D&D 4E Questions for my very first 4E Character/Adventure.

[S'mon]

Archer Ranger is probably the simplest and most effective class & build in the game, so good choice. Here's how you play him:

1. Are any enemies adjacent to you? If so, Move action: say "I shift to here" (1 space away from that enemy).
2. Minor action: say "I quarry (nearest enemy)"
3. Standard action: say "I Twin Strike" - roll two bow attacks, one after the other (they are separate attacks so you can switch target if you kill with one shot), first at your Quarry. Remember to add your Quarry damage die to the first time you hit him.
4. Profit.

 

[Storminator]

You see how [MENTION=463]S'mon[/MENTION] used his Twin Post power there? Well played sir . . .

PS

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Wow, um, ok. Obviously I need to more homework. It does makes sense with the xplanations given I just don't remember seeing this stuff in the PHB, or at least not explained in detail.

I intend on making a Archer Ranger, mostly because I think I will have the most fun with it, but figured I still needed to take into account what I would melee with when the time comes (as, inevitably, it will). So I guess I'll go Two Weaps for Melee, which leads to this question;

Any reason not to go Dual Longswords then? I mean, once the Powers are there, I won't have to deal with an Off-Hand Penalty as in 3.5.

You probably don't want to do dual-wield if you're already an archer ranger.

Your key stats will probably be Dexterity and Wisdom, not Strength. Your attack bonus and damage with melee attacks will be lower as a result. (Do yourself and favor and keep a high Wisdom; those Wisdom-based skills are extremely important for a ranger.)

You're almost always better off shifting away from an opponent and then shooting them, rather than going into melee, due to the above. A lot of ranged powers (including at least one at-will) give you a free shift before you attack or let you move a square without provoking opportunity attacks before making the attack. Even if you have to move, you get Defensive Mobility as a free feat, so the enemy might miss.

The opportunity cost for taking a melee power is high (due to the above). If you don't take any encounter or daily melee powers, your only melee options will be at-wills or basic attacks.

Drawing a weapon takes some sort of action. Doing it twice takes twice as many actions. (The Master of Arms feat helps with this though.)

An archery ranger will usually not buy a magical melee weapon. Buying one is expensive. Buying two is even more expensive.

There is a Two-Weapon Fighting feat, designed to work with light weapons, but it's just +1 damage (although it keeps the flavor). This is probably the best option.

You could use a greataxe (or a greatsword) for melee attacks. Thematically, if you're a hunter (flavor term, not class term), a spear is best.

 

[Theolas]

Cool! Great stuff!!! Thank all of you SOOO much, you've helped me out a TON! I have a better idea of where I am going with this now. I am going to go Archer build and try to keep myself in that mindframe with my playstyle. I will work towards the 'Battlefield Archer' paragon as I find that build intriguing and fun sounding.

I think the choice of a Spear as a Melee weapon sounds very cool and is not something I would have thought of! I love the "flavor" of it!

S'Mon, thanks fro the quick breakdown, I can't tell you how much that quick little example has helped me to visualize how my basic approach to combat should happen. Hopefully I'll rarely ever put down my LongBow!

 

[Raith5]

Archer Ranger is probably the simplest and most effective class & build in the game, so good choice. Here's how you play him:

1. Are any enemies adjacent to you? If so, Move action: say "I shift to here" (1 space away from that enemy).
2. Minor action: say "I quarry (nearest enemy)"
3. Standard action: say "I Twin Strike" - roll two bow attacks, one after the other (they are separate attacks so you can switch target if you kill with one shot), first at your Quarry. Remember to add your Quarry damage die to the first time you hit him.
4. Profit.

This.

I have been playing a archer ranger for a couple of years (I am 22nd level) and I have only resorted to melee attacks only a handful of times. I punched a few foes a few times for opportunity attacks. I think melee rangers can do more damage but archer rangers have far more discretion where the damage goes.

The key things are to 1) get utility powers than can shift you away from melee attacks so that you can get your bow attacks off and 2) get out of turn attacks (disruptive strike is a great encounter power) because on your turn Twin strike is so good compared to many encounter powers.

 

[S'mon]

Cool! Great stuff!!! Thank all of you SOOO much, you've helped me out a TON! I have a better idea of where I am going with this now. I am going to go Archer build and try to keep myself in that mindframe with my playstyle. I will work towards the 'Battlefield Archer' paragon as I find that build intriguing and fun sounding.

I think the choice of a Spear as a Melee weapon sounds very cool and is not something I would have thought of! I love the "flavor" of it!

S'Mon, thanks fro the quick breakdown, I can't tell you how much that quick little example has helped me to visualize how my basic approach to combat should happen. Hopefully I'll rarely ever put down my LongBow!

You're welcome. Battlefield Archer is excellent, one of the Rangers in my group (we have two regulars plus a drop in who play Rangers - very popular class!) plays one, at my encouragement, and even though she's not a big min-maxer it's extremely powerful.

BTW she's been playing her character fortnightly since June 2011, and I don't think Lirael has had to make a melee attack in about two years. She has some shift-away powers for when you need to move two or more squares to get out of danger, and takes a good number of Interrupt powers like Disruptive Strike as Twin Strike is better than many on-turn Encounter powers.

But in another campaign I had a Ranger player who had no idea about rules stuff, it took her a few months to work out the move-quarry-twin strike routine, but after that she never looked back. I don't think her PC Red Adell ever used another power in the ten+ sessions we played, and she was fine.