I just finished Rise of Tiamat and were going to start a new campaign. Not sure what it is yet. I want to make a stealthy Ranger that’s amazing at stealth, perception, and tracking / survival. I plan on taking at least 1 level of rogue for expertise, but not sure if I should go 3 for assassin or scout. Also not sure if I should go Variant human or some other race. Thanks.
That covers a pretty wide range of levels. You'll have plenty of opportunity to get all the feats you want, so Variant Human isn't as necessary.
Variant Human is great with Gloom Stalker because the Gloom Stalker gets dark vision. However, you should have a feat or feats in mind for your build if you're going variant human.
Sharpshooter feat with a Long Bow is good. Crossbow Expert feat with a Hand Crossbow isn't as good because Hunter's Mark and Rogue Cunning Action give you plenty of things to do with your bonus action. Alert feat with Gloom Stalker is fun if you absolutely want to go first. Picking up Resilient Constitution at some point is good. It's great to have it at level 2 so that you don't have to worry as much about losing concentration on Hunter's Mark. And there are other good choices for feats, too.
Wood Elf is always good for ranger. You get +2 dex and +1 Wis and free proficiency in perception.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
What books are your dm allowing? Is UA included? Party comp might also help.
Ignoring all of these things, the others have brought up some good points of what you are going into what for. Though adding my two cents into the discussion an Arcane Trickster is not a terrible idea for grabbing some of the low level wizard utility spells and the SCAG cantrips. In combat you could combine that stuff with warcaster for all sorts of nastiness.
Taking a level of rogue first to grab all those skills is really nice especially if if you back to 3 levels rogue take scout get expertise in survival and nature. I like crossbow expert and sharpshooter first. Although ranger can lose the bonus attack on 1sr round the hand crossbow can be used at close range when needed. I also like alert to attack first
I'm playing in an "all human" campaign. Started as a level 1 rogue City Watch Investigator, got assigned to the Ranger squad (level 2-4) and 2 more levels of Rogue when my assignment was over and took assassin.
Gloom Stalker/ Assassin is an amazing combination. You don't need to take feats for it to be outstanding. Bonus to move speed, Umbral Sight, initiative bonus, a huge opening shot if your enemies are surprised and a supplemental attack off that.
You don't even need a 5th level of Ranger for Extra Attack.
I really enjoy gloomstalker. But taking rogue scout first is my preference. Took 4 levels rogue love the Xtra skills, and got the feat. Now 5 levels of gloomstalker. Then probably 2 levels fighter.maybe 3 to get battle Master or samuri
My main character went from 1 and is now at level 13 over 2 years. He is a wood-elf prince out for his brother how staged a coup etc. The goal is Assassin11/Gloomstalker5/Battlemaster4. I started fighter 1 for Con-save, and then went Rogue1-3 before Ranger 1-5, then Rogue 4-5, then Fighter2, then Rogue 6. That build is really good, but has a weak spot around level 5-8 where others have two attacks while you don't. If you want a smoother transition I would recommend the following:
Consider a race without darkvision, Kalashtar perhaps if you intend to create a hunter of Aberrations; their psychic resilience will be useful against mind-flayers!. Prioritise stats as DEX, WIS, CON. At first level go for Twilight Domain Cleric. Why? Eyes of Night! Insane Darkvision up to 300 feet! At second level start working your Ranger levels. By level four you'll choose your Gloomstalker archtype. If you're an archer build you'll be picking off targets long before they can see you!
Scout is way better all around IMO. Only the first assassin feature is cool, every feature you get from scout is great. Expertise survival and nature is all up to you to use as much as possible
The absolute best "ranger" if by ranger you mean being sneaky and knowing the woods, being a deal archer, etc, has 5 levels of ranger and mostly scout rogue after that. Outlander background to put you over the top. After 5th the ranger features aren't worth it compared to more rogue IMO
I just finished Rise of Tiamat and were going to start a new campaign. Not sure what it is yet. I want to make a stealthy Ranger that’s amazing at stealth, perception, and tracking / survival. I plan on taking at least 1 level of rogue for expertise, but not sure if I should go 3 for assassin or scout. Also not sure if I should go Variant human or some other race. Thanks.
What level does the campaign start at, and what level does the campaign end at?
