D&D (2024) Ranged Builds Thread

[FrogReaver]

Unless I am missing something, you need 9 levels of fighter to use slow with a heavy crossbow. With cunning action disengage, I'm also not seeing what the XBE feat is doing for you.

I'm using Push not slow? Heavy Crossbow comes with Push. So you get access to that at level 1. Heavy Crossbow with the feat ignores loading, so best of both worlds.

I think Truestrike with maximum Charisma is a better foundation for a crossbow wielding Rogue type. With a 2-level Paladin dip on an Arcane Trickster this character can be a force to be reckoned with and is pretty awesome from level 1.

I don't know about better, but it's a solid working option. Has some pros and cons compared to the Paladin/Rogue setup.

Doesn't use Push Mastery as well due to not having 2 attacks.
Alot of your damage relies on being immobile, whereas the Paladin 6/Rogue X has high accuracy while being able to maintain mobility.
This also really hurts the push attack enemies off of you then retreat out of their non-dash move range tactic.

For species I like Halfling with the Magic Initiate feat (Truestrike, Green Flame Blade, Tashas Hideous Laughter) or Elf with Truestrike and any origin feat (Musician works well).

I think Elf takes the cake for the Rogue, especially if you aren't playing with Green Flame blade (not in 2024 rules, which is at least how my table plays).

Another variation is a level 2 Warlock dip for agonizing truestrike.

Assuming that's allowed then it's okay. Nothing wrong with it but not particularly great either. It only comes out slightly better than straight rogue for damage but delays alot of your higher level rogue class features. Ultimately I'd almost certainly rather have straight rogue than that dip.

 

[FrogReaver]

How about the Dark Sniper build?

• Start with rolling up a Drow, Shadow Elf, or Tiefling to get the Darkness spell for free, and choose Warlock to get the Eldritch Blast cantrip.
• When you reach 2nd level, choose two Invocations: Devil's Sight (to be able to see normally in magical darkness) and Agonizing Blast (to add your Charisma modifier to Eldritch Blast damage).
• When you reach 3rd level, you gain the ability to cast Darkness 1/day without expending a spell slot, by virtue of your ancestry. Now you can cast darkness on yourself, and use Eldritch Blast against targets that can't see you (very few enemies can see through magical darkness). You shoot with Advantage, they return fire with Disadvantage.
• At 5th level, take Counterspell to block incoming AoE spells and Dispel Magic attempts.

That's pretty much it. You can add on other feats and invocations that will let you do other stunts (push/pull targets around, slow them down, etc), but the real meat-and-potatoes of this build is to put yourself in a magical bubble of Darkness and then blast away. Sure, you aren't invincible and they will eventually break your Darkness spell...but they will take a lot of damage and burn a lot of resources before that happens.

I guess it's cool but seems a bit weaker on the damage front than most of the other options.

Personally I hate the darkness reliant warlocks. Can too often interfere too much with the rest of the party.

 

[Zardnaar]

I guess it's cool but seems a bit weaker on the damage front than most of the other options.

Personally I hate the darkness reliant warlocks. Can too often interfere too much with the rest of the party.

Darkness warlocks new build party around it or sod off imho. It's not exactly banned but using it would likely get one spoken to.

 

[CleverNickName]

I'm just sayin', it's a valid sniper build. I had a lot of fun with mine.

But yeah, it can cause problems. Like every other character "build," you should run it past the rest of the table before you show up with it at game night to make sure it's a good fit.

 

[FrogReaver]

A Zealot Barbarian makes an interesting archer foundation and then multiclass to something else. Essentially you trade damage for damage reduction. It's kind of interesting, but probably not quite as good as the other options.

 

[FrogReaver]

I'm just sayin', it's a valid sniper build. I had a lot of fun with mine.

But yeah, it can cause problems. Like every other character "build," you should run it past the rest of the table before you show up with it at game night to make sure it's a good fit.

As one of the few archer builds capable of counterspelling early, I think anything warlock deserves honorable mention just for that.

 

[mellored]

As one of the few archer builds capable of counterspelling early, I think anything warlock deserves honorable mention just for that.

And to update the classic Sorlock
Sorcerer 2 (quicken, Con saves)
Warlock 2 (EB, Agonizing Blast
Valor Bard 10 (extra attack, Magic Secrets: Haste, Warcaster, +2 Chq)
Fighter 2 (Action Surge)

Then you can
Action: cast Haste
Action Surge: attack + EB
Haste Attack: EB
Quicken: EB
= 16d10+80 + push 80'.

