I am new to D&D so please bare with me if I miss speak or not as knowledgeable about every nook and cranny of this AWESOME game.
Here is some background. We are starting a new campaign with level one characters. Our DM has given us a hit that it will take place in Crystal shard using only the PHB. Which I am not happy with because of the options from other resource would be so awesome but I digress.
My thought of how I want to build my charter is to build a fighter/ranger build. Taking Archery fighting style in the fighter class, Athletics and acrobatics as my proficiencies, going into battle master. Then when specing into Ranger for 3 lvls, for me mainly for TWF. Maybe put in slide of hand based on being a soldier
What I want is for two short-sword build that is great and long bow wearing leather to start to allow for stealth and such then by 20 be wearing plate maybe and can be semi front line or back line depending on the maneuver success.
If you’re multiclassing into Ranger mainly for TWF, I’d really suggest picking TWF with your first Fighter level. You can be a really good archer without the Archery Fighting Style (maybe pick up the Sharpshooter feat later on), as you’ll be going for a high Dex character anyway. Picking up Ranger levels might still be worth it for the other Ranger goodies, but if it’s about the Fighting Style I wouldn’t bother. You can also take the Outlander background to add a Ranger-like feel to your Fighter.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
When considering multiclassing it is always useful to ask yourself which features of each class are important to you, and how long are you willing to wait for them?
Which aspects of the character are more important: two-weapon fighting or archery? Ranger or Fighter? Light armour and stealth or heavy armour?
If you want to eventually be wearing plate armour then you will need to start Fighter as you can't get proficiency in heavy armour via multiclassing into Fighter, also you will need at least 15 Strength in order to wear it without a speed penalty. This can be difficult to achieve on a Dexterity focused build, which you seem to be keen on. Plate armour also applies disadvantage to Stealth and so seems to contradict the early path of the character. I would recommend maximising Dexterity and sticking to Studded Leather, or acquiring a set of Half-Plate and the Medium Armour Master feat. With a 20 Dex, your AC would be 17 in former case or 18 in the latter, you would also not have disadvantage on Stealth checks in both instances.
Since both Ranger and Fighter grant Extra Attack at level 5, which doesn't stack, it is advisable to take only one class to 5th level and to do so as soon as possible as Extra Attack is a significant increase in power. If you were to focus Fighter, would 3/4 levels of Ranger be sufficient for your character? This would delay Extra Attack (2) until level 14/15.
Two-weapon Fighting is generally less effective in this edition than in previous editions, primarily because you only ever get one off-hand attack and it requires a Bonus Action to use, which means that you have to decide whether to cast/reapply Hunter's Mark, use Second Wind or make your off-hand attack. Without the Dual Wielder feat you can also only draw/sheathe a single weapon as your free object interaction on your turn (your DM may house rule this limitation away, mine does). If you want the character to be able to mix it up in both melee and at range I would instead recommend looking at the Dueling fighting style and wielding one short sword (or a rapier). This grants extra damage that scales with the number of attacks and works with a shield if you find yourself needing to use one.
Since you are big time restricted to PHB, I would recommend a different setup. Fighter 6 / Rogue X.
I politely disagree with pangurjan in terms of Fighting Style. You can actually TWF pretty well without the fighting style and Archery is the best fighting style by far.
Go all-in Fighter Battlemaster up to level 5-6, boost your DEX, grab Sharpshooter and carefully choose battle maneuvers that can be used both ranged and melee. Precision Strike + Archery are perfect to enable Sharpshooter.
After that, I would invest everything in Rogue. You’ll improve your versatility with skills and Expertise, Cunning Action will add a lot for your combat style and Sneak Attack damage is icy on top of everything.
I politely disagree with pangurjan in terms of Fighting Style. You can actually TWF pretty well without the fighting style and Archery is the best fighting style by far.
