Bears. Not were-bears. Rangers can charm animal which, given the abundance of bears in BG1 is a nice benefit. You can grab a bear and throw them at the enemy or hide behind them and fire your little arrows.
But how can anything be good if it's not involving werebears?!
No, seriously. Could someone clarify what is a charmable animal and what not? Spiders are listed with the racial enemies, so I assume they count as "monster" rather than animal? How about winter/vampiric wolves?
Long sword is what I used (I just sucked up the dual wielding thing, which I dislike as well). The Chelsey Crusher with Kivan was really good (awesome THAC0 and he was chunking people just like my fighter), so that sounds pretty good for a two-hander if you don't want to dual wield.
I had Kivan with Chesley Crusher and Vascona, which was both pretty effective. I really wish there was an easier way to switch between bow and dual wielding; it feels like a waste to have those 2 profs and do nothing with them.
If you mean the kit; how about a Thaco of 7 with a regular composite bow doing 7 to 12 damage with regular arrows with 5 attacks every two rounds sound? That is a level 5 elven Archer. Compare that to a lvl 5 thief (say Imoen) with a short bow and she has a thaco of 14 doing 1d6 twice a round. Significant difference in both chance to hit and damage per hit. (That isn't even bringing in a disabling called shot)
Rangers are also good for scouting so you can min max your thief in other areas like Detect Illusion first.
As for a melee weapon, choose any blunt one for attacking undead and other piercing immune creatures. Or go whatever fits RP wise.
If you mean straight up archer with a bow; they are just as good as any other fighter type with a bow, but I prefer my rangers dual wielding because of the free slots.
My first playthrough of BGEE (and Baldur's Gate in general) was with an half elven Ranger. He was good with Bastard sword (I called him Jon Witflok, wich is a play with Dutch words for snow), shortsword, longbow, single weapon and you get the double weapon for free. He was always up front, so he let loose a couple arrows and then when the situation demanded went up close with a single bastard sword or when I really needed to do some damage with a bastard sword and shortsword.
I love this class. The versatility makes it so worth it, he had a good balance between ranged and close combat, knew how to take a few hits and because he is essentially a fighter it is no problem to have a strenght of 18/??, so I could use the composite longbow without hassle.
Let's just say I'm no expert when it comes to DnD, but I had no trouble using my PC when playing through BGEE.
Bears. Not were-bears. Rangers can charm animal which, given the abundance of bears in BG1 is a nice benefit. You can grab a bear and throw them at the enemy or hide behind them and fire your little arrows.
I've never gone without archers of one type or another. Mainly to survive the enemy clerics/mages. Either slings, bows and crossbows for everyone. Why waste my time getting up close and personal and get injured when I can slaughter..err, kill from a distance and have plenty of spells, healings in case of ambushs, etc.
*Space time continuum folds at startling clarity and crystalline thought process, sending ripples of incredulity throughout brain centres found in the 4 dimensional realities on the realisation and self confirmation of the above comment*
Imo ranged characters are the strongest basic type of characters in the game with high chances to hit, high damage and the ability to quickly disable enemy spellcasters.
I would recommend a ranged fighter over an archer though. The archer will offer just a bit more offense, but a ranged fighter will have heavy armor and will be more versatile by turning to melee when the rear of the party is attacked.
Rangers are a fairly unique class. They're a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, being a sort of Fighter/Thief/Druid, but lacking both the advantages and deficiencies of such a combination.
Advantages:
Three free pips in dual-wielding. This is a massive edge, and likely the biggest advantage, that Rangers have - they're effective dual-wielders right out of the gate.
Some of the diversity of multi-class, none of the slow levelling.
Mild spellcasting ability. It's pretty underwhelming, and I don't think you can even access it in BG1, but being able to cast spells like Armour of Faith is a plus, and Summon Insects never goes out of style.
Racial Enemy: Not a huge edge, but can be pretty effective.
Charm Animal Ability: Utterly useless most of the time, this is actually pretty amazing early in BG1. Any fight that takes place near a bear is a fight you can win.
Warrior hit dice (F/T doesn't quite get this)
The Ranger is, overall, significantly better at combat than the F/T (the exception being Coran, whose stats are illegal), but, however, is not quite as versatile.
As for the kits...
