Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 AndrewJO Jul 09, 2015 22:37:36	A few months ago, I started playing a Dex based fighter/archer. I quickly changed him into a ranger. After all this time, I have finally reached level 4. At this point, I run into a tough decision. Do I continue playing as a ranger or do I switch back to a dex fighter? Most of the benefits I gain for playing a ranger are thematic/rp, such as favored enemy and terrain, which honestly hasn't given me any actual benefit in AL. I also gain spells, but I end up playing the class healer after the party nearly wipes, so my spells end up being spent on cure wounds, plus you don't get any of the really cool ranger spells until lvl 9+. The biggest mechanical improvement I get from playing a ranger is collosus slayer, which combined with sharpshooter lets me deal 20+ damage per turn as a lvl 4 PC without expending spell slots. As a fighter, I can still have the outlander background which basically makes me a ranger where it counts. I'm considering the champion subclass for the 10% change to crit, though battlemaster is also appealing. What do I gain as a fighter vs as ranger? 3 attacks at level 11, action surge, second wind, and 2 additional feats. I'm getting close to level 5, so I need to make this decision soon! Which should I choose? Input from people who have played higher level rangers or dex fighters would be appreciated
#2 Setzer_G Jul 10, 2015 5:37:10	For my money, I would go with the Fighter option. Your damage is going to be fairly consistent, and nova turns are going to really count. I've found the Hunter options are nice, but not as nice as the later parts of Fighter. I don't find higher level ranger spells all that appealing enough to stay with the class. Your background and rp can cover the ranger-esque portions of the character.    Also, Champion is nice for the crit range, but that's about it for it's shining achievement. Maneuvers can really make a difference in a fight, especially since they renew so easilly. Imagine (assuming your playing Princes of the Apocalypse) the look on Marlos' face when you shoot him for 24 damage with one shot AND he has to drop Ironfang on the ground and your allies pick it up before he gets a chance to.
#3 Mommy_was_an_Orc Jul 10, 2015 6:07:25	Basically, let's look at the optimized version of what's going on here: Crossbow Expert - you get an extra attack with a hand crossbow Sharpshooter - you do a lot of extra damage, but tend to miss a lotAlert - you go first if you're a Dex-based PC So the optimized version only really works if you can gain consistent bonuses to hit when you need them, say Advantage and/or Precision Attack. So here's the optimized route: Variant Human Rogue 1/Battlemaster Fighter 6 - gets you the above 2 feats and an 18 Dex, then move back to Assassin Rogue 3 - this gives you sneak attack+advantage on the 1st round of combat. Then go to Fighter 11, then back to Rogue for the rest of the levels. When Dex gets to 20 and you have an extra feat, pick up Alert to ensure you go first and therefore have more targets to choose from with Advantage. i.e. you can Action Surge on the 1st round of combat, pump out 5 shots that do approximately 20 damage each while attacking with Advantage and being able to add an extra +1d8(approximately +4.5) to hit when you know you rolled poorly. This also gives you Rogue skills and Expertise, which can be really useful to most parties. This is not to necessarily say you should do all this - consistently doing 40-60 hp of damage per round while spiking to 80-100 on an Action Surge will tend to lead to some looks.
#4 Coredump00 Jul 10, 2015 8:29:04	Andrew, to really help, we need more info.   How do you envision this character?  What do you want him to be good at?  What type of PC is he....what does he do....etc Do you want to use a longbow, handbow HCrossbow, shortbow...??? What race do you want to be?   For example, for my archer, I wanted a longbow archer, that was laid back, a bit of a loner, but was really good at shooting things far away.  Before adventuring he worked 'riding shotgun' on riverboats and trade ships. (Basically responsible for driving off monsters and raiders) So my class and feat choices reflected those choices.  If I wanted to use a handbow and sneak around in dungeons.... would be other choices.
#5 Pauper Jul 10, 2015 10:35:43	I personally would stick with the ranger, as I love flavorful builds that provide lots of interesting non-combat options. Keep in mind that creativity counts when making use of these abilities. For example:   - Natural Explorer, while in your favored terrain, makes it so that you don't have to specifically have party members looking out for ambushes while travelling through places like the Quivering Forest (DDEX 1-8) or the Twilight Marsh (DDEX 1-7). It also allows you to specifically determine the number and size of creatures you track, which means that trackers without that ability shouldn't learn that information.   - By using Primeval Awareness before going into a dungeon, you can let your cleric know if he should hold onto his Turn Undead or the wizard know if he should be ready to cast Protection from Good and Evil; you wouldn't learn exactly where the undead, fiends, or elementals are, but you would know that they are present, and fore-warned is fore-armed!   I tend to view Doing Big Damage (TM) in the same light that Crash Davis from 'Bull Durham' viewed strikeouts: "Don't try to strike everybody out, OK? Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls, it's more democratic."   -- Pauper
#6 BRJN Jul 10, 2015 15:57:48	A Fighter Archer is proficient with every armor in the books, so eventually you can challenge people to artillery duels and laugh at them as they try to hit your 20+ AC. A Ranger can't do that, he HAS to sneak around and take advantage of cover / concealment / line-of-sight, or become a pincushion.   I picked a Paladin in 5e because one thing I had never done before in D&D was run TOWARDS something that is trying to eat me / my friends.  The experience may have made me a bit too aggressive and too trusting in AC.
#7 AndrewJO Jul 10, 2015 22:05:32	Thanks for the input guys, I played him as a level 5 character today, so my choices are locked in. My original vision for the character was the stereotypical ranger, sneaky loner with a bow who enjoys the wilderness and can kill just about anything with a bow as long as he can see it. I chose human with the sharpshooter feat, I don't gain any racial abilities but I can shoot through my party and around trees as if they weren't even there. I decided to stick with hunter ranger, with the intention of taking 7 levels of asssassin rogue. Ultimately I choose ranger because nothing the fighter has outmatches colossus slayer until the fighter hits lvl 11 and gains a third attack, and because 2 level 2 spell slots gives me 16 hours of dark vision, one of the more beneficial racial traits that humans don't get. Also, 4 castings of hunter's mark is nice to have, an extra d6 of damage twice per turn adds up quickly.
(Reply to #6) Coredump00	BRJN wrote:
(Reply to #7) Coredump00	AndrewJO wrote: