D&D 3.5 Elven Ranger help with advancement

[Thurdan]

Hello I appreciate any good advice anyone has I have been playing for a few years now with this one character from level 1 to 14 currently. I wanted to know if anyone knew of any good feats or a prestige class for him.
His stats are
Str 17, Dex 23, Con 16, int 15, wis 15, cha 18
Hp 118 ac 25 for reference I know he is very Mary sue but sometimes the dice just work out well and the rest of the party is also fairly powerful so not to worried about unbalancing the party
He has all the normal free feats a ranger gets in the archery tree for rangers. Far shot, multi shot etc. Uses a plus 2 lightning compound bow. I mostly am looking for anything useful as I level up to prestige into for archery as that's his number one thing thanks in advance

[Eldariel]

Hello I appreciate any good advice anyone has I have been playing for a few years now with this one character from level 1 to 14 currently. I wanted to know if anyone knew of any good feats or a prestige class for him.
His stats are
Str 17, Dex 23, Con 16, int 15, wis 15, cha 18
Hp 118 ac 25 for reference I know he is very Mary sue but sometimes the dice just work out well and the rest of the party is also fairly powerful so not to worried about unbalancing the party
He has all the normal free feats a ranger gets in the archery tree for rangers. Far shot, multi shot etc. Uses a plus 2 lightning compound bow. I mostly am looking for anything useful as I level up to prestige into for archery as that's his number one thing thanks in advance

Well, you're already level 14 so you might as well go Ranger 16 for 4th level spells and Ranger 17 for Hide in Plain Sight. You're way past the point where it's worth it to multiclass heavily or take Prestige Classes. If you were reworking the build, Peerless Archer [Silver Marches], Deepwood Sniper [Masters of the Wild] & Order of the Bow Initiate [Sword & Fist; NOT Complete Warrior version] would all be decent prestige classes and you could get a lot of mileage out of multiclassing between Fighter (particularly with the Dragon 310 Targetteer variant), Barbarian (Whirling Frenzy [SRD] + Extra Rage) and Warblade [Tome of Battle] (Dancing Mongoose, Raging Mongoose and Time Stands Still) as well as Eternal Blade [Tome of Battle] and potentially Shiba Protector [Oriental Adventures]. Honestly, Shiba Protector Zen Archer can do pretty cool stuff with supermaxed Wisdom.

The stronger option would of course be to go archer + casting with either Arcane or Divine options (Cleric, Wizard/Unseen Seer, even Druid or Archivist all offer a lot for Archers); your stats are more than sufficient and you could buff yourself and ramp your numbers up something severe. But even just as you are now, if you scour through Champions of Ruin, Spell Compendium and Player's Handbook II, you can add a ton of power to your archery with spells from there. Alternatively, you could also just go Mystic Ranger [Dragon Magazine 336] to get full Ranger casting much earlier with only modest delay to your other class features. That would be a very powerful build indeed at this point, with 5th level spells and full martial and skill stuff.


Also, do you have any magic items? Those numbers seem awfully low for a level 14 character. If not, going a caster is even more interesting, since caster spells give them the stuff you'd otherwise use magic items for, but mundanes have no Greater Magic Weapon/Magic Vestment/Resist Energy/Superior Resistance [Spell Compendium]/basic buffs in general. This means caster would let you give yourself the numbers you realistically should have at this point.


Feel free to check out the Archery Handbook (http://dictummortuum.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-archery-handbook-completed.html), as well as Toxophilite (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?269705-Toxophilite-The-Archery-Handbook). They can give you some ideas. Off the top of my head, Knowledge Devotion [Complete Champion] and Woodland Archer [Races of the Wild] are really good feats and Splitting [Champions of Ruin] weapon is a must-have. Standard bonuses are irrelevant since you can just get a Greater Magic Weapon cast on your weapon for all-day +3-+4 on this level; thus you'll want to craft/buy a +1 Splitting bow ASAP and add Force [Magic Item Compendium] and Seeking [PHB] at the first opportunity. Craft Magic Arms & Armor is not a bad feat to take as a Ranger: you could craft your own bow and then specialty arrows like Brilliant Energy to shoot through walls or Bane to hardcore overkill particular annoying types (Evil Outsiders, Dragons, Undead and Humans as well as any campaign-relevant Humanoids are all good picks).

