I currently building a new character for an on going Campaign, after the unfortunate death of my last character. We are currently at level 14 and are probably going all the way to 20 by the end of it. We are using a 27-point buy to determine stats and are allowed 2 uncommon magic items to build a character. I am using Base Ranger and using the Variant Class Features UA to build this character: https://media.wizards.com/2019/dnd/downloads/UA-ClassFeatures.pdf
My plan for the character is to build a Tabaxi that fights with his claws as a primary weapon (Longbow as backup for when I need range) using the Unarmed Fighting Style and choosing the Insignia of Claws as one of my 2 magic items. This will effectively make my claws the same damage as a one handed +1 longsword. I understand that this is an extremely MAD build (especially when I’m restricted to point buy), so in attempt to mitigate that I have a few of approaches:
1.) I embrace the MADness in a sense, stick to pure Ranger and grab the Gauntlets of Orge Power as my second item (reflavored bracers to leave the claws uncovered).
- Pros: I stick to a single class build, allowing me to get 5th level ranger spells and higher level ranger abilities and I have a good enough strength to function effectively allowing me to dump strength to focus on other stats.
- Cons: I become very magic item dependent for the build to function and not giving me much room to add any items I may find (god forbid I lose the item for whatever reason)
2.) I dip into Monk to make my claws dex based weapons for a 1 level dip, potential going a bit further to get extra movement speed, ki abilities, etc.
- Pros: I’d no longer need strength in this build meaning I can focus dex and wis, which synergizes really well with monk’s unarmored defense. Additionally lv 2 monk is essentially a free mobile feat with a couple ki points added on.
- Cons: I would have to give up high level ranger abilities and potentially 5th level spells depending on how far I go. Also I’m not sure how useful to me a few ki points and some movement are versus these things, so I would like to know how much of a dip I should take.
3.) This approach is a bit of a combination of the last 2. The idea here is that I take dip into fighter for action surge and potentially battle master. The reason I say it’s combination cuz it can go either way, I can embrace the MADness and go for a bit of a grappler build with battle master and the gauntlets of ogre power or I can keep the dip into monk but take an additional dip into fighter to keep it dex based but also get action surge
- Pros: I can do some fun stuff with action surge and would be a valuable addition to my tool set, and grappling would be very strong a this character with the residual 1d4 damage and the battle master maneuver that lets you restrain for free. Also maneuvers would benefit me in general allowing me to get some nova damage.
- Cons: I feel like fighter and monk would kinda clutter the build and I would for sure lose out on some stuff from ranger, and just taking fighter would bring me back to being magic item dependent.
I would appreciate some advice on some of these ideas, I never played a ranger and I’ve never been this high level to see one in play, are any of the high level spells and abilities any good or should I stick with multiclassing route. I currently have my stats layed out like this after racial bonuses: 10/16/14/8/15/11, is there a more effective stat distribution for this build? Also potential feat ideas (magic items as well) would be nice, not sure if I’ll be able to take too many, but the would be helpful. I’d like to thank you for reading this far and hope you can respond.
To finish it off here are some feats I’m considering:
Mage Slayer: I’ve fought an abundance of spell caster lately and I’d like to knock them down a peg.
Fey Touched (UA): gives me a free casting of Misty Step and a divination or enchantment spell (and +1 wis). I was thinking of using this to grab Hex, because with Favored Foe I can cast both Hunter’s Mark and Hex on a single creature or spread the love and target 2 creatures.
Sentinel: to keep enemies from escaping and giving me another reaction option.
War Caster: probably one I may prioritize so I am effective at keeping concentration on haste
I would go two into monk, maybe 3. This is much better, as you get some abilities as well, but the ranger ones being missed aren't too significant. If you went 3, I would go with either way of four elements for some more utility, shadow for utility and spells, or drunken master for movement and utility. That's what you'll get out of this: some good utility, movement and some damage. If you want more hp though (you'll be losing about 3 hp with this), taking gauntlets of ogre strength may be the best idea, though make sure you move around to reduce being unconscious for people to take your loot.
