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Thrill of the Hunt: The Ranger's Handbook (by lordduskblade)
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<blockquote data-quote="Veep" data-source="post: 6705422" data-attributes="member: 6793297"><p style="text-align: center"><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Power Source and Role: Your Place in the Hunt</span></strong></p> <p style="text-align: center"><strong></strong></p><p></p><p>Your power source is Martial, and your role is Striker. Martial characters are already predisposed toward aspects associated with the Striker role (such as hitting harder than other classes that share the same role), and Strikers further that tendency, since they're supposed to be the damage-heavy guys that bring the monsters down. Put those together, and it's not a big surprise that you are considered to be the most damaging Striker in the game. That being said, your job entails more than just hitting people hard. Here's a breakdown on how well you do at each aspect traditionally associated with the Striker role:</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ffff"><strong>Burst/Nova/Spike Damage</strong></span> - This is usually defined as the maximum amount of damage you can come up with on short notice, and you're great at it, thanks in large part to your Daily and Encounter powers allowing you to attack more times per Standard Action or even attack outside your Standard Action altogether. A Beastmaster gives some of the bonuses available to you up, so they're only good at it.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ffff"><strong>Damage Per Round (DPR) </strong></span>- You're one of the best in the business at dealing consistent damage to your target. This stems in large part from the fact that you're making multiple attacks per round, which gives you a greater chance of connecting as well as a higher damage ceiling, should they all connect. Beastmasters are a bit behind on the punch each attack will carry, so they're just good at this.</p><p></p><p><strong>Debilitating Effects </strong>- Another way to approach the "put down a single target" goal of the Striker is by making your target so unable to do anything it's like he's not there. You have some pretty nice status effects as riders on your powers, but overall this really isn't your forte.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Survivability</strong></span> - One of the key aspects of a successful Striker is how well he can handle it when enemies come after him. Given that Melee Rangers receive extra HP or AC for free, Ranged Rangers get a hefty bonus to AC against OA's, Beastmasters have a whole other HP source (and the Ranged Beastmasters never even have to leave the edge of their weapon's normal range to be effective), and that you have a plethora of interrupts at your fingertips to mitigate or negate enemy attacks, you're actually pretty good at staying upright.</p><p></p><p><strong>Targeting Capacity</strong> - The fact that your Striker bonus damage feature only affects the closest target, plus that a lot of the bonus damage abilities that make you the king of damage force Melee characters to fight without allies and Ranged ones to get in close means your targeting capacity is average overall, even with your pretty nice suite of mobility-oriented powers. If you're heavily into stealth, can consistently get the drop on your opponent, or you use a Beast companion as a homing beacon with hit points, you're probably better at this.</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">Secondary Role Effectiveness</span></strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Controller</strong> - There are a few powers that will let you control the positioning and the actions taken by your enemies on the battlefield, but they are not that common outside of Archers, who get enough to consider this a secondary role.</p><p></p><p><strong>Defender</strong> - If you're a Melee Ranger, you have the ability to step in for a Defender and hold the line, at least for a while. Your high damage should help you cut into the number of threats quickly. Additionally, some of you can build to make <span style="color: #0000ff">this a bit easier</span> by either working with a Beast companion or selecting an array of choices that will make your character tougher.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Leader</strong></span> - You have a small collection of Utility powers that can at least let you perform some emergency Leading if need be, including some healing and movement enabling. Not your forte at all, but at least you're not terrible at it.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>Baseline Mechanics: Profile of the Hunt</strong></span></p><p></p><p>You have the dubious honor of belonging to the so-called "V-class" group (along with the Cleric, the Paladin, and the Warlock), which is a group of classes whose builds have different primary ability scores, but the same secondary ability score. This means that you have to choose between having access to the depth and breadth of the power list, or enjoying strong rider effects on those same powers. Which of these two options you should choose depends on your build, though the latter will win out most of the time.