I was wondering, are wood elf rangers as a concept too trite, or is there a way to freshen up the concept but still use those AMAZING stats? Is it a lost cause? Should i just at least use a spring Eladrin instead? Make up for the loss of the wisdom bump with fey teleport? Does that make up for the loss of wisdom? How useful is wisdom anyhow?
Here's a character concept based on MToF and SCAG lore (could work for eladrin ranger too):
-Skeptical of civilization.
-Has visions of a past life.
-Worships the elf gods of archery and nature. Prays to Corellon Larethian for help understanding the visions of his past life.
I know it's cool to play against type, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with leaning into a classic character archetype. The reason they became classics is usually because a) they tend to work pretty well mechanically, and b) they lend themselves well to backstory creation. Even within the classic character types there's plenty of room to develop the specifics of your character's abilities, personality, history, etc. Not every Wood Elf Fighter has to be Legolas, and not every Human Ranger has to be Aragorn :)
For rangers, depends on the subclass and spell choices. Gloom stalkers (the best ranger subclass (my opinion)) get to add their WIS mod to initiative. And around half your attack spell options require saves, though not all.
For rangers, depends on the subclass and spell choices. Gloom stalkers (the best ranger subclass (my opinion)) get to add their WIS mod to initiative. And around half your attack spell options require saves, though not all.
And Rangers have a LOT of spell choices that don't depend on your Wisdom score, so a Ranger build without a high Wisdom is absolutely possible as long as you don't mind having weaker than expected Perception and Survival bonuses(two skills that Rangers are normally expected to be good at).
well, i went ahead and built a wood elf ranger, turns out I just had to put more though into the backstory, but still, i would love to be able to misty step around.
I was going to mention that the Player's Handbook (PHB) kinda addresses how similar characters are different. I feel that the same could be said to a character that is a cliche. They are a blueprint that your own details to so that they are unique.
PHB - Ch: 4 Personality and Background This goes through some of the character creation steps, but it also gives reference to two official characters, Tika Waylan (Dragonlance) and Artemis Entreri (Forgotten Realms), since they are both Fighter/Rogues with similar Strength and Dexterity but their details makes each of them VERY different.
Trying not to rant, but just don't outright photocopy an existing character. Playing on user made modules of the old Neverwinter Nights PC game, I spoke to some people who developed online persistent worlds. They would eventually outlaw "odd" characters because, no joke, 25% of the server would play Good aligned Drow. And about 20% of the server would be "Chaotic Good, Drow Elf, Ranger, Dual-Wielding Scimitars, with a Panther Animal Companion, being chased by assassins from the Underdark, and a name that usually started with a D- or Dr-, had at least an i in it, one or two z's, and ended with a -z or a -t, and a couple apostrophes thrown in for flavor." Which is past the point of taking a cliche and into the category of cloning.
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Good luck and may you roll 20's when you need them and 1's when you need a laugh. - myself
Multiclass can take you a long way. I play a wood elf prince who is hunting down his younger brother who usurpered the throne after killing their father.
was trained to be a fighter, was outlawed and lived as a ranger for 8 years.
Now long after he is a ranger5/rogue3/fighter1 who in essence plays like an assassin :)
Our wood elf ranger took the wood elf magic feat, and of course produce flame for pure style, sets his left (bow) hand on fire (doesn't burn your equipment etc remember) then calmly walks around drawing fire arrows from his quiver which light when at full draw on his bow ... pure style shooting flaming arrows all over the place, with sharpshooter etc ...
Is Wis useful? depends, if you rolled ballistic stats then yeah it is, 20 Dex and 20 Wis and 1 level of monk gives you a 20AC ...
I was wondering, are wood elf rangers as a concept too trite, or is there a way to freshen up the concept but still use those AMAZING stats? Is it a lost cause? Should i just at least use a spring Eladrin instead? Make up for the loss of the wisdom bump with fey teleport? Does that make up for the loss of wisdom? How useful is wisdom anyhow?
Here's a character concept based on MToF and SCAG lore (could work for eladrin ranger too):
-Skeptical of civilization.
