Hey all.
*****PLEASE NOTE THIS IS FOR PFS*****
So my wife and I will be playing first steps at gencon and she wants to try something new.
She currently has a level 4 Lorewarden (Dervish dancing tripper) and
a level 5 Tattooed (Verdant) Sorcerer buffer.
Anyway...
She was thinking an archer of some kind. and she has always wanted to try a ranger. (She likes the pet part of it)
Here is the problem tho.
It seems (and I could be way off base here) that of the archers out there Rangers suck.
Fighters get more feats faster, Palis do WAY more damage (again I could be off here)
She is looking at doing an elf or 1/2elf and honestly I am stumped.
Any advice would be good.
*****PLEASE NOTE THIS IS FOR PFS*****
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I personally like the fighter with the Archer archetype if that is available to you, or the Zen Archer. Use elf as your race and flavor to taste and you get more bang for your buck. Rangers aren't terrible though, pick up spells like Gravity Bow to boost your damage die, and let your utility outside of combat help pick up any slack.
You can also make a cleric, druid, or bard archer, if you want to have some extra versatility.
Rangers can be just as effective as any other archer, but imo are best at switch hitting. Rangers are much more effective at out of comabt situations than the other classes, which is a big deal in pfs. If shes looking to have a straight archer type though:
Switch skill focus for the duel minded for +2 will saves.
stat wise id go:
str-14
dex-16+2
con-13
int-10
wis-12
cha-10
+1 con at 4th, +1dex at 8th,12th
or if she doesnt mind a dump stat
str-14
dex-16+2
con-14
int-11
wis-13
cha-7
+1wis at 4th, +1dex 8th/12th
Feat wise:
1st-Point blank Shot
2nd-Rapid shot
3rd-Precise Shot
5th-Deadly aim
6th-Manyshot
For PFS i think Human or Undead is a safe choice for your first and second favored enemy. Or possibly look into the Guide archetype.
Gear wise: wish list
magic comp lb(highest plus, dont go for elemental enchants)
magic chain shirt
belt of dex
bracers archery
cloak resist
I recommend looking Treanmonk's guide to Switch Hitting if that intrests her more, as well as Lasthoth's Guide to archery rangers. Both are on the guide to guide page.
I love my archer druid. But at every level she was way behind our ranger archer in pure archer damage output. She contributed plenty with animal companion, summoned animals and spells, but as a pure archer she couldn't (and still can't) keep up with a dedicated archer fighter or ranger.
Still, she is an absolute blast to play and brings a lot more to the table than archery while still providing decent damage just with the bow.
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Horse animal companion, favored enemy, and spellcasting are the ranger's advantages over other archer builds.
Check out the mounted archer guide in the Guide to the Guides thread (just Google guide to the guides, It's the first result I think.) That one has a ton of good info for archery rangers.
Horse animal companion, favored enemy, and spellcasting are the ranger's advantages over other archer builds.
Heh. Not trying to promote druid archer above ranger archer, but I can't help but point out that my druid rides her tiger animal companion and can cast a lot more powerful spells than the ranger can.
No favored enemy though. That's true.
Could make an archer summoner. :p
Have yourself and your eidolon both be archery specced, and then you can even take teamwork feats together! You can even ride your eidolon if you wanted.
Doesn't seem optimized at first glance, but you will have more arrows than a normal archer simply because there's two of you. Plus you can haste yourself and you eidolon (and, oh yeah, the rest of the party, and as a level 2 spell), and have black tentacles, and still have average BAB, and...
Yeah, wow. I want to make one now.
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Ranged ranger in PFS is great, much like all ranged are great when built properly (not hard to do).
It's boring to play however. Players will expect the ranger to say "I full attack" and kill everything, and even rely on it.
Just take the usual feats with a solid point distribution, and the build builds itself.
Point-Blank
Rapid
Precise
Deadly Aim
Manyshot
Improved Precise (at level 6!!)
Weapon Focus
and others I don't even recall.
Ability scores (however you end up with this as your starting)
STR 14 or 16
DEX 16 or 14
CON 12 or 14
INT 10
WIS 11 to 13
CHA 10 or less
I'd go (assuming human):
STR 16
DEX 16
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 12
CHA 8
I deff. suggest taking the animal companion, but im not so sure about the horse. Alot(as in the majority), of pfs modules are set in some kind of indoors where a horse companion would not be able to go... Maybe try a wolf or a cheetah for tripping abilties.. Treantmonks guide goes over the animal companions really well..
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Trip and archers don't synergize well As you don't get a bonus but rather a penalty to attack prone characters.
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The Ranger is a power house of a archer. If you take the beast master archetype and boon companion you can have any druid animal. Tiger with pounce and grab plus Archer equal death. The other feats people recommend are right though you may delay you progression a little with boon companion early.
