I'm in a new Strahd campaign, playing as a Mountain Dwarf Ranger, Player's Handbook Beastmaster. And before you ask why I chose to punish myself with those choices, we rolled for stats, race, and class selection, and I only have the PHB on DnDbeyond. It's actually been pretty fun.... except for having to kill my pet wolf because of campaign details my DM didn't disclose during character creation. I'm glad he didn't warn me, it's just been a rough week lol.
Our party consists of a Monk, Rogue, Druid, Warlock and myself; kind of a squishy party.
I'm level 4 now and I like the idea of the sharpshooter feat but I'm not sure if it would be better to take +1Str and 1+ Dex to even out both numbers to 14 and 16. My current stats are: (Str- 13) (Dex-15) (Con- 14) (Int- 9) (Wis- 15) (Cha- 5) - Our DM has capped ability scores to a maximum of 17.
I use handaxes and a longbow so +1 to STR and DEX seems very practical for combat, maybe more than Sharpshooter.
As far as my next beast companion, I think an owl would be a good choice as a scout/skirmisher. There is also potential for synergy with our druid who could be flown around as a small critter. The other options are more practical I suppose: Boar, Giant Badger, Snake or Spider.
What do you all think? Thanks a bunch for taking the time to read and respond.
We are both in Strahd hell! We just hit 5th level in that meatgrinder.
Not sure how beast master works but I've seen flying familiars work effectively to provide advantage every round as a bonus action.
The problem would be giving up your second attack, if you are attacking with both weapons in melee. On another note, you might want to pick up Tasha's for the optional ranger rules.
Btw, character sounds fun. I've been trying to come up with a concept build, Underdark ranger or scout dwarf.
Anyway, congrats on living through the death house!
Personally I'd take the bump to DEX and WIS over STR... Sharpshooter is a beast of a feat, but the -5 tohit is an even nastier penalty when you've only got a +2 to DEX... if you were to take it at this level it would basically completely eliminate your bonus tohit entirely. I'd say wait until level 8... by then you'll have a higher DEX bonus plus increased Proficiency, so you'll be able to use your Sharpshooter skills more easily.
So, are you mostly ranged and resort to melee only when it is necessary or is it more the opposite? The fact that you mention Sharpshooter leads me to believe that your melee weapons are backups really.
Either way, you won't be able to specialize in both. You'll either be OK at both or you'll excel at range. If you plan to fight mostly ranged, have you considered not touching STR at all and using a finesse weapon instead so both your ranged/melee options scale off of dex? Get your DEX "maxed" ASAP through a half-feat or ASI into DEX/WIS. Since your DM is capping your max stat at 17 (weird houserule IMO and a severely limiting one at that unless the cap was only during character creation?), you don't need more then 16 in any one stat since 17 won't give you anything else. Honestly, I'd clarify with my DM first and if it was indeed just during character creation as I suspect, I'd pump my DEX up to max ASAP through 2 ASIs (+4 DEX) and a half-feat (Skill Expert and Squat Nimbleness would both be good options for you and both allow you to get +1 DEX to reach the cap of 20) or instead of the half-feat, place a +1 in DEX and WIS and then grab two more +2 to your WIS if you want to max your spellcasting capabilities but this would mean no feats at all obviously. You could also just get your DEX to 20 and WIS to 16 (3 ASIs) which is good enough and still let you pick up 2 feats later on. Several paths lie ahead of you in that regard. Do what you feel is best for your playstyle and your character as you gain experience both in-game and outside of it!
If you want to use only one weapon, a rapier (1d8) would be your best bet, if you want to use two, a pair of short swords or scimitars (both 1d6) would be best. You could also have fun with a whip (1d4) which has finesse and a 10 foot reach allowing you to "attack at melee" while out of reach of most enemies and retreat back to perform hit-and-run tactics without them getting an attack of opportunity on you.
If you were drawn to the handaxes due to their thrown property, you'd probably be better off with a pair of daggers (go down from 1d6 to 1d4 though) which are also thrown, light (allowing that second attack on your off-hand as a bonus action) but, crucially, they are also finesse weapons so you'd get the DEX bonus on your main hand at least or if you wanted to specialize and grab the dual-wielder feat, you could apply it to both weapons and no longer be restricted to light, allowing you to use two rapiers at 1d8+DEX MOD.
