This guide will help you make optimized character choices as you build your D&D 4th Edition Ranger; Everything from the pros and cons of each race, which stats you should focus on for a particular build, and which powers will help you to become the most efficient ranger you can. There are several ranger builds and playstyles available, so please be patient as I go through adding the details of each one but I do welcome comments, questions, and critiques.
Some Reasons You Might Consider Picking A Ranger ✦ High Damage : Strikers are built to punish their foes, rangers especially so. As a ranger you'll be hitting often, and hard when you do, sometimes even more than one target at once.
✦ Speed/Mobility : Even if you choose not to be an elf with their high speed, rangers a capable of moving quickly around the battlefield. You'll be either safely at range, or darting through the chaos of melee combat with ease.
✦ Self Reliance : Allies are always nice to have, but rangers can function quite well on their own. With the right build some rangers can even wade through enemies almost as well as a defender.
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"Life is like a Dungeon Master, if it smiles at you something terrible is probably about to happen."
The Legend Green - Among the best choices for a particular section. Blue - While not necceasarily the best option out there, very much capable of contending. Purple - Situationally good. Not the best all the time, but has certain aspects that it will excel in. Black - Nothing particularly special. Not terrible but most likely something to avoid if there are other options. Red - One of the worst choices you could pick for a particular section.
Book Acronyms
Spoiler
AiNF: P3 Assault in Nightwyrm Fortress. AP: Arcane Power. AV: Adventurer's Vault. BoVD: Book of Vile Darkness. DD: Dungeon Delve. DMA: Dragon Magazine Annual. DMG: Dungeon Master’s Guide. DMK: Dungeon Master's Kit. DP: Divine Power. DR: E1 Death's Reach. DQE: P2 Demon Queen’s Enclave. DSCC: Dark Sun Creature Catalog DSCS: Dark Sun Campaign Setting ECG: Eberron Campaign Guide. EPG: Eberron Player's Guide. FRCG: Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide. FRPG: Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. HF: Hammerfast. HotFK: Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, also, HFK HotFL: Heroes of the Fallen Lands, also, HFL HotFW: Heroes of the Feywild, also HFW HoS: Heroes of Shadow KotG: E2 Kingdom of the Ghouls. KotS: H1 Keep on the Shadowfell. KoTW: P1 King of the Trollhaunt Warrens. LoM: Lords of Madness. MaGA: Madness at Gardmore Abbey, also MGA MotDS: Marauders of the Dune Sea MM: Monster Manual MME: Mordenkainen's Magical Emporium MoP: Manual of Planes. MV: Monster Vault. MV:TNV: Monster Vault: Threats to Nentir Vale, also TNV MP: Martial Power. NWCS: Neverwinter Campaign Setting. OG: Open Grave. OoSP: HS2 Orcs of Stonefang Pass PB: The Plane Below; also, tPB PHB: Player’s Handbook PHR: Player's Handbook Races (often followed by the name of the race). PoS: H3 Pyramid of Shadows. PoU: E3 Prince of Undeath. PriP: Primal Power. PSG: Players Strategy Guide. PsiP: Psionic Power. RC: Rules Compendium. RotG: Revenge of the Giants. SotAC: Seeker of the Ashen Crown. SotAS: The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea SotEC: The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos SToS: Scepter Tower of Spellguard. TL: H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth. ToH: Tomb of Horrors TSS: HS1 The Slaying Stone UD: Underdark. VR: Vor Rukoth
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"Life is like a Dungeon Master, if it smiles at you something terrible is probably about to happen."
Races You'll want races with a bonus to dexterity, and preferably a second bonus to Wisdom. Constitution is less important, but you should bear it in mind when building a character. The ideal race for this build is Elf, with runners up being Human and Eladrin, and possibly Halfling. Elf racial bonuses are both valuable, while human versatility and bonus feats are nice. Eladrins abilities are somewhat in line with what the ranger wants, and their racial is really useful. Halflings must use a short bow, which will limit damage somewhat and a lot of their abilities are more geared towards rogues, but they are still a viable choice.
