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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    I'm really thinking of playing a revised ranger for SKT

    I have no issue multiclassing and we begin at 5th level

    I was thinking a strength based ranger 6-8 levels with something else for 2 levels. I was thinking of TWF or PAM grabbing defensive style or GWM/defensive style

    It seems AC for ranger is either going to be breastplate/dex 16, plate 18, or studded leather 17, mage armor 18

    Question 1. I feel I need to start pure ranger for that extra attack at 5th level and to be able to grab greater favored enemy at 6th, giant obviously.

    But could I get by with say ranger 4/ something X because of the bonus action of PAM or TWF? And hunter's mark?
    Can I wait on greater favored enemy's bonus?

    Question 2. Is it worth setting dex low, say 8-10, and not multiclassing and grabbing cough...cough... heavily armored. Or just stop whining and wear breast plate?

    Question 3. I'm really leaning beginning fighter for con saves, but since we are playing in the realm of 5-11th level, some AOEs if failed can clean you out and leave you for dead. Perhaps dex saves are possibly more important

    Question 4. Is a dex based TWF ranger as good as a strength based TWF or PAM ranger. AC is probably going to be 16 at best.

    So for strength based ranger what is the best stat layout?

    Is pure ranger worth it, if I dump dex and grab heavily armored

    So the combos I have thought of are:

    Dex based ranger with a dip of some rogue and fighter.... pretty average

    Strength based ranger using PAM with some battlemaster or eldritch knight

    Strength based ranger using GWM with some war cleric

    So 6-8 ranger with dips, race doesn't matter

    Who's in the party.... a swashubuckler, dragon sorcerer, warlock, moon druid combo, bard. We can roll in front of the DM or use standard array/point buy

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    Daemon

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    A humble mtn dwarf single class ranger with point buy after racials: 16/14/16/9/13/8, pick defense style, use half plate and a pole arm, two ASI's to max STR, then remaining ones PAM, observant and any of mobile, alert or lucky. :)

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by Spacehamster View Post
    A humble mtn dwarf single class ranger with point buy after racials: 16/14/16/9/13/8, pick defense style, use half plate and a pole arm, two ASI's to max STR, then remaining ones PAM, observant and any of mobile, alert or lucky. :)
    This looks very good, I think I might only get 2 ASI if I stay pure ranger. Take PAM versus maxing strength? Perhaps even at 4th level?

    I like the build.

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    Daemon

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by djreynolds View Post
    This looks very good, I think I might only get 2 ASI if I stay pure ranger. Take PAM versus maxing strength? Perhaps even at 4th level?

    I like the build.
    Would take PAM first then 18 STR, can alternately be statted 17/14/17/8/10/8 if you are 100% sure you won't MC. :) that way you get 18 STR/18CON.
    Can also scrap polearm for great sword and max STR instead and have your bonus action always up for moving hunters mark around and such
    Last edited by Spacehamster; 2017-10-20 at 07:07 AM.

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    GnomeWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    I did something similar for SKT.

    Elven ranger, using a flail and picked up duelist. Colossus Slayer. Cast Hunter's Mark. Feat: Athletics.

    Attacks every round are 2x: 2d8+6+1d6.

    I'm usually the top damager per round in our group.

    We rolled stats in my game, and with wood elf and Athletics, my stat array is 18, 18, 14, 5, 18, 5.

    Picked up Giants and Monstrosities for favorite enemies, and Forest and Mountains for favored terrain.

    Our GM let us start with a magic item, and I grabbed the luckstone for a +1 to all ability checks and saves.

    Getting advantage on knowledge about giants (plus the luck stone) really helps with that -2 to int checks.

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    Daemon

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by mgshamster View Post
    I did something similar for SKT.

    Elven ranger, using a flail and picked up duelist. Colossus Slayer. Cast Hunter's Mark. Feat: Athletics.

    Attacks every round are 2x: 2d8+6+1d6.

    I'm usually the top damager per round in our group.

    We rolled stats in my game, and with wood elf and Athletics, my stat array is 18, 18, 14, 5, 18, 5.

    Picked up Giants and Monstrosities for favorite enemies, and Forest and Mountains for favored terrain.

    Our GM let us start with a magic item, and I grabbed the luckstone for a +1 to all ability checks and saves.

    Getting advantage on knowledge about giants (plus the luck stone) really helps with that -2 to int checks.
    How are you getting two times 2d8? Colossus slayer is once per round, not once per attack. :)

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    DwarfClericGuy

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Starting at 5th level? We started at 1st.

