Advice sought: Mystran Ranger

[Kauaiian]

Hello all,

Getting some help from a player but wanted to open it up to the general masses. I want to emulate a ranger from Mystra's Order of the Shooting Star (yay to the server for opening up Ranger deities! )

So far, I have come up with this: http://nwn2db.com/build/?250245. Seems a pretty much cookie cutter Ranger/Assassin build, but was wondering if the AB is too low? If so, would taking 4 Fighter levels make up for the loss of CL and BoE?

I was also wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what class mix they think an Order of the Shooting Star Ranger would be? Ranger, being of course, mandatory. I went with a longbow as I have an interest in RPing an archer. I looked at other PrC's and contemplated Divine Seeker but find the class is more into intrigue than anything else.

If anyone has any advice/critique/suggestions, I am all ears!

Thanks!

[mrm3ntalist]

The AB is good, especially if you use hit and run tactics ( as you should ). Even more so if your main focus will be PvE.

You might want to consider stopping at CON12 or 14. Rangers get bears endurance, unless you want to use items and not rely on spells.

CL of 26 is a bit low for my liking. You might want to take that into consideration.

Shooting star is a nice PRC, which could be implemented as a PRC or even a class kit

[chad878262]

unfortunately if you want a stalker build CL 26 is the best you can do. Other option is R27/SD3, but you lose your death attack which is kind of a key feature of the build... If Cavestalker gave caster progression that would probably be the 'best' option so you could go R21/CS9, but sadly it doesn't.

[Kauaiian]

The AB is good, especially if you use hit and run tactics ( as you should ). Even more so if your main focus will be PvE.

You might want to consider stopping at CON12 or 14. Rangers get bears endurance, unless you want to use items and not rely on spells.

CL of 26 is a bit low for my liking. You might want to take that into consideration.

Shooting star is a nice PRC, which could be implemented as a PRC or even a class kit

unfortunately if you want a stalker build CL 26 is the best you can do. Other option is R27/SD3, but you lose your death attack which is kind of a key feature of the build... If Cavestalker gave caster progression that would probably be the 'best' option so you could go R21/CS9, but sadly it doesn't.

Thanks m3nt and chad! Always good to have the experienced Ranger players giving advice. It's much appreciated!

I intend to use a +3 con item due to the low CL that comes with a ranger stalker build, as you and chad pointed out. It's just safer due to being able to die when temp HP runs out. It's a shame that ranger does not have any PrC's that advance CL.

I also looked at Valeforts/Thorssons/MolagBal's Ranger 13/Assassin 8/Arcane Archer 9 builds. Those look down right deadly. Although with the dispel bug fixed, you'd better HIPs before you get targeted by a dispelling. The class combination does satisfy my RP niche though, ranger for the Order, Assassin to represent the stalker/hunter of outsiders, undead and magical experiments gone wrong and Arcane Archer to showcase his connection to magic.

It does miss out on tree stride though...a fantastic spell.

Would that Rgr/Ass/AA combo do solo?

[mrm3ntalist]

Thanks m3nt and chad! Always good to have the experienced Ranger players giving advice. It's much appreciated!

I intend to use a +3 con item due to the low CL that comes with a ranger stalker build, as you and chad pointed out. It's just safer due to being able to die when temp HP runs out. It's a shame that ranger does not have any PrC's that advance CL.

I also looked at Valeforts/Thorssons/MolagBal's Ranger 13/Assassin 8/Arcane Archer 9 builds. Those look down right deadly. Although with the dispel bug fixed, you'd better HIPs before you get targeted by a dispelling. The class combination does satisfy my RP niche though, ranger for the Order, Assassin to represent the stalker/hunter of outsiders, undead and magical experiments gone wrong and Arcane Archer to showcase his connection to magic.

It does miss out on tree stride though...a fantastic spell.

Would that Rgr/Ass/AA combo do solo?

Unfortunately archers dont do as well in the epic as some believe they do. However, if you stick with the build and learn its pros and cons will help you a lot. The new epic gear will help with survivability in PvE.

About Molags build: Its a great build, one of my favorites/ However the investment in spells went down with the dispel fix. I wouldnt bother with PSC and or extend spell anymore.

A small change you can do for +2Damage is to stop at AA5 and get 4levels of fighter for +2 Damage ( +4 from specialisaztion and mastery compared to the +2 you would get from 4 levels of AA ). That will cause you to get hips in the epics or manyshot on21 if you dont want to burn any feats ( for example you have to take the Ranger6 on level 21 with such build ). I think it worths it though.

Even better stop at ranger9 and get all the AA levels and the fighter 4 for +4 extra damage and +2AB. You will lose camouflage but unfortunately most dungeons dont support that.

Ranger9/AA9/Assassin8/F4 is an archer build i would definetely play.

[Kauaiian]

Thanks m3nt and chad! Always good to have the experienced Ranger players giving advice. It's much appreciated!

