Orcish Two-weapon Ranger

[fearknight2003]

With the orc warband thing, I would like to have a nice orc (or half orc) to play as. I like the idea of dual battleaxes, and a 'puppy dog' (worg) companion. Any ideas on this?
(Preferred low charisma and intelligence. High Intimidate if possible.)

[chad878262]

I think I have a half orc ranger build somewhere, but I'll have to look when I can get on my lap top. However, if you want to try yourself, I'd look in to cave stalker prc (I think most of it works now...) maybe R26/CS4? Try to get 16DEX, 14 WIS, 11-15 CON and max STR which shouldn't be impossible with minimizing INT and CHA. For feats you want LoH, protective ward, oversized twf, psc and extend spell if you can afford it. Start there and then customize as you see fit. In epics make sure to get bane of enemies and expose weakness.

[Garn Greymoon]

This is coming from memory and on my mobile. So I think if you wanted to bypass the high dex req for two weapon fighting feat line head ranger until you get perfect two weapon fighting.

Then splash in some levels of fighter and barbarian and you could pretty easily hit 24 to 30 str. You can still have your animal companion for fluff.

Now on the other hand if you go with a str dex combination I would definitely look into dipping into weapon master since you'll have the dex to qualify for the pre req feats.

Also as icing on the top dragon warrior has some nice features that would give you elemental damage.

[chad878262]

I would be careful dipping too far in to other classes that don't give spell progression. The most I would go would be R25/CS5 to gain +1 DEX, be able to use HiPS in natural indoor areas and still hit CL29. Rangers have great buffs, but very few spells/day so getting dispelled is bad news. I would probably stick to R26/CS4 to hit CL30 since 'losing' the +1 DEX is made up by gaining an epic feat at R26. Both Half-Orc and Grey Orc are viable options since they both get +2 STR, Half-Orc gets +1 CON and Grey Orc gets +2 WIS (and other cool things like scent, but loses out by having ECL). In any case, sorry, have not had time to get to my personal laptop and look for the build, but all the advice posted previously is a good start. One side note is that there might be a possibility to get the same final AC w/ 14 DEX based on some armor changes coming soon, which may help you have some better CON/WIS or, if you prefer, maybe bump INT just a little so you can at least have some decent skills. Orc tracker should be a bit above the average orc in intelligence IMO... Leave CHA as a dump stat, you're an orc AND A loner after all! LOL

[chad878262]

I can't find my old Orc Ranger build, so I made a (somewhat generic) one... This is a STR based ranger 27 / CS 3. (warrior of darkness = cave stalker). Don't forget to take the feat protective ward at level 6 as Ranger does not get that feat for free on this server, but you definitely should always take it! Also, I did go for the 10 INT route. You can lower it, but you will probably have to go without stealth (at which point you should not have cave stalker...the whole point of taking it here is to gain HiPS and camouflage in natural indoor areas like caves). Ranger is a skill class so having low INT is a real bummer since you need survival (or track is useless), you need hide/ms (or camouflage and hips is useless), listen and/or spot is kind of key if you are going to RP as a tracker, went listen here as CS does not have spot as a class skill. Also grabbed tumble because CS get's it as a class skill, which is also why I grabbed able learner (better than armor skin since it allows +3 AC via tumble skill). going to 15 in spellcraft is to give +3 to your save vs. spells and lore is whatever skills you want.

Note that this is something of a tweaner... your AB is good, but not great (though is pretty high for a stealth character). Your stealth is lower than you would like by about 6 points are so, because you are not a DEX character. HOWEVER, you have spells to take care of your natural and deflection AC (Barkskin/Halo of Sand), increase your stealth (camoflage, pass without a trace), Cats Grace and Bears Endurance of +2 AC and +60 HP, Increase your AB (aid) and grant you blindfight (embrace the wild). The Ranger spell list is really quite good on our server, so long as you realize that, as a ranger you are not a tank / fighter type... You are more akin to a striker (or fighter/rogue/druid hybrid maybe). Play your ranger cautiously as opposed to "RRRAAAARGGGHGHHH, me smash 'em good!" and you should do well! If you truly want a non-intelligent brute you can go that route, but I recommend going Fighter/Barbarian of some sort as opposed to Ranger, which is very dependent on using their skill points.

Anyway, here is the build, feel free to customize as you will to fit your play style!

http://nwn2db.com/build/?250648

[chad878262]

This is coming from memory and on my mobile. So I think if you wanted to bypass the high dex req for two weapon fighting feat line head ranger until you get perfect two weapon fighting.

Then splash in some levels of fighter and barbarian and you could pretty easily hit 24 to 30 str. You can still have your animal companion for fluff.

Now on the other hand if you go with a str dex combination I would definitely look into dipping into weapon master since you'll have the dex to qualify for the pre req feats.

Also as icing on the top dragon warrior has some nice features that would give you elemental damage.

An Orc Ranger going for perfect two weapon fighting (21 levels) doesn't really have the feats to be able to be a weapon master, not to mention the need for 13 or higher INT and DEX(on an Orc...) You can go R26/F4 to gain weapon focus/specialization for some extra damage, but you will have an XP penalty. I wouldn't really recommend dipping barbarian and I definitely would avoid going less than 26 ranger levels due to issues with dispels. Generally Ranger is a class you either take to a certain tier (such as to 6, 9, 11 or 13) and you don't worry about the spells or you try to get CL 30 (or at a minimum CL 28). Dragon Slayer might not be a bad choice depending on what you are looking for since you gain 1/2 CL you could technically go R21/DS9 and still hit CL 30 while picking up a few goodies, but some wouldn't be worth much to a ranger (such as spell penetration...) DR 3/- is welcome, as is lightning reflexes and aura of courage. however, I'm not sure it's worth taking dodge and iron will to get there unless for RP purposes. Dragon Warrior doesn't allow spell casting progression so I would probably not go there unless for 3 or 4 levels. Again, if there is a PRC you want to dip and can still hit CL 30, go for it, but you have to consider how much you have to give up and what you will get in return.

[Wyatt]

Ranger 27/cavestalker 3 gets the nice perks from cavestalker like being able to HIPS inside natural caves etc and still has the full number of favored enemies and casting progression. You can even take natural bond and epic animal companion if you want to have a really strong pet in epic levels. Its a solid build that does insane damage.