Quote Originally Posted by Khobahi View Post
So im considering playing an EK in my current campaign. We just started yesterday but my DM is letting me switch stuff around as we are just starting.

My group is a Moon Druid (he mostly wants to just transform and beat stuff up as a frontline animal), A Shadow Monk, a Beast Conclave Melee Ranger, and a Trickery Domain Cleric. I've wanted to play a EK for awhile and decided to try it out. I am having trouble deciding if i should just go Ranged though as this group tends to have a lot of melee.

Currently i'm a str based level 4 v-human (i also didnt realise and have to change no matter what my feat cause can't actually take warcaster at level 1) 18 str 10 dex 14 con 16 int 8 wis 8 cha. Took Warcaster but afterwards realized i can't do this. Defense fighting style too.

I currently have 3 considerations.. 1 just stay as is and see how I end up liking it. 2 Switch to Dex based and Longbow it up 10,18,12,16,11,8 (less Con as ranged to eventually take resil WIS) taking Sharpshooter level 1 and archery fighting style. I would boost dex to 20 at 6, resil wis at 8, 12/14 finish Int and then 16/19 some random feats or more Cons. Also before you say it I thematically hate x-bows so i won't go for them i'll stick to a bow.

3rd option.. Just roll some Arcane caster and forget EK for this campaign... (this might be the best for the group but yea..)

any thoughts would be awesome.
Going ranged or going full caster are both great options. Going STR melee is good too, but given party composition there's not much you can help with (other members may outdamage you, and you wouldn't be able to tank since they'd be aiming for the more fragile guys).

If you do go ranged, you should do your best to save your reactions for Shield/Absorb Elements and pick some other defensive spells as you go (Mirror Image, Haste, etc.). You want to do this to disencourage folks from attacking you, and also to survive longer since CON12 is hard, especially at the beginning of a game. Later on you can pick Tough instead of boosting your CON, and it will be a solid move.

Also make sure the cleric can buff you when needed, especially with Bless since with Sharpshooter you can wreck real havoc.