That’s perfectly fine. Either can work without the corresponding fighting style, to be honest. I just (possibly incorrectly) assumed from the first post that Thingsastray valued the TWF part more. Whichever the preference, multiclassing just for a second Fighting Style is arguably not the best idea. The extras might make it worth your while (a couple of spells slots per long rest are pretty snazzy, and picking up an archetype isn’t the worst thing either) if your heart is set on it, but objectively I wouldn’t recommend it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I politely disagree with pangurjan in terms of Fighting Style. You can actually TWF pretty well without the fighting style and Archery is the best fighting style by far.
That’s perfectly fine. Either can work without the corresponding fighting style, to be honest. I just (possibly incorrectly) assumed from the first post that Thingsastray valued the TWF part more. Whichever the preference, multiclassing just for a second Fighting Style is arguably not the best idea. The extras might make it worth your while (a couple of spells slots per long rest are pretty snazzy, and picking up an archetype isn’t the worst thing either) if your heart is set on it, but objectively I wouldn’t recommend it.
100% agreed. Unfortunately Rangers should be the ideal TWF masters but there’s some conflicts between Hunters Mark and other spells triggered through bonus action that really jeopardize the intention.
The multi class was not just for TWF. It was the ability to do damage at range and at melee. If I wasnt restricted to PHB I would be going Warforged Celric Forged Domain with a Faction agent background. But seeing how this my first ever campaign they are telling me to KISS the character creation which has me a little bummed out. Not being able to create what I want and such.
I love the information Im getting here. I also wanted to a Barbarian/Rogue set up as well. Im just so new to the game I dont know how to connect all the pieces yet.
I'm playing a Gloomstalker / Echo Knight multiclass, which is enormous fun, but I do have far too many choices for my bonus action.
Based on only having the players handbook and the character style your looking for I'd go for battlemaster / rogue combo, in order to get the damage and skills build you're looking for. Unless you are set on having some magic.
I could get two shits about magic tbh. I just want the ability to reck shit both up close and from a distance
Magic, particularly the Hunter’s Mark spell, is a not insignificant part of a ranger’s damage potential. Both up close and from a distance. But if you don’t care about magic, that’s another reason not to multiclass.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
The multi class was not just for TWF. It was the ability to do damage at range and at melee. If I wasnt restricted to PHB I would be going Warforged Celric Forged Domain with a Faction agent background. But seeing how this my first ever campaign they are telling me to KISS the character creation which has me a little bummed out. Not being able to create what I want and such.
I love the information Im getting here. I also wanted to a Barbarian/Rogue set up as well. Im just so new to the game I dont know how to connect all the pieces yet.
Thank you everyone.
I got your main objective and that’s why I suggested Rogue multiclass. You can improve both melee and ranged damage through Sneak Attack and have great utility with skills, etc.
The multi class was not just for TWF. It was the ability to do damage at range and at melee. If I wasnt restricted to PHB I would be going Warforged Celric Forged Domain with a Faction agent background. But seeing how this my first ever campaign they are telling me to KISS the character creation which has me a little bummed out. Not being able to create what I want and such.
I love the information Im getting here. I also wanted to a Barbarian/Rogue set up as well. Im just so new to the game I dont know how to connect all the pieces yet.
Thank you everyone.
I got your main objective and that’s why I suggested Rogue multiclass. You can improve both melee and ranged damage through Sneak Attack and have great utility with skills, etc.
I could get two shits about magic tbh. I just want the ability to reck shit both up close and from a distance
You said you were considering a cleric, well if you want close and ranged damage, Take a look at tempest cleric. Heavy armor, martial weapons, class features that give you really good melee bonuses, and spells to take care of range. Then you can also stay single class, which is always best for new players.
originally I was going to go dex because I love the saves and thematically I think heavy armor is too chunky but something less than full play might suffice.
now I’m thinking of strength with a versatile weapon - I like the polearm build but I don’t want to be that cheese, and also I think it would be a better fit for a different character (maybe still gloom echo) but mine is a bit of a bounty hunter and into close quarters melee. I was pretty bummed about the offhand as I didn’t want a shield but I think grapple is looking pretty good (from the knight not through the echo) and with sentinel to also lockdown the battlefield.