    Anyway, I'm currently doing the same. Go variant human for the feat to use rapiers in both hands. Obviously you're going dual-weapon revised Ranger here. Take Swashbuckler for your level 3 Rogue path.

    My progression is gonna be Ranger 3, Rogue 1, Ranger 5/6, Rogue 3, Ranger 8 because I crunched a lot of numbers and arrived at that being the best progression in terms of DPR.

    I would take the feature that lets you attack as a reaction when attacked by something of large or greater instead of colossus slayer. You'll do more damage overall.

    By level 6 you're doing 3 attacks at 1d8+6 vs. your favored enemy, plus an off-turn attack for another 1d8+6. You can get sneak attack on your turn and your off-turn attack for another 1d6 damage each. You can also get Hunter's Mark in there if you want.

    Total damage per turn is 4d8+6d6+24 damage in an ideal circumstance. At 6th level. Average DPR of 63. You'll kill a Hill giant in two rounds by yourself.

    I'm personally dumping Wis and running it with a 16 Con as well just to stand up to giants a bit better. There are enough Ranger spells that don't need Wis to make it work and you don't get to a high enough level for the big Wis Ranger features.

    From there you can either finish one more level of Ranger to get improved favored enemy for that sweet +4 boost per attack vs. giants or you can rush Rogue 3 which gives you 2d6 more sneak attack damage per round (better vs. non-giants) and the ability to dash in and out of combat without triggering opportunity attacks, as well as constant sneak attack damage without needing someone else in monster's face. From there you finish up at Ranger 8 to get that last ASI.

    EDIT: Rangers also get Absorb Elements which grants resistance to most AOE spells so it's less of a concern.
    Last edited by UrielAwakened; 2017-10-20 at 09:08 AM.

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    Kobold

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    You need a big weapon to bring down big enemy's. So here is the build

    V-human for gwm
    Class ranger 8 / war cleric 2
    Go ranger tell level 3 then cleric 2 then finished ranger. The bonus action attack from gwm and cleric 2 should help a lot for not getting extra attack untell later. For ranger I'll go hunter but beast master could be cool as well giving your more attacks through your pet but let's go hunter. At ranger lv3 hunters choose I would go for giant killer option this campaign is set up for it. For weapons go with a great sword or maul your pick. There is a lot of stuff from the 2 levels in cleric to off set that -5 to hits thanks to bless and I think war gods blessing. Also you can wear heavy armor. With this you are now giant's bane. Talk you DM into giving you the magic item giant slayer as a great sword.

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    GnomeWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by Spacehamster View Post
    How are you getting two times 2d8? Colossus slayer is once per round, not once per attack. :)
    Damn it!

    Well, time to fix it going forward.

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    DwarfClericGuy

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by mgshamster View Post
    Damn it!

    Well, time to fix it going forward.
    This is another reaction that the reaction attack is better than colossus slayer for SKT. You get the same 1d8 plus modifiers plus sneak attack.
    Last edited by UrielAwakened; 2017-10-20 at 11:55 AM.

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    BardGuy

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by djreynolds View Post
    I'm really thinking of playing a revised ranger for SKT

    I have no issue multiclassing and we begin at 5th level

    I was thinking a strength based ranger 6-8 levels with something else for 2 levels. I was thinking of TWF or PAM grabbing defensive style or GWM/defensive style

    It seems AC for ranger is either going to be breastplate/dex 16, plate 18, or studded leather 17, mage armor 18

    Question 1. I feel I need to start pure ranger for that extra attack at 5th level and to be able to grab greater favored enemy at 6th, giant obviously.

    But could I get by with say ranger 4/ something X because of the bonus action of PAM or TWF? And hunter's mark?
    Can I wait on greater favored enemy's bonus?

    Question 2. Is it worth setting dex low, say 8-10, and not multiclassing and grabbing cough...cough... heavily armored. Or just stop whining and wear breast plate?

    Question 3. I'm really leaning beginning fighter for con saves, but since we are playing in the realm of 5-11th level, some AOEs if failed can clean you out and leave you for dead. Perhaps dex saves are possibly more important

    Question 4. Is a dex based TWF ranger as good as a strength based TWF or PAM ranger. AC is probably going to be 16 at best.

    So for strength based ranger what is the best stat layout?

