Versatile (NOT damage-optimized) Ranged Build?

[gnarlydude]

hey everyone! new here, just made an account.

So I'm doing some character design and trying to come up with an ideal ranger-y character, and my idea is a little less than optimized. The goal is to create a ranged-weapon martial character with as much versatility as possible while remaining at about level 5. this is just a starter character- i'll probably multiclass for more features, since i'm ok with delaying extra attack. I don't have any preference on class and stat builds, but I do know I'd like to make use of a feat as a variant human- probably Poisoner, Sharpshooter or something else. So far I'm interested in a few things, so I'd like an optimal way to combine them:

- Battlemaster maneuvers, namely Bait & Switch, Brace, and Command Ally. These are cool battlefield control skills that can't really be replicated very well.

- Ranger spells. A lot of them. The issue is that I have no interest in any of the ranger subclasses, and the ranger gets pitifully few spells. The best here are Hail of Thorns, Ensnaring Strike, Zephyr Strike, Entangle, and Fog Cloud.

I love both of these feature types but it seems like picking either one causes a massive detriment to the other. What would you all recommend for build ideas that can effectively combine these or similar effects at lv5?

tl;dr: I'm looking for a way to create a ranged character with a high number of cool battlefield control skills, regardless of how effective they might be overall, and I need suggestions to maximize my options. Anything helps!

[LudicSavant]

hey everyone! new here, just made an account.

So I'm doing some character design and trying to come up with an ideal ranger-y character, and my idea is a little less than optimized. The goal is to create a ranged-weapon martial character with as much versatility as possible while remaining at about level 5. this is just a starter character- i'll probably multiclass for more features, since i'm ok with delaying extra attack. I don't have any preference on class and stat builds, but I do know I'd like to make use of a feat as a variant human- probably Poisoner, Sharpshooter or something else. So far I'm interested in a few things, so I'd like an optimal way to combine them:

- Battlemaster maneuvers, namely Bait & Switch, Brace, and Command Ally. These are cool battlefield control skills that can't really be replicated very well.

- Ranger spells. A lot of them. The issue is that I have no interest in any of the ranger subclasses, and the ranger gets pitifully few spells. The best here are Hail of Thorns, Ensnaring Strike, Zephyr Strike, Entangle, and Fog Cloud.

I love both of these feature types but it seems like picking either one causes a massive detriment to the other. What would you all recommend for build ideas that can effectively combine these or similar effects at lv5?

tl;dr: I'm looking for a way to create a ranged character with a high number of cool battlefield control skills, regardless of how effective they might be overall, and I need suggestions to maximize my options. Anything helps!

The way to get the most versatility in the game is spellcasting, and there just so happens to be a great way to make a very strong archer that also has powerful spellcasting: The hexblade archer. Hexblade to 12, Battlemaster 3, rest into Hexblade. Max charisma and pick up Sharpshooter and you're pretty much set.

Stealing things from the Ranger spell list (if you even still care once you have the Warlock one) is often a fairly simple matter, since a lot of them are available from Dragonmarked races or Ravnica backgrounds.

[Sherlockpwns]

I still like the artificer in either addition to or in place of the battle master over the hex blade. Mostly because I get tired of hearing hex blade is the solution to everything.

Anyway, it’s interestingly the only combo where a heavy crossbow makes sense (though still underperforms hand crossbow with xbert). Artificer gets plenty of utility spells as well.

I think the big decision is if you want more archery or more spells.

My first instinct is fighter 3, artificer 2 to start. This will get you infusions and give you the snazzy heavy crossbow shot at +3 to hit and then all the fun battle master things. Plus a couple of spells to cast.

The real question is which subclass. If you are going for more fighter then I’d say artillerist at 3 and stop there. This gives you your full attack action for crossbowing (3 attacks at level 14) and a bonus action turret for 2d8 more. However this is pretty spell-light, having only 3 first level spells.

If you want only 3 levels of fighter then I’d say Battlesmith since it doesn’t sound like you want to be shooting lightning from your chest like iron man. This way you still get 2x attacks and a bonus action defender. You’ll have a lot more spells this way as well.

Having said all this, honestly I don’t think ranger is bad here. People tend to focus on the ranger combat spells, and admittedly the ranger spells are not the best, but spells like fog cloud, animal friendship, or pass without trace, are really handy and leave spell slots free for other casters. In particular I’ve always been a fan of hunter horde breaker. An extra attack any time two enemies are standing next to each other is huge. Assuming you are using Tasha’s variants the class features are fine in general.

You can also transition (or plan to) away from ranger at level 5 after extra attack to a pure spell casting class. Since hunter level 7 is kind of meh, it’s a fine time to swap into cleric, bard, or any other class. Even Fighter 3-4 makes sense for the BM abilities and action surge. Really unless you go crossbow expert for hand crossbow (which is the meta) you benefit from any class that gives you bonus action options a lot. This includes artificer and rogue for sure as well. In short: despite my wall of text I started with, I vote Ranger 5 and then take a left turn and pick nearly any other class and have some fun.

If you want to go full meta, take Xbox expert and sharpshooter and blast away with your hand crossbow up to 4 shots per round. Otherwise grab a longbow and be satisfied with 3 shots and use the bonus action and extra ASI on something else :)

[Dalinar]

I'm not sure it's the flavor you want, but the free 15ft ranged shove on hit from Swarmkeeper Ranger is not to be trifled with (especially on low-STR targets who are likely to fail the saving throw), and they get various spell goodies that have already been mentioned in this thread (plus Mage Hand). If you and your party are packing lots of hazards like Web, Fog Cloud, Gust of Wind, and Spike Growth (just to name some you'll have access to yourself by 5) you can potentially move enemies into the hazard areas when you hit them with your ranged attacks.

