Halfling ranger - advice needed

[Morphie]

Hello everybody!

I'm currently playing a 4th level halfling Ranger (Hunter) and I just picked my first feat, Crossbow Expert.
I started to think a bit ahead on where I want to take this character and since the ranger's class features above 5th level don't really impress me much, I'm considering picking up another class on lvls 6+.

After a bit of thought, here are the two options I've come up with:
A) Go with Cleric (probably Nature domain for flavor and the cool druid cantrip), get more spells slots and provide better Support and Healing abilities.
B) Go with Rogue (Arcane Trickster) and improve my mobility while also getting more damage in combat. The arcane spells can also give me a cool familiar that might help with scouting and stuff.

For context, this is my current party composition:
War Cleric (Dwarf)
Warlock (1/2 Elf)
Evoker Wizard (Gnome)
Bear Totem Barbarian (1/2 Orc)

Note: I'm not looking for advice on feats - I'm set on picking something besides Sharpshooter when the next ASI/feat comes - honestly it just sounds too "cookie-cutter" for me, I'm probably going with Resilient (Wisdom) instead.
Also I'm not really sure on where this adventure will end level-wise, so I'm aiming for a "build" that's solid and good throughout the whole thing instead of just becoming good by endgame.

My question for you lovely folks is:
Which path would you pick?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[Man_Over_Game]

Your group is badly in need of another frontliner, or at least a backup line when someone gets past the two meatheads.

Really consider packing a few levels into Battlemaster Fighter. It's a lot of fun, has a lot of uses for ranged attacks, and it can still heavily rely on Dexterity for all of its really fun abilities. I'd recommend stopping at Ranger 4 and grabbing Fighter afterwards, to make sure you don't end up with a redundant Extra Attack level, or stopping at Fighter 4 to grab more Ranger or Rogue.

[nickl_2000]

Cleric, Rogue, and Druid are all solid choices.

Cleric - More spell slots and better upcasting and more utility. Disadvantage - stepping on the War Cleric's toes
Rogue - More utility in bonus actions, sneak attack, and lots of other stuff. Disadvantage - No spell progression
Druid - More utility in spell selection and slots, wild shape at level 2, and some interesting utility in subclasses. Disadvantage - That pesky druid armor thingy. Also most Druid spells are concentration as is Hunter's mark.

[Morphie]

Your group is badly in need of another frontliner, or at least a backup line when someone gets past the two meatheads.

Really consider packing a few levels into Battlemaster Fighter. It's a lot of fun, has a lot of uses for ranged attacks, and it can still heavily rely on Dexterity for all of its really fun abilities. I'd recommend stopping at Ranger 4 and grabbing Fighter afterwards, to make sure you don't end up with a redundant Extra Attack level, or stopping at Fighter 4 to grab more Ranger or Rogue.

Hi! Thank you for your reply.
Our cleric is good at tanking people with his heavy armor and also does well in combat with his domain powers. When I can't be at a safe distance, I'm able to take the frontline as well since I can shoot in close range without issues. Horde Breaker also helps with hitting adjacent enemies. Fighter is interesting because of Action Surge and a new fighting style, but would a BM really be better than a Rogue AT or a Nature Cleric? Wouldn't the lack of spells decrease its flexibility?

[Morphie]

Cleric, Rogue, and Druid are all solid choices.

Cleric - More spell slots and better upcasting and more utility. Disadvantage - stepping on the War Cleric's toes
Rogue - More utility in bonus actions, sneak attack, and lots of other stuff. Disadvantage - No spell progression
Druid - More utility in spell selection and slots, wild shape at level 2, and some interesting utility in subclasses. Disadvantage - That pesky druid armor thingy. Also most Druid spells are concentration as is Hunter's mark.

I could get a bit of spell progression with the Arcane Trickster (1/3). I thought about Druids but I'm not really into wildshaping.
If I may ask, which one would you pick?

[Man_Over_Game]

Hi! Thank you for your reply.
Our cleric is good at tanking people with his heavy armor and can also does well in combat with his domain powers. When I can't be safe distance, I'm able to take the frontline as well since I can shoot in close range without issues. Horde Breaker also helps with hitting adjacent enemies. Fighter is interesting because of Action Surge and a new fighting style, but would a BM really be better than a Rogue AT or a Nature Cleric? Wouldn't the lack of spells decrease its flexibility?