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
Keep in mind that if you use gauntlets of ogre power your stuck with a +4 modifier on your primary stat. I would recommend monk 2 because of the less MAD, also you now have a extra attack as a bonus action, increasing your damage per round by 50% if your bonus action is available, or by 100% if you spend the ki point to do flurry of blows. Not to mention with high mods unarmored defense is better than armor, and for one of your magic items you can take bracers of defense to increase your AC by 2. Alternatively, taking monk 1 is more conservative and all you miss out on is ki points
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Rumors of my awesomeness have been greatly unexaggerated.
"It is our choices ... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." — Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.
About 50% of my brain power is devoted to thinking up eloquent speeches that I’ll probably never use.
Big question, have you thought about using the Leonin instead of the Tabaxi? There's a lot of overlap in the racial features, and the stat boosts are more in line with what you'd want, you could get 16/13/14/8/15/8, which would allow you to take a +1 DEX feat like Athlete (which also gets you back that climbing speed) and a +1 WIS feat like Resilient or Observant (or bump both out at once with an ASI). Your Dex is lower, but it won't matter too much if you take medium armor (this assumes no monk since you're using strength). With no feats at level 14 you'd have 20/14/14/8/16/8, with feats it'd take you to level 16 to get that.
The rest of this comment will assume you're building with a Tabaxi, or will (theoretically) be race-agnostic.
Don't dip into fighter, it's not bringing much to the table, and it's still pretty magic-item dependent -- if you take more than 2 levels away from the ranger, you're losing an ASI that you'll need with a MAD build. Take a look at the ranger capstone and decide how much use it'll be to you. It's not a bad one, but it does work better the higher your wisdom is. You can get your attack score up to 20 and your WIS up to 20 only if you use your ASIs for nothing else, and only if you only take 1 level in monk. At which point you're not getting that capstone anyway. So if you want feats or more than 1 level of monk, know that your WIS is probably going to be a little lower. Having a high WIS isn't super necessary for a Horizon Walker, you'll mostly find it useful for spells with a save (like Banishment, which you get at level 13). You would still get some use out of the capstone if you went full ranger and took some feats, you just want to consider which is more useful or more fun for you. I definitely recommend taking enough levels in Ranger to get the 5th-level spells, they're fun. Maybe try building out a couple test characters sheets to see how the different variations work.
One thing to be careful of, both with monk abilities and the Fey Touched UA, is your bonus action. Hunter's Mark is a bonus action, your Planar Warrior ability is a bonus action (which you have to redo every turn, it doesn't stick like Hunter's Mark or Slayer's Prey), and then you're talking about using Hex and you'd probably never use the monk's bonus action physical attacks. Think about how many rounds your combats tend to last to see how many of these you'd end up being able to use. Also, Ethereal Step and Distant Strike have some overlap with Misty Step (which you already get at level 5), so I'm pretty hesitant on using this feat. One free casting of a spell isn't probably going to be worth it. My ranger is a ranged fighter, so spellcasting in combat might be a little different, but even as a half-caster, using all the CFV UA spell options means I haven't ever really felt like I'm running low on spell slots. If you multiclass into monk and free up one of those magic items, consider getting a Pearl of Power to regain a spell slot, if you're really concerned about it. Though that does require attunement.
I'd like to thank anyone who took time to respond to this forum and i appreciate the feedback, I feel like i should update you on the build. First off I have finalized the build up to level 14, which is the level i'm starting with this character and i have already played a session as this character (No combat just yet). I have opted to go with a Ranger 12/Monk 2 keep the build less MAD, I also opted to go Tabaxi over Leonin, purely for thematic purposes (I know I can reflavor, but the Tabaxi lore and kit stood out more to me despite being less optimized). my stats right now at level 14 are 8/18/14/10/16/12, and i have taken the War Caster feat to help me keep concentration on Haste or other potential spells. I am aware that this is a bonus action heavy build and I don't think i will be going for Hex because of this, also keep in mind that despite all these bonus action option's, i probably wouldn't be using things like Hunter's Mark every combat and I do not think I'd use Flurry of Blows ever due to Planner Warrior out classing it.
