I am trying to figure out whether a Dragonborn or Leonin would be a better choice for a Fey Wanderer Ranger. Here is how I see the comparison, any advice or experience?
In either case this is going to be a Druid Warrior wisdom build (16/17 to start) with a good charisma (13/14 to start) and be the party face.
Dragonborn:
Starts with a 16 Wisdom, 14 Dex, 14 constitution, 13 Charisma and boosts Charisma to 14 at level 4 with the dragonfear feat
Fizban is a huge buff to Dragonborn allowing them to breathe PB bonus times a day and being able to do it as an attack. Also metallics get an additional breath at 5th level so they can breath PB+1 times per day.
This would be an awesome combination when combined with the Dragonfear feat and Beguiling Twist from Fey Wanderer. You could change these to the fear breath, use it PB+1 times as one of your two attacks and then twist it every time someone saves.
Leonin
Starts with a 17 Wisdom, 14 Dex, 12 constitution, 14 Charisma and boosts Wisdom to 18 at level 4 with the Shadow Touched Feat, also picking up the cause Fear spell with Shadow touched.
Gets to roar once per SR causing fear to all within 10' with the Fey Wanderer again twisting it.
Leonin gets the initmidation skill, which is difficult to get with the Dragonborn.
Comparing the two, the Leonin can use his fear as a bonus, which is better than the Dragon Fear which has to be an attack, but he can only use it once per short rest and it only lasts a turn if the enemy fails the first save. He could also cast cause fear for this and can even upcast it with Ranger slots but that requires an entire action. Finally having a 12 constitition means the save for the initial fear is lower than the Dragonborn who would have a 14. On the other hand the Leonin build has a higher wisdom after 4th level and is better on the twist saves, on Ranger spell saves and on attacks and damage.
You can round up con with Dragon Fear, but the dragon fear save is Charisma based (although with Leonin that would not matter)
The Dragonfear save aside, I would not dump Charisma to go above 14 Constitution with point buy. It is just too much to spend to go above that for 1 hp a level and it does not give you enough more hps to make it worth the 2-point difference in Charisma skill checks that you will suffer. You also need to dump Charisma or intelligence to 8 (and the other to 10) to get to 16 constitution and 17 Wisdom
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I am trying to figure out whether a Dragonborn or Leonin would be a better choice for a Fey Wanderer Ranger. Here is how I see the comparison, any advice or experience?
In either case this is going to be a Druid Warrior wisdom build (16/17 to start) with a good charisma (13/14 to start) and be the party face.
Dragonborn:
Starts with a 16 Wisdom, 14 Dex, 14 constitution, 13 Charisma and boosts Charisma to 14 at level 4 with the dragonfear feat
Fizban is a huge buff to Dragonborn allowing them to breathe PB bonus times a day and being able to do it as an attack. Also metallics get an additional breath at 5th level so they can breath PB+1 times per day.
This would be an awesome combination when combined with the Dragonfear feat and Beguiling Twist from Fey Wanderer. You could change these to the fear breath, use it PB+1 times as one of your two attacks and then twist it every time someone saves.
Leonin
Starts with a 17 Wisdom, 14 Dex, 12 constitution, 14 Charisma and boosts Wisdom to 18 at level 4 with the Shadow Touched Feat, also picking up the cause Fear spell with Shadow touched.
Gets to roar once per SR causing fear to all within 10' with the Fey Wanderer again twisting it.
Leonin gets the initmidation skill, which is difficult to get with the Dragonborn.
Comparing the two, the Leonin can use his fear as a bonus, which is better than the Dragon Fear which has to be an attack, but he can only use it once per short rest and it only lasts a turn if the enemy fails the first save. He could also cast cause fear for this and can even upcast it with Ranger slots but that requires an entire action. Finally having a 12 constitition means the save for the initial fear is lower than the Dragonborn who would have a 14. On the other hand the Leonin build has a higher wisdom after 4th level and is better on the twist saves, on Ranger spell saves and on attacks and damage.
What do you think?
I would dump CHA entirely since WIS will give everything you need. You can round up CON with Dragon Fear as well, right?
Well, I would go Leonin with WIS 17, DEX 14, CON 16, CHA 10 and it’s fine.
Thanks!
You can round up con with Dragon Fear, but the dragon fear save is Charisma based (although with Leonin that would not matter)
The Dragonfear save aside, I would not dump Charisma to go above 14 Constitution with point buy. It is just too much to spend to go above that for 1 hp a level and it does not give you enough more hps to make it worth the 2-point difference in Charisma skill checks that you will suffer. You also need to dump Charisma or intelligence to 8 (and the other to 10) to get to 16 constitution and 17 Wisdom