Ranger vs Hunter ?

[MacMathan]

Hey all,

I have been away from the table for almost a year now so I have missed the whole Essentials release and I am trying to catch up to the changes for an upcoming campaign.

Specifically what are the pros/cons of playing a 4e Ranger vs a Essentials Hunter?

Thanks,

 

[MrMyth]

Well, the obvious one - Rangers are strikers, Hunters are controllers. The ranger will do a ton of single-target damage. The hunter will do more control and multi-target effects. It's a good ranged character with some versatile stances for different builds/situations, but also much simpler to build compared to a ranger. (If not necessarily simpler to play.)

The Ranger vs Scout comparison is a closer match - the Scout is a melee dual-wield striker, and alongside the dual-wield melee ranger, they perform pretty similarly. So for them, it comes down more to specifics - do you want a lot more up-front bonuses and damage and stances (via the Scout), or more attacks and interrupts and simply the versatility of being able to choose encounter powers and the like?

Either's a valid option, in my view. Both perform quite effectively. The real question is how many options are you looking for, both in character building and once you get on the field?

 

[Klaus]

Archer Ranger vs. Hunter Ranger: as MrMyth said, the Archer is a striker, while the Hunter is a controller. The hunter's attacks deal debilitating conditions or target many opponents (with Rapid Shot you can hit up to 9 targets, whereas Twin Strike only gives you 2).

Two-Weapon Ranger vs. Scout Ranger: the Scout, being Dex-based, will be equally competent in melee and in ranged combat, and his AC will likely be higher.

The PH1 Rangers offer more room for customization, since you can mix-n-match powers from several books. The Essentials Rangers offer only a few options here and there. Also, since they use primal magic, the E-Rangers have utilities that feel more magical (but then again, even PH1 Rangers can pick them).

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I wished the scout was not dependant on dexterity and instead had the off hand attack feature usin dex or str. This would allow more choice...

To the topic: the hunter, especially at low level dishes out good damage. Doing a fine job of controlling with his at wills. And it is very mobile if you chose so... a good package.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Remember that there are 2 kinds of hunter. There's the Essentials Hunter, who is a controller, and there's the Hunter build of the Ranger, who focuses on mobility and melee attacks.

I've got an E-hunter in my game right now, and they're performing admirably, though the basic Ranger is considered to have one of the best Striker abilities in the game with Twin Strike.

 

[DracoSuave]

I wished the scout was not dependant on dexterity and instead had the off hand attack feature usin dex or str. This would allow more choice...

It's a non-issue tho, it's not like you're choosing powers with one outside of your aspects and knacks.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

but the off hand feature uses dexterity as the attack stat, and you are giving up a lot of damage potential if you are having lower dex... but i guess a +str race can go for 18/16 without worry.

I woul not call it non issue, but rather low issue...

 

[Mentat55]

but the off hand feature uses dexterity as the attack stat, and you are giving up a lot of damage potential if you are having lower dex... but i guess a +str race can go for 18/16 without worry.

I woul not call it non issue, but rather low issue...

Don't scouts use Dexterity to make melee basic attacks?

 

[Breaks]

for whatever it's worth, I find the hunter class extremely fun to play.

Despite having extremely few choices to make when building the character, it's rivaled only by psionic classes (and only once they have a large power point pool) in terms of how many options it has each round of combat.

While its control tends to be on the significantly weaker than a wizard/invoker side, the hunter is extremely accurate and outranges almost any creature your DM can throw at you, which means you can almost always prevent 1-2 monsters from entering an encounter for several rounds, between immobilization, slow, and prone. Once everything is in the fray, there's really not a lot you can do other than make them grant CA until level 12, when Disruptive Shot gains Blind as a choice as well.

While a hunter can never do quite as much single target damage as an archer ranger, a human can pick up twin strike to bring it closer, or you can optimize RBA damage/accuracy and deal really pretty decent damage to any creatures silly enough to arrange themselves in a pretty burst 1 formation...anywhere within your 50 square range.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Don't scouts use Dexterity to make melee basic attacks?

They CAN use it, for basic MELEE attacks...

but with the axe as my weapon of choice, i woul rather go for high strength... and so I would like to use str as my main stat, even for the off hand attack...

I would even invest a feat in a suit of chain. I know this is far from optimal, but axe feats and throwing axes require high strength, so It would be an ok choice...

The same logic is true for the hunter: you could make a hunter using strength for throwing weapons, but the encounter power keys off of dex.

So, right now a balanced str, dex build seems more ore less working... with 16 dex and 18 str or vice versa, it works well enough, and you save a feat for chain, which you don´t need...

editf course that is far from optimized!