im looking at custom lineage, half orc, bugbear, stout half-ling I like the racial features but the small size seems a bit unusual with high strength grappling.
anyways, what origin(race) did you build with, and did you start ranger or fighter? I’m thinking fighter for the con saves, either way I can work it into the backstory.
im thinking blindfighting and duelist for the fighting styles, sentinel for a feat,
considering alert, prodigy, Elven accuracy but not sure how long a game would go
Restricting options to the Players handbook is fine. Sure, there are a ton of wicked cool options in other sources, but don't worry, you'll hopefully be playing this game for a very long time and you'll eventually play a TON of characters of all kinds. In fact, probably the one downside to playing D&D is knowing that you'll never live long enough to play all the characters you'll want to play.
Anyhow. Ranger/Battlemaster is a great combo, and Archery is definitely the best fighting style for that. But! Don't switch out at level 3. Wait until level 5. That will give you two attacks per round and your first Ability Score Improvement. If you do 3 levels of Ranger then switch into Fighter you'll be a total of level 7 before you get your first ASI and level 8 before you get to attacks per round. Doing 5 levels then switching puts your ASI schedule just 1 behind rather than 3.
Athletics and Acrobatics are good choices. You definitely also want to take Survival, since that's your primary job as a ranger, and Perception will help you see danger coming. If you play an elf you'll get Perception for free, plus elves have a great Dexterity bonus, which boosts your archery skills and your Armor Class. So you get two skills for your background, three for the ranger class, and maybe 1 for your race. As an elf you could start with Athletics, Survival, Acrobatics, Perception, Stealth, and Nature. That would be my suggestion.
As far as armor - no, you won't be wearing plate. Ever. Longbows and shortswords are both Dexterity-based weapons. Your stealth and acrobatics also require Dex. Heavy armor gives you disadvantage on Dexterity checks. Keep the light armor (studded leather AC 12) and max out your Dexterity. Chain mail is AC 16. Studded leather and a 20 Dex is AC 17. Don't focus on absorbing the hits, focus on avoiding them. Dex lets you do that. Plus there are battlemaster maneuvers that enhance your defenses, and Hunter Ranger can get Evasion at high levels, and you've got Second Wind if you need it. And make sure you're on good terms with your party's healer.
However you choose to build your character, please remember, build a good backstory too! Your stats tell us what you can do. But your background tells us who you are! And please don't think you need some dramatic, elaborate, edgy background. I once played a halfling ranger who learned his stealth and tracking skills by picking mushrooms in the forest at night and avoiding monsters. He made a nice living selling those mushrooms to the local tavern. But when the owner of the tavern retired, the place went downhill and I lost my best customer. So I decided to give adventuring a try. Make it as simple or as complicated, as folksy or as edgy as you want. But invest the time to develop a fully-realized three dimensional character. You'll enjoy playing it so much more in the long run.
I am new to D&D so please bare with me if I miss speak or not as knowledgeable about every nook and cranny of this AWESOME game.
Here is some background. We are starting a new campaign with level one characters. Our DM has given us a hit that it will take place in Crystal shard using only the PHB. Which I am not happy with because of the options from other resource would be so awesome but I digress.
My thought of how I want to build my charter is to build a fighter/ranger build. Taking Archery fighting style in the fighter class, Athletics and acrobatics as my proficiencies, going into battle master. Then when specing into Ranger for 3 lvls, for me mainly for TWF. Maybe put in slide of hand based on being a soldier
What I want is for two short-sword build that is great and long bow wearing leather to start to allow for stealth and such then by 20 be wearing plate maybe and can be semi front line or back line depending on the maneuver success.
Please HELP!!!!!
If you’re multiclassing into Ranger mainly for TWF, I’d really suggest picking TWF with your first Fighter level. You can be a really good archer without the Archery Fighting Style (maybe pick up the Sharpshooter feat later on), as you’ll be going for a high Dex character anyway. Picking up Ranger levels might still be worth it for the other Ranger goodies, but if it’s about the Fighting Style I wouldn’t bother. You can also take the Outlander background to add a Ranger-like feel to your Fighter.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
When considering multiclassing it is always useful to ask yourself which features of each class are important to you, and how long are you willing to wait for them?