Archer is far better at ranged combat than F/T. Even compared to the illegal Coran, the Archer will have higher weapon specialization, an innate +1 to hit/damage for every 3 levels, and be able to use Called Shots. I actually just played a game with both Coran and Kivan in my party, with Kivan modded into an Archer. Overall, Kivan did significantly more damage (per chapter they were both in the party). Enough to offset his lack of trap and lock skills? Well, maybe. However, what's really worth noting is that you can't do much better than taking them both!
Montaron is a far better comparison for Archers, IMHO, as he's, you know, legal.
Stalker is a specific kit but is a ton of fun. Unfortunately, it's fairly useless in BG1 as it only benefits from +20 stealth, while giving up the ability to use metal armour (not good). But in BG2 it becomes a lot more fun, as backstabbing and mage spells come into play. A really unique kit that is, in the right hands, actually quite effective.
Imo ranged characters are the strongest basic type of characters in the game with high chances to hit, high damage and the ability to quickly disable enemy spellcasters.
I would recommend a ranged fighter over an archer though. The archer will offer just a bit more offense, but a ranged fighter will have heavy armor and will be more versatile by turning to melee when the rear of the party is attacked.
Hm. Undecided. It feels like every option lets something go to waste. Thinking about Ranger/Cleric now, though it would not be "trying something new"; it's more like playing a cleric with druid spells, right?
Better off going Ranger->Cleric. Still get all the Druid spells, but your level progression is much faster. It's hard to say if the kits would be worthwhile. IIRC an Archer's THAC0 and damage bonuses apply to all ranged weapons, so an Archer6->Cleric would be pretty effective with a Sling (unfortunately Archers, like normal Rangers, can only Specialize in Slings, but it's still better than a Ranger/Cleric's Proficient). However, you would be sacrificing heavy armour.
Honestly, your best bet might be a straight Ranger. Get three pips in dual-wielding and maybe a couple in Flail and Hammer, then use awesome combinations like DUHM, Righteous Might and Ironskins while wielding Crom Faeyr and the Flail of Ages. Pretty effective stuff.
Bears. Not were-bears. Rangers can charm animal which, given the abundance of bears in BG1 is a nice benefit. You can grab a bear and throw them at the enemy or hide behind them and fire your little arrows.
Beast masters suck? They are MADE to dual wield staves! Erm, staff maces anyways... Heh, favourite strat for them, since you only need 1 rank in two-handed to make good use of Aule stick, later rhynn stick and tob the stick o ram. Use staff maces vs everything they can hit until you get the better staff, and voila! Erm, decent damage. Clubs are niceish in soa with elemental damage, making them a good (erm, only) 2nd choice. So yeah, dual to cleric ASAP and spam animals. Dandy meat shields, even vs some bosses. As long as you're not solo, beast master has a decent set of options. It's a far cry from wizard slayer.
Archers CAN wear Ankheg. They can't wear metal armor... I'm pretty sure even druids can wear ankheg now. This was a product of the BG:EE team re-doing the ankheg plate... it's why it is also considered non-magical now an can also benefit from any protection item (rings, amulet, and cloaks) coupled with its low weight and low strength requirement (Viconia can rock out in it too as can Faldorn... it is arguably the best armor in the game as full plate has the same AC of 1 but weighs a lot more and has a much higher strength requirement.
Ankheg is still considered heavy armor and will negate their stealth abilities... but who cares...they aren't there to play hide and seek... they're there to play tag... tag you're dead.
Ankheg Plate stats (Item # PLAT06 for CLUA Console):
AC 1 Req Str: 8 Weight 25
Not usable by: Bard, Mage, Mage/Thief/ Thief, Monk, Kensai, Stalker, Beastmaster, Shapeshifter, Avenger, and Barbarian
@thespace, tanking can be a life-saver in a pinch (as having more than one tank in a part composition is rare...at least one as capable as a high dex ranger would be): i.e. stuck close quarters, overwhelmed by numbers that you can't cc...of course you have to see it ahead of time, which is the case a decent amount of times (entering a cave or scouting and anticipating the amount of enemies to come).
I finished my first play-through with an archer, but now I see the value of having a vanilla ranger. I mean, their ranged damage can still be quite impressive. When you need an extra tank...you really need one, in my experience.
Though, I haven't actually finished the game with a ranger (EDIT: vanilla ranger) yet...
