Ranger help ... Int. ?

[orlondok]

I am trying to make a Ranger with the Alternative Class Feature: Trap Expert from dungeonscape ...
I have opted to be a Gray elf for the extra Int. for skills and searching help ...
but I would still like to cast spells ...
Is there by chance some kind of option (feat or something) that would let me base my spellcasting off of Int. rather than Wis. ?

[Wonton64]

There is not, to my knowledge. There is, however, precedence you could use to argue for homebrewing an ACF or feat. Archivist from Heroes of Horror is an Int-based divine caster and Mystra (a goddess of arcane magic) has her own ranger order. I can't imagine a DM would veto that, a Ranger is never going to break a campaign.

[Thurbane]

If your group is open to third party content, there's Lost Tradition (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?184265-Switching-casting-stats-(3-5)&p=10203238#post10203238).

[Rebel7284]

There is also Academic Priest, but I don't remember the particular licensing status of that particular book. Regardless, it's there.

If you really want to focus on casting, consider the Mystic Ranger from Dragon #336 which you can combine with Sword of the Arcane Order feat for a really fun character!

[bean illus]

I am trying to make a Ranger ... snip
...
but I would still like to cast spells ...
Is there by chance some kind of option (feat or something) that would let me base my spellcasting off of Int. rather than Wis. ?

Why Arcane spells? Mystic Ranger has really good spell access from level 1. There are acfs to expand the spell access.

You could dump Int completely, or take a 12. If you're short on feats you can take fighter at level 6 and 9, if you want wild cohort or whatever.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Forget about having a high Int score, take the feat Tactile Trapsmith and use Dex instead for search and disable device checks. If you're not starting at 1st level, you can spend 3,000 gp to say you visited the Iron Wyrm Vault in Complete Scoundrel p149 to get that without spending a feat on it.

[Elkad]

He said he also wanted the skillpoints, so just trading skills away to different stats doesn't fix that.
Rangers are already short on skillpoints, dumping int doesn't help that, and picking up trapsmith means he wants to squeeze in another one.

Hide, MS, spot, listen, disable, search all want to be maximum. You also want probably at least 5 points in your 3 knowledges, handle animal, survival, balance (crossclass), maybe concentration. That's another 4pts/level for your first 10 levels. Which you aren't getting. 12int human or 14int nonhuman is probably about the minimum. And if you paid for a 12, you might as well pay for a 13 so you can get Improved Trip without dipping even more.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

He said he also wanted the skillpoints, so just trading skills away to different stats doesn't fix that.
Rangers are already short on skillpoints, dumping int doesn't help that, and picking up trapsmith means he wants to squeeze in another one.

Hide, MS, spot, listen, disable, search all want to be maximum. You also want probably at least 5 points in your 3 knowledges, handle animal, survival, balance (crossclass), maybe concentration. That's another 4pts/level for your first 10 levels. Which you aren't getting. 12int human or 14int nonhuman is probably about the minimum. And if you paid for a 12, you might as well pay for a 13 so you can get Improved Trip without dipping even more.

Going Human with Nymph's Kiss is equivalent to +4 Int if all it's for is to give more skill points.