James Brandon
First Post
Hey folks! I am what I consider a "seasoned" D&D player, but my seasoning happened 20+ years ago with 2nd Edition and a little later with twinking characters for Neverwinter Nights (which I believe was 3.5.) I'm looking for some insight specifically with the 5e metagame and specifically for use in Adventurer's League games where the DM will be, mostly, following scripted stories and will only have so much leeway to "customize" things to the characters in front of them.
I have envisioned and created a Ranger which, with AL, will be starting at level 1. My current plan is to go to Ranger 5, then start my 5 level dip in to Rogue before going back to Ranger for the rest of the character's useful lifespan. The character will be archery focused, get me 3d6 sneak attack bonus (which based on my interpretation of the RAW I should be able to use on most attacks), a passive damage bonus from one of two ranger archetypes, and a fair amount of non-combat utility along with some healing thrown in for good measure. I do, however, have a couple of questions that only experience that I don't have can really answer for me so I'm hoping to get some help.
1) I will be taking the "Scout" (XGE) archetype for Rogue when I get to it... that gives me a free survival proficiency but it won't be until character level 8. How often does survival actually come up during Adventurer's League type play (published adventures only)? Can I afford to not take it as one of my starting Ranger proficiencies so I can get the freebie, or should I just suck it up and take the free expertise from the Scout subclass when I get to it?
2) This one's more of a discussion than a black and white question, but here goes: Horizon Walker vs Monster Slayer. I currently have a reference to "fiend" in the backstory, and prefer the "flavor" of Horizon Walker but I could just as easily erase "fiend" and insert "monster" there based on the following hinge point:
Horizon Walker's Planar Warrior converts one Attack per turn's damage to Force and adds 1d8 to it (this grows to 2d8 eventually, but that won't be until character level 16 for me.. not a consideration.) Combined with sneak attack damage, etc, this could be devastating. The "downsides" are that the range is limited to 30' and it costs a Bonus Action every turn. The range limitation doesn't bother me that much, historically, most encounters wind up at melee range relatively quick anyway and at higher levels I will have a lot of mobility options. The real kicker is the Bonus Action, each turn I will need to make a decision as to whether to use this ability (which I want to use as often as possible) or not, and if so, forego other possible bonuses.
Monster Slayer's Slayer's Prey ability uses a bonus action once to "target" a creature and is free once per turn until you need to switch creatures again, but, it only adds a flat 1d6 to the damage. From where I sit, the Horizon Walker's ability is clearly superior, but I'm not sure how often I might regret not having a Bonus Action for something else?
3) Ability Scores, Feats and Saves: With Wood Elf (not really up for debate because of roleplay vs roll play) I wound up with 10 16 14 14 12 10 starting stats. The "plan" was snagging +2 dex at level 4 and 9 (Rogue 4) and then, if the character lives that long and is still gaining enough XP to advance, bumping CON or something later. In reading though it sounds like a lot of people emphasize the importance of the CON save so I was thinking about maybe dropping CHA to 8 (the character really shouldn't be likable anyway) and bumping CON to 15, then taking Resiliant: CON at 4, then working on DEX from there. Yes, I lose +1 initiative, attack and damage for another 4 levels that way... but I suspect that the consequences of a failed CON save could be more dire than the occasional miss (I honestly don't recall missing by 1 more than a handful of times in hundreds of hours of 2nd Ed
) Thoughts?
4) Spells: The spell choices seem fairly obvious to me. I'm taking Goodberry for flavor and because there's that one guy that DMs sometimes that looks at your character sheet to see if you have rations written down (hell, I've done it when DMing) Hunter's Mark is a gimme, Cure Wounds, also, because I feel like i have to. Healing Spirit seems to provide a ridiculous amount of healing, though I suspect it would be used mostly out of combat. Conjure Barrage ... flavor and some otherwise lacking AOE. The rest I figured would probably be better handled by other casters, but I'd appreciate advice here as well.
5) Proficiencies, again: I will wind up with Acrobatics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Persuasion (based on a background choice that's really not up for debate, roleplay vs roll play and all), Stealth, Survival and (depending on the answer to #1) maybe Athletics with expertise in Investigation, Perception, Nature and Survival by level 10. I can swap the expertise in Investigation and Perception as they were chosen at Rogue 1. I can, of course, think of a million situations where other proficiencies may be useful, but these seem "safe." Anything huge I'm missing?
