Hunter Ranger : Can you use Str for RBAs on at-will powers using heavy thrown?

[RLBURNSIDE]

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Crisp Fall Days and Scary Autumn Nights)

Hmmm, since I love the flavor of the Gauntlet-style handaxe hurler, I was thinking of making a Dwarf who chucks tons of handaxes all over the place, maybe take Shock Trooper PP via a fighter MC. Or a human who takes Twin Strike for melee and uses Rapid Shot for ranged RBAs and has dual Dwarven Waraxes.

Seems pretty good no? Maybe you miss out on the free expertise, but does it really say explicitly that you HAVE to use a bow or a crossbow? All I see is "ranged basic attack", meaning, it should be compatible with heavy thrown weaponry that comes back to your hands magically. Am I correct here?

 

[Shin Okada]

Hmmm, since I love the flavor of the Gauntlet-style handaxe hurler, I was thinking of making a Dwarf who chucks tons of handaxes all over the place, maybe take Shock Trooper PP via a fighter MC. Or a human who takes Twin Strike for melee and uses Rapid Shot for ranged RBAs and has dual Dwarven Waraxes.

Using handaxe will work, though not so strong. Handaxe's range is very short. And you must twist the build somehow to gain better AC (say, make it a Str/Dex build or give your PC high Str and decent Con, then take Armor Proficiency feats).

Human Hunter cannot gain extra at-will attack power as the structure of Hunter build (sub-class) is different from basic structure of PHB classes. Human can choose either extra 1st level at-will attack power from your class or Heroic Effort power. As Hunter does not gain 1st level at-will attack power at all (Hunter's at-wills are just Ranger Attack, without level), you can't gain extra.

Dual Waraxe does not work as Waraxe is not a thrown weapon.

Seems pretty good no? Maybe you miss out on the free expertise, but does it really say explicitly that you HAVE to use a bow or a crossbow? All I see is "ranged basic attack", meaning, it should be compatible with heavy thrown weaponry that comes back to your hands magically. Am I correct here?

It seems that most of the Hunter's powers work with ANY range basic attack. So, yeah. You can use heavy thrown weapon. Or you can even use some implement power which can be usable as a RBA such as Sorcerer's Acid Orb. A Half-Elf hunter can gain such a power via dilettante. Then, at paragon level, a half-elf PC can take Versatile Master feat to make it truly at-will.

 

[aurance]

Human can choose either extra 1st level at-will attack power from your class or Heroic Effort power. As Hunter does not gain 1st level at-will attack power at all (Hunter's at-wills are just Ranger Attack, without level), you can't gain extra.

This is not true; remember, "Hunter" is not a class. "Ranger" is. Therefore a human hunter should be able to take any Ranger 1st level at-will as an extra.

 

[Shin Okada]

This is not true; remember, "Hunter" is not a class. "Ranger" is. Therefore a human hunter should be able to take any Ranger 1st level at-will as an extra.

Yeah but can you gain "extra" when you have none?

 

[Lord Ernie]

Yeah but can you gain "extra" when you have none?

Last word from one of the developers: yes. I can't give you an actual quote, but the only word on this has been that Humans taking one of the essential classes without at-will powers (slayer, knight, the new ranger subclasses) can choose either Heroic Effort, or an at-will from their 'base' class. So picking up Twin Strike or Throw and Stab is perfectly fine, and can provide you with a good bit of versatility.

 

[DracoSuave]

My gut instinct was to say that because a Hunter does not have a choice of at-wills, that they cannot take an at-will from being Human, but then I realized that Warlocks don't have that choice either, and they can take at-wills via being human just fine. So, using that as precedent, I see no problem with a hunter taking a ranger at-will.

 

[Walking Dad]

...

Dual Waraxe does not work as Waraxe is not a thrown weapon.

...

But dwarven thrower (I think it is the right name) is not a that big costly magic property.

 

[Shin Okada]

Last word from one of the developers: yes. I can't give you an actual quote, but the only word on this has been that Humans taking one of the essential classes without at-will powers (slayer, knight, the new ranger subclasses) can choose either Heroic Effort, or an at-will from their 'base' class. So picking up Twin Strike or Throw and Stab is perfectly fine, and can provide you with a good bit of versatility.

Wow! That seems great! Maybe too great!

 

[Neonchameleon]

I don't honestly see it as a problem. You don't want Fighter At Wills with either Slayer or Knight - your basic attack + bonus + stance is almost invariably better anyway. The Rogue is more promising, allowing a trick and an at will in the same turn. Sly Flourish won't cut it and that's normally the best. But both Riposte Strike and Duellist's Flurry in the right hands could be nice, as could Deft Strike for a hide and throw on the same turn with light cover. Or a Rattling attack - with the shift 2 from something like Escape Artists Trick to allow you to move into position. Pretty cute.

Rangers. For scouts, Throw and Stab is nice - giving you a potential free [1w] off hand damage each time you charge. On the other hand it leaves you wide open to MAD. A handy little trick - but so is the +4 to hit on a big attack and I think I'd prefer that. Twin Strike isn't worth it except as an action point attack - you're wielding weaker weapons than the PHB ranger (one off hand) and lose your bonus damage. Which leads to the Hunter. Twin Strike is the obvious one. But honestly it's not all that. Two shots. For mook-sweeping it's handy, but no better than Divine Bolts so isn't a problem (the scout has a burst attack if he needs to do that). And the Scout doesn't have an extra damage mechanism like Quarry so even if it allows the scout to walk slightly on the striker side, it gives up the scout's control to do so and doesn't seriously threaten the strikers at their game. Useful sometimes but hardly overwhelming (if it seriously boosts the power of the class then the class is non-viable).

Actually, IMO the biggest one is the Warpriest with either Sacred Flame or Avenging Light for support. And that's hardly earthshaking. (The Hexblade gets an attack against a second defence - either Eyebite or the Sorceror King Pact one, which is handy but nothing special).

 

[Lord Ernie]

Actually, IMO the biggest one is the Warpriest with either Sacred Flame or Avenging Light for support. And that's hardly earthshaking. (The Hexblade gets an attack against a second defence - either Eyebite or the Sorceror King Pact one, which is handy but nothing special).

Given that Sun Warpriests at least get an at-will that's almost always better than Sacred Flame, it's only the other two types that get any real bonus from stealing it, and even then, it's a minor one.

Hexblades could pilfer Eldritch Strike, though, which could potentially be more powerful, what with being a Cha-based melee basic that slides - I've only seen the previews, so I'm not sure, though.