( 3.5) Fun, useful stuff to buy for a lvl 7 ranger?

[Ozreth]

Need some advice. I'm not familiar with rangers and need to go shopping for a 7th level halfling ranger (no animal companion). I've got 7,500 gp.

Hes pretty much an archer build. Fun but at least somewhat useful stuff will do : ) advice?

Thanks!

[Squally!]

Feather Token: Tree.

easily the most fun items you will ever get :)

[dgnslyr]

By extension, Feather Token: Boat, but it's not quite as cheap. Still, it's definitely useful. Can you say instantly deployable cover? What about no-save damage? Or Instant Bonfire Fuel? I'm sure a more creative individual can think of something better.

[DragonOfUndeath]

Feather Token: Zombie swarm

[Keld Denar]

Anklets of Translocation (MIC) best 1400g you will EVER EVER EVER spend.

Pearls of Power 1-2. If you are using SpC, you've got some useful spells. Pearls let you use them more than once. Recharge your spent slots between encounters so you are always on top of your game. Pearl1s are 1000g, Pearl2s are 4000g.

+1 Buckler. Bucklers don't interfere with your ability to shoot, so its cheap +2 AC. (1160g or so) Put a Lesser Crystal of Arrow Warding for another +3 AC vs ranged attacks. In theory, you want to stay out of melee, so this helps you ward off enemy ranged attacks while you snipe in peace.

Wand of Lesser Vigor for 750g is seldom misplaced. You can't use it, but one of your party members can. Do the math, 550 HP recovered for 750g means 1.36g per HP recovered. Thats the most efficient means of out-of-combat healing in a consumable form.

Building from that, a Healing Belt (MIC) is also 750g. It gives you 3 charges per day of 2d8 healing that you can use EVERY DAY. If you burn more charges, you can heal up to 4d8 with all 3 at once, but its better to spread it out if you have the time. Has no attunement period, so you could by 10 of them for the ability to recover 60d8 HP per day, etc.

[Lord_Gareth]

Another class >.>

*Hates Rangers*

Alternately, some items for your animal companion may not go amiss.

[Coidzor]

Already got a mount? Do you have points in handle animal? Rhinos are 200 gold or 775 for one of the warbeast persuasion. Could also buy a flying mount.

*Hates Rangers*.

Why?

[Lord_Gareth]

Why?

They're lame. They're also cripplingly over-generalized. They specialize in the two worst styles of combat in the game. Their animal companion is weak, their spells are laughable. The skills are marginally useful, but it's nothing the party bard or rogue doesn't have covered already. Oh, and to add insult to injury, you're a "tank" with a D8 hit die.

Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stick to Fighter any day.

[Coidzor]

^: It is weak, but it seems it's been traded out so that's for the best, really. I'd have thought the MAD would have topped the list though.



Seriously though, how are you currently kitted out, Ozreth?

Wand of Lesser Vigor for 750g is seldom misplaced. You can't use it, but one of your party members can. Do the math, 550 HP recovered for 750g means 1.36g per HP recovered. Thats the most efficient means of out-of-combat healing in a consumable form.

Unless no one is a cleric or UMDs, then just stick with ye olde core's wand of cure light.

Building from that, a Healing Belt (MIC) is also 750g. It gives you 3 charges per day of 2d8 healing that you can use EVERY DAY. If you burn more charges, you can heal up to 4d8 with all 3 at once, but its better to spread it out if you have the time. Has no attunement period, so you could by 10 of them for the ability to recover 60d8 HP per day, etc.

That reminds me. Get the healing enhancement (also from MIC, I believe) on your armor (just costs a flat bit of gold) so you can get auto-revived once a day if you get dropped unexpectedly.

If you've got metal armor, get Everbright on it so that it can't be rusted or acid'd away. If you took the Trapfinding ACF and there's no one else that's sneaky, get an adamantine arrow (or, failing that, morning-star or dagger or executioner's mace, something with multiple damage types) with which to break locks/serve as a backup weapon. And possibly a disk of silent portal to make your "lockpick," less conspicuous. Could help save on skill points and fulfill that role as well

Net-cutter spikes from Races of the Wild cost a bit extra but they're armor-spikes that give a bonus for getting out of ropes and such.

