4e Need help remaking an elf ranger

[randomhero00]

I have a level 8 elf ranger that has gotten boring to play and roleplay. I may play another class but the other option would be to MC or hybridize him to keep my character. Any ideas? What goes well with a ranger? And would be interesting to roleplay? Would the new seeker go well since they use bows?

[Swordgleam]

What about it is boring? Lack of versatility in combat? Dislike ranged combat? Want more skills? If you explain the problem it'll be easier to help you solve it.

[randomhero00]

Lack of variability. I just twin shot most of the time. Very mundane feeling class since it does not have magic flavor (to me.) Very little strategy. Just plink away at Quarried target. No real combos. Not very fun/flavorful roleplay wise. Archer ranger btw.

I generally like range and magic. The main reason I started him was because it was my first 4e character and he was simple to play. Now its a detriment though.

I like range, I like AoEs, I like magic. I like to do damage and status effects. I don't like book keeping or overtly hard to pull off strategies.

Skills aren't a big deal, mostly looking for fun to play in combat, and fun to roleplay flavor wise.

Also open to ideas on how to keep his "soul" but transfer him into another class or body. I was thinking, undead, maybe psionic transfer, or maybe put into a warforged body.

thanks

PS further examples of classes that seem fun to me roleplay wise; swordsage, warlock, psion, swarm druid, and rogue. Not sure how well they'd hybridize or MC into ranger though. I hear rogue/ranger is decent, but that may be too mundane for me, unless someone can convince me its a neat combo.

[Mando Knight]

Very mundane feeling class since it does not have magic flavor (to me.)

It's not magical. That's the point of a Martial Ranger. If you want a magic-archer, go with either the Bard or the Seeker.

[randomhero00]

Right which is why I was thinking seeker. But I have little clue on how well they'd mix or how to mix them. Bard isn't my style.

Also, I like dramatic effects in combat. Descriptive, "shiny" effects I can describe that seem dramatic and impressive.

[The J Pizzel]

I generally like range and magic. The main reason I started him was because it was my first 4e character and he was simple to play. Now its a detriment though.

I like range, I like AoEs, I like magic. I like to do damage and status effects. I don't like book keeping or overtly hard to pull off strategies.

Skills aren't a big deal, mostly looking for fun to play in combat, and fun to roleplay flavor wise.

This screams sorcerer or invoker. Lot's of range, AoE's and all magic. Damages are lower though. We've had one of each in my game and they both loved both classes. The invoker because he was moving people all over the map, while damaging them. The sorcerer becuase he was hitting ALOT of people at the same time, but had to think about how to do it to it's greatest effect without harming us.

Now, as for how to multiclass to to those classes...I leave that to someone who know more...like Kurald.

My 2 pennies...

[Swordgleam]

I let our party's ranger switch to a MC druid/shaman. It fit with the ranger's nature-y feel, so it just represented the character becoming more spiritual (to make a very long story short). See if your DM will let you do something like that. Druids are controllers, so you get status effects and AoEs and whatnot, plus you get to run around in beast form.

[randomhero00]

Is there a beast form I could use my bow with? Cause that'd be pretty badass. "Oh ****! An owlbear 50 yards away with a freaking greatbow!"

[Swordgleam]

I don't think beast forms can use items, but you could fluff your beast form's attacks as being a weapon. Though I'm not sure there's any ranged beast attacks.

[Thajocoth]

If you want to stay a Ranger, but make things more interesting... You could concentrate more on immediates. Your turn is still a Twin Strike, yes, but you get to do a lot of cool stuff out of turn. Unfortunately, you can only deal Quarry damage 1/round. You could also Hybrid Ranger/Rogue, taking all immediates, and deal either Sneak Attack or Quarry on your turn, followed by the opposite set of dice between turns when you do your really cool stuff... This would be a Longbow + Short Sword build that kinda requires Shadowdancer Armor to avoid AOs for using ranged powers in melee.

A Druid in beast form cannot use the powers, properties or anything of weapons or wondorous items and they drop anything they're holding when they become beast form that isn't an implement.

