A good ranger build?

[Domi_Ash]

Heya, I was wondering if the power-gaming aces could suggest a good build for a ranger, female, half-elven for me? No extreme min-maxing, though, if possible, I want her Inteligence and Charisma set to at least 10.

Thank you!

[Redrake]

Str: 12
Dex: 16
Con: 14
Int: 10
Wis: 12
Cha: 12

Weapon Finesse with Small Blades and NG or LG alignment.
I used this build plenty of times. 12 Charisma is for Animal Empathy skill and because for roleplaying purposes half-elves are good looking.

[kmonster]

From the powergaming point of view the 12 instead of 10 cha is useless, the 2 points are better spent for higher strength.
I'd even start with 15 str and 11 wis, raise wis to 14 at level 4,8 and 12 and str later.
Good feats are dodge and rapid shot.

[kmonster]

The best choice for favored enemy is goblins.

[Domi_Ash]

Thanks, folks.

[Redrake]

The best choice for favored enemy is goblins.

Goblins? Goblins are easy to kill. Why would you want a ranger to get bonus against a creature that most of the time dies with only one hit? Favored enemies should go to creatures that are found often in the game and are of medium to hard difficulty to dispatch. In that regard giants, trolls and undead are the winners. Goblins are too easy to kill and can only be found in the prologue and Chapter 1.
The same is true about IWD1. I find dreadful the builds where people go for a ranger/cleric with skeletons as favored enemies. Sure, there are many skeletons in the game but they are too easy to kill. You don't need the extra bonus against them. Trolls, spectral undead and giants are the best racial enemy to be picked in IWD1. Especially giants. There's not shortage of them in the game.

[kmonster]

The hardest battles in IWD2 are in the first chapter. The bonus to hit and damage will often make the difference. There are far less battles with giants, trolls or undead, they are easier and +1 damage doesn't make that much of a difference any more when the monsters have 100 HP.
PS: Even in the last chapter you have to fight a half-goblin.

[Domi_Ash]

I like goblin suggestion because it also makes RP sense, actually (ie Targos is under attack from a goblin horde).

[Sir_Toejam]

as to the goblins... can't you purchase an anti-goblin dagger from the wife of the lord?

If you are playing the "undead targos" mod, obviously the better choice would be to take undead as your first favored enemy, and buy the goblin slaying dagger.

even without the dagger (it's pricey), I still think you will be better off picking undead as your first, as when you hit level 5, it will add 2 damage instead of one, and that can be useful if you are attacking undead with things like swords and bows, since most undead are resistant.

[Klorox]

The best Ranger build involve taking only 1 level of Ranger, and not being a Half-Elf.

[kmonster]

as to the goblins... can't you purchase an anti-goblin dagger from the wife of the lord?

The anti-goblin dagger does only 3-6 damage vs goblins, it's quite useless.
But there's a very effective anti-undead weapon in the game and you can even turn them.

[Sir_Toejam]

The anti-goblin dagger does only 3-6 damage vs goblins, it's quite useless.
But there's a very effective anti-undead weapon in the game and you can even turn them.

ah, I'm thinking of the HOF version; it kills gobbos instantly.

btw, that "very effective" weapon you get much later, and really, for high level undead (ones with base fort saves over 9), it only has about a 5% chance (unless you modify the effect via editor) of dispelling undead/outsiders.

low level undead (and those with fort saves under 5) can be taken out fairly quickly with it.

as for turning... rangers don't turn undead, so that seems a rather tangential point to raise.

...which leaves what i said earlier - if you are trying to play a RANGER, then undead are tough unless you pick them early on as hated enemy.

[Redrake]

The best Ranger build involve taking only 1 level of Ranger, and not being a Half-Elf.

And it is called powergaming. In case you failed to notice Domi is searching for ideas to improve her IWD2 NPC mod.

[GawainBS]

And it is called powergaming. In case you failed to notice Domi is searching for ideas to improve her IWD2 NPC mod.

She asked the powergamers for help, so you should accept the fact that rangers are barely viable in IWDII.
Domi, if you're looking to improve your NPC-mod, don't go for such things as 12 CHA for a ranger. It's worse enough that it is a half-elf Ranger.