</p><p></p><p>Your baseline mechanics are otherwise largely unremarkable compared to others of your role, except for the impressive amount of weapons you're proficient with out of the box, though you do have an interesting bonus accuracy mechanic in Prime Shot or Running Attack.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">Game Mechanics</span></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Hit Points </strong>- 12 + Con score at level 1, and 5 each level thereafter. You get the standard-fare HP for your role, which lets you take a hit or two.</p><p></p><p><strong>Healing Surges </strong>- 6 + Con modifier. Again, standard fare for your role, but it's ameliorated a bit by the fact that you will usually have some build points to dedicate to your Constitution.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Defense Bonuses</strong></span> - +1 to Fortitude and Reflex. This is nice in that it covers two defenses, and one of them will be low in most Ranger builds.</p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Proficiencies</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Armor</strong> - You get up to Hide armor, and no shields. This means that offense will be your bread and butter, because the defense sure isn't anything to write home about.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ffff"><strong>Weapons</strong></span> - All Simple + all Military for melee and ranged weapons is about as good as it gets for weapon proficiencies, which you share only with the Fighter.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>Class Features</strong></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ffff"><strong>Hunter's Quarry</strong></span> - Extra damage for targeting your nearest foe for the whole encounter, at the cost of a minor action. While not as damaging or as flexible as some other features, it does have an advantage in that it's a fire-and-forget deal, and that the Ranger's multiple attacks make it easier to land the extra damage.</p><p></p><p><strong>Bonus Features</strong></p><p></p><p>Unless you're a Beastmaster (hint: don't be a Beastmaster), you get to pick one of these features. They cater to different styles of Rangers, so evaluate and pick the one that suits you best.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Prime Shot (PHB)</strong></span> - The "stand and fight" class feature, it hands out a bonus to Ranged attacks when you are closest to the target. The feat support makes the bonus quite substantial, and even allows you to apply it to Melee attacks. It may seem marginal at the beginning of your career, but it will count for a substantial portion of your damage later on.</p><p></p><p><strong>Running Attack (MP 2)</strong> - This feature hands out an attack bonus when you move and hit. While it seems nice on paper because it can apply to Melee Rangers in Heroic Tier and because it has solid feat support, the fact of the matter is that the power selection for it is not the top-notch stuff. Because of that, I rank it lower.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Ranger Fighting Style</strong></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Archery Style (PHB)</span></strong> - At this point, the only real reason to pick this Fighting Style is because the Battlefield Archer Paragon Path requires it, because Hunter Style offers everything it has and more. Fortunately for it, Battlefield Archer is one of the premier picks for a Ranged Ranger, so that does count for a lot.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Beast Mastery (MP)</strong></span> - I'll be blunt; this path has some major issues. The first one is that you give up what eventually turns into a major damage feature in Prime Shot, which costs you damage potential. Next, you pick up a companion that is a space-eater at best and an outright liability at worst - his damage starts out poor and virtually doesn't scale. Third, the powers that use this concept are very poorly executed, and thus actively detract from what makes the Ranger great. If you run a campaign based mainly in the Heroic tier, you'll dodge some of these pitfalls and thus can consider this path to be <span style="color: #800080"><strong>better</strong></span>, though not quite good - otherwise, treat is as the terrible option that it is.</p><p></p><p><strong>Hunter Style (MP 2)</strong> - This style offers plenty of awesome features: drawing and sheathing weapons just because you can is pretty cool, and a whopping +4 to AC for provoking OA's for using Ranged attacks is nice to have, too.</p><p></p><p><strong>Marauder Style (MP 2)</strong> - This style hands out more speed and defense for dual-wielding, which basically makes it the mobility-oriented counterpart to Two-Blade Style. No oversized dual-wielding means a bit less damage overall and you lose access to some of the heavyweight Paragon Paths, but it's not a bad choice at all.