As for magic items I went with a UA one, upon DM approval, the Eldritch Claw Tattoo. This tattoo does the same thing essentially as the Insignia of Claws, but has the added option to increase the range of my Unarmed Strikes to 30 ft and adding a d6 force damage for 1 minute. While this is yet another bonus action, I think the range options is worth the cost to keep me out of the range of potentially more dangerous foes and not having to rely on just a non-magic bow for range until I can get a magic one. Another benefit of this is that it only take up a fraction of an attunement slot which it can share with other tattoos, my DM even made a character dedicated to receiving said tattoos for the UA so chances are i can get more. Here is the link to the UA if your interested: https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/downloads/UA2020-SpellsTattoos.pdf
As for the other item, i wished I had realized the Pearl of Power was an uncommon item sooner, as i would've opted for that instead, but I just went with a Bag of Holding, because of my low STR and the fact that my last character had one which the party was unable to recover due it being an artificer infusion. I would have loved to take Bracers of Defense as well, but that was rare and I was only allowed 2 Uncommons.
I think the current plan moving forward is to just go the rest of my levels into Ranger, maybe taking one more in monk for a subclass, but I'm not sure. I weighed the gains and losses of lossing the 19th level ASI from ranger an felt that the 2 levels of monk brought more to the table, with the increase movement and the option of using my limited ki pool for Dash and Dodge as bonus action when needed. One more level could bring a slew of extra utility depending on subclass, but would come at the cost of Feral Senses which would be my capstone at 18th level Ranger. As I've said earlier I have still yet to see combat with this character, but considering how the last session ended I have a feeling I may be starting with that next session, and I'm excited to get into it and see how well I can combo some of my abilities. I already have a 45 ft movement coupled with haste and feline agility and I can really move around the field to my hearts content, that not even factoring in dashes XD.
I currently building a new character for an on going Campaign, after the unfortunate death of my last character. We are currently at level 14 and are probably going all the way to 20 by the end of it. We are using a 27-point buy to determine stats and are allowed 2 uncommon magic items to build a character. I am using Base Ranger and using the Variant Class Features UA to build this character: https://media.wizards.com/2019/dnd/downloads/UA-ClassFeatures.pdf
My plan for the character is to build a Tabaxi that fights with his claws as a primary weapon (Longbow as backup for when I need range) using the Unarmed Fighting Style and choosing the Insignia of Claws as one of my 2 magic items. This will effectively make my claws the same damage as a one handed +1 longsword. I understand that this is an extremely MAD build (especially when I’m restricted to point buy), so in attempt to mitigate that I have a few of approaches:
1.) I embrace the MADness in a sense, stick to pure Ranger and grab the Gauntlets of Orge Power as my second item (reflavored bracers to leave the claws uncovered).
- Pros: I stick to a single class build, allowing me to get 5th level ranger spells and higher level ranger abilities and I have a good enough strength to function effectively allowing me to dump strength to focus on other stats.
- Cons: I become very magic item dependent for the build to function and not giving me much room to add any items I may find (god forbid I lose the item for whatever reason)
2.) I dip into Monk to make my claws dex based weapons for a 1 level dip, potential going a bit further to get extra movement speed, ki abilities, etc.
- Pros: I’d no longer need strength in this build meaning I can focus dex and wis, which synergizes really well with monk’s unarmored defense. Additionally lv 2 monk is essentially a free mobile feat with a couple ki points added on.
- Cons: I would have to give up high level ranger abilities and potentially 5th level spells depending on how far I go. Also I’m not sure how useful to me a few ki points and some movement are versus these things, so I would like to know how much of a dip I should take.
