Quietus
2021-04-17, 09:46 AM
This is kind of an advice request, kind of a thought experiment. I am playing a character who, for story reasons, is a specialist at underwater ranged combat. The parts I have locked in stone are :
- Triton race
- Beastmaster ranger (with all the Tasha's options)
- Must be capable of competent combat underwater, ranged in particular
I will be playing him from level 1, and has the potential go to into tier 3. I've set him up with a heavy crossbow, for 120 foot attack range underwater, and as of level 3, expect to be using Beast of the Sea, or Beast of the Sky if we're landbound. The real trick will come in at level 5, when I get Extra Attack, and can only attack a single time per turn. I'm trying to find a way to make the action economy of this work for me in a more interesting way. My beast can attack either as a bonus action, or through me giving up one of my attacks, so I need to find a way to use either my second attack or my bonus action each round. So far I have :
- Take Crossbow expert. This hurts, because it will be my only feat, and will mean I don't max both dex and wis until 20.
- Use Hunter's Mark. It's only a d6, and doesn't apply to my beast attacks, but it's at least something to spend my bonus action on. Also other bonus action spells, though my slots are limited.
- Take thrown weapon fighting style, throw darts. This is possible, but it reduces my range to 20 feet, as all attacks beyond your short range explicitly miss underwater
- Take Druidic Warrior weapon style, get two cantrips and use those. The lack of wisdom to damage doesn't feel good, and it'd take until tier 3 before Thorn Whip would outdamage the crossbow.
- Multiclass out. I don't want to do too much multiclassing, as it can affect my ASI's, and the HP of my companion. Three levels of Cleric could get me Spiritual Weapon, but that's an expensive spell slot.
Right now I'm kind of leaning toward just taking crossbow expert. It seems the people I'm playing with won't be super high optimization, so just via weapon and beast attacks I should be relatively okay. I'm just interested in seeing what interesting ideas come up here.
- Triton race
- Beastmaster ranger (with all the Tasha's options)
- Must be capable of competent combat underwater, ranged in particular
I will be playing him from level 1, and has the potential go to into tier 3. I've set him up with a heavy crossbow, for 120 foot attack range underwater, and as of level 3, expect to be using Beast of the Sea, or Beast of the Sky if we're landbound. The real trick will come in at level 5, when I get Extra Attack, and can only attack a single time per turn. I'm trying to find a way to make the action economy of this work for me in a more interesting way. My beast can attack either as a bonus action, or through me giving up one of my attacks, so I need to find a way to use either my second attack or my bonus action each round. So far I have :
- Take Crossbow expert. This hurts, because it will be my only feat, and will mean I don't max both dex and wis until 20.
- Use Hunter's Mark. It's only a d6, and doesn't apply to my beast attacks, but it's at least something to spend my bonus action on. Also other bonus action spells, though my slots are limited.
- Take thrown weapon fighting style, throw darts. This is possible, but it reduces my range to 20 feet, as all attacks beyond your short range explicitly miss underwater
- Take Druidic Warrior weapon style, get two cantrips and use those. The lack of wisdom to damage doesn't feel good, and it'd take until tier 3 before Thorn Whip would outdamage the crossbow.
- Multiclass out. I don't want to do too much multiclassing, as it can affect my ASI's, and the HP of my companion. Three levels of Cleric could get me Spiritual Weapon, but that's an expensive spell slot.
Right now I'm kind of leaning toward just taking crossbow expert. It seems the people I'm playing with won't be super high optimization, so just via weapon and beast attacks I should be relatively okay. I'm just interested in seeing what interesting ideas come up here.