Sorry, I came back with a ranger build.

[fearknight2003]

I have an amazing build given to me by Steve (thanks again). I RCR'd him up to 14th level. Then I realized...
A) It doesn't become powerful until epics.
B) It's hard to level with 29~32 AC at 14th level as a character who would hates talking to people.
C) Aliyan is a boring person and it's boring playing a character that hates talking to people.

So I threw together a Ranger/Fighter/Weapon Master build who shouldn't have too awful AC. He would dual wield shortswords and wear leather armor.
So how bad is it?
http://nwn2db.com/build/?243852
EDIT: I made a few changes. DEX starts at 17, STR starts at 13, Greater Two Weapon Defense is a placeholder for Protective Ward, swapped a feat for Epic Animal Companion

[GholaMan]

Take all the points you put into dex and put them into STR, get rid of weapon finess, dont take deadly defense, and bring your wis down to 11 to start, +3 wis ammys are not too hard to find so you can still get full casting. And if you are going ranger do 21 ranger levels so you can get free perfect two weapon fighting and bane of enimies, with your 7 other levels build for WM, you can still fit in 3 more levels of whatetver. Sinse you are building str dont use a finess weapon and if you are human you can put in exotic weapon prof to get dwarven waraxes or bastard swords as well.

[chad878262]

There's a lot more than what I'm going to say here cuz I'm on my phone, but just a few tips:

STR should be odd (13) to use +3 item. You spend 2 points to get DEX from 15-16 then improve INT on level up.

you could make INT 14 at creation and have the same ending DEX.

You should be taking the ranger protective ward feat over one of your two weapon defense feats.

Ranger 19 brings nothing aside from caster level which is low anyway, stop at 17 and take 2 more fighter levels for an extra feat or better yet stop fighter at 4, give up two weapon defense and take ranger 21 so you can get bane of enemies and perfect two weapon fighting, worth it!

That's all for now, I'll take another look tomorrow if I get a chance.

[GholaMan]

About the str being odd you dont need to worry, if you make your wis 11 you will have an extra point for 13 int at the start, leave your str at 14, or exhange your 16 dex for 14 dex and 16 str, dex can be as low as 14 because you can cast cats grace, and put every single point into str that will put you at 21 base at 30 if you do 14 str, if you do 16 it will be 23. If you get a +3 str gear you will be at a respectable 24 which is a +7 or 26 which is+8. You dont need the fighter levels at all. The main thing you take fighter for is like weapon spec, weapon mastery, epic weapon focus all of which you wont qualify for. Take elite commando or bodyguard with those other 3 levels, for 3 levels they both give you a lot. Bodyguard would be a better choice though, 21 ranger is a big boost to damage as bane of enimies does crit with your weapons.

[Charraj]

21 Ranger + 7 Weapon Master = 28 levels; he wouldn't have 3 levels left over for Bodyguard or anything, right?

[GholaMan]

lol im the smart at math, yeah for some reason i kept thinking there would be 3 levels leftover

[Thorsson]

Ranger/WM just doesn't work IMO. Especially not as a Dex Ranger.

With Rangers there are very few 'sweet spots' - if you don't get to 21 you might as well not go past 13; and if you don't want Camouflage I wouldn't even go past 6!

Are Rangers big talkers? Surely they like hanging out with animals in the wild.

[Tsidkenu]

Ranger 26/ Divine Seeker 4.

[Passiflora]

Fighter 14
Frienzed Berserker 5
WM 7
Ranger 4

XD

[Charraj]

Passi that is not even a Ranger build.

[chad878262]

R21/F4/WM5 is probably your best bet for a Ranger WM. You miss out on level 7 WM, but gain BoE and PTWF. Agree STR based is better. As a player with a main who is a R/A DEX based he would be pretty much unplayable without death attack damage. I will say getting to 16 DEX is the 'sweet spot' even for STR builds since then Cats Grace and Mithral breastplate gives you the best AC you can get. Lowers STR (thus damage) but extra AC is huge on this server, if you can't sit at 40 + in epic areas you will go down pretty fast without full HiPS. Unless you are going for a high stealth build with some form of sneak damage DEX builds just don't work very well on the server, but a STR Ranger can do pretty well. For this reason Wood Elf is a better pick, you lose a feat, but can start with 16 STR and DEX on a 1 for 1 point buy. That isn't to say human isn't playable, you just have to make due with worse stat spread overall.

Biggest issue with WM is the high Feat cost for (relatively) low payout for a TWF ranger build. WM is just better for a Max STR Two-Handed Fighter or, better yet, one that can fight with a shield or two handed, as the situation calls for. TWF can help land more crits, sure, but you don't add as much strength to the damage (x1.0 for main hand and x0.5 offhand vs. x1.5 +IPA for a two hander).

Rangers have a lot of synergy to make a Ranger Assassin, Ranger ShadowDancer or R26/F4, and honestly R30 works very well (arguably best), but the high feat requirements for WM take away more from the ranger than they give TBH.

[Thorsson]

I will say getting to 16 DEX is the 'sweet spot' even for STR builds since then Cats Grace and Mithral breastplate gives you the best AC you can get.

IMO it's 17 Dex, because you can get GTWD. You also don't need to rely on Cat's, freeing up spell slots and not having to worry about Dispels.

[chad878262]

I will say getting to 16 DEX is the 'sweet spot' even for STR builds since then Cats Grace and Mithral breastplate gives you the best AC you can get.

IMO it's 17 Dex, because you can get GTWD. You also don't need to rely on Cat's, freeing up spell slots and not having to worry about Dispels.

In either case it just promotes Wood Elf as the 'best' race for bonus to STR/DEX. Honestly though even as a human you won't really have the feats for GTWD if going for WM... Pure Ranger or especially R/F sure you will have a couple open feats to take it.

[Thorsson]

I will say getting to 16 DEX is the 'sweet spot' even for STR builds since then Cats Grace and Mithral breastplate gives you the best AC you can get.

IMO it's 17 Dex, because you can get GTWD. You also don't need to rely on Cat's, freeing up spell slots and not having to worry about Dispels.

In either case it just promotes Wood Elf as the 'best' race for bonus to STR/DEX. Honestly though even as a human you won't really have the feats for GTWD if going for WM... Pure Ranger or especially R/F sure you will have a couple open feats to take it.

Agreed. I don't like WM on Rangers.

[Steve]

http://nwn2db.com/build/?243901