Concerning Rangers
hammernanvil
Member Posts: 98
After playing each ranger kit for till cloakwood, I am left wondering, whats the point of the ranger class in BG?
Whats the point of having a scout character that cannot detect or disarm traps, you might as well roll a Fighter/Thief and have everything a ranger should be!! besides having +4 to a racial enemy, a ranger is just weaker fighter that really sucks, a fighter can get grandmastery in bows, wear heavy armor, dual class to thief, stealth, find and set traps.... leaving ranger with... a class that WAS an IDEA, but never fully realized.. It sounds cool on paper but it does not deliver.
Whats the point of having a scout character that cannot detect or disarm traps, you might as well roll a Fighter/Thief and have everything a ranger should be!! besides having +4 to a racial enemy, a ranger is just weaker fighter that really sucks, a fighter can get grandmastery in bows, wear heavy armor, dual class to thief, stealth, find and set traps.... leaving ranger with... a class that WAS an IDEA, but never fully realized.. It sounds cool on paper but it does not deliver.
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Archers also get +1 to hit and +1 to damage every 3 levels with ranged weapons.
Archers are one, if not the most powerful kit you can play in BG1 given how powerful ranged weapons are.
Make an Elf Archer with 19dex go with longbows and roflstomp over the entire game.
The two points in two weapon fighting come from being a ranger, and while they don't help the Archer class, they don't hurt it since you still get 4 points at creation. I just ignore them.
Given that you keep mentioning traps and locks I think you'd be far happier playing a F/T.
But yeah, until the ranger can cast divine spells they miss out on some of their potential, but that is no different from monks who have it even harder till BG2.
In the original 2E rules the descriptions of classes (and later, kits when the supplements came out) were all about who the inspiration or archetypes were.
It'd be like if I made a ranger and was upset that I couldn't cast arcane spells. I have to keep having Xan cast skull trap! No where in the ranger class description is anything mentioned about traps.
I have a ranger do scouting all the time in stealth. They scout just as well in stealth as a thief does because... you can't detect traps in stealth. So you are screwed either way if their are enemies around, you either have to drop stealth and let the enemies swarm or hit the trap.
Or in your particular situation since I think we're talking Web here, give your ranger a ring or potion of free action, have them go trip all the traps under stealth, and problem solved.
Edit: This wasn't suppose to come off as hostile. I understand you are disappointed with the rangers performance, and I think you have valid reasons for being unhappy with it. I don't think the fault lies with the class, I just think you would be much happier with a F/T multiclass. You would be a tough fighter, great scout, trap disarmer, lock opener, and back stabber.
I've restarted several times after realizing the class / kit / multiclass combination wasn't performing for me exactly how I wanted it to.
I'd make a Dwarf F/T, make sure you take a con of 19 and get the con tome in the golem cave on the lighthouse map early to give you 20 con. Your saving throws will be through the roof and you will be an amazing tank. You are going to have only 17 dex till you get the dex tome late game. If that is a deal breaker try Half Orc F/T you get the 19 con and 19 str and 18 dex, you just won't get the saving throws.
hunters track, bait, and trap. they dont run around with 2 swords flailing. most people in the woods carry axes or a machete. Im just pointing out that the BG ranger really doesen't know what it is, its not really very good at anything, and nowhere near as versatile as it should be.
I would call robinhood a fighter/thief, not a ranger, not according to BG anyways. And he is the ultimate woodsman/hunter.
It has been a while since I've read the book, so I could be very very wrong, but as I recall most of his thievery was more strong armed robbery, at bow point. So he really just needs stealth and the ability to call a shot to the point of hitting a pin point target with a longbow. Did he do a lot of lock picking and trap disarming?
@KidCarnival thats exactly what I was thinking, It kind of defeats the purpose of being a hunter who can stalk his prey but cant detect traps, who's the real hunter now? whoever set the trap that the dumb ranger couldnt detect obviously. From an RP sense.... it makes sense.
F/T makes more sense just for the ability to set traps.
Maybe a fighter with grand mastery in bows that is then dualed to a thief.
Edit: Or a Bounty Hunter thief (special and better traps) that is then dualed to fighter and obtains grand mastery in bows.
Bounty Hunter 11 / Fighter the rest of the way.
For more fun go with an elf archer for the 19dex and +1 thac0 with longbows. I'd go for 18 str as well to use a composite bow until you get some of the better named bows that don't have a strength requirement.
If you don't mind killing or stealing from Drizit and want to use Kivan in a whole new way, have him dual wield Twinkle and Icingdeath. As an elf he gets +1 thac0 with scimitars, and he turns into a dual wielding death machine. This way you can use him for archery until you get the scimitars.
Archer CHARNAME / Imoen (for thief) / Kivan (Ranged initially, then back up as ranged and specialized towards melee) / Yeslick (Cleric needs) / Dynaheir (Arcane needs)
Then for the 6th slot pick Minsc, Neera, anyone.
@jcdenton11 - I'd take Minsc to front line. I assume you'll go for a good party as a ranger, so killing or stealing from Drizzt wouldn't be easy to justify, roleplay-wise.
Level
Benefits with weapon
Proficient
Normal THAC0 while using weapon
Specialized
+1 THAC0. +2 damage. +1/2 attacks per round
Mastery
+3 THAC0. +3 damage. +1/2 attacks per round
High Mastery
+3 THAC0. +4 damage. +1/2 attacks per round. -1 speed factor to weapon.
Grand Mastery
+3 THAC0. +5 damage. +1 attacks per round. -3 speed factor to weapon.
Fighters can get Grand Mastery which gives them +2 thaco and +3 damage anyway.
This means that they are actually better in bows than a 9th level Archer and nearly equal (1 thaco less) than a 12th level Archer.
But this damage and thaco can be applied to any weapon they put points into. Also can wear full plate while doing it all.
Archers can get grandmastery..
For me personally, I would probably have my Archer, Imoen (dual to Mage once her Thief skills are good enough for Durlags), Minsc as the 2H butt-kicker, Jaheira develops into a good tank and brings heals and buffs/debuffs, then fill out the last two with one more melee and one more ranged type of your choosing. One out of Dynaheir, Neera, or Xan would make a good choice as more backline firepower and crowd control/buffbots (Haste on an Archer is ridiculous), and Yeslick with the belt from Rasaad's quest makes a damn solid beast in melee plus combined with Jaheira will have you more than covered on divine spells and meatshields to protect your gunline. But that's me of course, I'm a huge fan of magical firepower.