3.) This approach is a bit of a combination of the last 2. The idea here is that I take dip into fighter for action surge and potentially battle master. The reason I say it’s combination cuz it can go either way, I can embrace the MADness and go for a bit of a grappler build with battle master and the gauntlets of ogre power or I can keep the dip into monk but take an additional dip into fighter to keep it dex based but also get action surge
- Pros: I can do some fun stuff with action surge and would be a valuable addition to my tool set, and grappling would be very strong a this character with the residual 1d4 damage and the battle master maneuver that lets you restrain for free. Also maneuvers would benefit me in general allowing me to get some nova damage.
- Cons: I feel like fighter and monk would kinda clutter the build and I would for sure lose out on some stuff from ranger, and just taking fighter would bring me back to being magic item dependent.
I would appreciate some advice on some of these ideas, I never played a ranger and I’ve never been this high level to see one in play, are any of the high level spells and abilities any good or should I stick with multiclassing route. I currently have my stats layed out like this after racial bonuses: 10/16/14/8/15/11, is there a more effective stat distribution for this build? Also potential feat ideas (magic items as well) would be nice, not sure if I’ll be able to take too many, but the would be helpful. I’d like to thank you for reading this far and hope you can respond.
To finish it off here are some feats I’m considering:
Mage Slayer: I’ve fought an abundance of spell caster lately and I’d like to knock them down a peg.
Fey Touched (UA): gives me a free casting of Misty Step and a divination or enchantment spell (and +1 wis). I was thinking of using this to grab Hex, because with Favored Foe I can cast both Hunter’s Mark and Hex on a single creature or spread the love and target 2 creatures.
Sentinel: to keep enemies from escaping and giving me another reaction option.
War Caster: probably one I may prioritize so I am effective at keeping concentration on haste
I would go two into monk, maybe 3. This is much better, as you get some abilities as well, but the ranger ones being missed aren't too significant. If you went 3, I would go with either way of four elements for some more utility, shadow for utility and spells, or drunken master for movement and utility. That's what you'll get out of this: some good utility, movement and some damage. If you want more hp though (you'll be losing about 3 hp with this), taking gauntlets of ogre strength may be the best idea, though make sure you move around to reduce being unconscious for people to take your loot.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
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Keep in mind that if you use gauntlets of ogre power your stuck with a +4 modifier on your primary stat. I would recommend monk 2 because of the less MAD, also you now have a extra attack as a bonus action, increasing your damage per round by 50% if your bonus action is available, or by 100% if you spend the ki point to do flurry of blows. Not to mention with high mods unarmored defense is better than armor, and for one of your magic items you can take bracers of defense to increase your AC by 2. Alternatively, taking monk 1 is more conservative and all you miss out on is ki points
Rumors of my awesomeness have been greatly unexaggerated.
"It is our choices ... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." — Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.
About 50% of my brain power is devoted to thinking up eloquent speeches that I’ll probably never use.
Big question, have you thought about using the Leonin instead of the Tabaxi? There's a lot of overlap in the racial features, and the stat boosts are more in line with what you'd want, you could get 16/13/14/8/15/8, which would allow you to take a +1 DEX feat like Athlete (which also gets you back that climbing speed) and a +1 WIS feat like Resilient or Observant (or bump both out at once with an ASI). Your Dex is lower, but it won't matter too much if you take medium armor (this assumes no monk since you're using strength). With no feats at level 14 you'd have 20/14/14/8/16/8, with feats it'd take you to level 16 to get that.
The rest of this comment will assume you're building with a Tabaxi, or will (theoretically) be race-agnostic.
Don't dip into fighter, it's not bringing much to the table, and it's still pretty magic-item dependent -- if you take more than 2 levels away from the ranger, you're losing an ASI that you'll need with a MAD build. Take a look at the ranger capstone and decide how much use it'll be to you. It's not a bad one, but it does work better the higher your wisdom is. You can get your attack score up to 20 and your WIS up to 20 only if you use your ASIs for nothing else, and only if you only take 1 level in monk. At which point you're not getting that capstone anyway. So if you want feats or more than 1 level of monk, know that your WIS is probably going to be a little lower. Having a high WIS isn't super necessary for a Horizon Walker, you'll mostly find it useful for spells with a save (like Banishment, which you get at level 13). You would still get some use out of the capstone if you went full ranger and took some feats, you just want to consider which is more useful or more fun for you. I definitely recommend taking enough levels in Ranger to get the 5th-level spells, they're fun. Maybe try building out a couple test characters sheets to see how the different variations work.