    Is pure ranger worth it, if I dump dex and grab heavily armored

    So the combos I have thought of are:

    Dex based ranger with a dip of some rogue and fighter.... pretty average

    Strength based ranger using PAM with some battlemaster or eldritch knight

    Strength based ranger using GWM with some war cleric

    So 6-8 ranger with dips, race doesn't matter

    Who's in the party.... a swashubuckler, dragon sorcerer, warlock, moon druid combo, bard. We can roll in front of the DM or use standard array/point buy
    Wow, so many questions here. ;)

    First, let me point to you a thread which you may find interesting, since it's very similar in nature to yours.

    Second, note that whatever I say is general advice, as I don't know the SKT campaign. I just know from reading threads here that encounters tend to be very difficult in general.

    So...
    First what do you have in party?
    - Swashbuckler > probably melee.
    - Dragon Sorcerer > probably 50% AOE, 50% other.
    - Warlock > probably blaster.
    - Moon Druid "combo" = 2 Druids? Then twice control power.
    - Bard > party face, healing, debuff.

    Because there is at least one Druid (or 2 if I understood well), you don't need to take the classic spells a Ranger "has to" (Goodberry, Pass Without Trace).
    With that said...

    1. Extra Attack VS dip
    Well, it can be worth it, mainly depends on what you take dips for.
    If you take a one-level Rogue dip for Expertise, because you expect to have many chances to help others by Grappling/Shoving people prone, then it's worth it.
    If you take a one-level of Life Cleric to pump up Life Goodberries as a reserve for the next day and get heavy armor as a STR Ranger, then it's worth it.
    If you take a one-level of War Cleric for the extra precision, Bless and Divine Favor plus heavy armor, because you don't intend to use Hunter's Mark that often in the first place, then it's worth it.
    If you take a one-level of Druid because you like the added spell versatility and option to scout away, it may be worth it (although, with already two Druids in party, they may strongly feel tiptoed).
    Etc etc.
    Basically, as long as you feel that the trade is good enough, then it's fair.

    2. Dump DEX or not?
    No. Whether you want to multiclass or not. For a melee character, sure AC is important, but having decent save against DEX AOE is too (especially since you have a group with several melee, so you may often end close enough to each other to make an AOE darn tempting).
    So 14 DEX for +5 starting save and 17 AC feels better to me than +2 to save and 18 AC. Of course, if you think you have other ways to avoid / reduce DEX saves threats, then you can dump DEX, but then you cannot multiclass.
    And I'd argue that there are enough great options to multiclass to make this a shame.

    3. DEX vs CON saves
    I don't have any "campaign-contextualized" opinion here. Both are important anyways. I'd just argue that most enemy effects that I know of, targeting CON saves, are triggered as riders on melee attacks (like ghouls).
    While DEX effects are most generally from spells with a decent range (there are certainly creatures with non-spell DEX effects but I don't know them).
    So I'd go DEX here, although with a decent CON score if possible.

    4. DEX TWF vs STR TWF vs STR PAM vs "DEX PAM"
    Let's consider this.
    Without feats, you need to wield light weapons.
    A STR-based Ranger will have light hammer/axes or scimitar, 1d6 weapons at best.
    A DEX-based Ranger will have daggers or scimitar/shortswords, 1d6 weapons at best.
    Basically as far as melee go it's a wash, with STR having just a slight edge as far as thrown weapons are concerned.
    When you put Dual Wielder in the play...
    - Melee is still a wash, with one-handed weapon capping at 1d8.
    - Thrown changes a bit, with STR having better range and damage on javelins compared to daggers.
    When you put Sharpshooter in the play...
    - DEX build using thrown daggers get an effective range of 60 feet.
    - STR build using thrown javelins get an effective range of 120 feet.

    Now between TWF and PAM, taking Dual Wielder for feat parity in the TWF build and Dueling for style parity in PAM (so they otherwise are identical)...
    3 attacks in both cases. Discounting Hunter's Mark because won't make a difference in comparison.
    STR TWF: 3*(1d8+3) = 3d8+9, average 22,5.
    STR PAM: 2*(1d8+3+2) + 1d4+3 = 2d8 + 1d4 + 13, average 9+2,5+13=24,5.
    DEX PAM (Monk o/) = same as STR PAM.
    Note that I used quarterstaff, you'd get another +3 average with 1d10 weapon, putting PAM up to 27,5.

    "So, PAM is obviously better right?"
    Not necessarily. Better damage in your own turn is a thing sure, but the difference will quickly become overall irrelevant in how quick you kill creatures.
    PAM has two (three) real distinct advantages though.
    1. It provides improved opportunity attacks. Depending on how "in the heart of the fight" you want to be (and whether you take Giant Killer or another option), it may be irrelevant or very important.
    2. You can use a weapon that has reach, so 10 feet effective range.
    (3. It's compatible with Shillelagh quarterstaff which can help when you have no magic weapon against resistant enemies).

