Shifter Ranger Critique 4e

[Dusk Eclipse]

I made a Shifter ranger for a game, and I want to know what do you guys think.

I am the main damage dealer in the party which consist on a Longtooth warden, human (or changeling I am not sure) Wizard|Rogue Hybrid, a halfling warlady, Human wizard, dwarf wizard, tiefling warlock, and sometimes we get an eladrin cleric and a gnome wizard.

As you can see the controller deparment is extremely well covered, the damage deparment is ok and we lack a bit of defending power, so at times I have to help covering the defending role.

Now concerning the above stuff what can you say about my Character?
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Dusk Eclipse, level 4
Longtooth Shifter, Ranger
Fighting Style: Two-Blade Fighting Style
Ranger: Prime Shot
Background: Shifter - City Shifter (+2 to Acrobatics)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 12, Dex 16, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 9.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 15, Con 12, Dex 15, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 9.


AC: 19 Fort: 17 Reflex: 16 Will: 15
HP: 44 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 11

TRAINED SKILLS
Dungeoneering +10, Stealth +9, Acrobatics +12, Athletics +12, Perception +10, Thievery +9

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +2, Bluff +1, Diplomacy +1, Endurance +4, Heal +5, History +2, Insight +5, Intimidate +1, Nature +5, Religion +2, Streetwise +1

FEATS
Level 1: Wild Senses
Level 2: Sneak of Shadows
Level 4: Nimble Blade

POWERS
Ranger at-will 1: Twin Strike
Ranger at-will 1: Nimble Strike
Ranger encounter 1: Off-Hand Strike
Ranger daily 1: Jaws of the Wolf
Ranger utility 2: Invigorating Stride
Ranger encounter 3: Disruptive Strike

ITEMS
Predator's Hide Hide Armor +1, Farbond Spellblade Short sword +1, Adventurer's Kit, Dagger (5), Acrobat Boots (heroic tier), Alchemist's Frost (level 1) (3), Tanglefoot Bag (level 2) (2), Longbow, Arrows (30), Bloodstinger Poison (level 3) (2), Lightning Short sword +1
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[Kurald Galain]

I am the main damage dealer in the party which consist on a Longtooth warden, human (or changeling I am not sure) Wizard|Rogue Hybrid, a halfling warlady, Human wizard, dwarf wizard, tiefling warlock, and sometimes we get an eladrin cleric and a gnome wizard.

Wow, people really like wizards in your group! This does sound a bit redundant; but then, wizards are a powerful class. The bigger problem than the lack of defenders appears to be that you're short on healers. On the other hand, Disruptive Strike is a good defender power.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 15, Con 12, Dex 15, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 9.

I would suggest starting with a higher strength - 17 or 18 pre-racial. 4e really rewards focus, and considering you're making at least two attacks per round, a +1 to hit is very helpful.

Nimble Blade isn't so great; Weapon Expertise is simply better. The rogue multiclass is a decent damage boost, but means you can only use light blades; whereas for most rangers, heavy blades are a better pick.

But if you're going for light blades anyway, don't carry five daggers: replace one of your short swords by a thrown weapon (e.g. a dagger). Any magical thrown weapon returns to you.

I would recommend against alchemist's frost, tanglefoot, bloodstinger, or indeed every single other alchemical item in the book. Sorry, but mechanically they're a really bad deal, and a money sink. In pretty much every situation, your class powers are better. Also, they tend to duplicate controller powers, and your party is chock full of those.

Finally, consider being a beast master ranger, because an animal companion is fun. Unless you want to enter certain melee-only or archer-only paragon paths, you lose pretty much nothing by taking an animal companion.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Wow, people really like wizards in your group! This does sound a bit redundant; but then, wizards are a powerful class. The bigger problem than the lack of defenders appears to be that you're short on healers. On the other hand, Disruptive Strike is a good defender power.


I would suggest starting with a higher strength - 17 or 18 pre-racial. 4e really rewards focus, and considering you're making at least two attacks per round, a +1 to hit is very helpful.

Nimble Blade isn't so great; Weapon Expertise is simply better. The rogue multiclass is a decent damage boost, but means you can only use light blades; whereas for most rangers, heavy blades are a better pick.

But if you're going for light blades anyway, don't carry five daggers: replace one of your short swords by a thrown weapon (e.g. a dagger). Any magical thrown weapon returns to you.

