I'm an archer: why shouldn't I be a beast master ranger?

[keterys]

I like Prime Shot on my warlock - but then, I also routinely go into melee range to provide/use flanks, trigger hellish rebuke and defender's marks, and off-tank with temporary hit points. To each their own.

 

[darkwing]

Archers don't pick beasts for themselves. They do it for their melee friend who needs a flanking buddy who's reliable and isn't randomly shifting himself out of danger.

Also, more party HPs for monsters to take down before TPK isn't bad either.

 

[fba827]

Another benefit that you have as an archer that you would lose as a beastmaster is your ability score distribution... (don't know the best way to phrase what i'm saying, so i'll just give an example).

When I played my archer ranger, I maxed out dex, had a moderate wis and con, and very low str, int, and cha; I had a very high ac, a very high to hit, and a very high damage output. And when I went up in level, I only had Dex, Wis and Con to consider for my stat point increases. If I were a beastmaster ranger, I couldn't focus so heavily on Dex, needing to give something to Strength in order to make my powers more feasible (either my to hit and damage would be lower or my ac and reflex would be lower).

So less attribute spread dependency is one strong bonus for an archer ranger.

 

[darkwing]

If I were a beastmaster ranger, I couldn't focus so heavily on Dex, needing to give something to Strength in order to make my powers more feasible

If you're goal is to make your beast powers more feasible then yes. But if you just treated your pet like a pet that helps distract foes, which is useful for rogues, barbarians and defenders, then you wouldn't have to sacrifice your archer stats.

Essentially you're giving up a couple of features and a paragon path option in exchange for a pet. The question is "Will the pet help the group more than the class features you give up?" The answer will depend on the group.

 

[Juju]

#1 wouldn't work, because when you ready an action you're taking the action on your turn, because your turn moves in initiative to be before the enemy's turn. Thus, it's your turn, and he can make an OA. Not to mention the fact that you need a specific trigger, and it's possible that your trigger wouldn't go off, meaning you waste the action.

#2 wouldn't work completely either, as disruptive shot and ready actions both use your (only) interrupt for the round.

~though anyone can take OAs to give the fighter attacks if they like, depending how you want to split the damage. ranged flanking is cute

 

[blargney the second]

As a mental exercise, I was looking into making a beastmaster ranger with a bow. Here's what I came up with:

1) Grab Twin Strike and Predator Strike as your at-wills.
2) There are no archer-friendly beast encounter powers, so just grab good archer powers.
3) There are a smattering of ranged-friendly daily attack powers.
4) There are a number of utilities that could be useful for the beastmaster archer.
5) The Wildcat Stalker paragon path gives you beast powers that let you use ranged attacks.

So in short, it's not like you'll be working in tandem all the time, but you could pull off something interesting and not wholly useless.
-blarg

 

[jorrit]

I don't have the book yet, so I'm basicly going with what people are saying, but Ew, the bear sucks. He won't ever hit a thing (well, maybe other brutes, but that's all).

Well I don't know. The big advantage of the bear is that it is a very strong animal. Lots of AC and HP. So you could use it as a buffer to protect you. Also you can use it for flanking. Since it is so strong it can take considerable damage and since you can't do an attack with the bear and the ranger in the same turn (unless you take an action point) you can just let the bear sit there and help with flanking for the ranger who will do the real attack. The other animals are also usable for this but the bear is better in this sense because it can soak up considerable amounts of damage.

Greetings,

 

[arscott]

A beastmaster ranger that doesn't take beastmaster powers has a pretty useless pet. It can't make any attacks without action expenditure- even OAs require that you burn your immediate interrupt to trigger it, so pets can't have more than one OA per round. It's basic attack has a lousy attack bonus and indifferent damage under most circumstances. An "archer" beastmaster who took nothing but archer powers gets almost nothing out of his pet. It's true that he can mix-and-match a little, but the power sets just don't synergize at all.

What if you take a raptor companion and just use it as a spotter. Since you can quarry off your beast companion, you can just send your hawk up out of weapon range and use it to quarry targets.

You're giving up defensive mobility and prime shot for the ability to quarry any target without having to skirmish. And you don't even have to take beast powers.

 

[Doctor Proctor]

What if you take a raptor companion and just use it as a spotter. Since you can quarry off your beast companion, you can just send your hawk up out of weapon range and use it to quarry targets.

You're giving up defensive mobility and prime shot for the ability to quarry any target without having to skirmish. And you don't even have to take beast powers.

There's actually a couple of very nice powers that go along with that sort of build. There's an At-Will Utility to grant your pet a saving throw, in case your Raptor picks up something nasty. There's also a nice beast daily called Menacing Cry that can immobilize a group of enemies.