Which aspects of the character are more important: two-weapon fighting or archery? Ranger or Fighter? Light armour and stealth or heavy armour?
If you want to eventually be wearing plate armour then you will need to start Fighter as you can't get proficiency in heavy armour via multiclassing into Fighter, also you will need at least 15 Strength in order to wear it without a speed penalty. This can be difficult to achieve on a Dexterity focused build, which you seem to be keen on. Plate armour also applies disadvantage to Stealth and so seems to contradict the early path of the character. I would recommend maximising Dexterity and sticking to Studded Leather, or acquiring a set of Half-Plate and the Medium Armour Master feat. With a 20 Dex, your AC would be 17 in former case or 18 in the latter, you would also not have disadvantage on Stealth checks in both instances.
Since both Ranger and Fighter grant Extra Attack at level 5, which doesn't stack, it is advisable to take only one class to 5th level and to do so as soon as possible as Extra Attack is a significant increase in power. If you were to focus Fighter, would 3/4 levels of Ranger be sufficient for your character? This would delay Extra Attack (2) until level 14/15.
Two-weapon Fighting is generally less effective in this edition than in previous editions, primarily because you only ever get one off-hand attack and it requires a Bonus Action to use, which means that you have to decide whether to cast/reapply Hunter's Mark, use Second Wind or make your off-hand attack. Without the Dual Wielder feat you can also only draw/sheathe a single weapon as your free object interaction on your turn (your DM may house rule this limitation away, mine does). If you want the character to be able to mix it up in both melee and at range I would instead recommend looking at the Dueling fighting style and wielding one short sword (or a rapier). This grants extra damage that scales with the number of attacks and works with a shield if you find yourself needing to use one.
Thanks to you both for reply. Im might have to rethink this design.
Since you are big time restricted to PHB, I would recommend a different setup. Fighter 6 / Rogue X.
I politely disagree with pangurjan in terms of Fighting Style. You can actually TWF pretty well without the fighting style and Archery is the best fighting style by far.
Go all-in Fighter Battlemaster up to level 5-6, boost your DEX, grab Sharpshooter and carefully choose battle maneuvers that can be used both ranged and melee. Precision Strike + Archery are perfect to enable Sharpshooter.
After that, I would invest everything in Rogue. You’ll improve your versatility with skills and Expertise, Cunning Action will add a lot for your combat style and Sneak Attack damage is icy on top of everything.
That’s perfectly fine. Either can work without the corresponding fighting style, to be honest. I just (possibly incorrectly) assumed from the first post that Thingsastray valued the TWF part more. Whichever the preference, multiclassing just for a second Fighting Style is arguably not the best idea. The extras might make it worth your while (a couple of spells slots per long rest are pretty snazzy, and picking up an archetype isn’t the worst thing either) if your heart is set on it, but objectively I wouldn’t recommend it.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
100% agreed. Unfortunately Rangers should be the ideal TWF masters but there’s some conflicts between Hunters Mark and other spells triggered through bonus action that really jeopardize the intention.
The multi class was not just for TWF. It was the ability to do damage at range and at melee. If I wasnt restricted to PHB I would be going Warforged Celric Forged Domain with a Faction agent background. But seeing how this my first ever campaign they are telling me to KISS the character creation which has me a little bummed out. Not being able to create what I want and such.
I love the information Im getting here. I also wanted to a Barbarian/Rogue set up as well. Im just so new to the game I dont know how to connect all the pieces yet.
Thank you everyone.
I'm playing a Gloomstalker / Echo Knight multiclass, which is enormous fun, but I do have far too many choices for my bonus action.
Based on only having the players handbook and the character style your looking for I'd go for battlemaster / rogue combo, in order to get the damage and skills build you're looking for. Unless you are set on having some magic.