I appreciate any time and energy people put in to helping me out. This is all crap I'm sure I'll know inside and out a year from now, but since we didn't have a lot of web sites I could have thousands of people answer questions on during my last foray in to D&D I figured I'd take advantage of technology and shorten the learning curve a bit!
I have envisioned and created a Ranger which, with AL, will be starting at level 1. My current plan is to go to Ranger 5, then start my 5 level dip in to Rogue before going back to Ranger for the rest of the character's useful lifespan. The character will be archery focused, get me 3d6 sneak attack bonus (which based on my interpretation of the RAW I should be able to use on most attacks), a passive damage bonus from one of two ranger archetypes, and a fair amount of non-combat utility along with some healing thrown in for good measure. I do, however, have a couple of questions that only experience that I don't have can really answer for me so I'm hoping to get some help.
1) I will be taking the "Scout" (XGE) archetype for Rogue when I get to it... that gives me a free survival proficiency but it won't be until character level 8. How often does survival actually come up during Adventurer's League type play (published adventures only)? Can I afford to not take it as one of my starting Ranger proficiencies so I can get the freebie, or should I just suck it up and take the free expertise from the Scout subclass when I get to it?
2) This one's more of a discussion than a black and white question, but here goes: Horizon Walker vs Monster Slayer. I currently have a reference to "fiend" in the backstory, and prefer the "flavor" of Horizon Walker but I could just as easily erase "fiend" and insert "monster" there based on the following hinge point:
Horizon Walker's Planar Warrior converts one Attack per turn's damage to Force and adds 1d8 to it (this grows to 2d8 eventually, but that won't be until character level 16 for me.. not a consideration.) Combined with sneak attack damage, etc, this could be devastating. The "downsides" are that the range is limited to 30' and it costs a Bonus Action every turn. The range limitation doesn't bother me that much, historically, most encounters wind up at melee range relatively quick anyway and at higher levels I will have a lot of mobility options. The real kicker is the Bonus Action, each turn I will need to make a decision as to whether to use this ability (which I want to use as often as possible) or not, and if so, forego other possible bonuses.
Monster Slayer's Slayer's Prey ability uses a bonus action once to "target" a creature and is free once per turn until you need to switch creatures again, but, it only adds a flat 1d6 to the damage. From where I sit, the Horizon Walker's ability is clearly superior, but I'm not sure how often I might regret not having a Bonus Action for something else?
3) Ability Scores, Feats and Saves: With Wood Elf (not really up for debate because of roleplay vs roll play) I wound up with 10 16 14 14 12 10 starting stats. The "plan" was snagging +2 dex at level 4 and 9 (Rogue 4) and then, if the character lives that long and is still gaining enough XP to advance, bumping CON or something later. In reading though it sounds like a lot of people emphasize the importance of the CON save so I was thinking about maybe dropping CHA to 8 (the character really shouldn't be likable anyway) and bumping CON to 15, then taking Resiliant: CON at 4, then working on DEX from there. Yes, I lose +1 initiative, attack and damage for another 4 levels that way... but I suspect that the consequences of a failed CON save could be more dire than the occasional miss (I honestly don't recall missing by 1 more than a handful of times in hundreds of hours of 2nd Ed
) Thoughts?4) Spells: The spell choices seem fairly obvious to me. I'm taking Goodberry for flavor and because there's that one guy that DMs sometimes that looks at your character sheet to see if you have rations written down (hell, I've done it when DMing
) Hunter's Mark is a gimme, Cure Wounds, also, because I feel like i have to. Healing Spirit seems to provide a ridiculous amount of healing, though I suspect it would be used mostly out of combat. Conjure Barrage ... flavor and some otherwise lacking AOE. The rest I figured would probably be better handled by other casters, but I'd appreciate advice here as well.5) Proficiencies, again: I will wind up with Acrobatics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Persuasion (based on a background choice that's really not up for debate, roleplay vs roll play and all), Stealth, Survival and (depending on the answer to #1) maybe Athletics with expertise in Investigation, Perception, Nature and Survival by level 10. I can swap the expertise in Investigation and Perception as they were chosen at Rogue 1. I can, of course, think of a million situations where other proficiencies may be useful, but these seem "safe." Anything huge I'm missing?
I appreciate any time and energy people put in to helping me out. This is all crap I'm sure I'll know inside and out a year from now, but since we didn't have a lot of web sites I could have thousands of people answer questions on during my last foray in to D&D I figured I'd take advantage of technology and shorten the learning curve a bit!