[Thurdan]

I do have magic item both my bow and armor are magic the bow is dragon bone with plus 2 I think and lighting damage the armor is plus 4 leathers crafted from dragon skin. I dont have splitting as my dm feels it would be too much as I already out put 120 damage average every round. We generally dont have much for magic items no one has felt a need yet si we have like 500k gold laying around we killed a ancient dragon in two rounds even with extra health Our tank is nigh invulnerable(210 hp goliath large size with 26 base str and a rage to 35 with 14 dr) so ranged works very well for me magic could be cool but our wizard very much has that under control I dont want to step on his toes but if they just buff my arrows that would be interesting. I do plan on going above lvl 20 and I guess I was mistaken that prestige classes were for after lvl 20 whoops
Also which of my numbers are low from every game I've seen their rather high

[Biggus]

If you're going to epic levels, there was an epic prestige class in Dragon #297 called Master of the Order of the Bow, which followed on from Order of the Bow Initiate (you didn't strictly have to take OotBI first to enter it, but it was much easier). You'd need to talk to your DM about it though as it's 3.0 material (and like the 3.0 OotBI it required 4 levels of Fighter to get Weapon Specialisation).

[Thurdan]

Were pretty flexible with that stuff i think 3.0 should be fine. I am curious now that I was told my numbers are low our group is 6 people cleric lycan, goliath barbarian, elven wizard, druid, me a ranger, and a rouge and we have a issue with monsters being too easy are we doing something wrong here our dm has played since the 80s so hes not inexperienced but some of the party is and yet still too easy 90 % of the time

[Eldariel]

I do have magic item both my bow and armor are magic the bow is dragon bone with plus 2 I think and lighting damage the armor is plus 4 leathers crafted from dragon skin. I dont have splitting as my dm feels it would be too much as I already out put 120 damage average every round. We generally dont have much for magic items no one has felt a need yet si we have like 500k gold laying around we killed a ancient dragon in two rounds even with extra health Our tank is nigh invulnerable(210 hp goliath large size with 26 base str and a rage to 35 with 14 dr) so ranged works very well for me magic could be cool but our wizard very much has that under control I dont want to step on his toes but if they just buff my arrows that would be interesting. I do plan on going above lvl 20 and I guess I was mistaken that prestige classes were for after lvl 20 whoops
Also which of my numbers are low from every game I've seen their rather high

Numbers, well...
- Your AC is extremely low. This is mostly because you don't have magic items. AC is all about magic items. A CR 10 martial enemy like a bogstandard Fire Giant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/giant.htm#fireGiant) would hit you almost every time. Let alone something like a 12-headed Hydra (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/hydra.htm) - Hydra would deal expected 122.84 damage in a single round to AC 25 if it got to attack (and it can full attack after movement or charge so it can do that from up to 60' away) one-shotting you. This is a CR 11 encounter, something that should be way below party level.
- Your HP is quite low though this is again also just because of the lack of magic items. As an Archer you can make do most of the time though but if you ever get surprised by anything...
- Your Will-saves are (not listed but most likely) atrocious. Succubus (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/demon.htm#succubus) is a CR 7 enemy (weak enough that you wouldn't almost get XP for it) and can cast Charm Monster or Suggestion (both pretty brutal effects, though not quite as strong as Dominate) at save DC 21. Your Will-save save is probably something like 4+2 = +6 so you have like 25 % chance of making the save. Let alone something like Dominate Person or Confusion, which can lead to you killing your party members really quickly. Sea Hag (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/hag.htm#seaHag) is CR4 (!!) and has like a 30% chance of disabling you for three days (!!). There are also Will-based save-or-die effects so instant death is also in the cards.

