What style of ranger-fu do you use?

What is your favored combat style?

  • Archery

    Votes: 70 46.7%
  • Dual-wielding

    Votes: 54 36.0%
  • Some other style

    Votes: 26 17.3%

Plane Sailing said:
Uses a quarterstaff, he has power attack and it makes a great 2H weapon when you only get a standard attack, as well as being great for full attacks too.

Why not use a Morningstar and spiked gauntlets? Better damage two-handed, and no worse when TWF...
 

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Some of both and then some more ...

First off: I'm playing this ranger in a Birthright campaign. My character hails from Binsada, so technicaly you might call him an "arab"

My toolkit comprises a shortbow (prefered over longbow for easier use on horseback) a scimitar and longdagger.

Stat wise you could say my ranger is of the archery type, but in play, I kinda also do the dual-weild thing (using the scimitar and longdagger in tandem).

But I've also boosted strength (in favor of chr/wis/int) and will do a lot of unarmed stuff.

Actualy, come to think of it, I started building this character based on the ADnD ranger, but Mounir El Magreb has evolved into more of a fighter/scout/assasin.

BTW: one other thing I use a lot (and has since become a staple for any of my characters) is a pouch of sand and a pouch of pebbles I always have with me. In case of my arab ranger(fighter/scout/assasin) the pouch of sand is very interesting, since in his speach, he's allways using references to the desert/sand...
 

My Ranger is a dual-wielder, both because he's a 3e holdover, and because that fits his style. Also, he's an Elf with a 20 DEX, so I figured he could afford to skip the archery style...

With the exception of the bow, all of his weapons are rather unique. For most TWF, he uses a set of claws. Like spiked gauntlets, these cannot be disarmed. They do better damage, and are Slashing/Piercing weapons.

His bows range from the composite longbow he had at first level, to the Masterwork Mighty Composite Longbow +2 that he bought at third level, to the MMCLB +3 he got at fourth, after increasing his STR, to a MMCLB +1 and a plain old Masterwork CLB that he bought in case of Ray of Enfeeblement or Shadow touches, to the six normal LBs taken off dead foes. The MMCLB +3 he carries, in hand; the rest are in the two Quivers of Ehlonna.

He also carries a Longknife (treated as a shortsword, when wielded in hand, but can be thrown as a dagger) and a combination Handaxe/throwing axe/hammer/prybar, and a Cable/Chain (which is like a 10' Manriki-Gusari without a hook). Basically, it is a Spiked Chain without the spikes, and can be used for TWF, as well as two-handed, although it does only blunt trauma. It, too, is an Exotic Weapon.

So, he normally uses the bow, then the claws. The knife and axe are more tools than weapons. The cable is for skeletons, and other things which require blunts, and for long-distance trips and disarms. He also has Improved Unarmed Strike, and so can be pretty good even unarmed (and somewhat scary, if the GM allows claws and fists to work together)!

The ability to switch from one to another gives him a great deal of versatility. He also wears a pair of belt pouches with missile weapons such as Alchemist's Fire, Holy Water, Acid, Tanglefoot Bags, and Thunderstones, for handling problems (such as Trolls) not amenable to take-down via more normal weapons...
 
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Interestingly, part of the divide in combat styles seems to be a matter of how the ranger is envisioned. If he's a hunter, then Archery style makes sense. If he's a a guerilla fighter then Two-Weapon Fighting seems reasonable.
 

Steverooo said:
Why not use a Morningstar and spiked gauntlets? Better damage two-handed, and no worse when TWF...
Quarterstaves (sp?) are cool. Perhaps Shillelagh or other spells don't hurt and there's that nice CW feat :D
 



The only ranger I'm playing is only level 1 (ranger/barbarian/rogue) and more barbarian than ranger (ranger is only the link between barbarian and rogue).

But if I were to play a ranger, I'd go for bow feats and two-handed weapon style with Power Attack for melee. Same as my abovementioned character (minus the bow stuff).

Bye
Thanee
 

I play a lot of Rangers. My main ranger took the archery track because he's an archer. He doesn't even pack a melee weapon. It's the concept I came up with originally and stuck with it. I created him in 3.0 (Monte Cook Ranger) and updated him to 3.5 when that came out. He has ranks in Craft and Profession for making bows. I'm drawing a blank on the actuall skill names right now. Lots of flavor. I only have one other ranger right now and that's a Borderer from Conan RPG. This one is a two-weapon fighter, but I don't believe Borderers get the combat styles. I can't remember, don't have the book with me.

As for favored enemies... His chracter level is 15th, but his ranger class level is 10th. He has 5 levels in a custom made prestige class.

His first favored enemy is aberrations. The reasoning behind this is his parents were slain by mind flayers when he was young.

2nd favored enemy is magical beasts. When I created the character, you could have multiple animal companions. Back story was that he stumbled upon some gargoyles feasting on a family of black panthers. He slew the gargoyles and took the two young panther cubs into his care.

3rd favored enemy is Demons. This reason is because when he gained the 3rd FE, we were going through Monte Cook's Demon Gods Fane.

Current stats are aberrations +6, magical beasts +2, demons +2. We were also saving the world from an illithid invasion when the 2nd and 3rd favored enemies came along.
 

I am actually working on my first ranger since doing a Thri-kreen one awhile back (that was a blast and a half)

Underdark dwarven ranger using to weapon, but the emphasis is weapon throwing, darts, throwing axes, etc.

on paper he looks slick, but we shall see.

Probably will have an owl or snake as companion with a favored enemy of aberrations or air elementals.

Not sure.

If I wasn't using the throwing deal, I probably would have gone archery. Two-weapon fighting with a melee light person is kinda hairy.
 

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