There's also a selection of various mundane/alchemical arrows scattered throughout the books. I think a few of them will open up different damage types such as bludgeoning and slashing, as well as having a couple of the 2-3 metal types for DR purposes. Also, raptor arrows, a single one... or 4 at highest BAB, will take care of your normal arrow needs indefinitely.

Or you could save up for Hank's energy bow and then beef it up.

[Squally!]

where are raptor arrows located at? :O

[Coidzor]

Trying to remember... They're relics of Ehlonna, which makes them seeking, and whatever you're attacking bane if you activate the relic part of 'em.

Magic Item Compendium, I think. I'd see about getting a lesser version without the ties to Ehlonna and just the part that is desired, the magical returning arrow bit.

They're 6K gp, but depending upon if the DM rules they're +2 or +3 equivalent enhancements (or flat price modifiers on a +1 arrow as argued here), you can fit some nice stuff on there for the price of enchanting ammunition but have it stick around as long as you don't lose the arrows.

It would be more of an investment towards the future though, I must admit.

[Iku Rex]

Goggles of Foefinding (MIC, 2500 gp)
Pearls of Power (1st) (DMG, 1000 gp)

[TurtleKing]

If you want something similar to having animal companion with out an actual animal companion then get some Bag of Tricks. They come in three or four different colors which indicate the animals you could pull from inside. The animal you pull is random. The cheapest bag is at 900 gold. You could (almost) say lions, tigers, and bears oh my. The bags can be found on the srd20 site. I don't know if any more colors were made though. The animal can go right back in the bag. Read for more details.

Edit: Actually in the Tan bag three out of the five could be a lion, tiger, or bear.

Tan Bag of Tricks cost:6300 gp
Animals contained: Lion, Heavy Warhorse, Brown Bear, Tiger, and Rhinoceros

Rust Bag of Tricks cost: 3000 gp
Animals contained: Wolverine, Wolf, Boar, and Black Bear

Gray bag of Tricks cost: 900 gp
Animals contained: Bat, Rat, Cat, Weasel, and a Badger

Each animal has pros and cons.

[T.G. Oskar]

where are raptor arrows located at? :O

The original Raptor Arrows were located on Complete Divine, and were mostly as-said; arrows that restring the next round they are fired. They are sold mostly in packs of 4, since they don't return until next round, and their ability to return (IIRC) is not necessarily linked to worship of Ehlonna (or having the True Believer feat in the CD book). The relic power (which can only be activated by gaining True Believer feat or expending a spell of a 5th level or higher spell slot) is that you gain the bane ability against the creature you desire.

They were updated on Magic Item Compendium, still retaining their "returning" ability IIRC. The biggest idea was that these arrows don't break (but they can be destroyed by other means, or even lost), so they're exponentially cheaper.

Honestly, for all its worth, WotC had the chance of delivering some weapon enhancements that could have helped a lot other classes, but they mostly screwed it by making them very obscure choices. Raptor Arrows and Scorpion Kama (and Necklace of Natural Attacks) are examples of what I mean; they help Rangers and Monks with their combat abilities (the former by delivering "returning" arrows and the latter by delivering an enchantable weapon that deals the same damage as your unarmed strike).

I'd also start investing on a wand of Swift Haste. They are one of the few swift action spells that really rock (Swift Haste lasts for 1d4 rounds and is a 2nd level spell, which you can use without problems). That's between 50 to 200 rounds of Haste, which you can just deposit on a wand chamber on your bow or favorite weapon and expend at your leisure, at least until you get a Boots of Speed. To be precise, a wand of Swift Haste costs about 40% (to be precise, somewhere around 37% actually) of the cost of a Boots of Speed, and lasts for about 30-50 encounters before it gets discharged. Of course, you might need to find one around that cost (maybe an Artificer making the wand?), otherwise it may be a bit more expensive (somewhere along the lines of...well, whaddya know, 12,000 gp which is the same as the Boots of Speed!). Of course, if you get your hands on, say, an Eternal Wand of Swift Haste, you could make some amends (you can attempt to get it cheaper as per the price on the MIC, or get it at full price which would be more expensive than the Boots of Speed), and get Swift Haste 1/day which is sort of a poor-man's Boots of Speed, and if you get the latter you get an extra 1-4 rounds of Haste which may be more worthwhile than anything else you can get.