Beast masters suck? They are MADE to dual wield staves! Erm, staff maces anyways... Heh, favourite strat for them, since you only need 1 rank in two-handed to make good use of Aule stick, later rhynn stick and tob the stick o ram. Use staff maces vs everything they can hit until you get the better staff, and voila! Erm, decent damage. Clubs are niceish in soa with elemental damage, making them a good (erm, only) 2nd choice. So yeah, dual to cleric ASAP and spam animals. Dandy meat shields, even vs some bosses. As long as you're not solo, beast master has a decent set of options. It's a far cry from wizard slayer.
I actually strongly considered the Beastmaster as a contender for the best option for dual-classing to a Cleric for the very reasons you gave (Animal Summoning as a special ability? Nice!), but I realized that they don't even get the Summon spells until levels 8, 10 and 12. And dualling over that late, while certainly feasible, is not ideal - especially since it also entails giving up all metal weapons.
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of an Archer->Cleric.
Place two pips in Sling. Get the Archer's THAC0 and Damage bonuses, and possibly Called Shot (not sure if it applies to non-bow weapons or not). Now combine that with the fact that you can cast DUHM and Righteous Might to get 25 STR - don't forget that Slings receive a bonus from high STR. That seems like it could be a really interesting character. Not exactly power-gaming material, but still potentially a lot of fun.
Beast masters suck? They are MADE to dual wield staves! Erm, staff maces anyways... Heh, favourite strat for them, since you only need 1 rank in two-handed to make good use of Aule stick, later rhynn stick and tob the stick o ram. Use staff maces vs everything they can hit until you get the better staff, and voila! Erm, decent damage. Clubs are niceish in soa with elemental damage, making them a good (erm, only) 2nd choice. So yeah, dual to cleric ASAP and spam animals. Dandy meat shields, even vs some bosses. As long as you're not solo, beast master has a decent set of options. It's a far cry from wizard slayer.
Now if only you could make a Halfling Ranger...
And @Troodon80 said, "Let there be EeKeeper," and there was EeKeeper.
Frankly I like to build ranged parties in the first game. I usually have one tank with speed boots and the rest all equipped for range (or spellcasting). I love how often I get to take out enemy casters before they can even get one spell off. Doesn't work as well in BG2 though the archer kit can do pretty good damage.
I'm mostly looking to play through BG1. Sure, if I like it, I'll import to BG2, but late dualing is out for me. I guess that means no Beastmaster, though I do like the idea of a summon spammer who gets better summons than kobolds (or my favorite, hobgoblin archers in a confined space ). I plan with Ajantis as main tank, so I'm leaning more towards the ranged stuff. Tanking is nice, but I already had that with a Blackguard run. Dedicated archers (or generally a class focussed on ranged weapons) is the one thing evil alignment doesn't have.
Not to point out the obvious but archers can get grand mastery in ranged weapons whilst fighter/thieves can't on top of the +1 to hit and dmg per three levels archers get over a pure fighter- basically, the ranged counterpart to the Kensai [and BGEE at least does not allow archers to equip heavy armour at all].
Honestly, your best bet might be a straight Ranger. Get three pips in dual-wielding and maybe a couple in Flail and Hammer, then use awesome combinations like DUHM, Righteous Might and Ironskins while wielding Crom Faeyr and the Flail of Ages. Pretty effective stuff.
Rangers max out at 3x third tier spells I.e. no iron skins. Plus, cleric/ranger also gets you divine spells.
Comments
No, seriously. Could someone clarify what is a charmable animal and what not? Spiders are listed with the racial enemies, so I assume they count as "monster" rather than animal? How about winter/vampiric wolves?
Rangers are also good for scouting so you can min max your thief in other areas like Detect Illusion first.
As for a melee weapon, choose any blunt one for attacking undead and other piercing immune creatures. Or go whatever fits RP wise.
If you mean straight up archer with a bow; they are just as good as any other fighter type with a bow, but I prefer my rangers dual wielding because of the free slots.
I love this class. The versatility makes it so worth it, he had a good balance between ranged and close combat, knew how to take a few hits and because he is essentially a fighter it is no problem to have a strenght of 18/??, so I could use the composite longbow without hassle.
Let's just say I'm no expert when it comes to DnD, but I had no trouble using my PC when playing through BGEE. Or rabbits and squirrels. Just because.