Heck, if you want to keep using handaxes "cause they're cool", just tell your DM you want to use the daggers mechanically (1d4, light, thrown, finesse) but they remain handaxes. That way you still get the mechanical advantages but you can keep calling them handaxes. Most DMs don't care what your stuff looks like as long as the mechanics stay intact for balance reasons. Heck, just call them "Light Handaxes" or something but use the dagger stats.
Anyway, all of this is just general advice and you can play what you want and how you want it but it seems to me like you are stretching yourself thin and trying to do too many things at once which will probably come back to bite you later on.
To answer your question about dex/wis vs dex/str. DEX > STR
Dex is the OP stat of the game. Every extra +1 in dex gives you +1 to initiative, +1 to AC, +1 to acrobatics/sleight of hand/stealth as well as +1 to hit/dmg for ranged and finesse weapons. Not to mention dex saves which outnumber every other saves you'll make in the game.
Str only makes sense for a class using heavy armor, one that specializes in grappling or one using a two handed weapon as it only affects your hit/dmg, the athletics skill and the very rare Str save. Dex is mechanically superior. If you don't use heavy armor, a two handed weapon and don't plan to grapple, the only reason to focus on STR is "for the lulz".
It makes no sense to pump both up and wis will pump up your spellcasting modifier, affecting your spell save DC and your ability to hit with said spells for spell attack rolls.
I will say that in a CoS campaign, STR saves are more common than in other settings, due to all the wolves and such pouncing on you and trying to knock you prone
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@Anton: Possible, I'm currently playing CoS and that hasn't happened to us once yet but we were lucky on the wolves so far and didn't encounter very many of them early on and now we're level 8 so we completely destroy them when we encounter them anyway.
Either way, I'm sure Dex saves are still occuring twice as often as Str saves if not more, even in CoS.
They were very useful against that ***** in the swamp or against the traps in the Death House anyway.
It would be a weak character building choice to base ideas around which types of saving throw you're likely to make in a specific campaign. After you finish Strahd, you may end up playing the character onwards.
Boost DEX and WIS as described by others, that will be the most useful increase to you.
Find yourself a rapier instead of a handaxe. That way you can use your DEX bonus for the attacks as it's a finesse weapon. You can then use your bonus action for other choices (rangers have some nifty bonus action spells). If you really want to dual wield, then two scimitars will do it.
I'm in a new Strahd campaign, playing as a Mountain Dwarf Ranger, Player's Handbook Beastmaster. And before you ask why I chose to punish myself with those choices, we rolled for stats, race, and class selection, and I only have the PHB on DnDbeyond. It's actually been pretty fun.... except for having to kill my pet wolf because of campaign details my DM didn't disclose during character creation. I'm glad he didn't warn me, it's just been a rough week lol.
Our party consists of a Monk, Rogue, Druid, Warlock and myself; kind of a squishy party.
I'm level 4 now and I like the idea of the sharpshooter feat but I'm not sure if it would be better to take +1Str and 1+ Dex to even out both numbers to 14 and 16. My current stats are: (Str- 13) (Dex-15) (Con- 14) (Int- 9) (Wis- 15) (Cha- 5) - Our DM has capped ability scores to a maximum of 17.
I use handaxes and a longbow so +1 to STR and DEX seems very practical for combat, maybe more than Sharpshooter.
As far as my next beast companion, I think an owl would be a good choice as a scout/skirmisher. There is also potential for synergy with our druid who could be flown around as a small critter. The other options are more practical I suppose: Boar, Giant Badger, Snake or Spider.
What do you all think? Thanks a bunch for taking the time to read and respond.
You should unquestionably grab the +1 Dex, +1 Wis everyone else is suggesting. Strength doesn't do much to begin with, let alone in a campaign where it's capped at 17.
What's your fighting style? Did you choose Archery? Assuming you did, ditch those handaxes as soon as you credibly can - your need for melee weapons is primarily as a backup, but for melee you want to invest in a shield, a rapier, a whip, and 2 scimitars. If you need one-handed ranged solutions, darts and slings have you covered.
I'm not clear on why you can't have a wolf, which is one of the best choices usually available, but for your new beast, it's important to ask your DM what your constraints are. I know many DMs will constrain you to the local ecology (which isn't anywhere in the PHB BM description - RAW, when you gain the subclass, you just pick a creature of the right type, size, and CR, and if it dies, you just pick a new one), for example, and I have no way of knowing what your DM will decide is native to where you are. Do you have access to dinosaurs, for example?
