Ranger for New Player

[Evil DM]

Hi folks,

I have a newbie in my group and the wanted to play a ranger. After we finished his character and he played two sessions I wondered a little bit if this character suits well for beginners.

Why?

First of all he has to spread his ability points (25 point buy) around nearly every ability. As he chose the archer path he needs dex for his ranged attack and AC, con to get some HPs, wis for his spells and char for his treatment of animals.

Then in comparison with the scout of the group, the ranger does less damage. The Scout has Rapid Shot like the ranger and in addition to that he has his skirmish special ability.

The Scout has more Skill Points.

Since we play on level 7 the ranger has some spells and will soon get the 2nd level for casting. I will give him a periapt of wisdom +2 to have a wis score of 14 to get 1 bonus spell.

Furthermore he has his animal companion and with the nature's bond feat he was able to take a leopard.

So all together I think the ranger is a versatile group member even if his specials are spread and he has to use them all together.

Thus my question: Is he suitable for a new player? New to DnD? Wouldn't it be better to have character where he can concentrate on one thing special?

Cheers, Evil DM.

 

[szilard]

A ranger is fine for a new player.

Thoughts:

Wisdom doesn't need to be particularly high - just enough to cast the spells. He won't be using spells with DCs anyway (hopefully).

You might consider swapping out the animal companion for the PHBII variant.

As DM, give some guidance with favored enemy. Its one of the weird places where a DM directly and completely controls the usefulness of a class feature.

-Stuart

 

[Darklone]

Then in comparison with the scout of the group, the ranger does less damage. The Scout has Rapid Shot like the ranger and in addition to that he has his skirmish special ability.

The Scout has more Skill Points.

Since we play on level 7 the ranger has some spells and will soon get the 2nd level for casting. I will give him a periapt of wisdom +2 to have a wis score of 14 to get 1 bonus spell.

Scout has Manyshot I guess... and will really start to hurt as soon as he takes Greater Manyshot.

The ranger though has nice spells like Arrowstorm, Exacting Shot, Arrowmind and many other nice Swift actions

I'd suggest him to take Swift Hunter and 3 levels of scout. He won't lose too much spellcasting (buy some pearls of power) and will gain the same skirmish as the scout. With better BAB.

 

[Voadam]

Hi folks,

I have a newbie in my group and the wanted to play a ranger. After we finished his character and he played two sessions I wondered a little bit if this character suits well for beginners.

Why?

First of all he has to spread his ability points (25 point buy) around nearly every ability. As he chose the archer path he needs dex for his ranged attack and AC, con to get some HPs, wis for his spells and char for his treatment of animals.

Then in comparison with the scout of the group, the ranger does less damage. The Scout has Rapid Shot like the ranger and in addition to that he has his skirmish special ability.

The Scout has more Skill Points.

Since we play on level 7 the ranger has some spells and will soon get the 2nd level for casting. I will give him a periapt of wisdom +2 to have a wis score of 14 to get 1 bonus spell.

Furthermore he has his animal companion and with the nature's bond feat he was able to take a leopard.

So all together I think the ranger is a versatile group member even if his specials are spread and he has to use them all together.

Thus my question: Is he suitable for a new player? New to DnD? Wouldn't it be better to have character where he can concentrate on one thing special?

Cheers, Evil DM.

Sure. He has spread himself a little thin to be able to do more diverse stuff instead of focusing on one area which is fine, he's tasting all there is of the ranger class instead of power mastering one deal. There is room for a diversity of play styles. A ranger who dumps wisdom and cha to pump up his dex for archery is a better archer and can still use wands and get an animals rolls, but this character has more spell abilities and flexibility.

Note the scout only gets skirmish when moving 10' so only one shot, not when combined with a full attack no movement rapid shot.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Two suggestions. Make sure you're giving access to other books like spell compendium and CAdv., as those have nearly all the worthwile Ranger spells, including the ones Darklone listed. I personally like Find the Gap, but that will take a while to get. And...not as good for archers... nevermind. Hunter's Mercy is pretty sweet, too.

Also, if he likes his companion, maybe spare him that feat, Natural Bond? In 3.0, a ranger's druid level was simply ranger -3 for the animal companion, which made it weaker at first, but decent at higher levels (compared to utterly worthless with half levels). Reinstating that is always one of my first houserules. Really, no different than the way turning level works for Paladin.

Oh, and um...is the animal empathy actually being used alot in your game? Because besides that, charisma is the top dump stat of the ranger, so maybe lower the charisma a little. Also, C Champion has a variant to trade Wild Empathy for the speak with animals or plants (you choose which each time you use) spell-like ability 3/day. Might be more useful, and frees up charisma for lowering.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Note the scout only gets skirmish when moving 10' so only one shot, not when combined with a full attack no movement rapid shot.

Normally true. MANY ways to get around this, mainly MIC items, Greater Manyshot feat, and/or friendly spellcaster to move him (Slide, arguably benign transposition, etc...)

EDIT: Or for melee scouts, one level dip into lion totem barbarian! yay!

Double Edit: Or ToB goodies, like the maneuvers: Sudden Leap, Quicksilver Motion, Pouncing Charge; or the stance: Press the Advantage (make 10 ft steps).

 

[Evil DM]

Thank you folks.

I think I should get the Spellcompendium with all the swift-stuff.

Cheers, Evil DM.

 

[Darklone]

Normally true. MANY ways to get around this, mainly MIC items, Greater Manyshot feat, and/or friendly spellcaster to move him (Slide, arguably benign transposition, etc...)

Double Edit: Or ToB goodies, like the maneuvers: Sudden Leap, Quicksilver Motion, Pouncing Charge; or the stance: Press the Advantage (make 10 ft steps).

I can't imagine a cool DM that allows a scout to use his skirmish damage if he was being moved by someone else, especially including spells. And the ToB goodies lower his skirmish damage. GrManyshot though... I do have a Swift Hunter hobgoblin in my group right now and he's doing the damaging bit... the dragon player is the mount and the cleric the buff machine.

Still, there aren't that many ways to use Rapid Shot with skirmish... on a regular basis. And many of them are debatable at least.

Find the Gap: Great spell... still most ranger/scout archers hit pretty well already... Exacting Shot or Snipers Shot (skirmish with several arrows at range) rock. There's a Hunting something spell in the SpC IIRC that adds 1/3 of your char level as d6 sneak attack... Not something your BBEG wants to get hit with.

 

[Quartz]

Just a thought, but by 'ranger' did he mean D&D ranger or Aragorn? As you've spotted, the Raner class isn't very focussed: you might have given him a cleric with the Animal and Plant domains instead