My concept at the moment is a Ranger with an animal companion (probably a wolf), definitely from a rural environment, two-weapon wielder. At the moment I'm thinking about two possibilities (using a 25 point buy):
1st option - Human Crit Specialist
STR - 18 (+2 racial bonus, +1 at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th and 20th)
DEX - 12
CON - 14
INT - 10
WIS - 14
CHA - 7
The feats will include Power Attack, the traditional Two-Weapon takes and some critical feats. He'll be wielding paired Kukri's.
2nd option - Half-Elf (actually Half-Elven/Half-Orc homebrew race)
STR - 14 (+2 racial bonus, +1 at 16th and 20th)
DEX - 14
CON - 14
INT - 10
WIS - 14
CHA - 14 (+1 at 4th, 9th and 12th)
The feats will include Power Attack, the traditional Two-Weapon takes and all of the Eldritch Heritage feats for the Orcish Bloodline. Opportunistic Gambler will be allowed to take advantage of 'Touch of Rage' for the character, and he'll be wielding paired short-swords.
The homebrew race is a half-elf/half-orc and its really intended more for role-play and world-building flavor. In our campaign setting, elves and orcs are descended from a very ancient common ancestry and every now and then an 'abberation' will be born to either race, a throwback genetically. Orcs usually kill those offspring and the elves shun them as cursed. The mechanics are simple - you can choose the half-orc or the half-elf as your 'race', but you are considered both elven and orcish for racial purposes, suffer a -4 on all Charisma-based skills when dealing with either race and can choose 'favored class' alternative traits from either race.
Anyway, while considering the two options above, I'm also looking at archetypes, trying to get a feel for them. Initially I like the look of the 'Skirmisher' archetype - mainly looking at the 'free action' attack add-ons, but then I remember how useful swift/immediate action spells were to my Paladin and I'm not so sure. Spirit Ranger also seems very interesting, if only to grant the GM a plot device, but it could well grant him numerous headaches as well. Guide is very, very intriguing - I particularly like the versatility of Ranger's Focus over Favored Enemy, but then its limited to just a few uses per day...
What would opinions be about Guide+Skirmisher? Are the benefits of the guide worth the sacrifice of the Animal Companion? Am I better off sticking with spells after all?
Any thoughts from experienced Rangers out there would be much appreciated.
The extra spells from the Spirit Guide are not just extra spells, they are extra spontaneous spells. That may not seem like a big deal it is. The Ranger is a divine prepared caster who gets his entire spell list when he gets access to a spell level. This means that you can pick any spell from your list even if you did not memorize it. If you are using all of the Pathfinder books it becomes even more powerful. The Ranger spells from the core book are decent but the ones from the APG, and Ultimate Combat, and Ultimate Magic are even better.
I'm curious as to why your DEX value fluctuates between the two builds. They're both TWF'ers, but the hu-mon build only has a 12 DEX. I think that the half-hu-mon could be okay with a 12 as well. It would save you 3 points.
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Anyway, while considering the two options above, I'm also looking at archetypes, trying to get a feel for them. Initially I like the look of the 'Skirmisher' archetype - mainly looking at the 'free action' attack add-ons, but then I remember how useful swift/immediate action spells were to my Paladin and I'm not so sure. Spirit Ranger also seems very interesting, if only to grant the GM a plot device, but it could well grant him numerous headaches as well. Guide is very, very intriguing - I particularly like the versatility of Ranger's Focus over Favored Enemy, but then its limited to just a few uses per day...
Guide is obsoleted to some degree at 10th level plus by Instant Enemy. Indeed, I highly suggest looking over the APG Ranger spells before going Skirmisher, as many are very good indeed.
What would opinions be about Guide+Skirmisher? Are the benefits of the guide worth the sacrifice of the Animal Companion? Am I better off sticking with spells after all?
I'd personally say they aren't. A Wolf aided by the Boon Companion Feat is a really nice pet to have. Really nice.
I'm curious as to why your DEX value fluctuates between the two builds. They're both TWF'ers, but the hu-mon build only has a 12 DEX. I think that the half-hu-mon could be okay with a 12 as well. It would save you 3 points.
I didn't see anywhere else I could use those 3 points, and I'll take the AC bump since I'm a little concerned about survivability as it is.
Some good advice there, thanks... still debating between Spirit Ranger and just a straight Ranger. I've never played a character with an animal companion before. I've run a Master Summoner with a skill-monkey Eidolon, but I'd expect the two things are very different.
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Get a large cat when you can and invest in getting medium armor and the rhino hide magic armor. If you couple that with boon companion you can make a fairly decent animal companion.
The Sword and Shield Ranger will still give you the 2WF that you want, but will make you more of a surviving basher type.
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Get a large cat when you can and invest in getting medium armor and the rhino hide magic armor. If you couple that with boon companion you can make a fairly decent animal companion.
This isn't bad advice, though it's hardly the only decent Companion. It does require a permissive GM, though, since Large Cat isn't actually on the Ranger Animal Companion list.
The Sword and Shield Ranger will still give you the 2WF that you want, but will make you more of a surviving basher type.
This is also good advice. Unlike Fighters, this doesn't even cost the Ranger much since his static buffs (Favored Enemy) aren't based on weapon-type.
Get a large cat when you can and invest in getting medium armor and the rhino hide magic armor. If you couple that with boon companion you can make a fairly decent animal companion.
The Sword and Shield Ranger will still give you the 2WF that you want, but will make you more of a surviving basher type.
Would a shield be considered a 'light weapon' for TWF purposes?
A better animal companion is a velociraptor. They have 5 moves and are really fast. A joke is that my companion, a velociraptor named Raptin is a ranger at this moment as well. Depending on your campaign you need to know where you will be most of the time for your favorite terrain. Another thing you need to know is like what Raptin did: For your favorite enemy pick something you guess you will see a lot. A common one is a humaniod(Raptin chose undead because that is what almost every enemy is). We're at the end of our campaign but you are different you have to gamble a little on this info in the beginning. For you this is all I know on Rangers. Good luck and a little tip, "Don't die":)
-Dunali
Definitely go with the 18 Strength build.
Why not go Orc Double Axe? That way you can go two-handed anytime you can't get a full attack and still do some decent damage.
That is a great, great suggestion... but the build you speak of intends to rely on critcal effects like Stagger or Stun, and axes have woefully low crit ranges.
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Would a shield be considered a 'light weapon' for TWF purposes?
A light shield is. Or, alternately, you could use a Heavy Shield and a light weapon (short sword or kukri), with the shield technically primary. Potentially very worth it with Shield Master (which is a pretty cool Feat) and the other shield feats.
And it doesn't look half as silly as a double weapon.
As I see it there are three real choices:
1. First build, crit focusede with Kukris. Great Crit stuff, weak defenses, few options on a single attack.
2. Second build, sword and shield, lower offense, less crit-focus, vastly better AC, can get free bull-rushes on every shield attack as well as damage, once Shield Master and the Bloodline kick in, offense does skyrocket.
3. First build, double-sword or double axe, a bit less crit-focus and more options for single attacks.
Some good advice there, thanks... still debating between Spirit Ranger and just a straight Ranger.
Whenever I play a particular class for the first time, I like to go with the non-Archetype. Helps me establish a base.
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That is a great, great suggestion... but the build you speak of intends to rely on critcal effects like Stagger or Stun, and axes have woefully low crit ranges.Definitely go with the 18 Strength build.
Why not go Orc Double Axe? That way you can go two-handed anytime you can't get a full attack and still do some decent damage.
In which case I'd suggest not relying on crits and just relying on straight damage. :)