Here are some particularly good companions, with caveats where I know to add them, ignoring the wolf:
Caveat: You're supposed to add your proficiency bonus to the beast's damage rolls. Many DMs will ignore this for the Giant Poisonous Snake and only apply it to one of the Beast's damage rolls when it bites something. If your DM rules this way, you're better off with a Velociraptor or Giant Badger, because the Giant Snake's CR was determined by assuming its bite works like multiattack, and your DM is ruling it doesn't.
Giant Wolf Spider - excellent senses and absolutely incredible climbing ability. An excellent mount for a Small party member. As with the GPS above, check to see if your DM is nerfing your beast's damage rolls by cherry-picking which ones you add your proficiency bonus to.
Pteranodon - Flyby on a Medium creature. If you have any Small party members, they can credibly ride the Pteranodon.
Flying Snake - Flyby, Blindsight, and poison that can crit, which is incredibly rare. However, you need a reverse clarification from the GPS and GWS situations above: RAW, a 1-damage attack isn't a roll, meaning it can't crit and you don't add your pb to it. Ask your DM if you can add your PB to the bite damage as well as the poison damage, since again, RAW, it only makes one damage roll when it hits - the poison one.
Giant Crab - good blindsight, and the best AC you can get in a companion without your DM house-ruling you a way to make your companion proficient in barding (unless you're willing to accept non-proficiency penalties, which you shouldn't be; note that at level 5 the giant crab has AC 18, equivalent to plate barding, and then at level 9 has AC 19).
Stirge - Stirges deal untyped damage with their bloodsucking after attacking, which means they ignore both resistance and immunity to damage types. The crippling flaw is the mandatory detach after dealing 10 points of damage this way.
Owl - the best darkvision you can get from any legal companion, accept no substitutes.
I can't provide specific companion advice without knowing more about your party composition. I can tell you that both mountain dwarf and beastmaster are radically better with Tasha's and it makes no sense for it to matter if you own Tasha's or not - what should matter is what your DM is permitting, not what books you happen to own.
I can't provide specific companion advice without knowing more about your party composition. I can tell you that both mountain dwarf and beastmaster are radically better with Tasha's and it makes no sense for it to matter if you own Tasha's or not - what should matter is what your DM is permitting, not what books you happen to own.
I'm assuming it's mostly an issue of D&D Beyond not giving the option to use the Tasha's Rules if neither the player or DM owns the book.
For ability score, at no point during the campaign can we have an ability score about 17. Because of this it makes no sense investing past 16.
As for my playstyle.... I wanted to specialize more with ranged combat, but I happen to be the tankiest of my party by quite a bit... I feel the need to be proficient in both melee and ranged combat despite knowing that there are serious diminishing returns the further we go into the campaign. I see what you are saying about DEX and its many utilities in addition to wisdom for spells and saving throws. I'll look into getting another dagger, I happened to come across a silver dagger so dual wielding them if I can find another would definitely streamline my character.
I'm in a new Strahd campaign, playing as a Mountain Dwarf Ranger, Player's Handbook Beastmaster. And before you ask why I chose to punish myself with those choices, we rolled for stats, race, and class selection, and I only have the PHB on DnDbeyond. It's actually been pretty fun.... except for having to kill my pet wolf because of campaign details my DM didn't disclose during character creation. I'm glad he didn't warn me, it's just been a rough week lol.
Our party consists of a Monk, Rogue, Druid, Warlock and myself; kind of a squishy party.
I'm level 4 now and I like the idea of the sharpshooter feat but I'm not sure if it would be better to take +1Str and 1+ Dex to even out both numbers to 14 and 16. My current stats are: (Str- 13) (Dex-15) (Con- 14) (Int- 9) (Wis- 15) (Cha- 5) - Our DM has capped ability scores to a maximum of 17.
I use handaxes and a longbow so +1 to STR and DEX seems very practical for combat, maybe more than Sharpshooter.
As far as my next beast companion, I think an owl would be a good choice as a scout/skirmisher. There is also potential for synergy with our druid who could be flown around as a small critter. The other options are more practical I suppose: Boar, Giant Badger, Snake or Spider.