    Compared to this, TWF by itself offers...
    - Compatibility with Defensive Duelist, should you be interested in picking that... But it's lackluster at level 5, so no benefit here. Great at level 11+ though.
    - Effective range of 20 feet, as long as you have a good supply of thrown weapons.
    - Effective range of 60 feet, with thrown weapons and Sharpshooter.
    - Effective range of 120 feet, with thrown weapons, Sharpshooter and Dual Wielder.

    So it really depends on the role you want to play. If you plan on staying in the front line and aggro things, go PAM, and make Sentinel your next pick.

    If you prefer being a melee character that fluctuates between contact and close range to limit direct threat and have a way to quickly change tactic, go Dual Wielding with either javelin and whip (Dual Wielder) or dual light hammer/axes (Sharpshooter) and take whichever feat you didn't take first on your next ASI.

    ------
    My own suggestion.
    Either Life Cleric 1 / Ranger 4, with PAM, just 14 in DEX and WIS, 16 STR, 16 CON if possible. Convert all slots into Life Goodberry before a long rest. Use slots on upcast Bless and self-Longstrider.
    Or Nature Cleric 1 / Ranger 4 with PAM, as a hill dwarf, with 10 STR, so you can manage 16 in WIS and CON easily, using Shillelagh on your first turn and be the one with always-on magic weapon and heavy armor, pumping WIS at level 8, maintaining either Bless for party or Shield of Faith on self.

    Or Rogue 1 / Ranger 4 with Dual Wielder feat, quickly adaptic tactics between shove/grapple/melee/thrown and means to attack whomever is the priority target now, taking Thief Roge or and Sharpshooter later if you feel that thrown weapon is a tactic you like.
    Or Tempest Cleric 1 / Ranger 4 with Sharpshooter feat (and Giant Killer or Horde Breaker option), using thrown hammers while maintaining upcast Bless, planning on another level in Cleric for whenyou finally get Lightning Arrow...

    I'd probably go with a level of Cleric whatever you make, for two reasons.
    1. Heavy armor and healing: even if you already have three people with some healing capability, Moon Druid won't be able to cast Healing Words while in beast form, and your Bard may sometimes have trouble coming close enough (or may run ouf of slots). Having someone in the frontline with Healing Words and enough resilience to actually survive his allies is practical.

    2. Bless: considering you want a Ranger that has a "bonus action weapon attack" as a permanent ability, whether through feat or style, micro-managing Hunter's Mark will be impractical at best. So you should keep it for the big bosses, or to track someone (it is one of the perks of this spell), but overall I feel that having you keeping a Bless active for 3 or 4 people will bring much more value, even if your concentration ends broken too early to your taste (hence also my suggestion of keeping at relative range).
    Of course if someone else in your party makes a dip into Cleric (like, *totally random example* Life Cleric on a Bard) and is ready to get the Blesser role, then it's dispensable, but still very useful (consider that any pure caster has much greater spells, especially 3rd level ones, to concentrate on. You? Either Hunter's Mark or Ensnaring Strike to schematize).

    Quote Originally Posted by Spacehamster View Post
    How are you getting two times 2d8? Colossus slayer is once per round, not once per attack. :)
    Once per turn PER ENEMY is for sure.
    Once per turn total? You can really debate on that. ;)
    The way it was written is very different from all the other abilities that are explicitedly restricted to "once overall per turn".
    So you could argue that if you hit two different enemies with your attacks from Extra Attack, and both were already under maximum HP, both suffer the extra damage.

    Beyond that case and however you rule it, another way to deal Colossus damage an extra time is to get an Opportunity Attack: then you get to apply the extra damage as well, since it's another turn.
    Last edited by Citan; 2017-10-20 at 12:34 PM.

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    GnomeWizardGuy

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Funnily enough, in my game, I've been forgetting to add my duelist damage. I only remembered it when I typed up my build for this thread.

    So really, I've been erroneously adding +1d8 (4.5) damage when I hit twice, but forgetting to add +4 damage from duelist when I hit twice.

    It's kind of a wash.

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by mgshamster View Post
    Funnily enough, in my game, I've been forgetting to add my duelist damage. I only remembered it when I typed up my build for this thread.

    So really, I've been erroneously adding +1d8 (4.5) damage when I hit twice, but forgetting to add +4 damage from duelist when I hit twice.

