all about rangers

[PrinceZane]

Great responces, much appreciated. A few things to reply with...

1.) I'm not sure if multiclassing/PrCs are allows etc. I'll have to ask my DM and get back with you. He mentioned when we made our chars he wanted go be "COMPLETELY CORE" so I don't know if we can even use the completes or races for feats, prcs, etc. I'll let you know as soon as I find out.

2.) I seem to remember reading something where you couldn't use Rapid shot and Many shot in the same round. Is this true? If you can't, does the "rapid shot all the time" thing hold true? If so, why even bother getting many shot?

3.) I like the mounted idea, hadn't thought of that. I haven't looked at the animal companions yet, could I get some big ferocious a.c. that I could ride and it attack as well? (first thing that comes to mind would be like a dire lion that I ride and it snaps at anyone that comes close enough for it to bite, etc.)

4.) I guess I presented my idea wrong. I am indeed sticking with archery as my main focus, just at the low levels I was gonna carry a sword to conserve on arrows since I apparently was utterly clueless as how fast they went. (at one point I charged into melee and started jabbing the npc with an arrow doing 1d2, hehe)

5.) How do you go about finding arrows after combat that are still in tact? Is it an auto thing, or search? Or do you just roll a percentage to see what happens?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

2.) I seem to remember reading something where you couldn't use Rapid shot and Many shot in the same round. Is this true? If you can't, does the "rapid shot all the time" thing hold true? If so, why even bother getting many shot?

That's correct.

You can use Rapid Shot whenever you make a full attack, which is a full-round action.

You can use Manyshot as a standard action, which is it's own standard action.

Manyshot is useful for those times in which you either cannot or do not wish to make a full attack, and yet would like to do more damage than a single bow shot.

5.) How do you go about finding arrows after combat that are still in tact? Is it an auto thing, or search? Or do you just roll a percentage to see what happens?

An arrow that hits is destroyed. An arrow that misses has a 50% chance of being destroyed. Most DMs I've played with just allow you to collect half of your misses without really dealing with the how and why.

 

[Rackhir]

Great responces, much appreciated. A few things to reply with...

1.) I'm not sure if multiclassing/PrCs are allows etc. I'll have to ask my DM and get back with you. He mentioned when we made our chars he wanted go be "COMPLETELY CORE" so I don't know if we can even use the completes or races for feats, prcs, etc. I'll let you know as soon as I find out.

Both multiclassing and PrCs are in the core rules. It's only the specific PrCs that aren't in the core rules. Beg to be able to use the Complete Adventure stuff. There are a lot of great ranger archery spells.

2.) I seem to remember reading something where you couldn't use Rapid shot and Many shot in the same round. Is this true? If you can't, does the "rapid shot all the time" thing hold true? If so, why even bother getting many shot?

As above + Well it's a prereq for imp rapid shot, which gets rid of the -2 for using rapid shot.

3.) I like the mounted idea, hadn't thought of that. I haven't looked at the animal companions yet, could I get some big ferocious a.c. that I could ride and it attack as well? (first thing that comes to mind would be like a dire lion that I ride and it snaps at anyone that comes close enough for it to bite, etc.)

Yup that's it exactly, though... Your mount is likely to be much more fragile than you are. For that and other reasons (AoOs, Sundering bows...), it would probably be best if you used the mount to avoid melee combat.

4.) I guess I presented my idea wrong. I am indeed sticking with archery as my main focus, just at the low levels I was gonna carry a sword to conserve on arrows since I apparently was utterly clueless as how fast they went. (at one point I charged into melee and started jabbing the npc with an arrow doing 1d2, hehe)

Get yourself a good Greatsword for melee combat. You are going to have a decent str for use with the mighty bow, so this will take best advantage of your strengths. There are going to be times and places where you can't use your bow, have back up weapons including at least one light weapon (spiked gauntlet would be good) for use in grappled/swallow whole situations.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

2.) I seem to remember reading something where you couldn't use Rapid shot and Many shot in the same round. Is this true? If you can't, does the "rapid shot all the time" thing hold true? If so, why even bother getting many shot?

You can't use Rapid Shot if you need to move. It only works with a full attack. But Manyshot allows you to fire more than one arrow and still take a move action. At mid-levels with a very high dex, weapon focus (longbow) and a magic bow, you can afford the penalty to hit to fire off more arrows while still moving. In short, if you can full attack, Rapid Shot. If you need to move, you have the option of Manyshot. Obviously, if you're mounted Manyshot will be less useful, since you can move + Rapid Shot.