What do you all think? Thanks a bunch for taking the time to read and respond.
You should unquestionably grab the +1 Dex, +1 Wis everyone else is suggesting. Strength doesn't do much to begin with, let alone in a campaign where it's capped at 17.
What's your fighting style? Did you choose Archery? Assuming you did, ditch those handaxes as soon as you credibly can - your need for melee weapons is primarily as a backup, but for melee you want to invest in a shield, a rapier, a whip, and 2 scimitars. If you need one-handed ranged solutions, darts and slings have you covered.
I'm not clear on why you can't have a wolf, which is one of the best choices usually available, but for your new beast, it's important to ask your DM what your constraints are. I know many DMs will constrain you to the local ecology (which isn't anywhere in the PHB BM description - RAW, when you gain the subclass, you just pick a creature of the right type, size, and CR, and if it dies, you just pick a new one), for example, and I have no way of knowing what your DM will decide is native to where you are. Do you have access to dinosaurs, for example?
Here are some particularly good companions, with caveats where I know to add them, ignoring the wolf:
Caveat: You're supposed to add your proficiency bonus to the beast's damage rolls. Many DMs will ignore this for the Giant Poisonous Snake and only apply it to one of the Beast's damage rolls when it bites something. If your DM rules this way, you're better off with a Velociraptor or Giant Badger, because the Giant Snake's CR was determined by assuming its bite works like multiattack, and your DM is ruling it doesn't.
Giant Wolf Spider - excellent senses and absolutely incredible climbing ability. An excellent mount for a Small party member. As with the GPS above, check to see if your DM is nerfing your beast's damage rolls by cherry-picking which ones you add your proficiency bonus to.
Pteranodon - Flyby on a Medium creature. If you have any Small party members, they can credibly ride the Pteranodon.
Flying Snake - Flyby, Blindsight, and poison that can crit, which is incredibly rare. However, you need a reverse clarification from the GPS and GWS situations above: RAW, a 1-damage attack isn't a roll, meaning it can't crit and you don't add your pb to it. Ask your DM if you can add your PB to the bite damage as well as the poison damage, since again, RAW, it only makes one damage roll when it hits - the poison one.
Giant Crab - good blindsight, and the best AC you can get in a companion without your DM house-ruling you a way to make your companion proficient in barding (unless you're willing to accept non-proficiency penalties, which you shouldn't be; note that at level 5 the giant crab has AC 18, equivalent to plate barding, and then at level 9 has AC 19).
Stirge - Stirges deal untyped damage with their bloodsucking after attacking, which means they ignore both resistance and immunity to damage types. The crippling flaw is the mandatory detach after dealing 10 points of damage this way.
Owl - the best darkvision you can get from any legal companion, accept no substitutes.
I can't provide specific companion advice without knowing more about your party composition. I can tell you that both mountain dwarf and beastmaster are radically better with Tasha's and it makes no sense for it to matter if you own Tasha's or not - what should matter is what your DM is permitting, not what books you happen to own.
Wolves are off of the table because Strahd has them all under his control within the entire province of Barovia. I want to stay true to the ecology of Barovia so best options are probably the badger, wolf spider, owl, snake and boar; knowing my DM he might create the opportunity for me to pair up with a unique beast but I can't bank on that.
I chose archery but as I said above, it turns out I'm the tankiest of my party which is a problem... I guess if that's the case then I should probably grab a shield and a finesse weapon for melee and invest in Dex/Wis.
I can't provide specific companion advice without knowing more about your party composition. I can tell you that both mountain dwarf and beastmaster are radically better with Tasha's and it makes no sense for it to matter if you own Tasha's or not - what should matter is what your DM is permitting, not what books you happen to own.
I'm assuming it's mostly an issue of D&D Beyond not giving the option to use the Tasha's Rules if neither the player or DM owns the book.
Correct, DnD Beyond just helps simplify everything so much. I appreciate the more traditional approach and I've done it in the past, but I don't feel like investing the time currently.
For ability score, at no point during the campaign can we have an ability score about 17. Because of this it makes no sense investing past 16.
As for my playstyle.... I wanted to specialize more with ranged combat, but I happen to be the tankiest of my party by quite a bit... I feel the need to be proficient in both melee and ranged combat despite knowing that there are serious diminishing returns the further we go into the campaign. I see what you are saying about DEX and its many utilities in addition to wisdom for spells and saving throws. I'll look into getting another dagger, I happened to come across a silver dagger so dual wielding them if I can find another would definitely streamline my character.