You'll have to extrapolate on your offensive numbers, if you actually killed an Ancient Dragon in two turns then you must be looking at like +30 to hit and like 1d8+30 damage per arrow or something along those lines. My calculations did not add up to that much (I had +21/+21/+16/+11 for 1d8+5+1d6 + Favored Enemy bonuses based on what you reported).

[DEMON]

I'd like to know what is your choice of Animal Companion and what feats you have in addition to the bonus ones.

Also, are all the 3.5 books on the table, or are you limited in this regard?

[Thurdan]

All the books are fine I have a dire wolf personal choice I like dogs I won't change him. Hes got like 120 hp and wears full plate so ac 28 and my damage is 2d8 +20 5x and to hit is plus 20.
I do have magic armor I'm just using light armor its leather but made from dragon hide and enchanted for a total of plus 9 with plus 6 dex for 25 I'm not sure what is the expected ac for a light armor ranger I was always under the impression that in higher level fights you just always got hit and u always landed hits and I never am in melee combat anyways our tanks ac is not super high but his dr makes him much tougher hes a barbarian and uses medium hide with magic . I have good saves like plus 9 will reflex 15 and fortitude 12 I do have magic items we dont have a lot of good ones for me say like gloves of DeX or splitting on the bow cause it would be too much damage. We killed that dragon by first casting enlarge person on the goliath who grappled it to the ground and we all fired on it and on top the wizard lucked a 1 from the dragons save on stupify so knocked him down to two int. But it was near death anyway just prevented it from using magic to flee.
For other feats I have deflecte projectiles,
Greater weapon specialization for the bow along with its prerequisites rapid shot might be a free one cant remember, evasion.

[Biggus]

All the books are fine I have a dire wolf personal choice I like dogs I won't change him. Hes got like 120 hp and wears full plate so ac 28 and my damage is 2d8 +20 5x and to hit is plus 20.
I do have magic armor I'm just using light armor its leather but made from dragon hide and enchanted for a total of plus 9 with plus 6 dex for 25 I'm not sure what is the expected ac for a light armor ranger I was always under the impression that in higher level fights you just always got hit and u always landed hits and I never am in melee combat anyways our tanks ac is not super high but his dr makes him much tougher hes a barbarian and uses medium hide with magic . I have good saves like plus 9 will reflex 15 and fortitude 12 I do have magic items we dont have a lot of good ones for me say like gloves of DeX or splitting on the bow cause it would be too much damage. We killed that dragon by first casting enlarge person on the goliath who grappled it to the ground and we all fired on it and on top the wizard lucked a 1 from the dragons save on stupify so knocked him down to two int. But it was near death anyway just prevented it from using magic to flee.
For other feats I have deflecte projectiles,
Greater weapon specialization for the bow along with its prerequisites rapid shot might be a free one cant remember, evasion.

There are lots of other ways to increase AC. You can cast Barkskin for a Natural Armor enhancement bonus (and Metamagic Rods of Extend Spell are super cheap to make it last longer) or buy an Amulet of Natural Armor, a Ring of Protection provides a Deflection bonus, a Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone gives an Insight bonus, these all stack with your armor and Dexterity bonuses.

How have you got Greater Weapon Specialisation if you're a Ranger? Are you multiclassed with Fighter or has the DM houseruled that other classes can take it?