Attributes DEX > WIS > CON > CHA, STR, INT.
Skills Stealth and Perception will be your main skills, these will allow you the best shot at getting combat advantage while not being surprised yourself. Rangers must make a choice between Dungeoneering and Nature during creation, so cater to your campaign (or consider both). Then comes Acrobatics and Athletics. Endurance can be useful if your DM enjoys tossing harsh elements at the party. Finally, if your group does not have any leaders, or is running tight on regeneration, consider Heal.
Feats All of your feats should focus on one of the following: Initiative, Change To Hit, Damage, AC. Weapon Focus (Bow) , Lethal Hunter, Far Shot, Improved Initative, or Quick Draw.
Two Weapon Fighting
Spoiler
Races You'll want races with a bonus to strength and/or dexterity, or at least a second bonus to Wisdom and Constitution, which are less important, but you should bear in mind when building a character. Humans are a strong front runner for the +2 in STR, but the dexterity of Elves and Eladrin make them solid as well and you will just take their +2s in mind when using point buy. As with archer, all three have strong racial abilities that aid in making a mobile and effective ranger. Halflings trail slightly behind the group, due to their limit on which weapons they can wield, but their ability to be mobile and to reduce the chance of being hit help them out.
Attributes STR, DEX > CON, WIS > INT, CHA.
Skills Like the archer, Perception and Stealth will be your main skills, these will allow you the best shot at getting combat advantage while not being surprised yourself. Though some melee rangers will drop stealth in favor of a more direct approach. Rangers must make a choice between Dungeoneering and Nature during creation, so cater to your campaign (or consider both). Then comes Acrobatics and Athletics. Endurance can be useful if your DM enjoys tossing harsh elements at the party. Finally, if your group does not have any leaders, or is running tight on regeneration, consider Heal.
Feats All of your feats should focus on one of the following: Initiative, Change To Hit, Damage, AC.
Beastmaster To Be Added
Hunter To Be Added
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"Life is like a Dungeon Master, if it smiles at you something terrible is probably about to happen."
Dragonborn (CHA, STR/CON) +2 STR will help melee rangers in doing damage, but the +2 CHA is pretty useless. Skill bonuses apply to things you are NOT looking for and most of the racial powers are more focused on tanking roles. Draconic Heritage and Dragonborn Fury are for dedicated tanks, and you should be working as an off-tank AT BEST. Additionally, while dragonbreath is nice to attempting to mow down a pack of minions, there are other classes out there who do AOE much better than you, leave that to them. Verdict: Mediocre for melee, poor for archer.
Dwarf (CON, STR/WIS) +2 STR will help melee rangers in doing damage, +2 WIS will buff some of the other ranger powers, but the +2 CON is only partially useful and only to melee rangers. Skill bonuses are mediocre, being Dungeoneering and Endurance, but racials are aimed at tanks and leaders not at rangers. Cast-Iron Stomach is situational, Encumbered Speed isnt anything to get particularly excited about, and Stand your ground is kinda cool for melee rangers who will be in the thick of it, but not something to make a race selection over. Verdict : Mediocre for melee, poor for archer.
Eladrin (INT, DEX/CHA) +2 Dex will help Archers especially, but a melee ranger wont turn it down. The bonus intellect isnt exactly useful but at least the racials make up for it. The skill bonuses wont do you any favors, but what is nice is that you get an extra trained skill and no one can say no to that. Weapon Profficiency is useless but the Eladrin Will helps to bring up your lower Will Defense. Fey Origin is situational, and trance lets you gain extended rest after only 4 hours of sleep and you're aware of surroundings for it making the night shifts easier. But the encounter power Fey Step is awesome; a ranger is supposed to be mobile, and nothing says mobility like teleportation. Verdict: Good for melee, good for archer.
Elf (DEX, INT/WIS) Both Dexterity and Wisdom are the stats that you'll be wanting regardless of your build. Skill bonuses both go into ranger skills, and more importantly one of them is perception a key class skill. While the weapon proficiency and Fey Origin arent anything special, Group awareness buffs anyone near you, Wild Step lets you shift in difficult terrain and Elven Accuracy lets you reroll a missed attack which comes in really handy when you blow it on a daily roll. Verdict: Great for melee, even better for archer.