I intend to use a +3 con item due to the low CL that comes with a ranger stalker build, as you and chad pointed out. It's just safer due to being able to die when temp HP runs out. It's a shame that ranger does not have any PrC's that advance CL.

I also looked at Valeforts/Thorssons/MolagBal's Ranger 13/Assassin 8/Arcane Archer 9 builds. Those look down right deadly. Although with the dispel bug fixed, you'd better HIPs before you get targeted by a dispelling. The class combination does satisfy my RP niche though, ranger for the Order, Assassin to represent the stalker/hunter of outsiders, undead and magical experiments gone wrong and Arcane Archer to showcase his connection to magic.

It does miss out on tree stride though...a fantastic spell.

Would that Rgr/Ass/AA combo do solo?

Unfortunately archers dont do as well in the epic as some believe they do. However, if you stick with the build and learn its pros and cons will help you a lot. The new epic gear will help with survivability in PvE.

About Molags build: Its a great build, one of my favorites/ However the investment in spells went down with the dispel fix. I wouldnt bother with PSC and or extend spell anymore.

A small change you can do for +2Damage is to stop at AA5 and get 4levels of fighter for +2 Damage ( +4 from specialisaztion and mastery compared to the +2 you would get from 4 levels of AA ). That will cause you to get hips in the epics or manyshot on21 if you dont want to burn any feats ( for example you have to take the Ranger6 on level 21 with such build ). I think it worths it though.

Even better stop at ranger9 and get all the AA levels and the fighter 4 for +4 extra damage and +2AB. You will lose camouflage but unfortunately most dungeons dont support that.

Ranger9/AA9/Assassin8/F4 is an archer build i would definetely play.

Thats very good advice. Oddly enough I did contemplate that very same class but was worried about my CL a bit much. Learning that CL is now either big or go home, the lack of CL doesn't particularly phase me anymore and opens up two feats in place of extend and PSC. Also allows me some stat changes due to not requiring an 11 wisdom. I like the way this is going.

Going to throw a build together and post back here for final touches. Thanks m3nt!

[Kauaiian]

Well m3nt/chad,

What do you think?

http://nwn2db.com/build/?250279

It has the mix of classes to support my backstory and PC goals.
Seems AB is pretty good, with decent H/MS. Definitely a hit and run type.
I chose the Blindfight feat due to lack of spells.
By chance, are there any 1/day items with Commune with nature on it? That's my most desired RP spell. I can miss out on Tree Stride, small loss.
My level 18th feat, Stealthy, that was the best I could think of. Any recommendations there?
I only have 2 FE's to choose from. Considering he is a Ranger dedicated to abolishing unleashed outsiders and monstrous creations from magic, I chose Outsiders and Undead (seems to be the most common type of creation.)

Any thoughts on improvement? Not looking to solo the server, just something that'll be fun to RP and contribute to the party in both RP and mechanics.

[Tsidkenu]

I think there's an assassin item in the new epic store with Stealthy feat on it (and +4 hide/ms besides!). So you can save a feat there with a small GP investment.

[Kauaiian]

I think there's an assassin item in the new epic store with Stealthy feat on it (and +4 hide/ms besides!). So you can save a feat there with a small GP investment.

Nice tip Tsid! Thanks!

[chad878262]

44AB with your bow isn't low at all, especially out of hips. Build should do fine... I do think you might be a bit disappointed in trying to solo epic areas later on, but could be really productive in a small group.

[Kauaiian]

44AB with your bow isn't low at all, especially out of hips. Build should do fine... I do think you might be a bit disappointed in trying to solo epic areas later on, but could be really productive in a small group.

Because it's an archer?

[chad878262]

44AB with your bow isn't low at all, especially out of hips. Build should do fine... I do think you might be a bit disappointed in trying to solo epic areas later on, but could be really productive in a small group.

Because it's an archer?

Yes. And it's not a caster...(Not really). Archers suffer the same issue as melee characters. Limited/no protection against many of the top bosses/mob casters on the sever. That's not to say you can't solo many epic areas with an epic archer (you have the benefit of range to both pick your targets and hips to escape if needed). It's only to say you can't solo many bosses this way (hips won't save you from frost giant king, yuan ti queen or in certain other areas.)

[Tsidkenu]

I soloed my rogue/sd/oobi shortbowyer to 20 without dying a single time. It starts getting hard then, but you can solo difficult areas if you go slowly and pick off one target at a time. If you never get hit, you can't die (at least until you meet a spellcasting boss with godlike amounts of Concentration so you can't bust their spells before they cast).

[chad878262]

(at least until you meet a spellcasting boss with godlike amounts of Concentration so you can't bust their spells before they cast).

And true sight....and super high spot/listen...And high DR... LOL

[Kauaiian]

Thank you for the feedback everyone!