Either slings, bows and crossbows for everyone. Why waste my time getting up close and personal and get injured when I can slaughter..err, kill from a distance and have plenty of spells, healings in case of ambushs, etc.
The simple answer is from a distance...
*Space time continuum folds at startling clarity and crystalline thought process, sending ripples of incredulity throughout brain centres found in the 4 dimensional realities on the realisation and self confirmation of the above comment*
I would recommend a ranged fighter over an archer though. The archer will offer just a bit more offense, but a ranged fighter will have heavy armor and will be more versatile by turning to melee when the rear of the party is attacked.
Advantages:
Three free pips in dual-wielding. This is a massive edge, and likely the biggest advantage, that Rangers have - they're effective dual-wielders right out of the gate.
Some of the diversity of multi-class, none of the slow levelling.
Mild spellcasting ability. It's pretty underwhelming, and I don't think you can even access it in BG1, but being able to cast spells like Armour of Faith is a plus, and Summon Insects never goes out of style.
Racial Enemy: Not a huge edge, but can be pretty effective.
Charm Animal Ability: Utterly useless most of the time, this is actually pretty amazing early in BG1. Any fight that takes place near a bear is a fight you can win.
Warrior hit dice (F/T doesn't quite get this)
The Ranger is, overall, significantly better at combat than the F/T (the exception being Coran, whose stats are illegal), but, however, is not quite as versatile.
As for the kits...
Archer is far better at ranged combat than F/T. Even compared to the illegal Coran, the Archer will have higher weapon specialization, an innate +1 to hit/damage for every 3 levels, and be able to use Called Shots. I actually just played a game with both Coran and Kivan in my party, with Kivan modded into an Archer. Overall, Kivan did significantly more damage (per chapter they were both in the party). Enough to offset his lack of trap and lock skills? Well, maybe. However, what's really worth noting is that you can't do much better than taking them both!
Montaron is a far better comparison for Archers, IMHO, as he's, you know, legal.
Stalker is a specific kit but is a ton of fun. Unfortunately, it's fairly useless in BG1 as it only benefits from +20 stealth, while giving up the ability to use metal armour (not good). But in BG2 it becomes a lot more fun, as backstabbing and mage spells come into play. A really unique kit that is, in the right hands, actually quite effective.
Beastmasters... Yeah, they kinda suck.
edit: but you lose your stealth.
Honestly, your best bet might be a straight Ranger. Get three pips in dual-wielding and maybe a couple in Flail and Hammer, then use awesome combinations like DUHM, Righteous Might and Ironskins while wielding Crom Faeyr and the Flail of Ages. Pretty effective stuff.
This was a product of the BG:EE team re-doing the ankheg plate... it's why it is also considered non-magical now an can also benefit from any protection item (rings, amulet, and cloaks) coupled with its low weight and low strength requirement (Viconia can rock out in it too as can Faldorn... it is arguably the best armor in the game as full plate has the same AC of 1 but weighs a lot more and has a much higher strength requirement.
Ankheg is still considered heavy armor and will negate their stealth abilities... but who cares...they aren't there to play hide and seek... they're there to play tag... tag you're dead.
Ankheg Plate stats (Item # PLAT06 for CLUA Console):
AC 1
Req Str: 8
Weight 25
Not usable by:
Bard, Mage, Mage/Thief/ Thief, Monk, Kensai, Stalker, Beastmaster, Shapeshifter, Avenger, and Barbarian
I finished my first play-through with an archer, but now I see the value of having a vanilla ranger. I mean, their ranged damage can still be quite impressive. When you need an extra tank...you really need one, in my experience.
Though, I haven't actually finished the game with a ranger (EDIT: vanilla ranger) yet...
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of an Archer->Cleric.
Place two pips in Sling. Get the Archer's THAC0 and Damage bonuses, and possibly Called Shot (not sure if it applies to non-bow weapons or not). Now combine that with the fact that you can cast DUHM and Righteous Might to get 25 STR - don't forget that Slings receive a bonus from high STR. That seems like it could be a really interesting character. Not exactly power-gaming material, but still potentially a lot of fun.
Now if only you could make a Halfling Ranger...
I plan with Ajantis as main tank, so I'm leaning more towards the ranged stuff. Tanking is nice, but I already had that with a Blackguard run. Dedicated archers (or generally a class focussed on ranged weapons) is the one thing evil alignment doesn't have.