Thanks everyone, I am taking all of this in.
Here's a stat block so far. This is exported from Hero Lab, sorry if some of the formatting is kind of annoying.** spoiler omitted **
Male Dwarf Ranger (Skirmisher) 4
NG Medium Humanoid (Dwarf)
Init +1; Senses Darkvision; Perception +8
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DEFENSE
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AC 19, touch 12, flat-footed 18. . (+7 armor, +1 Dex, +1 deflection)
hp 46 (4d10+16)
Fort +9, Ref +5, Will +2
Defensive Abilities Defensive Training
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OFFENSE
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Spd 20 ft.
Melee
. . Masterwork Waraxe, Dwarven +7 (1d10+3/20/x3) and
. . Shortsword +5 (1d6+1/19-20/x2) and
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STATISTICS
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Str 16, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 8
Base Atk +4; CMB +7; CMD 19
Feats Antagonize, Endurance, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus: Waraxe, Dwarven
Traits Resilient, Suspicious
Skills Acrobatics -3, Climb +3, Escape Artist -3, Fly -3, Handle Animal +3, Heal +5, Intimidate +6, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +4, Knowledge (Geography) +4, Knowledge (Nature) +7, Perception +8, Profession (Fisherman) +5, Ride -3, Sense Motive +2, Stealth +1, Survival +8, Swim +3
Languages Common, Dwarven
Terrains: Forest (+2 bonus) (Ex), Track +2, Wild Empathy +3 (Ex)
Combat Gear +1 Chainmail, Masterwork Dwarven Waraxe, Masterwork Shortsword, Masterwork Silver Dagger, Heavy Crossbow;
Other Gear Antiplague (vial), Antitoxin (vial), Backpack, Bear Trap, Bedroll, Blanket, Bread, per loaf, Cheese, hunk of, Firewood (per day), Fishhook, Flint and steel, Furs, Hammer, Iron Spike, Meat, chunk of, Potion of Bull's Strength, Potion of Cure Light Wounds, Pouch, belt (3 @ 0 lbs), Ring of Protection, +1, Sack (empty), Smelling Salts, Smokestick, Vermin repellent, Weapon Blanch, Silver
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Mysterious Stranger if you click the spoiler you will see that we are thinking along very similar lines.
Thanks for the comment, now I feel like I'm on the right track.
I know a few of the feats and stats are wonky I will tweak them.
You said your brother played AD&D, did he play any 3.x? If not I'm sure he will be the most comfortable with a ranger with skill points spent liberally all over the place so he can "take a stab" at doing things other then, well, stabbing.
Nope not a bit of 3.anything. I used to DM AD&D for him and our friends when we were kids. Flash forward 15 years and I'm back in town so I've been DM'ing PF for our other, much younger brother (who is still a kid). He see's us playing and says "you guys play with mini's on a grid now, what is all this?" And his wife starts looking through books and decides she wants to be a half-elf druid archer with a hawk.
This was awhile ago, maybe 7-8 months and they actually filled out char sheets but we never played and I lost them. So I'm trying to rebuild them from memory now that I have Hero Lab, but they looked a little iffy so I started this thread for advice.
Swap out the profession fisherman with Craft Weapon and take the craftsman alternative racial ability to get a decent craft weapon. Survival will get you the ability to live off the land. Boost up stealth.
For traits go for Armor Expert it is like getting +1 to 6 to 8 skills. There is also a Dwarven Racial Trait Glory of Old which gives you an additional +1 on Saves vs. spells, spell like abilities, and poison. To me that is much better than a +1 on your strongest save that you get from Resilient.
Looks like you are using a 25pt buy so if you rearrange your stats you could get 18 STR (with the level 4 bonus), 15 DEX, 16 CON, 10 INT, 12 WIS, and 8 CHA. This will allow you to take two weapon fighting as your first level feat (Need a 15 DEX), and use your 2nd level bonus feat for double slice. Use your 3rd level feat for Steel Soul to increase your Hardy bonus to +4(+5 after Warrior of Old).
If you want the HP of an 18 CON put your favored class bonus to HP instead of skills. You end up losing a few HP but your damage from increasing your STR makes up for it.
Hey thanks for staying tuned. It's actually a 20 pt buy with the level four bonus already factored in, that might be what threw you off? Also it looks high because I got that 18 con for only 10 pts (+2 racial).
Anyway, I changed it to this:
Str 18 (17+1 for level 4)
Dex 12
Con 16
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 8
If I changed the dex to 15 I would end up second guessing myself and looking at fighter again. It would be tricky with 20 pts anyway so I'm going to stick with this.
I dropped antagonize and took toughness to make up the hp he lost from Con.
Dropped profession:fisherman (he will understand lol, he can still fish from survival. He really wants to fish).
Can't find Glory of Old in Hero Lab, I might not have the right package fpr it. But I agree there might be a better trait for him then resiliency.
Once again thanks for your help Mysterious. Anything else you notice let me know.
I think what most people miss is the just for casual gaming and maybe not that long. You all said what could be done at level x with so much cash!
But this is just for one adventure, for a new player with his wive.
So for that... go ranger. Not because he is better in this niche, or that, no because ranger is easier to play, has out of combat options and works with less optimization.
True helikon but I don't mind because you never know what may happen maybe they will want to play more often.
I brought my girlfriend to gaming, and all I can say is, as much as she "LOVES" to kill things, and very well btw, too, she needs some skills to fall back while not fighting. She is a ranger and she is our scout, expert on things natural and quite good to notice things.
And especially with beginner chars, I think the less archetypes the better.
Well his wife (my sister in law) had rolled up a half-elf druid but I lost that sheet too, so I 'm working on that one as well.
Glory of Old is from the Dwarves of Golarion. If you can't use that go for Indomitable Faith as a +1 Will save is a lot better than a +1 Fort save for this character. Being charmed or dominated really sucks.
Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Personally I'd go ranger s the spellcasting and early entry into shield mastery seals the deal for me as far as shielded fighters go. But fighters are ultimately more consistent and have more room for nasty tricks.
Fighters make better "pure" twf since you can apply your WF and weapon spec to both your weapons. The dex requirements are not even an issue if you can get your hands on agile weapons down the road.