-Has visions of a past life.
-Worships the elf gods of archery and nature. Prays to Corellon Larethian for help understanding the visions of his past life.
Is this still to unoriginal?
I did NOT eat those hikers.
You say cliche, someone else might say classic :)
I know it's cool to play against type, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with leaning into a classic character archetype. The reason they became classics is usually because a) they tend to work pretty well mechanically, and b) they lend themselves well to backstory creation. Even within the classic character types there's plenty of room to develop the specifics of your character's abilities, personality, history, etc. Not every Wood Elf Fighter has to be Legolas, and not every Human Ranger has to be Aragorn :)
Are they cliche? Yes.
Is there a problem with that? No.
Does changing wood elf for Eladrin while still falling into all the elf ranger stereotypes make it less unoriginal? A little.
Is there a problem with that? No.
See where I'm going with this?
Hmm, yeah i’ve just had writer’s block recently, and I get angry at myself when I think of an idea somebody else has already use, even if it works
I did NOT eat those hikers.
But really, how useful is wisdom?
I did NOT eat those hikers.
For rangers, depends on the subclass and spell choices. Gloom stalkers (the best ranger subclass (my opinion)) get to add their WIS mod to initiative. And around half your attack spell options require saves, though not all.
And Rangers have a LOT of spell choices that don't depend on your Wisdom score, so a Ranger build without a high Wisdom is absolutely possible as long as you don't mind having weaker than expected Perception and Survival bonuses(two skills that Rangers are normally expected to be good at).
well, i went ahead and built a wood elf ranger, turns out I just had to put more though into the backstory, but still, i would love to be able to misty step around.
I did NOT eat those hikers.
I believe horizon walker subclass gets misty step.
I was going for either hunter or beast master, but I’ll have to take a closer look at that subclass
I did NOT eat those hikers.
I was going to mention that the Player's Handbook (PHB) kinda addresses how similar characters are different. I feel that the same could be said to a character that is a cliche. They are a blueprint that your own details to so that they are unique.
PHB - Ch: 4 Personality and Background
This goes through some of the character creation steps, but it also gives reference to two official characters, Tika Waylan (Dragonlance) and Artemis Entreri (Forgotten Realms), since they are both Fighter/Rogues with similar Strength and Dexterity but their details makes each of them VERY different.
Trying not to rant, but just don't outright photocopy an existing character. Playing on user made modules of the old Neverwinter Nights PC game, I spoke to some people who developed online persistent worlds. They would eventually outlaw "odd" characters because, no joke, 25% of the server would play Good aligned Drow. And about 20% of the server would be "Chaotic Good, Drow Elf, Ranger, Dual-Wielding Scimitars, with a Panther Animal Companion, being chased by assassins from the Underdark, and a name that usually started with a D- or Dr-, had at least an i in it, one or two z's, and ended with a -z or a -t, and a couple apostrophes thrown in for flavor." Which is past the point of taking a cliche and into the category of cloning.
Good luck and may you roll 20's when you need them and 1's when you need a laugh. - myself
I love rangers apprentice!
Multiclass can take you a long way. I play a wood elf prince who is hunting down his younger brother who usurpered the throne after killing their father.
was trained to be a fighter, was outlawed and lived as a ranger for 8 years.
Now long after he is a ranger5/rogue3/fighter1 who in essence plays like an assassin :)
Our wood elf ranger took the wood elf magic feat, and of course produce flame for pure style, sets his left (bow) hand on fire (doesn't burn your equipment etc remember) then calmly walks around drawing fire arrows from his quiver which light when at full draw on his bow ... pure style shooting flaming arrows all over the place, with sharpshooter etc ...
Is Wis useful? depends, if you rolled ballistic stats then yeah it is, 20 Dex and 20 Wis and 1 level of monk gives you a 20AC ...
Life's hard - get a helmet!
How do you feel about: survival, perception, insight, animal handling, or medicine checks?
I would say pick a random background for your wood elf ranger and see what comes up.
You could ... you know, just not do that personality. Neither race or class come with attached personalities.