    It's kind of a wash.
    Don't try to look innocent. That 0.5 definitely made a big difference every time.

    "Hey! What are you still standing up for?"
    "Wait, what? You hit me for 14.5 HP, I had 15, so I'm ok".
    "Hey, don't try and act though, you can't stand with not even one full HP. Besides, it's logical that you round up to 1, otherwise, it's like you deny the existence of that extra bit of damage".
    "Who said that?"
    "ME!! (you say while just making a quick kick on his leg... Removing the remaining 0.5 hp).

    (Seriously though: if you added it when hitting the same enemy, it was clearly against RAW. If you add it while attacking different enemies, ask your DM if you wish, but honestly it won't make that much of a difference that you should worry about it ;)).
    Last edited by Citan; 2017-10-20 at 01:00 PM.

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    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    My advice for playing a melee in SKT: don't. Even if you were a defensive heavy armor master paladin, you're still going to take brutal punishment from being in melee range of giants. You don't want to be there. Be a hunter ranger with sharpshooter and a longbow, then just get on a horse and kite them around. Their lairs are obviously big enough for your horse, and they can't catch you with the horse dashing every round. Your DM will have to metagame just to deal with you.

    If you absolutely have to play a melee, see my signature. A halfling riding a wolf can make up to five attacks per round by level five (assuming two opportunity attacks, generally will be three or four), and two of those are with guaranteed advantage. Wolf prone is a strength save and often won't work against giants, but sometimes it will. Since all of these attacks apply Favored enemy damage, you're looking to up to +20 damage per round by level 6 on top of normal attack damage (and hunter's mark if you use it). Plus the wolf can sniff out ambushes and similar.
    Breaking BM: Revised - an updated look at the beast-mounted halfling ranger based on the Revised Ranger: Beast Conclave.

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Greatsword & Longbow is my very favorite type of character to play so I've thought about this a lot.

    Revised Ranger can work quite well as a Melee Ranger. With Advantage in the first round of Combat as long as your enemies have not acted, you want to make sure you go first Advantage on Initiative will help with that, but I would NOT dump dex.

    I would personally go Deepstalker Ranger if more UA is available. The extra movement in the first round of combat will help you get into melee range, and the free attack will have advantage as long as you go before your foes in the round. To get the most out of that Advantage I would grab GWM as soon as possible. You can cast Hunter's mark and run into combat Attack 3 times with your Greatsword at Advantage but -5 to hit for 2d6+Strength+10+1d6 damage on each hit.

    I would also want to grab Mobile to make it a skirmish character. Since Rangers can Bonus action Dash at 7 you can bonus action dash out melee range without drawing AoOs when you need to.

    The big drawback of my build is competition for bonus actions between Hunters Mark, GWM attack, and Dash.

    If straight classing I would want to get Resilient Con (maybe war-Caster too) for Hunter's Mark Concentration. If multi-classing consider starting 1 level in a class with Con Save Prof.

    Dips: Citan did a really good job of laying out some great info Rather than repeat it I'll just bring up my favorites.

    Fighter 2 for Con Saves and Actions Surge is a great multi-class option. Be sure to action surge on rounds where you have advantage! If I'm only dipping on class this is it. Fighter 12/Ranger 8 is my preferred way to plan here. Can get a lot of attacks with extra damage riders, good mobility and good saves.

    Rogue 2 gets you expertise, sneak attack (but not on your primary weapon), and lets you not have to rely on ranger 7 for bonus action dashing, but on a deepstalker I would always go ranger 7 for the Wis Save Prof anyway. If going a non-deepstalker route and wanting to keep Ranger levels minimal this is a really good dip. I would do this for something like Fighter 11-12/Ranger 3-4/Rogue 2-4. This one has a lot of attacks and bonus action options

    Barbarian 2 lets you get Advantage whenever you want with Reckless Attack. So now you can -5/+10 GWM every round instead of just the first round, but be sure and Dash out of there afterward because anyone left standing will have advantage against you too. I would't Rage at all, unless I've already lost Concentration on Hunter's Mark. Something like Fighter 2-4/Ranger 8/Barbarian 2-4 is what I would shoot for here. It has fewer attacks than the others, but You can make sure they all have advantage all the time for GWM.

    Races: I'm a firm believer that any race works OK with any class in 5e, but here are the ones that stand out to me as particularly notable.

    Variant Human get's you GWM at level 1. Simple and effective.

    Standard Human is surprisingly helpful with the MADness of a Strength based ranger. It's one of the very few cases where I would consider it.

