The druid was for the summoner theme, thus Shepard.


He does mention that he's working with the Revised Beast Master, which is a lot better than the normal Beast Master. I agree on the stats, though. Ranger doesn't need a third stat, as they lack very many saving throw abilities and most of their spells don't scale with Wisdom. Similar with Druid, who is going to stay at range for the majority of the time to get the most use out of it. Most Druid spells are Concentration, so they'll usually want to stay out of combat.

For those kinds of stats, I'd honestly recommend Monk. Like, a lot. Their reliance on Wisdom, Dexterity and Constitution means that you will be an overpowered, reaching power-puncher. Be Open Hand and make that 15 foot push into a 20. Knock enemies prone without any chance of them getting an Opportunity Attack on you.





I know the stats could be put to better use, perhaps as a dpr. But, if I wanted that, I woulda gone gloomstalker/assassin.

I made this guy more for fun and to be as support, but mainly fun and animal themed. We already have 2 paladins, a sorcerer, and a bard. I know the melee aspect of the build are odd, but it gives me an alternative to spells and some more flavor. Yes, of course I will be maintaining distance when it comes to con spells, but that never means I will be safe from an odd melee bunch trying to hit me because they notice I am the source of a certain spell. Of course, can't do much against a ranged attack even if I maintained my distance. So, what's so wrong with this build, right?

But, I digress. I did ask for opinions and such. Thank you for your input. ^_^

[Potato_Priest]

If I recall correctly (I might not), your animal companion ought to get another attack at ranger level 5. That alone would make it worth taking the level. Other than that, I’m not sure what to suggest in terms of build. If I were you I’d probably put the rest of my levels in ranger to improve my companion and get cool ranger spells, but it’s really totally up to you. If you wanted to get better at support you could take some cleric, bard or Wizard levels (Wizard might sound dumb but they get more buff spells than bards do). College of Valor bard would be a neat way for you to get an extra attack (eventually) and thus improve your melee abilities even as you get a new support toolkit. I don’t remember how many college of swords bard features will work with your polearm, but that might be worth investigating as well. If you do go into bard, it might be best to skip the ranger level 5 so you can get to bard level 10 and have some 5th level spells from any class to cast with all those multiclasser spell slots.

Honestly though I’d worry about all this after you get to level 10. A lot of campaigns don’t make it there, and you’ll have a fun build in the meantime. Enjoy!

Edit:I’d definitely take War Caster over Resilient:Constitution. The half-point stat increase from resilient:con wouldn’t do anything for you, and polearm master gives you opportunity attacks when enemies approach, which makes interesting synergies with the opportunity attack feature of war caster. Depending on your DM, you may even be able to opportunity attack your allies with buffs and healing spells! (Opportunity attacks per RAW can only be used on enemies but it’s not outside the realm of possibility for a DM to allow this sort of stuff)

[Grorl]

If I recall correctly (I might not), your animal companion ought to get another attack at ranger level 5. That alone would make it worth taking the level. Other than that, I’m not sure what to suggest in terms of build. If I were you I’d probably put the rest of my levels in ranger to improve my companion and get cool ranger spells, but it’s really totally up to you. If you wanted to get better at support you could take some cleric, bard or Wizard levels (Wizard might sound dumb but they get more buff spells than bards do). College of Valor bard would be a neat way for you to get an extra attack (eventually) and thus improve your melee abilities even as you get a new support toolkit. I don’t remember how many college of swords bard features will work with your polearm, but that might be worth investigating as well. If you do go into bard, it might be best to skip the ranger level 5 so you can get to bard level 10 and have some 5th level spells from any class to cast with all those multiclasser spell slots.

Honestly though I’d worry about all this after you get to level 10. A lot of campaigns don’t make it there, and you’ll have a fun build in the meantime. Enjoy!

