should i play ranger/rogue?

jaxaxe · Post by **jaxaxe** » Sat Aug 17, 2002 6:03 am

i am thinking about playing a ranger/rogue for my charachter, starting as a ranger to get ambidexterity and two- weapon fighting, and then putting in some rogue levels for the skill points , and choose exotic weapon proficiency for tmy feat. will probarbly elf for the race, and have him/her dualwield a katana, with a rpier in the off hand.

wot yoo fink?

smass · Post by **smass** » Sat Aug 17, 2002 7:24 am

I am pretty sure that a rapier is a medium size weapon - therefore you would have a penalty to your offhand. I have a similar character with weapon finese who uses a rapier in his main hand and a short sword in offhand. As long as the offhand weapon is small you get the full benefit of the dual wield skill.

Other impressions - I really like this character - reminds me of a stalker from BGII - with more thief skills. The restriction to light armor can be a problem in the beginning - make sure you have high dexterity for the bonuses. My stats started off something like this:

S-14
D-16
C-12
W-14
I-10
Ch-12

Good luck with the character - I have always been a fan of dual wielding - the fight annimation is pretty cool for this.

jaxaxe · Post by **jaxaxe** » Sat Aug 17, 2002 11:25 am

i'm sure that in the manual, it says : "medium-sized charachters may use the rapier as if it were a small weapon, making it an ideal off-hand weapon." this is why i chose it.

Eriks · Post by **Eriks** » Sat Aug 17, 2002 11:44 am

You are correct. Also, I suggest playing half-elf or human and take 3 Levels of Rogue, 2 levels barbarian and the rest Ranger. This will give you extra movement speed, extra hp, rage, extra skill points, good sneak attack, evasion and uncanny dodge., while also allowing your ranger levels to be high enough for casting all level spells and will generally allow you to be a good ranger, while getting a bunch of extra stuff. The reason you have to be half elf or human is so you dont suffer a penalty for the wide gap in class levels.

De_Priester · Post by **De_Priester** » Sat Aug 17, 2002 11:44 am

Dude imho just play it man only thing stopping you is yourself and appearantly you done your research so go have fun !

Eriks · Post by **Eriks** » Sat Aug 17, 2002 11:45 am

just a suggestion though, it entirely depends on what type of character you want to play.

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Sat Aug 17, 2002 12:47 pm

R/R is a great class to play and I wouldn't spend too much thoughts on weapons. Depending on your race you can always choose dagger or short sword as off-hand weapon. Eg Feyduster +1 is a great weapon for R/R, it's stunning effect let's all other attacks count as backstab once the target is stunned.

Eriks · Post by **Eriks** » Sat Aug 17, 2002 4:53 pm

I plan on trying using the Neversleep +1 and Neversleep +2 Rapiers as duel wield. One puts em to sleep other dazes, how cool is that?

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 6:21 am

It's the same with the Feyduster +1 and Feyduster +2 short swords but IMHO sleep isn't as good stun because because people stay helpless if stunned but they awake if hit while sleeping. Using two vampiric weapons against creatures immune to stun / sleep is nice too. I love the possibility to use short keys for weapon combos, I have four different combos "bookmarked" (unfortunately ring combos don't seem to work, altough they'd be pretty handy).

Ivory_Phoenix · Post by **Ivory_Phoenix** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 8:14 am

Starting Ranger?

You will NOT want to start a ranger...a big thing with thieves is skills, and they get a huge bonus to skills at level 1...so if you start as a ranger, when you multi, you will only get a handful of skills, rather than the bucket you could have...

archerknight · Post by **archerknight** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 9:44 am

I wouldn't put over 13 in wisdom. I didn't see much use in the higher level ranger spells. IMO the only realy useful ranger spells are the summoned animals. Loved the ranger/rogue combo for the short time I played it though.

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 12:39 pm

Cat's Grace (lvl 2) is a fine spell for this class - I never used any other spell though.

Astafas · Post by **Astafas** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 1:35 pm

You want to start as a Rogue in order to get the extra skill points
and then switch over to Ranger.

A Rapier in your off-hand will give you a -4/-4 despite what the manual says. This has been discussed several times at this board already and you can easily check it out yourself.

Nagroth · Post by **Nagroth** » Mon Aug 19, 2002 12:34 am

I play a Ranger/Rogue (10/5) and he´s seems to be way overpowered. He uses the Saint´s Legacy+1 katana and the Mercykiller rapier in his off- hand and just slaughtered two adult black dragons in a mod (To Heir is Human) without any problems.
Generally I think the characters are way too powerful, with all those attribute enhancing items. My Ranger has a str of 25, I believe, that´s way more than my Ranger in BG2, an he was Bhaalspawn, after all.
BTW, does anybody know if these attribute- related advantages (like more skills with higher intelligence) refer to basic stats or stats plus enhancements by items ?