    Half-Elf can get get +1 to strength, and is super tempting if Elven Accuracy is allowed.

    Any race with an increas to strength will also be better than those that don't.

    Honestly i really think a GWM Revised Ranger does work single-classed, but it certainly gets more damage with a couple of Fighter levels and even a couple of Barbarian levels.

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by Easy_Lee View Post
    My advice for playing a melee in SKT: don't. Even if you were a defensive heavy armor master paladin, you're still going to take brutal punishment from being in melee range of giants. You don't want to be there.
    Then since OP wants a STR build, Sharpshooter thrower it is! ;)

    By the way OP, one thing I forgot to mention, if you go dual-wielding, one good thing in taking Dual-Wielder first is that you can sustain the Extra Attack javelins every turn if you do something else with your bonus action (changing Hunter's Mark, casting Ensnaring Strike or Healing Words), and still get 3 thrown weapons in a row when needed.
    With Javelins, 30 feet should be enough for now, when needed you can buff yourself with Longstrider.

    Wonder if your pal would count as cover though (don't remember: if you have a medium creature in front of a Large creature, does the latter still get some form of cover? At best it would get half-cover right?).
    If so, then you'd better grab Sharpshooter instead, or take a build with a reach weapon (whip if TWF, glaive if PAM).

    Note that if you so wish, you can immediately have either PAM+Sentinel or Sharpshooter+Dual Wielder if you take Variant Human. :)

    @Easy_Lee: you say "don't play in melee", but, the melee is basically the frontline. If nobody gets significantly closer than others of the enemy ranks, then everyone will be endangered when enemies advance. ^^
    So you either need one or two (preferably two, and very tanky) people, or have some caster dedicated to movement impediment (Earth Tremor, Web, Slow, Plant Growth, Stinking Cloud etc).
    Last edited by Citan; 2017-10-20 at 01:30 PM.

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Dumping DEX is a trap because you nerf yourself out of multiclassing and Stealth. Be sure to have a 14 and wear a breastplate.

  18. - Top - End - #18
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    The advice has been AWESOME. Thanks.

    1. The moon druid, is monk, life cleric, druid combo..... I'm not a fan. But it's run by a good player.

    2. I like GWM ranger 6, war cleric x. Maybe a level of fighter.

    3. I like strength based TWF, but dual wielder seems " expensive" but does open up opportunities for using anything magic weapon wise that comes your way.

    4. I like dex based TWF but it screams more rogue and the temptation to snag sharpshooter is tough to avoid.

    5. PAM ranger feels good, but fighter battlemaster might fit better. But 1d8 quarterstaff isn't that far off in damage. Obviously halberd is better for reach as giant's have like a 10ft.

    6. I do like the vibe of ranger/barbarian. Unfortunately no spellless ranger for us, revised or phb only.

    7. Perhaps human variant barbarian 2/ ranger 6/ war cleric 2. GWM and 1 ASI to strength.

    But again, I'm fishing here. We will roll next Wednesday so perhaps the dice may lead me somewhere interesting.

    AWESOME advice as always
    Last edited by djreynolds; 2017-10-21 at 01:55 PM.

  19. - Top - End - #19
    Troll in the Playground
     
    BardGuy

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by djreynolds View Post
    The advice has been AWESOME. Thanks.

    1. The moon druid, is monk, life cleric, druid combo..... I'm not a fan. But it's run by a good player.

    2. I like GWM ranger 6, war cleric x. Maybe a level of fighter.

    3. I like strength based TWF, but dual wielder seems " expensive" but does open up opportunities for using anything magic weapon wise that comes your way.

    4. I like dex based TWF but it screams more rogue and the temptation to snag sharpshooter is tough to avoid.

    5. PAM ranger feels good, but fighter battlemaster might fit better. But 1d8 quarterstaff isn't that far off in damage. Obviously halberd is better for reach as giant's have like a 10ft.

    6. I do like the vibe of ranger/barbarian. Unfortunately no spellless ranger for us, revised or phb only.

    7. Perhaps human variant barbarian 2/ ranger 6/ war cleric 2. GWM and 1 ASI to strength.

    But again, I'm fishing here. We will roll next Wednesday so perhaps the dice may lead me somewhere interesting.

    AWESOME advice as always
    Glad everyone's advice was useful to you.

    A note about STR TWF: if you like it for versatility, you can do it fine without either Dual Wielder or Sharpshooter. It's just that both do bring some goodness as far as throwing weapons go. But you could very well start with "plain" TWF then consider taking one of them, or none of them, depending on how you feel you managed so far without.