Edit:I’d definitely take War Caster over Resilient:Constitution. The half-point stat increase from resilient:con wouldn’t do anything for you, and polearm master gives you opportunity attacks when enemies approach, which makes interesting synergies with the opportunity attack feature of war caster. Depending on your DM, you may even be able to opportunity attack your allies with buffs and healing spells! (Opportunity attacks per RAW can only be used on enemies but it’s not outside the realm of possibility for a DM to allow this sort of stuff)

Hm, bard would be interesting. A bugbear bard. xD
But, yes. You are right. I should worry about it until I hit level 10.
In which case, r4/d6 sounds like a safe bet. And kinda, about the companion second attack thing. It's when the pet sees me attack, they can use their reaction to attack with melee.

[Citan]

Howdy folks in the playground! Grorl here!

So, I'm about to join a new game where we begin at level 5. For the fun of things, and the fact that I have yet to play a beast race, I decided to roll my stats.

16
17
16
14
18
14

With these, I went with bugbear, making him:

18
18
16
14
18
14

Insane, right?!

With this spread, I decided to roll classes I have yet to play and that peak my interest. I managed to convince my DM to let me use the revised ranger, so I started as that. I had a theme for this character, seeing as the two choices of class that I had made, did make a thematic sense. So, I took beast conclave! I got me an ape (Chimpanzee named Caesar!!!!). For my 5th level, I took druid. Now, I aim to take Circle of The Shepard, going for a summoner type of build. For the ranger 4th I took a feat, polearm master. Given his stats, He is currently using a glaive with backup quarterstaff and longbow. But that is as far as physical combat he is going to go as he was planned to be support as a druid to level 20 or wherever we get to.

The summon beast spell (Conjure beast?) scaled rather well with higher slots, given the cheese of mighty summoner at 6th and bear totem to boost further and just have meat shields or even grappling machines with some sort of bear or apes?

Now, the question for me is... should I just go with Ranger 4/Druid 16? Or should I cross over to something else(caster preferably for higher spell slots) after 10th level which would be Ranger 4 /Druid 6? (Mighty summoner ability at druid 6th)

Also, at 4th druid, Resilient con or Warcaster?
Looking for ideas in general.
What do you all think of this obscure build? Any tips? Spell recommendations? Etc...
I thank you all for taking a peek at this.

-Huzzah!
Hi!

Ok so first things first.
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO BE REASONABLE FOR???? PICK TWO LEVELS IN EVERY CLASS IS ALL!!!

Ahem.
Sorry.
That really needed to get out.

*clear throats*
Now that I can more or less focus on your initial question without bringing up quintuple/sextuple class builds... :smallbiggrin:

As far as buffing your "main" pet goes, if at least it's one of your concern, I suggest you take a peak at this post of me (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23550176&postcount=8). Covers the basics. ;)

Now, for your summoner focus, I'm sorry but I cannot bring myself to restrict to WIS classes.
With your godly stats, I'd *very very* strongly suggest either of the following...

- Evoker Wizard 2+: because what's better than a bunch of buffed animals? Well, using them as lures to bring everyone in time for a big Fireball that your own beasts will feel like gentle heat.
- Bladesinger Wizard 2: what's worse than losing concentration early? A big +4 in AC and Concentration saves ought to do well in the department.
Except that you're a Bugbear. Scratch that, sorry, it's late and my brain is even more extinct than usual. ^^

Divine Soul Sorcerer 3+: seriously, that one is imo the definitive first pick whatever happens. You can pair Careful with Druid instant spells with riders such as Earth Tremor or Erupting Earth (difficult terrain should not be that big of a deal for your beasts), Extend to keep your Conjurations longer (great for big dungeons, less resources consumed) or to buff you, pet and allies with Aid, you could Hide and then bring sudden doom by Subtle Conjure Animals etc...
Or you could to the "few but powerful" allies and Twin buffs on you and your main beast.

Besides that... Nothing much coming to my head, since Conjurations are mostly self-sufficient, and most "mass buffs" are also concentration anyways.
The only one I'd still think of is Glamour Bard: the "mass THP + move" as a reaction can be very useful, and if you keep the number of creatures around a few powerful ones, you won't have to choose which to boost. ^^