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Two-Blade Style (PHB) </strong></span>- This path gives you some more durability in the form of Toughness, and it also allows you to dual-wield one-handed weapons, which is a great recipe for what is one of the most damaging character builds in the game, if not the most damaging character build outright.</p><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>Skills: Talent for the Hunt</strong></span></p><p></p><p>You actually get a solid amount of skills (5 in total), which puts you in a pretty select club of guys who are great in and out of combat. You only get full choice for 4 of those skills, but that's OK: you want to pick up at least one of the two alternatives they're forcing on you anyway.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Class Skills</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Acrobatics</strong></span> - A very useful skill, that can combine well with Athletics to make you one of the slipperiest characters in the business. Usually better for Archers because of their focus on Dexterity.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Athletics</strong></span> - As mentioned above, this combines with Acrobatics to make you almost immune to any movement-related business your DM may have for you. Extra sweet for Melee Rangers because of the stat it uses.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #daa520">Dungeoneering</span></strong> - You have to pick either this or Nature, but you won't get complaints from me; all Rangers depend on Wisdom to some degree, and a monster Knowledge-type skill is always appreciated.</p><p></p><p><strong>Endurance</strong> - Most of you may not have the Constitution to have this at a sky-high level. Still, folks who have a racial bonus to the skill may consider it, and you'd better take this if you don't plan on taking Heal.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Heal</strong></span> - A very sweet skill to deal with everything from first aid to disease, and it keys off an important attribute to you. A good choice.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #daa520"><strong>Nature</strong></span> - You have to pick this or Dungeoneering, though both of those skills are so useful, that it's no big deal (a Knowledge-type skill is always nice to have). You may even want to pick them both.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #daa520"><strong>Perception</strong></span> - This may be the most generally useful skill in the game, and the way your character is built guarantees you a respectable Wisdom at the very least. Don't leave home without it.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Stealth</strong></span> - Another useful skill, it also keys off Dexterity, making it preferable for Archers over Melee Rangers, though they can also use it.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Recommended Non-Class Skills</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Insight</strong> - Its reliance on Wisdom makes you able to stack up some decent numbers on it, and it helps make you a complete character by giving you something to do on a social skill challenge.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Thievery </strong></span>- Opening locks, picking pockets, and disabling traps is a pretty good skill to have, and it's easy to grab (just take the Rogue Multiclass feat, for example).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Veep, post: 6705422, member: 6793297"] [CENTER][B][SIZE=5]Power Source and Role: Your Place in the Hunt[/SIZE] [/B][/CENTER] Your power source is Martial, and your role is Striker. Martial characters are already predisposed toward aspects associated with the Striker role (such as hitting harder than other classes that share the same role), and Strikers further that tendency, since they're supposed to be the damage-heavy guys that bring the monsters down. Put those together, and it's not a big surprise that you are considered to be the most damaging Striker in the game. That being said, your job entails more than just hitting people hard. Here's a breakdown on how well you do at each aspect traditionally associated with the Striker role: [COLOR=#00ffff][B]Burst/Nova/Spike Damage[/B][/COLOR] - This is usually defined as the maximum amount of damage you can come up with on short notice, and you're great at it, thanks in large part to your Daily and Encounter powers allowing you to attack more times per Standard Action or even attack outside your Standard Action altogether. A Beastmaster gives some of the bonuses available to you up, so they're only good at it. [COLOR=#00ffff][B]Damage Per Round (DPR) [/B][/COLOR]- You're one of the best in the business at dealing consistent damage to your target. This stems in large part from the fact that you're making multiple attacks per round, which gives you a greater chance of connecting as well as a higher damage ceiling, should they all connect. Beastmasters are a bit behind on the punch each attack will carry, so they're just good at