If you want a singleclassed Ranger, I'd suggest this:
STR 18
DEX 14
CON 18
INT 10
WIS 14
CHA 6 (Or lower and higher INT/WIS/DEX.)
On a sidenote: Rangers aren't known for their great social skills.

If you could live with some multiclassing, a personal favourite, but by no means uber, would be:
Ranger 4/Fighter 4/Wizard 22.
STR 18
DEX 12
CON 18
INT 18
WIS 8
CHA 6

[Redrake]

I think she was just being sarcastic when she said powergaming aces. 12 Cha is good for roleplaying which is what her mod is all about. Same for half-elves. Cha 6 means only one thing, she's ugly as hell.

[kmonster]

12 cha is good for roleplaying a beauty queen, but not for a ranger. It's actually bad for the roleplaying feeling if the character with the weakest class/race combo has also weak stats since the balance among the party members suffers.
If a stat is useless for powergaming you can't conclude that it's good for roleplaying. For roleplaying raising int is better than raising cha since it will allow to spend more points for the skills you'd exspect a ranger to have.

[GawainBS]

First off: CHA isn't all about beauty. That's only a (minor) part of it. Lo, behold a quote from the allmighty SRD!

CHARISMA (CHA)
Charisma measures a character’s force of personality, persuasiveness, personal magnetism, ability to lead, and physical attractiveness. This ability represents actual strength of personality, not merely how one is perceived by others in a social setting.

I'm glad Kmonster already explained that powergaming isn't diametrically opposed to RP.
On the contrary: an adventurer would most likely optimize/powerbuild, since that grants him the greatest chances of survival and exell in his field of expertise. The majority of Rangers (or Fighters for that matter) would have low CHA, since their training allows for little opportunity to socialize, banter, get to know people, etc. Most Rangers would live far away from civilisation and thus most aspects of CHA would be neglected because it grants them no advantage. ("Please, pretty please, Mr. Lightning Storm, don't strike me down!" *puppy eyes* wouldn't be so effective to survive a storm in the woods, but being strong (STR), hardy (CON) and woodswise (Survival and INT, and WIS) enough to find and make a shelter would.)

For a CHA 6 character, you might as well interpret it as her being shy or silent or timid.

[Domi_Ash]

I am not trying to be sarcastic about powergamers. I am trying to find a compromise style build that will both make sense for the character I envision and will make a viable companion - not as good as your PC you create from scratch but helpful enough. This is the same principle as used in creating NPCs in BG series.

To answer your question, no, I don't see Leida as shy; as a ranger she did meet plenty of people and served as a guide through the wilderness, a protector and as she travels. Charisma is an essential skill for someone who travels on her own, to be able to convince the strangers that they should offer her food and shelter. Plus she grew up in a big city. She can definetly lead. She is a male PC romantic interest; she might not be a beauty queen, but she is attractive. Her charisma is average or higher than average. I can throw in a couple of illegal points there, since it does not affect her ranger abilities, so, I would be looking at the 'natural' range of 8 to 10, perhaps.

As for her race it's a toss-up between a human and a half-elf. Though if dwarves or tieflings make great rangers, please, let me know.

Multiclassing is up to a player, really, in IWD2, but the 'official' version will be pure class, me thinks.

So, perhaps, if strenth-based build is better than dex-based build:

STR 18
DEX 14
CON 16
INT 10
WIS 14
CHA 8 + 2 'illegal' points to the total of 10.

[Claudius]

Its about time for a dwarf female love interest That would be interesting.

On a serious note I agree goblin is good racial enemy. Also orc is good. And troll. I would have weapon finesse because your going to want a light weapon to avoid dualwielding penalty for 2 medium weapons.

Also I think that wilderness lore would be good since its a ranger and it can avoid the annoyance factor of the fell wood maze.

I think a ranger love interest pretty much needs every stat available. Just up to your taste what mix. I believe the classic ranger can cast spells (WIS) has skill (INT) can deal a little damage (str) and use missiles (dex). Also I never heard of a sickly frail ranger (CON)

[Domi_Ash]

Heh, I already have a druid who teleports you around the FF on request to skip the headache, but she will definetly have wilderness lore.

I am not hot on a Dwarven Female NPC to romance, since I already have a Gnome.