Unfortunately going that route means you'd be putting off Battlemaster maneuvers until level 8, although you can grab the feat for 'em if you want the occasional one to hold you over. Of the three you mentioned: Brace requires a melee weapon in hand, so I'd skip it on a ranged build; Bait and Switch seems useful in highly constrained battlefields like narrow corridors; Commander's Strike can work if it lets your party members get off more Sneak Attacks or Smites, but the action economy is lousy unless you expect your buddy to deal way more damage than you (it requires one attack, one bonus action, and their reaction, and gives you back... one attack). Besides those: Precision Attack helps you land those hits that you need to get your Swarmkeeper shoves going, Pushing Attack lets you double-down on said shoves, or Trip Attack lets you prone things from a distance (great if you know the melee fighters will close the gap next turn).

I've been toying with a build where you cast Fog Cloud for your first turn, shoot something on your second, then hide with Goblin bonus action. Granted, I'm doing it on a different class entirely (Genielock), but you could potentially benefit from similar tactics starting at 2. If you switch to Fighter at this point, you get maneuvers by level 5, but you miss out on Extra Attack, an ASI, and more spellcasting compared to straight Ranger.

For feats, I'm a huge fan of Fey-touched and Shadow-touched, especially if you end up with an odd WIS score (assuming you go point buy and max WIS and put your +1 in it, you'd have 16 though). Elven Accuracy can work if you have a consistent source of advantage (like firing from hiding), but you said you want VHuman, so that's off the table. Crossbow Expert weaponizes your bonus action nicely, although I understand there are some unintuitive rulings on that feat, and importantly it prevents the disadvantage you'd get from a hostile creature being on top of you. Sharpshooter as you've mentioned is great (especially considering you also have the Archery fighting style, which helps offset the -5).

Lastly, I'd like to mention an off-the-wall feat, at least for a Ranger: Eldritch Adept. You can get goodies like at-will Mage Armor, Speak With Animals, Detect Magic, Disguise Self, or Silent Image; darkvision that works even in magical darkness; the ability to read all writing; or advantage on your concentration saves (although War Caster is usually better, since it comes with other goodies; Eldritch Mind's only advantage is that it works versus concentration saves forced by non-damage sources, which I guess might come up with a certain kind of DM). Is any of this worth a feat when you could pick up Sharpshooter or CBE instead? Probably not. But maybe you'll find something cool in that list. You specifically said versatile and not damage-focused, and I'm not your dad.

Just some ideas.

[Daver35]

The way to get the most versatility in the game is spellcasting, and there just so happens to be a great way to make a very strong archer that also has powerful spellcasting: The hexblade archer. Hexblade to 12, Battlemaster 3, rest into Hexblade. Max charisma and pick up Sharpshooter and you're pretty much set.

Stealing things from the Ranger spell list (if you even still care once you have the Warlock one) is often a fairly simple matter, since a lot of them are available from Dragonmarked races or Ravnica backgrounds.

I've also thought about this type of hexarcher build before. Would you consider viable adding 5 levels of whispers bard in order to get more slots + inspiration that can be stacked with eldritch smites, or is it just better to keep going hexblade for the mystic arcanum picks? How would the progression even work for this?

[LudicSavant]

I've also thought about this type of hexarcher build before. Would you consider viable adding 5 levels of whispers bard in order to get more slots + inspiration that can be stacked with eldritch smites, or is it just better to keep going hexblade for the mystic arcanum picks? How would the progression even work for this?

Keep going Hexblade.

[Eldariel]

One solid Archer is also simple Bladesinger. If you get Longbow proficiency from race, straight Bladesinger (either taking Elven Accuracy/SS or just standard feats) works quite well. And you get to cantrip-cast off your attacks, Haste for double cantrip cast (cantrips include stuff like Minor Illusion and Mold Earth, which can be very, very useful) + attack, solid offense and defense from spells, etc. Could also go Hand Crossbow to enable bladesong while going archery; Crossbow Expert would then help of course.

Technically you could dip Battlemaster 3; that would make the character weaker far as absolute power goes, but it'd still be definitely competitive with everything not-full-caster and it'd get you the maneuvers you want (and free up your race) plus some nice stuff. Not those exact spells: it's a bit different from that but it gets Wizard spells which work surprisingly well with what you're doing here.

[Willie the Duck]

tl;dr: I'm looking for a way to create a ranged character with a high number of cool battlefield control skills, regardless of how effective they might be overall, and I need suggestions to maximize my options. Anything helps!

A battlefield control archer character I have been off-and-on toying with is a martial bard (swords or valor). If Swords, choose elf (wood elf would work to help with a ranger-y feel, especially if you pick up the Wood Elf Magic feat) for longbow proficiency. The one I'm currently looking at is variant human (and thus valor bard), but then picking up Fey Touched (Misty Step, Hunter's Mark), and Shadow Touched (Invisibility, Silent Image; yes I know those are already on the bard list). By your fifth level mark the latter build can have two out of Fear, Hypnotic Pattern, Plant Growth, and Stinking Cloud; along with Dissonant Whispers, Hold Person, Pyrotechnics, Silent Image*, Sleep, and Thunderwave. That's a lot of options for battlefield control (and when none of them seem appropriate, plinking away with 2 longbow shots + Hunter's Mark is... well certainly not optimized but definitely worthwhile.
*Utility for battlefield control depending on creativity and DM buy-in.