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I'll be starting a new campaign (Serpents Skull AP), and I'm anticipating creating a dwarven ranger taking the sword and board combat style from the AGP.
We tend to play a slighlty more powerful gaming style (we do 4d6 take the highest 3 dice for stats, so most of our abilities are much higher than point buy).
Str: 17
Dex: 15
Con: 20
Int: 14
Wis: 15
Cha: 12
He's going to be more or less a main melee type.
What would you all recommend in terms of feats, any PRC's or sticking to pure ranger? etc.
With stats like those, he can do whatever he wants!
Two-Weapon Fighting, Shield Focus, Shield Slam, Shield Mastery (by 6th level) and you still have room for Weapon Focus: Primary Weapon and Favored Defense.
With those numbers, you can put all your favored class bonuses into HP and not hurt for skill points, and you can go Hunter's Bond: Party Boost (whatever it's called) instead of animal companion and it'll last long enough to be useful (if you stat bump wis to 16 someday).
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With stats like those, he can do whatever he wants!
Two-Weapon Fighting, Shield Focus, Shield Slam, Shield Mastery (by 6th level) and you still have room for Weapon Focus: Primary Weapon and Favored Defense.
With those numbers, you can put all your favored class bonuses into HP and not hurt for skill points, and you can go Hunter's Bond: Party Boost (whatever it's called) instead of animal companion and it'll last long enough to be useful (if you stat bump wis to 16 someday).
I had initially considered Nature's Warden, but everything I see and everything I've heard makes it seem to be a subpar PRC. I may just stick with straight ranger. My thoughts on the "bond" was to initially go with an animal and use it as an auxiliary melee to keep folks flanked and all. As it is, with the rest of the party, I don't think there's much more in melee support (there's a bard, an oracle (heaven mystery), monk zen archer and a mystic druid).
Thanks for the input! I'll definitely go down the feat path you recommended =)
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I'd switch out Str and Con, giving him 18 Str and 19 Con. You can up Con at level 4 (as I'm assuming you would Strength), and +1 to hit and damage is better at levels 1-3 than +1 Fort save and +1-3 HP.
Aside from that...TWF with a sword and shield is actually really pretty good all by itself. As is an Animal Companion (though you should definitely grab Boon Companion if it's gonna be your only melee support).
Feats should be something like this:
1. TWF
2. Shield Slam (Because you ignore the prerequisites)
3. Improved Shield Bash
5. Boon Companion
6. Shield Mastery (Again, because you ignore the prerequisites)
7. Improved Two Weapon Fighting
9. Double Slice
10. Bashing Finish
And basically whatever you want from there. This is somewhat offensively focused, but you don't really need Shield Focus or Greater Shield Focus to be pretty good defensively.
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I'd switch out Str and Con, giving him 18 Str and 19 Con. You can up Con at level 4 (as I'm assuming you would Strength), and +1 to hit and damage is better at levels 1-3 than +1 Fort save and +1-3 HP.
Aside from that...TWF with a sword and shield is actually really pretty good all by itself. As is an Animal Companion (though you should definitely grab Boon Companion if it's gonna be your only melee support).
Feats should be something like this:
1. TWF
2. Shield Slam (Because you ignore the prerequisites)
3. Improved Shield Bash
5. Boon Companion
6. Shield Mastery (Again, because you ignore the prerequisites)
7. Improved Two Weapon Fighting
9. Double Slice
10. Bashing FinishAnd basically whatever you want from there. This is somewhat offensively focused, but you don't really need Shield Focus or Greater Shield Focus to be pretty good defensively.
Solid advice with regards to the Str/Con. I tend to try to get the most HP when dealing with being the primary "tank" but I completely see what you mean, especially when using a TWF.
Is there any reason to not take Boon Companion earlier? Like at third?
Would you bother with a PrC or just stick to full on ranger? I was tempted to get to a point and move into Barbarian for the HP and move and rage, but I hate the idea of losing in spell casting and my companion's abilities.
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Solid advice with regards to the Str/Con. I tend to try to get the most HP when dealing with being the primary "tank" but I completely see what you mean, especially when using a TWF.
Yeah, Con is good...but Strength is really good. Especially at low level, where you have fewer static bonuses to to hit and damage. Con goes up in value as you level a bit more than Strength does, though (+1 HP per level, after all).
Is there any reason to not take Boon Companion earlier? Like at third?
Yes, sadly, you need the Animal Companion when you take the Feat, since it's a prerequisite, and you don't get it till 4th.
Would you bother with a PrC or just stick to full on ranger? I was tempted to get to a point and move into Barbarian for the HP and move and rage, but I hate the idea of losing in spell casting and my companion's abilities.
Well, Boon Companion makes up for 4 levels of non-Companion stuff, and Ranger only has three at base, so one level of Barbarian wouldn't drop your companion any. And delaying your spells by one level isn't too bad either. You won't get Rage Powers...but Rage and speed are nice all by themselves.