Any good Ranger-Sorcerer PrC that anyone knows about? I am thinking about making a new character when my group resets and having it be an male elf ranger with a 2nd personality of a female elf sorceress. He thinks the other personality is his sister, who he saw killed in front of him when he was young. Each day, I'll roll to see which personality takes control, with the "sorceress" using spells to make her appearance change to fit the personality (first disguise self, then alterself, then polymorph, then ...). While I am fine with advancing the classes independently, it would be nice to get some mixture so the character won't be a drag on the party. Worst case, perhaps instead go Fighter-Sorcerer-Eldritch Knight.
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Ranger/Sorcerer, eh? I can't say i've ever heard of anyone using that combo. You may want to browse through the Grand OGL Wiki though..
Edit: Or what that Shisumo said..
If you bend the entry requirements slightly, the SRD Prestige Ranger would work just dandy for a sorcerer instead of a cleric or druid.
Master of the Yuirwood from "Unapproachable East"?
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I don't know of any PrCs, but there's a Feat called Theurgic Bond in Dragon Magazine 325 that allows your Familiar and Animal Companion levels to stack for either of them.
I think it may be Druid only (its certainly sub-optimal, with the loss of wild shape progression...) but the Arcane Heirophant from Races of the Wild may be worth looking into.
Rangers can lead into eldritch knight just as easily as fighters can...
True, but if you are not going to get any of the ranger class features from the PrC, taking ranger starts to lose its appeal.
I did a post on alternate features for eldritch knight PrC based on the warrior class used to enter it:
This is the link for that thread.
Another choice is arcane archer.
Master of the Yuirwood from "Unapproachable East"?
Oooh - good idea! Thanks for reminding about that Pr.Cl.
<starts to consider how to add something like that to own campaign in that region>
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If the ranger personality is dominant, will he use sorcerer abilities? Vice versa?
If the answer is no, you might ask your DM about simply keeping two sets of stats for the PC. In this case, it would be best to roll in front of the DM when you decide which personality will be dominant, so there's no accusation that you're choosing which PC you want to run based on metagame knowledge.
I don't think it would be too big of a deal, since you'll only be getting a single share of loot. You also have to split that loot among two PCs, essentially, and you get MAD as if you were multiclassing. The only sticking point I can think of is having two different HP totals from day to day. You might want to compromise and average the hit dice to d8s so you keep the same HP all the time.
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I think it may be Druid only (its certainly sub-optimal, with the loss of wild shape progression...) but the Arcane Heirophant from Races of the Wild may be worth looking into.
I too thought that the Arcane Hierophant was a Pr.Cl. only for Druid/arcane spellcaster combinations, but a closer look reveals another possibility. (This is more in the nature of a theoretical exercise than a serious "character optimization" suggestion.)
The main stumbling block for the pre-requisites is the Trackless Step class feature - something which the Druid alone possesses among the core base classes (at Druid 3). However: the Scout base class (Complete Adventurer) gets Trackless Step at Scout 3, so the OP could consider some combination with a Scout. Scouts have the advantage that they have similar skills to (and more of them than) Rangers.
Another potential stumbling block is the ability to cast L 2 divine spells (there is also a L 2 arcane spell pre-requisite, but the Sorcerer side can take care of that). Rangers don't gain access to L 2 divine spells before Ranger 8.
Theoretically one could end up with something like this combination: Ranger 8 / Scout 3 / Sorcerer 4 / Arcane Hierophant 5, with some useful feats like Practised Spellcaster (Sorcerer). The final spellcasting would then be as per Ranger 13 / Sorcerer 9, but the _effect_ of the Sorcerer's spells would be at caster level 13. The Ranger's animal companion would acquire some aspects of a familiar. The character would also be able to cast arcane spells in non-metallic light or medium armour. I would recommend the archery combat style for that combination, as the HD would not be on a par with those of a front-line tank. There are most likely some more feats which would improve such a combination's effectiveness.
If the character goes into epic levels, the last 5 levels of the Arcane Hierophant would tack on 5 more spellcasting levels to both the Ranger and the Sorcerer sides for a final result of Ranger 18 / Sorcerer 14 (but the effects of the Sorcerer's spells would be at caster level 18).
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I don't think it would be too big of a deal, since you'll only be getting a single share of loot. You also have to split that loot among two PCs, essentially, and you get MAD as if you were multiclassing. The only sticking point I can think of is having two different HP totals from day to day. You might want to compromise and average the hit dice to d8s so you keep the same HP all the time.
Rangers (d8) and sorcerers (d4) would average to d6s, I would think. However, you could consider the battle sorcerer to give both personalities a d8 HD, and thus remove that little quirk... I honestly think that's a better option, and more in keeping with the concept, than trying to build one character who is (at best) only using half its class abilities at any given time...
<other stuff>
I think it may be Druid only (its certainly sub-optimal, with the loss of wild shape progression...) but the Arcane Heirophant from Races of the Wild may be worth looking into.
I too thought that the Arcane Hierophant was a Pr.Cl. only for Druid/arcane spellcaster combinations, but a closer look reveals another possibility. (This is more in the nature of a theoretical exercise than a serious "character optimization" suggestion.)
The main stumbling block for the pre-requisites is the Trackless Step class feature - something which the Druid alone possesses among the core base classes (at Druid 3). However: the Scout base class (Complete Adventurer) gets Trackless Step at Scout 3, so the OP could consider some combination with a Scout. Scouts have the advantage that they have similar skills to (and more of them than) Rangers.
In this case swift hunter might be a good feat choice as it allows stacking of scout and ranger levels for the purposes of both skirmish damage, and favored enemy... meaning you are getting more use of both abilities from your levels.
Yes, that's another good feat. (I know that there are a number of "multi-class friendly" feats out there in splat-book land, but am too lazy to look them up right now!)
I haven't seen any yet that really struck my fancy, sadly.
I don't have a copy of Unapproachable East yet, so that one is out.
I did have an idea. I was thinking of having a familiar and when the personality changes, the familiar also "changes" (disguise self cast on it). The character will explain that he and his sister are cursed. Only one of them can be in elf form at a time, the other is in bird form (either owl or hawk form/disguise).
Spoiler:Yes, I own Ladyhawk. Nobody said I was original.So the male ranger with owl companion (2 true forms) and the female sorceress with hawk familiar (2 false forms). And because the familiar is so tied to the character, the familiar actually thinks it is the other sibling.
The ranger can have the owl cast spells and deliver them via touch, really it will be the ranger casting them but he won't realize it, he'll think it is the owl doing it on its own.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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So the male ranger with owl companion (2 true forms) and the female sorceress with hawk familiar (2 false forms). And because the familiar is so tied to the character, the familiar actually thinks it is the other sibling.
The ranger can have the owl cast spells and deliver them via touch, really it will be the ranger casting them but he won't realize it, he'll think it is the owl doing it on its own.
Wow... That... is BRILLIANT!
Can I steal that idea for use in a campaign I'm DMing??
So the male ranger with owl companion (2 true forms) and the female sorceress with hawk familiar (2 false forms). And because the familiar is so tied to the character, the familiar actually thinks it is the other sibling.
The ranger can have the owl cast spells and deliver them via touch, really it will be the ranger casting them but he won't realize it, he'll think it is the owl doing it on its own.
Wow... That... is BRILLIANT!
Can I steal that idea for use in a campaign I'm DMing??
NO!!! If you do I will come and break your legs. JK. Sure, steal away, as I said, it is not actually all that original (the sibling personalities I idea I got from a Freeport product, and the switching forms as I said is from Ladyhawk).