Need a ranged combatant

[MrSinister]

Playground ahoy!

We are about to start a Ravenloft 4E game and my wife has expressed interest in playing a ranged combatant. So far, all she knows for sure is she wants to play :

non-striker
firearms user (already have stats we all dig, firearms are mostly martial ranged weapons)
non-flashy monster hunter

I am just trolling for all the possible options you guys can come up with.

Also, as far as a race goes, non-human and nothing too monstrous (no minotaur, shardmind, etc.) seeing as this is Ravenloft and I don't want to be bothered with picthfork mobs every town the group enters.

Thanks playground.

[Sol]

non-striker ranged firearms user?

hunter maybe? it's the essentials (Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms) ranged ranger build, and it's primarily a single target controller. its damage isn't bad if your DM lets you take normal ranger feats (lots of the normal ranger feats require the hunter's quarry class feature, which hunters lack) and you build that way. For a hilariously ingenious control build consider taking a look at the EBola hunter (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/26233001/EBola_Hunter,_an_Essentials_Bola_Hunter)

you could also flavor the gun as an implement for a wizard build, or make her an archer (skirmisher) warlord or a laser cleric...but those are pretty flashy.

non-striker non-flashy monster hunter is kind of hard to decipher.

[theNater]

There's a bard build in Arcane Power that's a ranged weapon user. There's at least one attack power in every selection prior to level 9 for which the fluff boils down to "you shoot an enemy in a way that gives an ally an opening", which is pretty non-flashy.

As a bard, it's Cha primary. Depending on the bard's virtue selection, they can have Con, Int, or Wis secondary, so there's a lot of racial options. In a quick skim of the races, Half-elf, Tiefling, and Gnome jump out at me, but that's just me.

[gurban]

Seeker. I mean, it's in the name. Seeker is considered one of the least powerful classes, but I've in two groups with seekers, and they were quite effective.

[Sol]

Seeker. I mean, it's in the name. Seeker is considered one of the least powerful classes, but I've in two groups with seekers, and they were quite effective.

It's also worth noting that seeker makes a fantastic MC dip for any str or dex primary or secondary ranged class. Their paragon feat Primal Eye adds your dex or strength mod to damage on all RBAs. A pretty bizarre but extremely effective avenger build can be made using Distant Vengeance, Primal Eye and Painful Oath to make RBAs W+dex+dex+wis or Avenging Shackles 1d8+wis+wis+dex+slow.

[Kurald Galain]

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non-striker
firearms user (already have stats we all dig, firearms are mostly martial ranged weapons)
non-flashy monster hunter
Warlord. MP2 has an archerlord build.

[Jack_Banzai]

Hunter or Seeker sound like viable options for what you've described.

[MrSinister]

Thanks guys.

The essentials hunter looks kinda right up her alley, with the RBAs enhanced by controller-y stuff. Perhaps MC Seeker to add just a little bit extra flavor to the character. What she meant from the whole no flashy thing was just shooting people with no crazy special effects except for every now and then.

Can essentials characters MC like regular folk or take paragon paths from regular classes?

[Lord Ascapelion]

Don't forget Artificer! If you're using guns anyway, the Artificer should fit right in. Many of its powers are based around ranged weapons.

[Kurald Galain]

Can essentials characters MC like regular folk or take paragon paths from regular classes?

More or less.

They can't use power swap feats (e.g. Novice Power) unless they've actually got powers to swap, and they can't take certain paragon paths that require class features they don't have (e.g. Stormwarden).

[Sol]

More or less.

They can't use power swap feats (e.g. Novice Power) unless they've actually got powers to swap, and they can't take certain paragon paths that require class features they don't have (e.g. Stormwarden).

Yeah. The hunter really only has one encounter power other than utilities and racials. They can use it several times per encounter, though.

If your campaign isn't restricted to essentials material, most DMs will let you take ranger specific feats and paragon paths, even if they require hunter's quarry, as long as they fit her character thematically. Stormwarden requires two-blade fighting, which is a tad more of a stretch than some of the others.

Most ranger paragon paths, however, have at least one feature or encounter power that interacts with hunter's quarry. If you already MCed into seeker, Crimson Hunter and Seven Fates Archer are both excellent. Seven Fates is more controllery, while Crimson Hunter is pure striker.

Also worth noting - strangely, none of the hunter at-will's can be used as RBAs, if you have any effects that can grant you RBAs, or if a creature triggers an OA from her. One way to fix this is to be a half elf and pick up one of the seeker at-wills as your dilettante power. Grappling Spirits and Biting Swarm can both be used as a RBA, and both have some controller feel. Once you pick up Versatile Master in paragon, you can use it at-will. They use wisdom for attack rolls, which just gives you a reason to keep your dex and wisdom on-par instead of focusing primarily on dex.

[MrSinister]

Don't forget Artificer! If you're using guns anyway, the Artificer should fit right in. Many of its powers are based around ranged weapons.

You know, I never thought about that! Who else in Ravenloft would have guns besides a PC artificer? It's a good fit.