I could get two shits about magic tbh. I just want the ability to reck shit both up close and from a distance
Magic, particularly the Hunter’s Mark spell, is a not insignificant part of a ranger’s damage potential. Both up close and from a distance. But if you don’t care about magic, that’s another reason not to multiclass.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I got your main objective and that’s why I suggested Rogue multiclass. You can improve both melee and ranged damage through Sneak Attack and have great utility with skills, etc.
Thank you. Ill keep that in mind
You said you were considering a cleric, well if you want close and ranged damage, Take a look at tempest cleric. Heavy armor, martial weapons, class features that give you really good melee bonuses, and spells to take care of range.
Then you can also stay single class, which is always best for new players.
Hey I’m mapping out this multi class right now!
originally I was going to go dex because I love the saves and thematically I think heavy armor is too chunky but something less than full play might suffice.
now I’m thinking of strength with a versatile weapon - I like the polearm build but I don’t want to be that cheese, and also I think it would be a better fit for a different character (maybe still gloom echo) but mine is a bit of a bounty hunter and into close quarters melee. I was pretty bummed about the offhand as I didn’t want a shield but I think grapple is looking pretty good (from the knight not through the echo) and with sentinel to also lockdown the battlefield.
im looking at custom lineage, half orc, bugbear, stout half-ling I like the racial features but the small size seems a bit unusual with high strength grappling.
anyways, what origin(race) did you build with, and did you start ranger or fighter? I’m thinking fighter for the con saves, either way I can work it into the backstory.
im thinking blindfighting and duelist for the fighting styles, sentinel for a feat,
considering alert, prodigy, Elven accuracy but not sure how long a game would go
Welcome to the tables!
Restricting options to the Players handbook is fine. Sure, there are a ton of wicked cool options in other sources, but don't worry, you'll hopefully be playing this game for a very long time and you'll eventually play a TON of characters of all kinds. In fact, probably the one downside to playing D&D is knowing that you'll never live long enough to play all the characters you'll want to play.
Anyhow. Ranger/Battlemaster is a great combo, and Archery is definitely the best fighting style for that. But! Don't switch out at level 3. Wait until level 5. That will give you two attacks per round and your first Ability Score Improvement. If you do 3 levels of Ranger then switch into Fighter you'll be a total of level 7 before you get your first ASI and level 8 before you get to attacks per round. Doing 5 levels then switching puts your ASI schedule just 1 behind rather than 3.
Athletics and Acrobatics are good choices. You definitely also want to take Survival, since that's your primary job as a ranger, and Perception will help you see danger coming. If you play an elf you'll get Perception for free, plus elves have a great Dexterity bonus, which boosts your archery skills and your Armor Class. So you get two skills for your background, three for the ranger class, and maybe 1 for your race. As an elf you could start with Athletics, Survival, Acrobatics, Perception, Stealth, and Nature. That would be my suggestion.
As far as armor - no, you won't be wearing plate. Ever. Longbows and shortswords are both Dexterity-based weapons. Your stealth and acrobatics also require Dex. Heavy armor gives you disadvantage on Dexterity checks. Keep the light armor (studded leather AC 12) and max out your Dexterity. Chain mail is AC 16. Studded leather and a 20 Dex is AC 17. Don't focus on absorbing the hits, focus on avoiding them. Dex lets you do that. Plus there are battlemaster maneuvers that enhance your defenses, and Hunter Ranger can get Evasion at high levels, and you've got Second Wind if you need it. And make sure you're on good terms with your party's healer.
However you choose to build your character, please remember, build a good backstory too! Your stats tell us what you can do. But your background tells us who you are! And please don't think you need some dramatic, elaborate, edgy background. I once played a halfling ranger who learned his stealth and tracking skills by picking mushrooms in the forest at night and avoiding monsters. He made a nice living selling those mushrooms to the local tavern. But when the owner of the tavern retired, the place went downhill and I lost my best customer. So I decided to give adventuring a try. Make it as simple or as complicated, as folksy or as edgy as you want. But invest the time to develop a fully-realized three dimensional character. You'll enjoy playing it so much more in the long run.
Welcome again, and HAVE FUN!
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Wrangler of cats.