I appreciate the feedback! Makes a lot of sense.
That seems like a really weird houserule, first time I hear of something like this. Hopefully your DM has some kind of hidden agenda/purpose behind it and he reveals his hand soon. Like, before the 2nd ASI at level 8 soon so you can get it higher ASAP. It severely nerfs all of you and enemies will get stronger and are balanced on the fact that you are supposed to get stronger too. Curse of Strahd is also notoriously difficult already...
The monk is especially hit hard by this as he can't wear armor at all for pretty much all his features and he would normally be pretty decent in melee but with this rule, he can never hope to have over 16 AC (10 + DEX + WIS) instead of 20 with his unarmored defense which is horrible for a melee character! I wouldn't be surprised if you guys end up dying due to this rule.
On the plus side, if you die, I guess you can roll up something else that's meant to be tanky like a fighter or paladin. I would have said Barbarian but that's another class that uses its ability score to be tanky (CON).
Oh, in the meantime, now that I think about it, if your DM lets you use some of Tasha's existing rules for the Ranger (and all other classes that get a fighting style) which is the optional class feature Martial Versatility. This enables you to switch up your fighting style whenever you reach an ASI in this class. So at level 4, you could switch your archery fighting style and pick up either two weapon fighting or defense if you want to try to be the tank. It won't be the most efficient tank, but you'll survive better that way then with a bow if you're stuck in melee anyway.
Or you could even go dueling for the +2 to attacks with a sword and a shield. Either way, the shield would bump you up to 18 AC on its own with scale mail or a breastplate and up to 19 with a half-plate later on. If you pick up defense, you can bump that up to 20 which is the same as a guy in full plate with a shield.
Hey everyone,
I'm in a new Strahd campaign, playing as a Mountain Dwarf Ranger, Player's Handbook Beastmaster. And before you ask why I chose to punish myself with those choices, we rolled for stats, race, and class selection, and I only have the PHB on DnDbeyond. It's actually been pretty fun.... except for having to kill my pet wolf because of campaign details my DM didn't disclose during character creation. I'm glad he didn't warn me, it's just been a rough week lol.
Our party consists of a Monk, Rogue, Druid, Warlock and myself; kind of a squishy party.
I'm level 4 now and I like the idea of the sharpshooter feat but I'm not sure if it would be better to take +1Str and 1+ Dex to even out both numbers to 14 and 16. My current stats are: (Str- 13) (Dex-15) (Con- 14) (Int- 9) (Wis- 15) (Cha- 5) - Our DM has capped ability scores to a maximum of 17.
I use handaxes and a longbow so +1 to STR and DEX seems very practical for combat, maybe more than Sharpshooter.
As far as my next beast companion, I think an owl would be a good choice as a scout/skirmisher. There is also potential for synergy with our druid who could be flown around as a small critter. The other options are more practical I suppose: Boar, Giant Badger, Snake or Spider.
What do you all think? Thanks a bunch for taking the time to read and respond.
We are both in Strahd hell! We just hit 5th level in that meatgrinder.
Not sure how beast master works but I've seen flying familiars work effectively to provide advantage every round as a bonus action.
The problem would be giving up your second attack, if you are attacking with both weapons in melee. On another note, you might want to pick up Tasha's for the optional ranger rules.
Btw, character sounds fun. I've been trying to come up with a concept build, Underdark ranger or scout dwarf.
Anyway, congrats on living through the death house!
Personally I'd take the bump to DEX and WIS over STR... Sharpshooter is a beast of a feat, but the -5 tohit is an even nastier penalty when you've only got a +2 to DEX... if you were to take it at this level it would basically completely eliminate your bonus tohit entirely. I'd say wait until level 8... by then you'll have a higher DEX bonus plus increased Proficiency, so you'll be able to use your Sharpshooter skills more easily.
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Bump dex and wisdom, and get a flying snake.
If you want really good advice, ask in the ranger forum, the beastmaster can be extremely powerful if you know how to use it ( i don't)
Why would you choose Dex/Wis over Str/Dex?
So, are you mostly ranged and resort to melee only when it is necessary or is it more the opposite? The fact that you mention Sharpshooter leads me to believe that your melee weapons are backups really.