[Thurdan]

yes i was allowed to take it were pretty loose with the rules we run using rules as guides than hard set limits. most of our monsters have their hp doubled so they don't die too quickly a lot of custom things going on i know of those other ways of increasing ac i just wondered if it was really necessary i thought 25 was pretty good for a light armor the cleric has full plate like 31 with shield i think maybe thats more what you guys mean

[Biggus]

yes i was allowed to take it were pretty loose with the rules we run using rules as guides than hard set limits. most of our monsters have their hp doubled so they don't die too quickly a lot of custom things going on i know of those other ways of increasing ac i just wondered if it was really necessary i thought 25 was pretty good for a light armor the cleric has full plate like 31 with shield i think maybe thats more what you guys mean

Well, if you're very rarely getting into melee combat, I can see that AC isn't necessarily a high priority. Having said that, when you could have another 3 points of AC for only 9,000GP, it seems a bit silly not to if you've got 500,000GP sitting around: there's always going to be an odd occasion when melee is unavoidable, and it could mean the difference between life and death.

Here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J7KongPAMxJCKuSlDFIyRKj7YPWsTP2fJUh_tuS16Qs/edit#gid=1854430337) is a link to an averaging somebody did (I forget who now, thank you whoever you are) of the BAB, AC, saves, initiative and HPs of the monsters in the SRD at each challenge rating, it might give you a benchmark of what you should be aiming for with your own stats.

[Thurdan]

Ok I'll bounce these ideas of my dm this weekend during our pre game thanks everyone.

[Darrin]

If you already have the Weapon Specialization feats, then I'd consider picking up Ranged Weapon Mastery from PHBII. A little more damage is always good for archers. If you don't have Improved Rapid Shot (Complete Warrior) already, then I tend to prefer that one over Greater Manyshot (Expanded Psionics Handbook). If you're using Rapid Shot more than Manyshot, then I'd take Woodland Archer from Races of the Wild, as you can get a +4 attack bonus on your subsequent attacks every time you miss an attack.

[pabelfly]

What about taking some scout levels and the feat Swift Hunter? You combine your Scout and Ranger levels for several different class features of both Ranger and Scout.

Alternatively, if you can enter the Stalker of Kharash PrC, it gives you Favored Enemy: Evil at second level and progresses Ranger spellcasting.

[DEMON]

There's a couple options you can consider, but each comes with its own drawbacks:

- Stalker of Kharash (BoED) is full BAB and advances your spellcasting, while also providing some anti-evil features, but it has an alignment restriction and requires 2 feats you probably don't have, one of which is exalted
- Scout (CAdv) fits with the Ranger well thematically and Swift Hunter makes it even better. Plus it being a base class, there are no pre-reqs to worry about. But you might incur multiclass penalties, if your DM enforces them, and it hurts your BAB and spellcasting.
- Justice of Weald and Woe (CoR) is basically free, since I'm pretty sure you have the pre-reqs already and offers some okay features, but it only has 3/4 BAB and it's spellcasting overlaps with Ranger's quite a bit.
- Peerless Archer (SM) is a 3.0 class that has some value for an archer, but you probably don't meet the feat pre-reqs.

Also, the above classes don't progress you Animal Companion any further. Frankly, you might as well just continue with Ranger, get 8 more spell slots, progress your Cooshee Dire Wolf a step further, get 2 more Favored Enemies and maybe progress the ones you already have a bit further... and get HiPS to top it all off.

You have 2 more feats to take before going into Epic levels, so check out Woodland Archer and Ranged Weapon Mastery or Darkstalker, they might catch your fancy.

[Thurdan]

Dark stalker looks very cool me and the rouge are usually out ahead scouting for traps and ambushes so this would be great for both of us. Ill talk with my dm about the other slightly more complicated suggestions like multi classing i really like the scout as even just one level is good extra damage and the extra AC later is quite nice

[Eldariel]

Dark stalker looks very cool me and the rouge are usually out ahead scouting for traps and ambushes so this would be great for both of us. Ill talk with my dm about the other slightly more complicated suggestions like multi classing i really like the scout as even just one level is good extra damage and the extra AC later is quite nice

Keep in mind, on this level multiclassing into Scout is generally weaker than Ranger spells so unless you can switch to Mystic Ranger, you probably want to at least pick up 4th level spells before you leave Ranger (and honestly, I'd take HiPS as well particularly if you go Darkstalker).