One thing to be careful of, both with monk abilities and the Fey Touched UA, is your bonus action. Hunter's Mark is a bonus action, your Planar Warrior ability is a bonus action (which you have to redo every turn, it doesn't stick like Hunter's Mark or Slayer's Prey), and then you're talking about using Hex and you'd probably never use the monk's bonus action physical attacks. Think about how many rounds your combats tend to last to see how many of these you'd end up being able to use. Also, Ethereal Step and Distant Strike have some overlap with Misty Step (which you already get at level 5), so I'm pretty hesitant on using this feat. One free casting of a spell isn't probably going to be worth it. My ranger is a ranged fighter, so spellcasting in combat might be a little different, but even as a half-caster, using all the CFV UA spell options means I haven't ever really felt like I'm running low on spell slots. If you multiclass into monk and free up one of those magic items, consider getting a Pearl of Power to regain a spell slot, if you're really concerned about it. Though that does require attunement.
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
I'd like to thank anyone who took time to respond to this forum and i appreciate the feedback, I feel like i should update you on the build. First off I have finalized the build up to level 14, which is the level i'm starting with this character and i have already played a session as this character (No combat just yet). I have opted to go with a Ranger 12/Monk 2 keep the build less MAD, I also opted to go Tabaxi over Leonin, purely for thematic purposes (I know I can reflavor, but the Tabaxi lore and kit stood out more to me despite being less optimized). my stats right now at level 14 are 8/18/14/10/16/12, and i have taken the War Caster feat to help me keep concentration on Haste or other potential spells. I am aware that this is a bonus action heavy build and I don't think i will be going for Hex because of this, also keep in mind that despite all these bonus action option's, i probably wouldn't be using things like Hunter's Mark every combat and I do not think I'd use Flurry of Blows ever due to Planner Warrior out classing it.
As for magic items I went with a UA one, upon DM approval, the Eldritch Claw Tattoo. This tattoo does the same thing essentially as the Insignia of Claws, but has the added option to increase the range of my Unarmed Strikes to 30 ft and adding a d6 force damage for 1 minute. While this is yet another bonus action, I think the range options is worth the cost to keep me out of the range of potentially more dangerous foes and not having to rely on just a non-magic bow for range until I can get a magic one. Another benefit of this is that it only take up a fraction of an attunement slot which it can share with other tattoos, my DM even made a character dedicated to receiving said tattoos for the UA so chances are i can get more. Here is the link to the UA if your interested: https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/downloads/UA2020-SpellsTattoos.pdf
As for the other item, i wished I had realized the Pearl of Power was an uncommon item sooner, as i would've opted for that instead, but I just went with a Bag of Holding, because of my low STR and the fact that my last character had one which the party was unable to recover due it being an artificer infusion. I would have loved to take Bracers of Defense as well, but that was rare and I was only allowed 2 Uncommons.
I think the current plan moving forward is to just go the rest of my levels into Ranger, maybe taking one more in monk for a subclass, but I'm not sure. I weighed the gains and losses of lossing the 19th level ASI from ranger an felt that the 2 levels of monk brought more to the table, with the increase movement and the option of using my limited ki pool for Dash and Dodge as bonus action when needed. One more level could bring a slew of extra utility depending on subclass, but would come at the cost of Feral Senses which would be my capstone at 18th level Ranger. As I've said earlier I have still yet to see combat with this character, but considering how the last session ended I have a feeling I may be starting with that next session, and I'm excited to get into it and see how well I can combo some of my abilities. I already have a 45 ft movement coupled with haste and feline agility and I can really move around the field to my hearts content, that not even factoring in dashes XD.