Either way, you won't be able to specialize in both. You'll either be OK at both or you'll excel at range. If you plan to fight mostly ranged, have you considered not touching STR at all and using a finesse weapon instead so both your ranged/melee options scale off of dex? Get your DEX "maxed" ASAP through a half-feat or ASI into DEX/WIS. Since your DM is capping your max stat at 17 (weird houserule IMO and a severely limiting one at that unless the cap was only during character creation?), you don't need more then 16 in any one stat since 17 won't give you anything else. Honestly, I'd clarify with my DM first and if it was indeed just during character creation as I suspect, I'd pump my DEX up to max ASAP through 2 ASIs (+4 DEX) and a half-feat (Skill Expert and Squat Nimbleness would both be good options for you and both allow you to get +1 DEX to reach the cap of 20) or instead of the half-feat, place a +1 in DEX and WIS and then grab two more +2 to your WIS if you want to max your spellcasting capabilities but this would mean no feats at all obviously. You could also just get your DEX to 20 and WIS to 16 (3 ASIs) which is good enough and still let you pick up 2 feats later on. Several paths lie ahead of you in that regard. Do what you feel is best for your playstyle and your character as you gain experience both in-game and outside of it!
If you want to use only one weapon, a rapier (1d8) would be your best bet, if you want to use two, a pair of short swords or scimitars (both 1d6) would be best. You could also have fun with a whip (1d4) which has finesse and a 10 foot reach allowing you to "attack at melee" while out of reach of most enemies and retreat back to perform hit-and-run tactics without them getting an attack of opportunity on you.
If you were drawn to the handaxes due to their thrown property, you'd probably be better off with a pair of daggers (go down from 1d6 to 1d4 though) which are also thrown, light (allowing that second attack on your off-hand as a bonus action) but, crucially, they are also finesse weapons so you'd get the DEX bonus on your main hand at least or if you wanted to specialize and grab the dual-wielder feat, you could apply it to both weapons and no longer be restricted to light, allowing you to use two rapiers at 1d8+DEX MOD.
Heck, if you want to keep using handaxes "cause they're cool", just tell your DM you want to use the daggers mechanically (1d4, light, thrown, finesse) but they remain handaxes. That way you still get the mechanical advantages but you can keep calling them handaxes. Most DMs don't care what your stuff looks like as long as the mechanics stay intact for balance reasons. Heck, just call them "Light Handaxes" or something but use the dagger stats.
Anyway, all of this is just general advice and you can play what you want and how you want it but it seems to me like you are stretching yourself thin and trying to do too many things at once which will probably come back to bite you later on.
To answer your question about dex/wis vs dex/str. DEX > STR
Dex is the OP stat of the game. Every extra +1 in dex gives you +1 to initiative, +1 to AC, +1 to acrobatics/sleight of hand/stealth as well as +1 to hit/dmg for ranged and finesse weapons. Not to mention dex saves which outnumber every other saves you'll make in the game.
Str only makes sense for a class using heavy armor, one that specializes in grappling or one using a two handed weapon as it only affects your hit/dmg, the athletics skill and the very rare Str save. Dex is mechanically superior. If you don't use heavy armor, a two handed weapon and don't plan to grapple, the only reason to focus on STR is "for the lulz".
It makes no sense to pump both up and wis will pump up your spellcasting modifier, affecting your spell save DC and your ability to hit with said spells for spell attack rolls.
I will say that in a CoS campaign, STR saves are more common than in other settings, due to all the wolves and such pouncing on you and trying to knock you prone
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Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
@Anton: Possible, I'm currently playing CoS and that hasn't happened to us once yet but we were lucky on the wolves so far and didn't encounter very many of them early on and now we're level 8 so we completely destroy them when we encounter them anyway.
Either way, I'm sure Dex saves are still occuring twice as often as Str saves if not more, even in CoS.
They were very useful against that ***** in the swamp or against the traps in the Death House anyway.
It would be a weak character building choice to base ideas around which types of saving throw you're likely to make in a specific campaign. After you finish Strahd, you may end up playing the character onwards.
Boost DEX and WIS as described by others, that will be the most useful increase to you.
Find yourself a rapier instead of a handaxe. That way you can use your DEX bonus for the attacks as it's a finesse weapon. You can then use your bonus action for other choices (rangers have some nifty bonus action spells). If you really want to dual wield, then two scimitars will do it.