2 is where we start. Don’t know where we end but we usually end at levels 15-17
That covers a pretty wide range of levels. You'll have plenty of opportunity to get all the feats you want, so Variant Human isn't as necessary.
Variant Human is great with Gloom Stalker because the Gloom Stalker gets dark vision. However, you should have a feat or feats in mind for your build if you're going variant human.
Sharpshooter feat with a Long Bow is good. Crossbow Expert feat with a Hand Crossbow isn't as good because Hunter's Mark and Rogue Cunning Action give you plenty of things to do with your bonus action. Alert feat with Gloom Stalker is fun if you absolutely want to go first. Picking up Resilient Constitution at some point is good. It's great to have it at level 2 so that you don't have to worry as much about losing concentration on Hunter's Mark. And there are other good choices for feats, too.
Which feat(s) do you have in mind?
Wood Elf is always good for ranger. You get +2 dex and +1 Wis and free proficiency in perception.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
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If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
What books are your dm allowing? Is UA included? Party comp might also help.
Ignoring all of these things, the others have brought up some good points of what you are going into what for. Though adding my two cents into the discussion an Arcane Trickster is not a terrible idea for grabbing some of the low level wizard utility spells and the SCAG cantrips. In combat you could combine that stuff with warcaster for all sorts of nastiness.
Taking a level of rogue first to grab all those skills is really nice especially if if you back to 3 levels rogue take scout get expertise in survival and nature. I like crossbow expert and sharpshooter first. Although ranger can lose the bonus attack on 1sr round the hand crossbow can be used at close range when needed. I also like alert to attack first
I'm playing in an "all human" campaign. Started as a level 1 rogue City Watch Investigator, got assigned to the Ranger squad (level 2-4) and 2 more levels of Rogue when my assignment was over and took assassin.
Gloom Stalker/ Assassin is an amazing combination. You don't need to take feats for it to be outstanding. Bonus to move speed, Umbral Sight, initiative bonus, a huge opening shot if your enemies are surprised and a supplemental attack off that.
You don't even need a 5th level of Ranger for Extra Attack.
I really enjoy gloomstalker. But taking rogue scout first is my preference. Took 4 levels rogue love the Xtra skills, and got the feat. Now 5 levels of gloomstalker. Then probably 2 levels fighter.maybe 3 to get battle Master or samuri
My main character went from 1 and is now at level 13 over 2 years. He is a wood-elf prince out for his brother how staged a coup etc. The goal is Assassin11/Gloomstalker5/Battlemaster4. I started fighter 1 for Con-save, and then went Rogue1-3 before Ranger 1-5, then Rogue 4-5, then Fighter2, then Rogue 6.
That build is really good, but has a weak spot around level 5-8 where others have two attacks while you don't. If you want a smoother transition I would recommend the following:
1Gloomstalker
2Gloomstalker
3Gloomstalker
4Gloomstalker
5Gloomstalker
6Assassin
7Assassin
8Assassin
9Assassin
10Assassin
11Battlemaster
12Battlemaster
13Assassin
14Assassin
15Battlemaster
16Assassin
17Assassin
18Assassin
19Assassin
20Battlemaster
There is hardly any redundancy, great action economy, a lot of versatility and harsh flash-damage.
As for rogue subclass, its really all up to what you want. Assassin, Scout and Swashbuckler all work like a charm depending on what you want.
Consider a race without darkvision, Kalashtar perhaps if you intend to create a hunter of Aberrations; their psychic resilience will be useful against mind-flayers!. Prioritise stats as DEX, WIS, CON. At first level go for Twilight Domain Cleric. Why? Eyes of Night! Insane Darkvision up to 300 feet! At second level start working your Ranger levels. By level four you'll choose your Gloomstalker archtype. If you're an archer build you'll be picking off targets long before they can see you!
Scout is way better all around IMO. Only the first assassin feature is cool, every feature you get from scout is great. Expertise survival and nature is all up to you to use as much as possible
The absolute best "ranger" if by ranger you mean being sneaky and knowing the woods, being a deal archer, etc, has 5 levels of ranger and mostly scout rogue after that. Outlander background to put you over the top. After 5th the ranger features aren't worth it compared to more rogue IMO
How about a single dip into Twilight Cleric for unbeatable Darkvision sniper?