Human Beast Master Ranger
Str: 14
Dex: 16+2
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 13
Cha: 10
Feats:
1st: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
2nd: Rapid Shot
3rd: Deadly Aim
5th: Boon Companion
6th: Improved Precise Shot
7th: Many Shot
Anything you want.
You don't need to take multiple animal companions with the beast master and having the ability to share senses and further increase your non-combat effectiveness.
Pick up a great sword for when you can't keep your party or animal companion between you and the enemy and get the best bow you can afford. It will be brutal.
@ The OP, even if rangers are the worst archers (and I'm not saying they are), that doesn't mean they aren't good enough for PFS play. Archery at its face is already more effective than melee in most games simply because you can full attack most of the time and often terrain is lacking (which favors the archer). Just watch out for certain spells, such as Wind Wall, which basically shut the character down.
I deff. suggest taking the animal companion, but im not so sure about the horse. Alot(as in the majority), of pfs modules are set in some kind of indoors where a horse companion would not be able to go... Maybe try a wolf or a cheetah for tripping abilties.. Treantmonks guide goes over the animal companions really well..
I'm not sure what you mean by that;
1. Monsters are often equal in size or bigger than a PC mount and rider, how do they get around?2. Most animal companions would not be welcome in someone's real world house, particularly once they get larger. In a fantasy setting things seem to be different on what is acceptable indoors.
3. You don't have to ride a horse, it could be a different animal.
4. You don't have to ride as big of an animal if you pick a small PC.
ranger archers are great.
your not going to get the insane number a fighter gets in general or a paladin gets against evil... but you have your favored enemy and more importantly more skills than you will know what to do with which can be more fun since you will be usefull outside of battle for role play and skill challenge situations.
I personally enjoy the ranged ranger above all other classes in the game and dont mind being outshined from time to time in order to play a class that I fully enjoy.
I play a ranger archer who rides a hippogriff. If there are more powerful archers than him... well, it doesn't matter that much. In combat he already does more damage than anyone else in the party, plus he can move in three dimensions while full attacking.
Ranger be fine. Plus spells!
Ranger archer is pretty good. They get Imp. Precise Shot at 6, something only Zen Archers also get. That's huge. They can also snag Point Blank Master at 10 (well, 6...but you'd be a fool to not take IPS first). You get a lot of skill points, and spellcasting. Gravity Bow is a very good buff spell. The companion will probably suck. Best (of the options specifically allowed by RAW; which splat options are open to ranger is debated heavily) choice in the long run is Roc (specicially says rangers can in the description), and if PFS is mostly indoors, that won't work out...
But, it's a free meat shield to keep enemies from you, so that's still something.
spirit ranger that takes leadership at level 7.
AWESOME!!!!!!
You know, Im actually having the reverse problem. How to tone down an upcoming Archer build so that I do not outshine my companions. Ive already switched to a ranger (guide archetype) build. Now Im debating how to tone myself down still further without just abandoning an archer build.
Note: I am not asking for advice here. I do not want to sidetrack the OP. I am just stating that the Ranger, while a bit lower in DPR than fighter and zen archers are still powerful enough where I am looking for ways to tone mine down.
- Gauss
Gauss: That's interesting. I typically would've pumped mine up, not try to decrease his potential. Ever think about taking the feat Master Alchemist? Uses up a feat slot, is somewhat useful for you, more of a RP choice.
TO the OP, I haven't had the honor to sit down an play out my ranger yet. I will soon I hope. They are extremely effective for archery on more than one occasion, but most people have said it already, favored terrain and favored enemy will be your big pluses. If you know the campaign, an what you might fight a lot, or be located, you can build the ranger towards that, so even when you use Instant Enemy on a different monster, your covered by the high score.
Getting Imp. Precise shot 5 levels earlier than most other classes (besides zen archer), is pretty badass. You don't nee to worry about positioning, or where to hit them from, as long as you can see them an they don't have full cover, they get no AC bonus. For you, at range vs. the melee guy who never has to deal with cover a whole lot, that's a great bonus.
I do recommend clustered shots for any archer, especially especially ranger archers. Snap shot, and imp. snap shot are amazing, (need combat reflexes with it to make it even better). You can't take pin down w/ it, but not a big deal, you still get tons of abilities. To be honest, I prefer the spellcasting for the ranger over the guide version. Spellcasting is such a huge benefit. Also, most of the spells you would cast are long duration anyway, only the short term one, instant enemy is a swift action, so you can still full-attack.
Master alchemist feat is awesome for archers, if you are allowed to use the arrows from EoG and/or plan on using poison as well. There's lots of great poisons to use.