Nature Cleric is an interesting choice, but the heavy armor is wasted due to the fact that you're being a Dexterity-based character (unless you want to take the hit to your speed). I find that most low-level Ranger spells have utility, or scale with your ability to attack (like with Hunter's Mark), and the Fighter inherently improves those things (so rather than attacking 2-3 times as a Ranger, you can attack 3-4 times as a Ranger + Fighter).

Additionally, Clerics' most powerful features/spells come from later level investments. They're generally one of the best classes to main, but not a good multiclass choice. My recommendation is to go as a Fighter, focus on Archery, spam out those attacks and be a combatant that can cripple enemies at range and in melee with a crossbow. A single level into Rogue gets you a ton of skills and Expertise, along with Sneak Attack, so if you feel your team needs utility, a single level into Rogue is a great choice.

[nickl_2000]

I could get a bit of spell progression with the Arcane Trickster (1/3). I thought about Druids but I'm not really into wildshaping.
If I may ask, which one would you pick?

I would go Rogue personally, you can continue to up your damage output and it fits pretty well with Ranger abilities. Also, I think it fits into a place missing in your party.

Plus, it sounds to me like you think Arcane Trickster would be fun.

[Morphie]

I would go Rogue personally, you can continue to up your damage output and it fits pretty well with Ranger abilities. Also, I think it fits into a place missing in your party.

Plus, it sounds to me like you think Arcane Trickster would be fun.

That is true, I was initially considering following with cleric because I love cantrips in general and Guidance is always good, but seeing as there are already plenty of full casters in the party and not enough "mundanes" I'm starting to lean more towards the Rogue.

Anyway, I still have a lot of time to think about this before it's time to decide.
Thank you, have a good one :)

[CTurbo]

Rogue and/or Fighter would be great for you. Don't forget to max Dex at some point though.

[GorogIrongut]

Your best bet would be to go Rogue. It's got a wonderful and complementary chassis for the Ranger. I personally would recommend the Scout subclass. Arcane Trickster is also a good one, but the Scout synergizes better with the Hunter subclass (as you didn't go Gloom Stalker). It would also allow you a lot of freedom to move around the field of battle unscathed using the following:
Skirmisher
Starting at 3rd level, you are difficult to pin down during a fight. You can move up to half your speed as a reaction when an enemy ends its turn within 5 feet of you. This movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.

This would enable you to choose whether or not you want to be a frontliner, whether you wanted to close with the softer targets hiding behind their tanks, or if you wanted to withdraw and just be shooty.

[Keravath]

Your group is badly in need of another frontliner, or at least a backup line when someone gets past the two meatheads.

Really consider packing a few levels into Battlemaster Fighter. It's a lot of fun, has a lot of uses for ranged attacks, and it can still heavily rely on Dexterity for all of its really fun abilities. I'd recommend stopping at Ranger 4 and grabbing Fighter afterwards, to make sure you don't end up with a redundant Extra Attack level, or stopping at Fighter 4 to grab more Ranger or Rogue.

I'd just like to comment that with this plan your extra attack will be delayed until 9th level and you are going to feel significantly underpowered for five levels. Going into battlemaster fighter at this point really makes no sense in my opinion.

[Keravath]

Cleric provides a lot of support but your party already has a cleric (and a ranger as back up healer .. you don't mention what sort of warlock but if they are hexblade then they may be melee already or if celestial then they are already backup healing). Also, if you decide to go with cleric, life cleric has amazing synergy with both goodberry and healing spirit ... substantially increasing the healing provided by either of these spells. (I have a 6 gloomstalker ranger/1 life cleric ... in my case I am taking gloomstalker to level 7 since they get proficiency with wis saves as a class feature).

I would also take ranger to at least 5 for extra attack. In addition, although sharpshooter my seem a bit cookie cutter, the ability to ignore half and three quarters cover AND avoid disadvantage at long range are both very worthwhile for any sort of ranged character even if you never use the -5/+10 feature. This is especially true if you plan to use a hand crossbow since it has a normal range of only 30' ... anything beyond that will attack at disadvantage.

As for other multiclass options ... the rogue is probably the best choice. Sneak attack, bonus action hide (or dash or disengage), combined with multi-attack can make it much more likely to land your sneak attack. In addition, arcane trickster can take find familiar and choose an owl which can flyby in combat and provide the help action enabling another way to get advantage on the attack and deliver a sneak attack. Finally, you will also pick up proficiency with thieves tools and expertise ... if you might ever encounter traps, a rogue with expertise in perception/investigation/thieves tools can be amazing at preventing environmental hazards from harming the party. There are some published dungeons that will fairly easily kill parties if they don't have a rogue to help trivialize some of the trap content.

