[4e] I wanna be a Half-Orc Ranger...

[Burley]

And put the lives of Dwarves in danger!

Anyways, another theoretical build. Half-Orc ranger dual-wield, with Blade Opportunist and Heavy Blade Opportunist to smack things around with Twin Strike.
I'm wondering two things:
1) Which would be best: 2 Khopesh, 2 Broadswords, or one of each?
2) What other feats would optimize a heavy blade ranger?

[Mando Knight]

2 Bastard Swords rather than Broadswords. You get an extra +1 to hit.

Other than that, the standard Weapon Focus and Lethal Hunter work well. There's also a few feats in Martial Power that let you have a variation on Prime Shot for melee.

[Burley]

Why weapon proficiency never popped in my head, I shall never know.

But, khopesh is no good? I mean, that gives a minimum damage of 4 instead of 2...

[Sinfire Titan]

Why weapon proficiency never popped in my head, I shall never know.

But, khopesh is no good? I mean, that gives a minimum damage of 4 instead of 2...

Khopesh was good until PH2 was errataed.

[RTGoodman]

I actually just built a Half-Orc Beastmaster Ranger on the Character Builder the other day. It goes for a two-handed weapon rather than TWF, and it may not be completely optimized, but I think it works pretty well. Here's the gist of it:

Spoiler

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====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
Thar, level 30
Half-Orc, Ranger, Feral Spirit, Beastlord
Build: Beastmaster Ranger
Fighting Style: Beast Mastery
Beast Companion Type: Boar

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 26, Con 16, Dex 18, Int 10, Wis 20, Cha 12.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 12, Dex 12, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 10.


AC: 41 Fort: 42 Reflex: 38 Will: 38
HP: 193 Surges: 10 Surge Value: 48

TRAINED SKILLS
Nature +27, Heal +25, Perception +25, Athletics +28, Endurance +25

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +19, Arcana +15, Bluff +16, Diplomacy +16, Dungeoneering +20, History +15, Insight +20, Intimidate +18, Religion +15, Stealth +19, Streetwise +16, Thievery +19

FEATS
Level 1: Blade Opportunist
Level 2: Thirst for Battle
Level 4: Beast Protector
Level 6: Weapon Proficiency (Fullblade)
Level 8: Weapon Expertise (Heavy Blade)
Level 10: Vengeful Beast
Level 11: Lethal Hunter
Level 12: Distracting Companion
Level 14: Protective Beast
Level 16: Sturdy Beast
Level 18: Heavy Blade Opportunity
Level 20: Coordinated Opportunity
Level 21: Peerless Hunter
Level 22: Quick Beast Command
Level 24: Heavy Blade Mastery
Level 26: Robust Defenses
Level 28: Martial Mastery
Level 30: Armor Specialization (Hide)

POWERS
Ranger at-will 1: Circling Strike
Ranger at-will 1: Predator Strike
Ranger encounter 1: Synchronized Strike
Ranger daily 1: Partnered Savaging
Ranger utility 2: Ferret an Opening
Ranger encounter 3: Paired Predators
Ranger daily 5: Lacerating Maul
Ranger utility 6: Invigorate the Beast
Ranger encounter 7: Beast Rush
Ranger daily 9: Attacks on the Run
Ranger utility 10: Companion Emplacement
Ranger encounter 13: Synchronized Strike (replaces Synchronized Strike)
Ranger daily 15: Blood Frenzy (replaces Partnered Savaging)
Ranger utility 16: Shared Healing
Ranger encounter 17: Blade and Fang (replaces Paired Predators)
Ranger daily 19: Claim the Prize (replaces Lacerating Maul)
Ranger utility 22: Master of the Hunt
Ranger encounter 23: Overwhelming Fury (replaces Beast Rush)
Ranger daily 25: Primal Rampage (replaces Claim the Prize)
Ranger encounter 27: Catch and Drop (replaces Synchronized Strike)
Ranger daily 29: Huntmaster's Mauling (replaces Blood Frenzy)

ITEMS
Legendary Fullblade +6, Battle Harness Elderhide Armor +6, Brooch of Vitality +6, Companion's Defender (epic tier), Iron Armbands of Power (epic tier), Zephyr Boots (epic tier), Ring of Fey Travel (epic tier), Stag Helm (paragon tier)
RITUALS
Raise Beast Companion
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======

If you're not that worried about Wis, you can have it lower. The reason I started with Str 16/Wis 16 was that a lot of Beastmaster Ranger powers add Wis to damage.

You'll definitely need your Str and Dex high, though, so you can get your Weapon Mastery (Heavy Blades) in Epic tier - it requires Str 21 and Dex 19, I think, so you'll either need to start them both at 17+ or slightly lower and boost them with your every-four-levels increases. Of course, you'll probably want them much higher than that - Str for to-hit and damage, and Dex for AC and Initiative.

Other than that, I think you could do pretty well just keeping those scores high, taking Weapon Expertise, and then just taking a lot of multiattack powers.

EDIT: Also, definitely take Thirst for Battle - it's almost as good as two other feats (Improved Initiative and Durable) all by itself!

[Colmarr]

Weapon Mastery (Heavy Blades) in Epic tier - it requires Str 21 and Dex 19

Str 21, Dex 17.

[Burley]

Khopesh was good until PH2 was errataed.

I don't understand this statement.

Also, I saw thirst for battle. It's a pretty sweet feat. Racial feats usually are, though.

[NPCMook]

By RAW before Errata, Weapon Expertise could be taken twice for certain weapons, the Kopesh being one of them. I'd recommend taking Cutthroat as that allows you to deal theoretically 14[w] Damage at level 25.

[SadisticFishing]

Half-Orc two weapon rangers are incredible. Bastard or scimitars (for Scimitar Dance) are the way to go. Stormwarden is an INCREDIBLE Paragon Path - do it.

From there, I don't believe Heavy Blade Opportunist is worth it. OAs are rare, and your hurt enough as is. By the way, Khopesh are numerically inferior to Broadswords (5 average damage instead of 5.5), so unless you're abusing the Axe part, not worth it at all.

Weapon Expertise, Weapon Focus, Lethal Hunter, Thirst for Battle, Battle Awareness, and more heroic feat - possibly Bastard Sword. Two Weapon Fighting and Two Weapon Defense are both awesome, and the former opens up a great feat in Paragon.

For paragon, Scimitar Dance (if Scimitars), Two Weapon Opening, ... the +5 damage when bloodied feat (Half-Orc Racial), and a few others.

Epic: Heavy Blade Mastery, Ferocious Critical, Epic Resurgence, and there are other amazing martial only feats.

[Tengu_temp]

By RAW before Errata, Weapon Expertise could be taken twice for certain weapons, the Kopesh being one of them.

Of course only by RAW, no sensible DM allowed that even before the errata.

Anyway, scimitars aren't worth it if you ask me - bastard swords have higher damage and higher attack bonus. It's better to optimize your hit chance rather than do stuff on a miss - the damage from Scimitar Dance might not look so bad in comparison to Dual Strike, but it's a paragon level feat, and at paragon levels you use at-will powers rarely - and when you compare Scimitar Dance to encounter, and especially daily powers, the damage it deals is negligible.