Throwing Weapons

[Wyatt]

Does anyone know if the new ranger spells (arrowsplit, darkflame arrow, etc) work with stacks of thrown weapons such at darts/axes/shuriken or are they limited to arrows/bolts only as it says on our wiki? I'd also be curious about anything else that does/does not interact with thrown weapons such as items that grant keen/weapon of impact etc.

[Valefort]

They're supposed to work with any ranged weapon, darts and throwing axes included.

[Wyatt]

Thanks Val. Does that go for the consumables that add keen properties too? Like sharpening stone/lodestone?

[Valefort]

I simply don't know, somone has to try it

[Wyatt]

I may though my build kinda died on me. I forget how different rangers are than on the nwndb builder. I thimk I might try a barb thrower instead. So many recent buffs I think it’ll be far superior. The bonus feats alone takes care of the ranger style and you get all the bonus armor and evasion on top of it. Rangers really seem to be hurting compared to many with the updates here. Can barely break 40 ac while barbs can rage 2h at almost 50 hehe. And with all that extra str and DR I can’t find a reason to pick ranger over it. I guess flavor.

[Valefort]

Don't forget skill points and skill set ^^

[Born2BeWild]

Barbarian with axes seems good in theory, i did build recently http://nwn2db.com/build/?294123

[Wyatt]

Yeah. Looks way better than the rangers i looked at building. You can even match ranger for skill points because if only needing one stat really so you can bump int if you want. Ranger just is very lackluster with all the feats that have been stripped away.

[Sun Wukong]

About those reserver arrow spells, in my experience, only the Arrowsplit and Bloodfreeze Arrow have any noticiable use. (While Bloodfreeze DC is buggy for my character.)

Anyhow, rangers do create one of the better thrower builds actually. They got free shield proficiency too and you can wield a shield while you throw axes and darts, not to mention that their spell book gets +4 Dexterity, +4 Deflection, and +5 Natural Armor, all of which free item slots for something else.

Anyhow, let us have a look at what kind of damage a Ranger 21/Stormlord 9 can do with mundane throwing axes:

1d6 (Mundane Throwing Axe)
+ 10 (Strength modifier)
+ 5 (Favored Enemies)
+ 2d6 (Bane of Enemies)
+ 1d8 (Sonic)
+ 1d8 (Electric)
= 34.5~ (Damage per avarage hit) Oh, and you can double it with Manyshot.

Then let us consider some Epic Stack of Throwing Axes, maybe the one with +4 EB and +1d6 Fire Damage. The avarage damage for a single hit just rose to 42~... This damage per hit means that the Troll Claw Trolls do not even get the chance to approach you.

As for stats, all you need is a high strength score and 14 in both dexterity and wisdom. You can make do with less wisdom, but I prefer spell casting without that '+ wisdom item' requirement.

And rangers get a ton of skill points, thus you can actually afford to have a low intelligence ability score. You get Heal as a class skill, in addition the stealth and detection skills, oh and you also get Set Trap.

Thus let us have a look at the AC:

10 (Base)
+ 6 (Mithral Chain Mail)
+ 4 (Dexterity with Cat's Grace Spell)
+ 5 (Skin of Cactus or Barkskin Spell)
+ 4 (Halo of Sand Spell)
+ 4 (Armor Bracers)
+ 4 (Dodge Boots)
+ 6 (+4 Heavy Shield)
+ 1 (Cross-class Tumble investment)
= 44

(Luck of Heroes is potential +1 AC, the custom Ranger feat is another +1 AC, and Armor Skin is yet another +1 AC, and you do have feats to spare. And UMD gives a little bit more AC.)

As for additional notes on the Ranger Spell Book:
You got Aid that grants +1 AB, you got Hawk Eye that grants +1 AB, and 'Bless Bow' for another +1 Ranged AB.

Oh and you can easily switch to using a spear if you ever run out of Throwing Axes.

And you get all the ranged feats for free, which means you really got some feats to spare.



Oh, and Rangers also get Non-detection and Polymorph Self, which actually opens up some interesting role-playing opportunities.


EDit:
If you want, I can put together a build with your chosen race. Single class thrower Rangers are nice too, since they really get to get some use out of their animal companion. Actually, I had a Zen Archery based axe thrower before Brutal Throw feat got in, or the other Ranger buffs. In other words, ranged Rangers are nasty. They are the reason why the troll claw trolls used to have silly stuff like deflect arrows.

[electric mayhem]

Stormlord requires some heavy Roleplay ability.... if you get anyone paying attention and demanding you follow an RP line.

Otherwise, it's a fun chaotic RP character to play.

Agree with everything Sun mentions re the 21/9 build.
Like to add that the AB penalties for throwing weapons force you to play this character carefully. Can't be too far away and obviously can't be too close.
Especially when you combine the ranged penalty alongside hte -8 for Multishot too at peak ability.

Playstyle lends to a mix of solo for easy mob and chest farming. Through to party for high epics and boss killing.
HIPS at 17R will help in outdoor environment but is not much use indoor/cave etc where most of the epic mobs appear. Restricts your fire, hips, retreat playstyle somewhat to specific areas. But that happens with most builds if you want to play safe.
But as a SL Ranger... you don't want to play safe... you're the very essence of Talosian fury!

This build IS gear reliant. If you don't have good gear, your character will perform on a mediocre level. Especially on epic content.

[Sun Wukong]

But regardless of equipment you can get all the way to level 30 by killing those troll cave trolls.