[Guy Lombard-O]

I would also take ranger to at least 5 for extra attack. In addition, although sharpshooter my seem a bit cookie cutter, the ability to ignore half and three quarters cover AND avoid disadvantage at long range are both very worthwhile for any sort of ranged character even if you never use the -5/+10 feature. This is especially true if you plan to use a hand crossbow since it has a normal range of only 30' ... anything beyond that will attack at disadvantage.

I'd second going to at least 5 in ranger. In addition to the extra attack, you get your 2nd level spells at 5. Pass without Trace and Darkvision are both great spells for the party (and your halfling).

Second on the sharpshooter goodness.

[Morphie]

Cleric provides a lot of support but your party already has a cleric (and a ranger as back up healer .. you don't mention what sort of warlock but if they are hexblade then they may be melee already or if celestial then they are already backup healing). Also, if you decide to go with cleric, life cleric has amazing synergy with both goodberry and healing spirit ... substantially increasing the healing provided by either of these spells. (I have a 6 gloomstalker ranger/1 life cleric ... in my case I am taking gloomstalker to level 7 since they get proficiency with wis saves as a class feature).

I would also take ranger to at least 5 for extra attack. In addition, although sharpshooter my seem a bit cookie cutter, the ability to ignore half and three quarters cover AND avoid disadvantage at long range are both very worthwhile for any sort of ranged character even if you never use the -5/+10 feature. This is especially true if you plan to use a hand crossbow since it has a normal range of only 30' ... anything beyond that will attack at disadvantage.

As for other multiclass options ... the rogue is probably the best choice. Sneak attack, bonus action hide (or dash or disengage), combined with multi-attack can make it much more likely to land your sneak attack. In addition, arcane trickster can take find familiar and choose an owl which can flyby in combat and provide the help action enabling another way to get advantage on the attack and deliver a sneak attack. Finally, you will also pick up proficiency with thieves tools and expertise ... if you might ever encounter traps, a rogue with expertise in perception/investigation/thieves tools can be amazing at preventing environmental hazards from harming the party. There are some published dungeons that will fairly easily kill parties if they don't have a rogue to help trivialize some of the trap content.

The Warlock is indeed a Hexblade, he usually takes the second line in combat with his Eldritch Blast but can also charge ahead with his weapon.
I already took the "Criminal" background to take care of the Thieves' Tools prof, it also plays well if I end up following the Rogue path.

As for the Expertise part, I'm thinking about picking Stealth/Survival and Perception, two skills I already had as a Ranger. I'm not proficient in Investigation, so getting it as a Rogue and suddenly becoming really good at it just sounds a bit odd imho ;)


I'd second going to at least 5 in ranger. In addition to the extra attack, you get your 2nd level spells at 5. Pass without Trace and Darkvision are both great spells for the party (and your halfling).

Second on the sharpshooter goodness.

Yes, I'm set on getting to 5th level with Ranger before I multiclass. Pass without Trace is a must and Darkvision could be good if I don't find some goggles or something else that gives me Darkvision.

Sharpshooter is good but I'm not really into it, I'm leaning more towards something like Resilient (Wis). There's plenty of spells that affect Wisdom so I'd rather sit on the safe side.

Thanks for all the tips, everybody :smallsmile:

[tieren]

I recommend rogue, going with the arcane trickster.

Many high level ranger features (evasion OR uncanny dodge) are low level rogue features (evasion AND uncanny dodge). It will keep you getting better at the things you are good at and you won't regret it.

I would go at least 7 levels in rogue for a ranger 5/rogue 7, if you then decide you want to slip in some fighter or something thats up to you, I don't generally see high level play and find planning out that far a little moot.

But...if you were to do a 1 shot at level 20 my favorite archer is ranger 5/ rogue 7/ druid 8. turn into a sparrow, fly into the enemy camp perch in a tree, turn back and summon a herd of wild boar to wake them up and use the boars for an enemy within 5' to trigger sneak attack damage and shoot with glee. If you get spotted, shift again and fly away.

[djreynolds]

Volley is awesome

Lightning arrow and conjure barrage/Volley are awesome.

That's your damage, not hunters mark.

Use hunters mark for individuals, like BBEG and the spells for groups.

Rogue, cleric and monk are sweet dips, as is fighter

Good luck