[Mando Knight]

Though I'm not sure there's any ranged beast attacks.

There are a few, and they're mostly short ranged.

[Kaun]

Maybe see if you can hybrid in to a seeker or even just multi to it for a bit 0f a change/options.

Unfortunatly pew pew rangers in 4e are kind of dull to play once you get over the "Wow i get the killz good!!" thing. You either need to give the chracter a hell of a lot of personality so he becomes something more interesting.

[tcrudisi]

I have a level 8 elf ranger that has gotten boring to play and roleplay. I may play another class but the other option would be to MC or hybridize him to keep my character. Any ideas? What goes well with a ranger? And would be interesting to roleplay? Would the new seeker go well since they use bows?

Ranger is a great class for beginners for the very reason you now find it boring. Unfortunately, it's also the best single-target damage-dealing class in 4e.

Since you enjoy magic, I'd second what someone above said: go Sorcerer. At level 8, it's hilarious to hit 3 targets with a Blazing Starfall, roll 1d4, then announce, "Okay, they all take 23 damage as white energy falls onto them." The look of the other players is often priceless, "WHAT? You just did 23 points of damage to 3 targets and only rolled 1d4?!" Gotta love it.

It's also a lot trickier to play. Suddenly you are trying to hit as many foes as possible while not hitting allies. (And if you take multiple single-target powers, you are doing it wrong. You won't even be able to match a Rogue for single-target damage, yet alone a Barbarian or Ranger). The downside? A fight against a single monster.

It also has fun RP opportunities depending on what flavor you want: a Wild Sorcerer and Storm Sorcerer might be similar, yet compare that to a Dragon Sorcerer or Cosmic Sorcerer and you have a lot of variation in the types, which should translate into helping you roleplay the character.

I've played an epic level Ranger. I also found it boring after a few sessions. I've played several Sorcerers -- you'll likely find it exciting with all the options available.

[Draz74]

Ranger|Seeker hybrid should work fine. Both can be based on just high Dex and Wis. Ranger really only needs one At-Will Power anyway. Neither have particularly crucial class features, so even taking Hybrid Talent isn't a necessity (though I recommend it). And you'll be able to switch anytime you want between dealing uber single-target damage (because your group wants something dead), and fooling around with battlefield control (because you're bored of just doing damage).

[Kurald Galain]

Now, as for how to multiclass to to those classes...I leave that to someone who know more...like Kurald.

You Rang?

I have a level 8 elf ranger that has gotten boring to play and roleplay. I may play another class but the other option would be to MC or hybridize him to keep my character. Any ideas?

Boring to roleplay, I can't really help you with: that's your own character background and personality, which you may be able to change (perhaps you have a Dark Secret, or could get involved with a recurring NPC).

Boring to play, however. The ranger is, intentionally, the easiest and most striaghtforwad class to play. The flipside of that coin is that, well, it can be boring; I retired my ranger for precisely that reason.

Multiclassing isn't going to help you here, because fundamentally you're still a ranger and play largely the same way. Hybridizing may work, but many hybrid combinations tend to become mediocre at both their sides. Since basically all the ranger does is damage, and every class already does damage to some extent, I don't think there's much to be gained in hybridizing a ranger.

So I'd say, rebuild your character to a new class, keep the same race, and keep your bow even if you'll use it less.

You mentioned range, AoE, magic, and status effects (all classes do damage, and none have hard-to-pull-off strategies). The best fits for that are the wizard and sorcerer, plus invoker and druid. Controllers (other than the seeker) have the best AoE and status effect powers.

Rogue has status effects, but no magic, few AoEs, and limited range since you'll probably be tossing daggers. Seeker has range and magic, but little AoE, and tends to be underwhelming in its status effects (compared to other controllers). Swordmage has magic, status, and some AoE, but is really a melee class. Warlock has magic, lots of status debuffs, and good range, but little AoEs. None of these really use bows, except for the seeker.

Psion... well, the class has some design problems, particularly that two of their level-1 powers are extremely strong and overshadow the rest of the class, and if you ignore those two the rest of the psion is not all that impressive. Expect some heavy errata the next time WOTC does an update.