    A note about Ranger / Barb: if you feel interested by it, don't fret too much about how to manage the rage / spells bipolarity. You can either play it as expected (one fight rage, one fight spells) since you won't have that many rages at first.
    Or just pick long duration, non-concentration spells such as Longstrider, Healing Words, or concentration but utility spells (speak with animals ?) and just play "plain Barb" for encounters.

  20. - Top - End - #20
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    OrcBarbarianGuy

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by Citan View Post
    A note about Ranger / Barb: if you feel interested by it, don't fret too much about how to manage the rage / spells bipolarity. You can either play it as expected (one fight rage, one fight spells) since you won't have that many rages at first.
    Or just pick long duration, non-concentration spells such as Longstrider, Healing Words, or concentration but utility spells (speak with animals ?) and just play "plain Barb" for encounters.
    This. I'd also add with so few rages you'll only want to Rage when you really need the extra Survivablity.

    I've typically done it starting a fight with Hunter's Mark, but as soon as I lose concentration I'm not going to cast other spell in the middle of my enemies, so I go into a rage and wreck my enemies with GWM.

  21. - Top - End - #21
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by Citan View Post
    Glad everyone's advice was useful to you.

    A note about STR TWF: if you like it for versatility, you can do it fine without either Dual Wielder or Sharpshooter. It's just that both do bring some goodness as far as throwing weapons go. But you could very well start with "plain" TWF then consider taking one of them, or none of them, depending on how you feel you managed so far without.

    A note about Ranger / Barb: if you feel interested by it, don't fret too much about how to manage the rage / spells bipolarity. You can either play it as expected (one fight rage, one fight spells) since you won't have that many rages at first.
    Or just pick long duration, non-concentration spells such as Longstrider, Healing Words, or concentration but utility spells (speak with animals ?) and just play "plain Barb" for encounters.
    Quote Originally Posted by GlenSmash! View Post
    This. I'd also add with so few rages you'll only want to Rage when you really need the extra Survivablity.

    I've typically done it starting a fight with Hunter's Mark, but as soon as I lose concentration I'm not going to cast other spell in the middle of my enemies, so I go into a rage and wreck my enemies with GWM.
    I like both of rage use here... its there if you need it but not necessary.

    A piece of me is saying with multiple attacks lean on the strength modifier and hunter's mark and favored enemy for damage and don't worry so much about 1d6 or 1d8 or 1d10.... its the static damage that counts.

    A thought is how is that beast master now, I'm 99% sure I will not use it only because of the number of players at the table... this adds one more basically. Its why I kill off familiars as a DM

    But a wolf can prone, now the DC is 11 and low. But the wolf's strength is low 12(+1)... so buffing up strength twice should theoretically bring that DC 11 to DC 12 at 4th, and DC13 at 8th. RAI or RAW... assuming the DC is 8 plus strength (+1) and the beast's proficiency bonus which for 3rd level would +2. 8+1+2=11 DC

    Deepstalker is in play, so Glen that build looks good

  22. - Top - End - #22
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by Citan View Post
    Glad everyone's advice was useful to you.

    A note about STR TWF: if you like it for versatility, you can do it fine without either Dual Wielder or Sharpshooter. It's just that both do bring some goodness as far as throwing weapons go. But you could very well start with "plain" TWF then consider taking one of them, or none of them, depending on how you feel you managed so far without.

    A note about Ranger / Barb: if you feel interested by it, don't fret too much about how to manage the rage / spells bipolarity. You can either play it as expected (one fight rage, one fight spells) since you won't have that many rages at first.
    Or just pick long duration, non-concentration spells such as Longstrider, Healing Words, or concentration but utility spells (speak with animals ?) and just play "plain Barb" for encounters.
    Sorry for the double post

    Citan I am going to run with the strength based TWF ranger.... have fun with it

    Hunter 4/ Cleric (knowledge) 1

    Human variant with outlander (dark vision is good enough)
    18/14/14/8/13/8

    Dual wielder
    AC 17 with breastplate and +1 from DW
    8 skills, 2 with double proficiency
    TWF from ranger

    I'll snag a level of fighter after ranger 6, and grab defensive style
    And maybe throw in a level of rogue

  23. - Top - End - #23
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    BardGuy

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by djreynolds View Post
    Sorry for the double post