this. [B]Debilitating Effects [/B]- Another way to approach the "put down a single target" goal of the Striker is by making your target so unable to do anything it's like he's not there. You have some pretty nice status effects as riders on your powers, but overall this really isn't your forte. [COLOR=#0000ff][B]Survivability[/B][/COLOR] - One of the key aspects of a successful Striker is how well he can handle it when enemies come after him. Given that Melee Rangers receive extra HP or AC for free, Ranged Rangers get a hefty bonus to AC against OA's, Beastmasters have a whole other HP source (and the Ranged Beastmasters never even have to leave the edge of their weapon's normal range to be effective), and that you have a plethora of interrupts at your fingertips to mitigate or negate enemy attacks, you're actually pretty good at staying upright. [B]Targeting Capacity[/B] - The fact that your Striker bonus damage feature only affects the closest target, plus that a lot of the bonus damage abilities that make you the king of damage force Melee characters to fight without allies and Ranged ones to get in close means your targeting capacity is average overall, even with your pretty nice suite of mobility-oriented powers. If you're heavily into stealth, can consistently get the drop on your opponent, or you use a Beast companion as a homing beacon with hit points, you're probably better at this. [B] [SIZE=3]Secondary Role Effectiveness[/SIZE][/B] [B]Controller[/B] - There are a few powers that will let you control the positioning and the actions taken by your enemies on the battlefield, but they are not that common outside of Archers, who get enough to consider this a secondary role. [B]Defender[/B] - If you're a Melee Ranger, you have the ability to step in for a Defender and hold the line, at least for a while. Your high damage should help you cut into the number of threats quickly. Additionally, some of you can build to make [COLOR=#0000ff]this a bit easier[/COLOR] by either working with a Beast companion or selecting an array of choices that will make your character tougher. [COLOR=#800080][B]Leader[/B][/COLOR] - You have a small collection of Utility powers that can at least let you perform some emergency Leading if need be, including some healing and movement enabling. Not your forte at all, but at least you're not terrible at it. [CENTER][SIZE=5][B]Baseline Mechanics: Profile of the Hunt[/B][/SIZE][/CENTER] You have the dubious honor of belonging to the so-called "V-class" group (along with the Cleric, the Paladin, and the Warlock), which is a group of classes whose builds have different primary ability scores, but the same secondary ability score. This means that you have to choose between having access to the depth and breadth of the power list, or enjoying strong rider effects on those same powers. Which of these two options you should choose depends on your build, though the latter will win out most of the time. Your baseline mechanics are otherwise largely unremarkable compared to others of your role, except for the impressive amount of weapons you're proficient with out of the box, though you do have an interesting bonus accuracy mechanic in Prime Shot or Running Attack. [B][SIZE=3]Game Mechanics[/SIZE][/B] [B] Hit Points [/B]- 12 + Con score at level 1, and 5 each level thereafter. You get the standard-fare HP for your role, which lets you take a hit or two. [B]Healing Surges [/B]- 6 + Con modifier. Again, standard fare for your role, but it's ameliorated a bit by the fact that you will usually have some build points to dedicate to your Constitution. [COLOR=#0000ff][B]Defense Bonuses[/B][/COLOR] - +1 to Fortitude and Reflex. This is nice in that it covers two defenses, and one of them will be low in most Ranger builds. [B] Proficiencies[/B] [B]Armor[/B] - You get up to Hide armor, and no shields. This means that offense will be your bread and butter, because the defense sure isn't anything to write home about. [COLOR=#00ffff][B]Weapons[/B][/COLOR] - All Simple + all Military for melee and ranged weapons is about as good as it gets for weapon proficiencies, which you share only with the Fighter. [CENTER][SIZE=5][B]Class Features[/B][/SIZE][/CENTER] [COLOR=#00ffff][B]Hunter's Quarry[/B][/COLOR] - Extra damage for targeting your nearest foe for the whole encounter, at the cost of a minor action. While not as damaging or as flexible as some other features, it does have an advantage in that it's a fire-and-forget deal, and that the Ranger's multiple attacks make it easier to land the extra damage. [B]Bonus Features[/B] Unless you're a Beastmaster (hint: don't be a Beastmaster), you get to pick one of these features. They cater to different styles of Rangers, so evaluate and pick the one that suits you best. [COLOR=#0000ff][B]Prime Shot (PHB)[/B][/COLOR] - The "stand and fight" class feature, it hands out a bonus to Ranged attacks when you are closest to the target. The feat support makes the bonus quite substantial, and even allows you to apply it to Melee attacks. It may seem marginal at the beginning of your career, but