I would recommend against alchemist's frost, tanglefoot, bloodstinger, or indeed every single other alchemical item in the book. Sorry, but mechanically they're a really bad deal, and a money sink. In pretty much every situation, your class powers are better. Also, they tend to duplicate controller powers, and your party is chock full of those.

Finally, consider being a beast master ranger, because an animal companion is fun. Unless you want to enter certain melee-only or archer-only paragon paths, you lose pretty much nothing by taking an animal companion.

Yeah the group likes Wizards, I don't know why it is such a popular class though.... maybe is the fact that most people integrated mid-adventure without knowing the rest of the party.

I will ask my DM if I can mess with my stats a bit, also I choose ligt blades because I didn't liked most of the heavy blades that didn't require a proficiency feat.

I choose the rogue multiclass mostly by backstory (I wanted to be trained in thievery and rogue MC did another thing other than training me in thievery ), my Shifter "escaped" from his tribe to get to know the world, but he made quite a few mistakes in the big city, so he learned some thieving skills.

I have only played this character for one session and found myself constantly changing between melee and ranged combat so curiously I used my farbond sword. Considering this would the maruding or hunter combat style be a better option?

Well to be honest I choose to carry that amount of alchemical items and backup weapons, because I didn't know on what else to spend my money. And the alchemical frost was really useful (maybe it was the fact that my DM let me twin strike using the frost and the tanglefoot bag, I am not sure if that is allowed by RAW.

Hope that I adressed everything; and thanks for the suggestions, I will look into them.

[mobdrazhar]

i second beastmaster ranger as the companion also makes it possible for you to flank in combat.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Can you please elaborate on why the beastmaster ranger would be a better option?

I have read a bit on the 4e charop boards in the WotC forum, and it seems that the concensus is that beastmaster is the weakest option. Plus the beastmaster companion doesn't fit witht he image I have in mind of this character.

[mobdrazhar]

i've seen the beast companion used to great effect to set up flanking for rouges and also the ranger that it is bound to. Ot can also be used to get more threatened squares so that your melee opponents don't rush past you and into, in your case, numerous wizards. they can be used as a scout for the party and to trigger those pesky traps if you fail to disarm them.

[Dusk Eclipse]

A reliable flanking partner might be worth it, but as I said it is more of a flavor issue, my ranger is more of a city type (fluff wise)

[mobdrazhar]

then have your animal companion as a dog (i believe that dog/wolf is one of the choices) and just flavour it desciption wise to a guard dog that has been with you for most of your life.

[Mando Knight]

Can you please elaborate on why the beastmaster ranger would be a better option?

I have read a bit on the 4e charop boards in the WotC forum, and it seems that the concensus is that beastmaster is the weakest option. Plus the beastmaster companion doesn't fit witht he image I have in mind of this character.

Archer style is the weakest style (+2 AC vs Opportunity Attacks. That's it.), but Beastmaster can be used without taking any beast powers (which are generally weaker than Two-Blade or Archer powers), which grants you a free flanker. However, it's inferior in DPR compared to the Two-Blade style Ranger if there's already a good source for flanking (i.e. a Defender, melee Leader, or another melee Striker). Again, however, you only get the difference if you take advantage of the Two-Blade style and use at least a case of rapiers, preferably dual Bastard Swords or Waraxes.

[Kurald Galain]

I have only played this character for one session and found myself constantly changing between melee and ranged combat so curiously I used my farbond sword.

It's usually a better strategy to pick either melee or ranged, and use the other only as an emergency measure.

maybe it was the fact that my DM let me twin strike using the frost and the tanglefoot bag, I am not sure if that is allowed by RAW.

Technically it's not, but that sounds like a viable ruling. The problems are that (1) using them consistently will cost you a lot of money, and (2) they have a pre-printed attack modifier which does not get any bonuses from your stats or level, and this modifier is substantially lower than yours, so you're likely to miss a lot.

Can you please elaborate on why the beastmaster ranger would be a better option?

Beast powers are overall pretty weak. The beast itself, however, comes at a very small cost, even if you don't use any beast powers. You pick either archery style, twoweapon style, or beast style... of these three, archery gives you a negligible bonus, twoweapon gives you a damage boost (in that you can dualwield longswords) and beast gives you, well, a beast.

The result is that if you're not going to dualwield big weapons anyway, you gain nothing by picking twoweapon style even if you will be fighting with two weapons all of your life. The beast is then simply a free flank, plus it's fun and flavorful to have around.