    Citan I am going to run with the strength based TWF ranger.... have fun with it

    Hunter 4/ Cleric (knowledge) 1

    Human variant with outlander (dark vision is good enough)
    18/14/14/8/13/8

    Dual wielder
    AC 17 with breastplate and +1 from DW
    8 skills, 2 with double proficiency
    TWF from ranger

    I'll snag a level of fighter after ranger 6, and grab defensive style
    And maybe throw in a level of rogue
    Great, I agree with you, you will certainly have fun. ;)
    Long live your character ^^

  24. - Top - End - #24
    Bugbear in the Playground
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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Having just gotten through SKT from level 1 to 11, I want to give you some advice as a melee character (other than, don't do it):

    Giants have huge bonuses to hit and they have two attacks. Unless you have bladesinger-tier AC, you are going to get hit often, and brutally. Fire giants have +11 to hit (and they are far from the most threatening foe), two attacks, and do 28 damage on a hit. Unless you have 25+ AC and some sort of disadvantage-on-demand, don't even bother. Instead, I would splash in a level or three of barbarian. You don't need bear totem, because giants' worst attacks are bludgeoning and slashing, but you will absolutely need that fat hp stack. Even then, do not run up to confront more than one giant unless the party CC is backing you up.

  25. - Top - End - #25
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    If you want heavy armour then play a human and take heavily armoured at level 1. It comes with a built in point of strength, which is very handy.

    You could then use your 4th level ASI for PWM, or just raise your strength. PAM is good though, with the bonus damage from favoured enemy.

  26. - Top - End - #26
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    Kobold

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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Quote Originally Posted by Deathtongue View Post
    Having just gotten through SKT from level 1 to 11, I want to give you some advice as a melee character (other than, don't do it):

    Giants have huge bonuses to hit and they have two attacks. Unless you have bladesinger-tier AC, you are going to get hit often, and brutally. Fire giants have +11 to hit (and they are far from the most threatening foe), two attacks, and do 28 damage on a hit. Unless you have 25+ AC and some sort of disadvantage-on-demand, don't even bother. Instead, I would splash in a level or three of barbarian. You don't need bear totem, because giants' worst attacks are bludgeoning and slashing, but you will absolutely need that fat hp stack. Even then, do not run up to confront more than one giant unless the party CC is backing you up.
    I have to agree with this post. I played 3 characters in that game. The first one was a hexblade s&b. Then I played a mystic Jedi character ( my table wanted so see how thoes UA played). Both of them had 20 or higher AC. The rest of the party was ranged characters. My last character was a Shepherd druid that had a staff of the woodlands. I had a summon creature and my DM let me preform the Ritual to create a wood wart from volo's then I would animate a tree here and there. With my Minions and the player's servant from Artificer.

  27. - Top - End - #27
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Melee ranger for Storm King's Thunder, assistance and advice please

    Okay, so here are my rolls 15/15/12/11/11/10

    Its not a bad spread, but we can use point buy if we choose or our rolls or standard array

    I think these rolls, if I choose to use them, are better for a dex based ranger or strength based fighter or even paladin.

    The group is warlock, swashbuckler, moon druid (life cleric/monk dips), sorcerer, maybe a divination wizard.

    Though I really want to play a ranger for greater favored enemy in giants, these rolls could support 15/15/12/11/11/10 a battlemaster GWM with some war cleric

    I like tempest cleric but I'm guessing storm giants don't care about lightning or thunder damage

    10/15/15/11/12/11 could be a good spread for a dex based human variant ranger going melee

    Perhaps a barbarian with some battlemaster.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    If I do go fighter 1/ ranger 6/ barbarian 4

    I could begin with point buy 15/14/14/8/12/8.... toss those 2 +1s in strength and wis

    16/14/14/8/13/8 and grab GWM and take GWF style from fighter and defensive style from ranger and live in breast plate/scale for now

    Level 5 1 fighter/4 ranger 18/14/14/8/13/8
    Level 7 1 fighter/ 6 ranger 18/14/14/8/13/8 greater favored enemy
    Level 11 1 fighter/ 6 ranger/ 4 barbarian 20/14/14/8/13/8 bear totem

    Level 7 hunter ranger gives multi attack defense which could prove helpful versus giants multiattack (thanks Deathtounge)

    __________________--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I'm going to go human variant barbarian 2/ ranger 6 16/14/14/8/13/8 and grab GWM

    initially start as 2 barbarian and get to ranger 3 (hunter or deep stalker) and then go from there

    Reckless attack and GWM go nicely together. And I can rage when needed. I might take TWF, extra options, or defensive style
    Last edited by djreynolds; 2017-10-27 at 02:38 AM.

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