it will count for a substantial portion of your damage later on. [B]Running Attack (MP 2)[/B] - This feature hands out an attack bonus when you move and hit. While it seems nice on paper because it can apply to Melee Rangers in Heroic Tier and because it has solid feat support, the fact of the matter is that the power selection for it is not the top-notch stuff. Because of that, I rank it lower. [B]Ranger Fighting Style[/B] [B][COLOR=#0000ff]Archery Style (PHB)[/COLOR][/B] - At this point, the only real reason to pick this Fighting Style is because the Battlefield Archer Paragon Path requires it, because Hunter Style offers everything it has and more. Fortunately for it, Battlefield Archer is one of the premier picks for a Ranged Ranger, so that does count for a lot. [COLOR=#ff0000][B]Beast Mastery (MP)[/B][/COLOR] - I'll be blunt; this path has some major issues. The first one is that you give up what eventually turns into a major damage feature in Prime Shot, which costs you damage potential. Next, you pick up a companion that is a space-eater at best and an outright liability at worst - his damage starts out poor and virtually doesn't scale. Third, the powers that use this concept are very poorly executed, and thus actively detract from what makes the Ranger great. If you run a campaign based mainly in the Heroic tier, you'll dodge some of these pitfalls and thus can consider this path to be [COLOR=#800080][B]better[/B][/COLOR], though not quite good - otherwise, treat is as the terrible option that it is. [B]Hunter Style (MP 2)[/B] - This style offers plenty of awesome features: drawing and sheathing weapons just because you can is pretty cool, and a whopping +4 to AC for provoking OA's for using Ranged attacks is nice to have, too. [B]Marauder Style (MP 2)[/B] - This style hands out more speed and defense for dual-wielding, which basically makes it the mobility-oriented counterpart to Two-Blade Style. No oversized dual-wielding means a bit less damage overall and you lose access to some of the heavyweight Paragon Paths, but it's not a bad choice at all. [COLOR=#0000ff][B]Two-Blade Style (PHB) [/B][/COLOR]- This path gives you some more durability in the form of Toughness, and it also allows you to dual-wield one-handed weapons, which is a great recipe for what is one of the most damaging character builds in the game, if not the most damaging character build outright. [SIZE=5][/SIZE][CENTER][SIZE=5][B]Skills: Talent for the Hunt[/B][/SIZE][/CENTER] You actually get a solid amount of skills (5 in total), which puts you in a pretty select club of guys who are great in and out of combat. You only get full choice for 4 of those skills, but that's OK: you want to pick up at least one of the two alternatives they're forcing on you anyway. [B]Class Skills[/B] [COLOR=#0000ff][B]Acrobatics[/B][/COLOR] - A very useful skill, that can combine well with Athletics to make you one of the slipperiest characters in the business. Usually better for Archers because of their focus on Dexterity. [COLOR=#0000ff][B]Athletics[/B][/COLOR] - As mentioned above, this combines with Acrobatics to make you almost immune to any movement-related business your DM may have for you. Extra sweet for Melee Rangers because of the stat it uses. [B][COLOR=#daa520]Dungeoneering[/COLOR][/B] - You have to pick either this or Nature, but you won't get complaints from me; all Rangers depend on Wisdom to some degree, and a monster Knowledge-type skill is always appreciated. [B]Endurance[/B] - Most of you may not have the Constitution to have this at a sky-high level. Still, folks who have a racial bonus to the skill may consider it, and you'd better take this if you don't plan on taking Heal. [COLOR=#0000ff][B]Heal[/B][/COLOR] - A very sweet skill to deal with everything from first aid to disease, and it keys off an important attribute to you. A good choice. [COLOR=#daa520][B]Nature[/B][/COLOR] - You have to pick this or Dungeoneering, though both of those skills are so useful, that it's no big deal (a Knowledge-type skill is always nice to have). You may even want to pick them both. [COLOR=#daa520][B]Perception[/B][/COLOR] - This may be the most generally useful skill in the game, and the way your character is built guarantees you a respectable Wisdom at the very least. Don't leave home without it. [COLOR=#0000ff][B]Stealth[/B][/COLOR] - Another useful skill, it also keys off Dexterity, making it preferable for Archers over Melee Rangers, though they can also use it. [B]Recommended Non-Class Skills[/B] [B]Insight[/B] - Its reliance on Wisdom makes you able to stack up some decent numbers on it, and it helps make you a complete character by giving you something to do on a social skill challenge. [COLOR=#0000ff][B]Thievery [/B][/COLOR]- Opening locks, picking pockets, and disabling traps is a pretty good skill to have, and it's easy to grab (just take the Rogue Multiclass feat, for example). [/QUOTE]
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Thrill of the Hunt: The Ranger's Handbook (by lordduskblade)
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