You should unquestionably grab the +1 Dex, +1 Wis everyone else is suggesting. Strength doesn't do much to begin with, let alone in a campaign where it's capped at 17.
What's your fighting style? Did you choose Archery? Assuming you did, ditch those handaxes as soon as you credibly can - your need for melee weapons is primarily as a backup, but for melee you want to invest in a shield, a rapier, a whip, and 2 scimitars. If you need one-handed ranged solutions, darts and slings have you covered.
I'm not clear on why you can't have a wolf, which is one of the best choices usually available, but for your new beast, it's important to ask your DM what your constraints are. I know many DMs will constrain you to the local ecology (which isn't anywhere in the PHB BM description - RAW, when you gain the subclass, you just pick a creature of the right type, size, and CR, and if it dies, you just pick a new one), for example, and I have no way of knowing what your DM will decide is native to where you are. Do you have access to dinosaurs, for example?
Here are some particularly good companions, with caveats where I know to add them, ignoring the wolf:
I can't provide specific companion advice without knowing more about your party composition. I can tell you that both mountain dwarf and beastmaster are radically better with Tasha's and it makes no sense for it to matter if you own Tasha's or not - what should matter is what your DM is permitting, not what books you happen to own.
I'm assuming it's mostly an issue of D&D Beyond not giving the option to use the Tasha's Rules if neither the player or DM owns the book.
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For ability score, at no point during the campaign can we have an ability score about 17. Because of this it makes no sense investing past 16.
As for my playstyle.... I wanted to specialize more with ranged combat, but I happen to be the tankiest of my party by quite a bit... I feel the need to be proficient in both melee and ranged combat despite knowing that there are serious diminishing returns the further we go into the campaign. I see what you are saying about DEX and its many utilities in addition to wisdom for spells and saving throws. I'll look into getting another dagger, I happened to come across a silver dagger so dual wielding them if I can find another would definitely streamline my character.
I appreciate the feedback! Makes a lot of sense.
Wolves are off of the table because Strahd has them all under his control within the entire province of Barovia. I want to stay true to the ecology of Barovia so best options are probably the badger, wolf spider, owl, snake and boar; knowing my DM he might create the opportunity for me to pair up with a unique beast but I can't bank on that.
I chose archery but as I said above, it turns out I'm the tankiest of my party which is a problem... I guess if that's the case then I should probably grab a shield and a finesse weapon for melee and invest in Dex/Wis.
Appreciate the feedback, thanks a lot.
Correct, DnD Beyond just helps simplify everything so much. I appreciate the more traditional approach and I've done it in the past, but I don't feel like investing the time currently.
That seems like a really weird houserule, first time I hear of something like this. Hopefully your DM has some kind of hidden agenda/purpose behind it and he reveals his hand soon. Like, before the 2nd ASI at level 8 soon so you can get it higher ASAP. It severely nerfs all of you and enemies will get stronger and are balanced on the fact that you are supposed to get stronger too. Curse of Strahd is also notoriously difficult already...
The monk is especially hit hard by this as he can't wear armor at all for pretty much all his features and he would normally be pretty decent in melee but with this rule, he can never hope to have over 16 AC (10 + DEX + WIS) instead of 20 with his unarmored defense which is horrible for a melee character! I wouldn't be surprised if you guys end up dying due to this rule.
On the plus side, if you die, I guess you can roll up something else that's meant to be tanky like a fighter or paladin. I would have said Barbarian but that's another class that uses its ability score to be tanky (CON).
Oh, in the meantime, now that I think about it, if your DM lets you use some of Tasha's existing rules for the Ranger (and all other classes that get a fighting style) which is the optional class feature Martial Versatility. This enables you to switch up your fighting style whenever you reach an ASI in this class. So at level 4, you could switch your archery fighting style and pick up either two weapon fighting or defense if you want to try to be the tank. It won't be the most efficient tank, but you'll survive better that way then with a bow if you're stuck in melee anyway.
Or you could even go dueling for the +2 to attacks with a sword and a shield. Either way, the shield would bump you up to 18 AC on its own with scale mail or a breastplate and up to 19 with a half-plate later on. If you pick up defense, you can bump that up to 20 which is the same as a guy in full plate with a shield.