 

[Zardnaar]

And to update the classic Sorlock
Sorcerer 2 (quicken, Con saves)
Warlock 2 (EB, Agonizing Blast
Valor Bard 10 (extra attack, Magic Secrets: Haste, Warcaster, +2 Chq)
Fighter 2 (Action Surge)

Then you can
Action: cast Haste
Action Surge: attack + EB
Haste Attack: EB
Quicken: EB
= 16d10+80 + push 80'.

The recurring flaw in thise vard 10 type builds is they take to long to cone online and they're semi unplayable to level 12-14.

 

[FrogReaver]

We've talked quite a bit about ranged martial control and not just damage.

There's been a few common themes around ranged martial control. I'm curious how you all rate these in terms of their control effects and drawbacks.

• Heavy Crossbow with Push Mastery (no save)
• Ensnaring Strike (str, large or larger adv, requires (action for str athletics check to end)
• Battlemaster Menacing Strike (wis)
• Battlemaster Trip Attack (str)
• Battlemaster Pushing Attack (str)
• Rogue Cunning Strike Poison (reoccurring con)
• Rogue Cunning Strike Trip (dex)

For me it's -
1. Push Mastery on a ranged weapon as the best.
Though it's limitation of not working against more than large creatures can hurt. It opens up so many combos. It makes kiting most melee enemies a breeze. Etc.

2. Menacing Strike.
Ranged Fear is good. Can keep enemies from advancing to party. If enemy can't reach you but can an ally then it's at least disadvantage to hit the ally. And couple this with Push Mastery on the Heavy Crossbow and you can take a number of enemies out of the encounter for a round at any time. It's also not restricted by enemy size.

3. Ensnaring strike.
When it works it's just soo good, especially if you couple it with push mastery from the heavy crossbow. You can take many types of enemies completely out of the encounter if it lands. Best thing is it also brings flying enemies to the ground. The only problem is that advantage vs the initial save means many enemies it won't have a high success rate against. Another Drawback is that it's concentration and requires a bonus action, both things that often interfere with other abilities.

4. Rogue Cunning Strike (both Poison and Trip as you get them at the same time).
Trip is great in that it targets a dex save. Still limited to Large or smaller though.
Poison is a great general purpose debuff that also has a reocurring save. It's not as powerful as some of the other options in their best use cases, but it's generally applicable to a wider array of situations.
Of course the biggest downside to any of the Cunning Strike abilities is that they take away some of your damage potential. Though, they can also be used every single turn, which is really nice. One of the biggest drawbacks is a pure or primary rogue loses alot of mobility to keep accuracy up with steady aim.

5. Trip and Pushing attack.
Both are great abilities but the Str Save is a limitation and the restriction on large or smaller is another. Menacing is generally the better Battlemaster Manuever, but these can serve as solid backups for situations where it doesn't work well.

*Note any of the prone abilities work well against Flying enemies.

 

[mellored]

The recurring flaw in thise vard 10 type builds is they take to long to cone online and they're semi unplayable to level 12-14.

Disagree in this case. The core is

Warlock 2 for Hex + Eldritch Blast; makes you a decent ranged attacker no matter what other classes you take.
Sorcerer 2 for quicken doubles your damage for a turn, scaling to multiple turns.

Though I do realize I made an error.
"You can’t have more Sorcery Points than the number shown in the table for your level."

So I need more Sorcerer levels otherwise I'm spending a level 5 slot for 2 SP. I'll drop fighter.

Let me redo it.

16 Dex, 17 Cha
Sorcerer 1, Con saves, Heavy Crossbow (1d10+3)
Warlock 1, Hex (+1d6)
Warlock 2, EB, Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast (+push)
Sorcerer 2, Quicken, twice per long rest.
Sorcerer 3, Draconic(16 AC), EB scales (2d10+6+2d6). Possibly Quicken Web.
Sorcerer 4, Warcaster (18 Cha, 17 AC)
Sorcerer 5, Sorcerer Restoration, (Quicken up to 9 times). Also Haste for later.

If your game will end at 10, go Warlock 4 to get +2 Cha. Familiars + Gaze or 2 minds is also great. Otherwise...

Bard 1, dice for allies
Bard 2, expetise
Bard 3, Valor, shield for +2AC, EB scales (3d10+12+3d6+push 30', 19 AC)
Bard 4, 20 Cha (3d10+15+3d6+push 30', 20 AC)
Bard 5, more dice for allies, (Quicken up to 20 times).
Bard 6, Switch to Haste (6d10+30+push 30', 22 AC), and 1 less accurate hand crossbow attack (1d8+3)
...
EB scales again (8d10+40+push 40')


Also, you have plenty of other spells for different situations. Web + lots of pushing may be better than Hex/Haste. Or put Haste on the Rogue. Possibly a Cloud of Daggers.