Archer or Ranged Fighter what is Best?

Velkir

Hey I kinda wanted to make a halfling with a sling that spray bullets all over the place...what would be best and a ranger archer kit or a fighter?

ryuken87

Halflings can't be rangers.

Velkir

Arrrgh well that solves that. Thanks

sandmanCCL

You would have to go either wizard slayer or just a plain fighter to do that, too. Berzerkers can only get proficient in a ranged weapon while Kensai can't use them at all.

It's the only way to do it with slings, though. Archers, should you make one, have to stick with a bow weapon of some kind. They can only hit one pip in slings, or any other non-bow.

ZanathKariashi

Or you could just go plain fighter as the wizard slayer is a POS (his miscast thing only effects melee attacks).

kilroy_was_here

I think the archer is better if you want to do more damage. However the fighter gets to wear heavy armor but the archer is limited to 'non-metal' which basically means studded leather or its magical equivalent in this game.

In the end it's a judgment call about which is more important to you. Except that as was said halflings can't be rangers. And apparently archers can't specialize in slings which I did not know.

Time4Tiddy

sandmanCCL said:

Archers, should you make one, have to stick with a bow weapon of some kind. They can only hit one pip in slings, or any other non-bow.

Fixed my own error - Archers can get 5 pips in bows or crossbows, but the +1 to hit and damage for every 3 levels applies to all missile weapons including darts and slings - which is actually better than 5 pips by level 12ish. Of course, if you can get the 5 pips on bows and ALSO get the stacking bonus to hit and damage, you might as well.

For flavor or RP, a sling-wielding Archer will ultimately be stronger than a fighter with 5 pips in Slings.

Rezon

have a question! When a I choose my class, I`ve choose a archer! and Ihave played some time... and become fallen archer ang gain special abillity... Question: what was that!???

ZanathKariashi

Not sure....normally when you fall, you lose all your beneficial class abilities (you still keep any restrictions the class had), and become pretty much a fighter that can only ** in weapons and levels up more slowly. If your party rep drops below 8 Paladins and rangers, and their kits (except the Blackguard) will fall.

There is no way to reverse this aside from reloading...well..till the sequel..then you get two chances to un-fall (1 as part of the class stronghold questline, the other is part of required story quest)

Rezon

Understand! Thx for explanaition!

Rezon

I have some to tell! i dnt actually remember when i become fallen! but now i have new skills: horror and lardoch minor drain!

Time4Tiddy

The special abilities are not related to your fallen status as a Ranger - they are part of the storyline. You would get those playing as any class, if your reputation is low enough.

If you want to play as a evil character, make sure your class choice doesn't require a good alignment.

ZanathKariashi

If your rep is lower then 10 when you finish a chapter, you get evil abilities, if it's higher you get good abilites. 2 good, 2 evil, 2 good is about the best you can do. Slow poison isn't really that useful, but a near instant cast horror is. And DUHM is just plain better then vampiric drain (cast time is just too long in most cases).

CaptRory

Slow Poison is still pretty useful. If the guy who can cast it is poisoned having another guy with it as a special ability is pretty handy. Yes Antidotes are pretty cheap, but you know how crazy things can get sometimes.

ZanathKariashi

The problem is, more often then not, that character ends up the one poisoned, and even the 1 cast time isn't enough to go off before getting interrupted. And to be honest, by the time you get it, pretty much all the characters have the hp to simply ignore the poison.

There's only a handful of places where poison is even a problem, vs the times being able to pop an instant horror into a group of enemies would be awesomely helpful.

sandmanCCL

@Time4Tiddy: Attacks per round from grand mastery >>>>>>>>>> damage from archer levels. The fighter WILL be better with slings.

That said, it's just a silly build to begin with. If you want supreme ranged master, roll archer and pick up a bow of some kind.

Bigity

ZanathKariashi said:

Or you could just go plain fighter as the wizard slayer is a POS (his miscast thing only effects melee attacks).

Was that not fixed? It's a bug according to the pen and paper rules, but might be 'tweaked' for BG I guess.