3.) I like the mounted idea, hadn't thought of that. I haven't looked at the animal companions yet, could I get some big ferocious a.c. that I could ride and it attack as well? (first thing that comes to mind would be like a dire lion that I ride and it snaps at anyone that comes close enough for it to bite, etc.)

A ranger will never get something even close to a dire lion with his animal companion ability (until the end of the game). It's way too strong. However, that doesn't mean the dire lion is necessarily out of reach. If you pick up this feat, you could have a dire lion at 14th-level. Otherwise, you wouldn't qualify for a dire lion companion until 20th-level as a ranger.

Edit: Actually, if your DM allows the splatbooks, I believe the feat Natural Bond would help you even more. Adding +4 to your effective druid level for your animal companion would mean that at [ranger level / 2]+4, you'd qualify for a dire lion at 12th-level.

4.) I guess I presented my idea wrong. I am indeed sticking with archery as my main focus, just at the low levels I was gonna carry a sword to conserve on arrows since I apparently was utterly clueless as how fast they went. (at one point I charged into melee and started jabbing the npc with an arrow doing 1d2, hehe)

Heh. Now that's dedication. I suggest that you carry a melee weapon for emergencies, but even at low level...just plan on carrying more arrows.

5.) How do you go about finding arrows after combat that are still in tact? Is it an auto thing, or search? Or do you just roll a percentage to see what happens?

I've always just ruled that you find them automatically, given enough time to look around. 50% of the shots you missed can be recovered. So it requires the player to keep track of how many shots miss in a combat, but that's it.

 

[PrinceZane]

Actually I do. I'm kind of weird when it comes to my character. My last was a clepto rogue that suffered of paranoia schiz. We took out this dragon, and he start filling bags and his porty hole full of body parts (head, wings, 2 claws in particular). When he got home, he mounted the head and wings above his "throne" (aka. the mayor's 'official chair' that he "obtained") and the claws tied to the arm rests. Just because his feet couldn't hit the ground, doesn't mean he can't look scary in his chair!

But yeah, I've already started keeping up with how many shots i take and how many are hit/miss. If I can keep my shots in the upper percentile, I'm going to RP as one of the most arrogant people in the world. We'll see how that works out. I just had an idea actually. I'm gonna be arrogant even if I have a 12% hit ratio. Just give reasons as to why due to circumstances I didn't hit. I love being "difficult".

Anyway...

So no dire lion for a while. Is there a list other than the ones listed in the animal companion skill description that don't require a tree of feats or whatnot?

 

[Thanee]

There is a list of available animal companions in the druid class description.
Just keep in mind the change to effective druid level for the ranger.

Bye
Thanee

 

[PrinceZane]

Yeah, 1/2 level kind of sucks, but makes sense. I like that +4 to eff druid level tho, thats kinda neat. Also, when dealing with mounts and animal comps. Can you mount "any" animal so long as it has the str to be able to support your weight? And also, how does attacking with animal comps go? Do they get their own turn or just act as part of my turn, or do I have to sac my attack for theirs?

 

[Rackhir]

So no dire lion for a while. Is there a list other than the ones listed in the animal companion skill description that don't require a tree of feats or whatnot?

IIRC there is a feat that raises your effective druid level for purposes of getting an animal companion by 3? Don't forget that you can get like a heavy horse starting out and it will improve with levels until you can get that dire lion.

 

[Len]

Both multiclassing and PrCs are in the core rules. It's only the specific PrCs that aren't in the core rules.

But remember, they had to roll randomly to choose their classes. It kind of defeats the purpose if everyone just switches to their real class at 2nd level.

 

[Thanee]

Yeah, 1/2 level kind of sucks, but makes sense.

I think it's too much. Should be level - 3 instead.

Can you mount "any" animal so long as it has the str to be able to support your weight?

It also needs to be one size category larger and suitable for riding.

And also, how does attacking with animal comps go? Do they get their own turn or just act as part of my turn, or do I have to sac my attack for theirs?

Both work. Technically they get their own turns, but many DMs don't bother and have them act on your turn.

If you are mounted on your animal companion, then the companion definitely acts on your turn.

Bye
Thanee