Help with an archer ranger

[ElterAgo]

I am brand new to 5thEd (though I remember clear back to the blue and pink boxed sets). Just finished 1st session with this guy in Red War Tier 1 Adventure League. Did surprisingly poorly. Stealth never worked once. Rarely hit with bow or blade. Unconscious 5 times (once in first encounter twice in both of the others).

Wood Elf
Ranger level 1, planned to take archery fighting style
Align NG
Deity Mielikki
Background Outlander
Str 12, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 10, Wisdom 14, Charisma 8
(took stat array though I am allowed to take point buy if it will work better)
Longbow, shortsword, quarterstaff
Prof skills are athletics, stealth, nature, insight, perception, and survival.

Haven't planned what to do with him in the future yet.
Was thinking about the beast master archtype to get an animal companion. But if I'm reading this correctly, the animal companion never gets any better than it starts. So it seems like it would become quickly useless. Am I misunderstanding this.

If I'm correct, guess I will take the hunter archtype.

Not sure if I should take ability increases or feats at the level gains.

Ideas how i can make him more effective? Comments, concerns, suggestions, advice?

 

[Guest 6801328]

The character is fine, and stats are fine. Not sure what happened that you became such a punching bag in the first session, but nothing wrong with the character itself. Maybe try letting those with more armor go first, while you hang back and snipe?

Hunter is a solid subclass. Gloom Stalker is also really good, if you have access to Xanathar's.

If you really want to focus on your archery you might want to consider multi-classing into Rogue. That gives you some extra damage on your hits, you can take Expertise in Stealth, and it lets you use your bonus action to Hide, which works particularly well with Wood Elf (when you're in natural terrain, anyway).

Also, the Assassin subclass has amazing synergy with Gloom Stalker. At Ranger (Gloom Stalker) 5 and Rogue (Assassin) 3 you'll have an ungodly first strike.

 

[S'mon]

Since Quarterstaff is STR-only you won't be very good with it compared to the shortsword
(light, finesse) - I would leave it behind. I think technically your optimal weapon may be the d8 rapier (being finesse) when you can get one. Since you presumably will mostly be holding your bow and drawing sword only
in self defence. 2 shortswords gives an extra bonus attack, but per RAW you can't drop bow & draw 2 shortswords in one round & attack at all, whereas you can hold a bow in one hand, draw a sword and attack with it.

Rangers are among the weakest at 1st level, but are pretty reasonable later. Playing AL I think Beastmaster is likely to feel underpowered. Gloom Stalker seems very powerful (have one IMC) especially if the Invisible to Darkvision power gets into play.

Because Rangers don't get Hide bonus actions they tend not to be great stealth snipers - 2 levels of Rogue would solve that though, but the Rogue (Scout) will always be better (and a Ranger-3/Rogue-2 may feel pretty weak compared to a Ranger-5 getting 2 attacks). They do make very good archers with the archery fighting style, especially with the -5/+10 damage feat, but it helps a lot if they can reliably get Advantage to hit.

 

[AkaKageWarrior]

Tips on playing:
1) get more arrows and a 2nd short sword instead of long sword and quarterstaff
2) as an archer, stay behind the melee guys, move smartly to avoid melee

character advancement:
3) level 2 is a BIG boost for the ranger, spells & fighting style
4) if allowed, choose Gloom Stalker archetype at level 3
5) at level 4, look for some feat that gives you +1 dex and some other nice stuff (elven accuracy, also XGtE)
6) keep playing ranger at least until level 5 for the extra attack, only after that think about multiclassing (rogue)

Anyway, there are many ways...

 

[Caliban]

At some point you will want to take Sharpshooter - the ability to ignore less than total cover and take -5att/+10dam is phenomenal once you get extra attacks and a high attack bonus.

So your first 3 ABI/Feats would be: Feat that gives +1 Dex and something else, +2 Dex, and Sharpshooter. By level 12 you should have 20 dex and sharpshooter. (By 8 you can have either a 20 dex, or an 18 dex and sharpshooter.)

 

[ElterAgo]

I forgot to list it. I do have 2 shortswords. That is what the starting equipment gives. I'm not sure why that is helpful since I don't have two weapon fighting.

I only have the Player's Handbook so far, so no Gloomstalker.

I did try to let the barbarian and fighters handle the melee. Didn't seem to work out that way. Area affect attacks, ranged spells, fast moving enemies, wierd special abilities, etc...

Oh well, I will try it a bit longer to see what happens. I might consider a couple levels of rogue later. Not sure. Thanks for the advice everyone.

 

[Guest 6801328]

You don't need two weapon fighting to use two short swords (all it gets you is adding your Dex bonus to your offhand attack).

Neither longsword nor staff is a "finesse" weapon, which means you can't use your Dex for attack and damage bonuses; have to use strength. Shortsword is finesse.

There are basically three "good" options in melee:
- Big 2-Hander, but since you went Dex not Str that's not going to work
- Sword and shield: this isn't a bad option for you if you're worried about dying
- Two weapon fighting: this lets you use your bonus action to make an offhand attack. As noted above, it's straight weapon damage; you don't get to add your Dex bonus.

So, yeah, since you're worried about dying when you get stuck in melee maybe try to get a shield. For gear you'd want:
longbow
2 quivers, 20 arrows each (depending on how your dm handles ammo you can go through arrows FAST)
short sword
shield

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I forgot to list it. I do have 2 shortswords. That is what the starting equipment gives. I'm not sure why that is helpful since I don't have two weapon fighting.

Everyone in the world can dual-wield. The only thing that the fighting style gives is your Dexterity bonus to damage on your off-hand attack. Since you don't have anything else to do with your bonus action when you're in melee, you might as well make an attack for 1d6 damage. (It's way more useful to rogues, since it gives them more chances to land their sneak attack, but it's not bad for anyone else.)

 

[Guest 6801328]

If Saelorn didn't have me blocked he'd know that's already been said!

 

[Brett Bussart]

Oh well, I will try it a bit longer to see what happens. I might consider a couple levels of rogue later. Not sure. Thanks for the advice everyone.

One of the keys to playing a Ranger is being well balanced in combat, while exploring, and helping as you can during riddles, traps, etc. The addition of spells, starting at level 2, also greatly enhance your combat prowess. Hunter's Mark will quickly make you a hero, using short swords or a long bow. Damage adds up quicker with short swords as you get the +1d6 to damage with each successful hit, and as others have said, Sharpshooter will make you as deadly an archer as possible.

I typically like to bolster my melee and ranged combat skilled together, so I tend to pick up Two Weapon fighting as my style, and Sharpshooter as my first feat. This allows me to cast Hunter's Mark, fire an arrow or two with Sharpshooter and then wade into combat with 2 short swords as necessary. Damage is (1d8+1d6+4[+10] per arrow[sharpshooter]) and (1d6+1d6+4 per short sword[x2]).

Eventually other Ranger skills like Colossus Slayer, Dread Ambusher, Planar Warrior, Slayer's Prey or Piercing Thorns will keep you steadily dealing out more damage per turn in combat. I prefer the Hunter path, but that's just me.

Please use this online reference to become more familiar with Ranger options so that you know better how to level up your character: http://dnd5e.wikia.com/wiki/Ranger#Hunter

Good luck with your game and may the odds be ever in your favor.