Half-Elf (CON, WIS/CHA) +2 Widsom was a step in the right direction finally, since it at least buffs a few ranger abilities, but still not enough to save this race. You'd suspect that with both elves and humans making amazing rangers, that half-elves would at least be decent, but they just dont live up to their parents expectations. Class abilities are all better suited for other classes: Bonuses to diplomacy and insight do you no good, dilettante is fun but you should be focusing on your own powers not dabbling in other classes'. Dual heritage only fixes a problem that you would be better off solving by simply going elf or human to begin with. Verdict: Poor for melee, poor for archer.
Halfling (DEX, CON/CHA) +2 Dex and +2 Con would be the preferred set for this race. Halfings are a tricky choice, their abiliity scores are decent, their skill bonuses arent so much as they're more aimed towards rogues. Nimble and Second Chance are both great for mobile charcters like rangers, and bold, while nice, isnt exactly a must have. The most important factor is that due to their size Halflings cannot use longbows or bastard swords... however Shortbows arent terribile and you could aways pick up a scimitar and scimatar flurry. This puts them as the forth choice for the PHB1 races. Verdict : Decent for melee, good for archer. Though with both builds you'll be using different weapons than normal.
Human (ANY, NONE) +2 to the stat of your choice, so easy to customize to the build you're making. On top of that you get a bonus skill which is important, and a bonus feat, which is amazing, and though theres not much to pick from at level one, especially with Twin Strike available you do get another at-will power which adds versatility. Just like in previous editions, Humans are an easy pick for whatever class and build you're trying to put together.
Tiefling (CHA, CON/INT) No stat bonuses focused on a ranger's needs. Additionally, as with half-elves, none of the race features relate to the class. Verdict: Poor for melee, poor for archer.
Player's Handbook II
Spoiler
Deva (INT, WIS/ ) While you are able to snag a +2 WIS it is only a secondary stat, and the +2 to intellect does you no favors. The deciding factor hear comes from the poor racial bonuses : Skill bonuses are in History and Religion, neither of which are useful, Resistance to necrotic and +1 to all defenses are both situational at best, and the reroll racial is nice but would be better off with the elf or halfling one. This race is built for spellcasters, not for rangers. Verdict: Poor for melee, poor for archer.
Gnome (INT, CHA/DEX) +2 DEX will score you a primary stat, but +2 INT isnt even a tertiary stat. +2 Stealth is good but the +2 Arcana is useless. The gnome would be red if it werent for the Dex and Stealth combined with the Reactive Stealth and Fade Away racials; however while these things are nice for a Ranger to have they are mainly aimed at Rogues...A bunch of minor benefits with no primary ones. If you're looking to be a little guy, a halfling is a better choice. Verdict: Poor for melee, situational for archer.
Goliath (STR, CON/WIS) +2 STR is usable for melee but no good for archers, melee wouldnt turn away the +2 CON and an archer wouldnt turn away the +2 WIS. Skill bonuses are both secondary, Athletics is terrible nor is having a higher nature score though both are something you're likely to be trained in already and neither of them are Perception / Stealth which are more important. +1 Will is mediocre, its not normally high defense for rangers. Powerful Athlete could come in handy if you were jumping / climbing to either get to an enemy as melee or keep to a safe spot as ranged. Stone's Endurance lets you resist 5 damage would come in handy for a melee ranger. Nothing here "screams" Ranger, but you're not exactly punished for being one. Verdict: Median for melee, poor for archer.
Thri-Keen (DEX, STR/WIS) Bonuses to STR and DEX for melee and bonsues to DEX and WIS for ranged. Whats not to like? The racial abilities actually line up pretty decently as well. Multiple arms lets you draw or sheath weapons as a free action rather than minor would could come in handy in a pinch. Natural jumper lets you jump as if having a running start. Torpor lets you gain extended rest after only 4 hours of sleep and you're aware of surroundings for it making the night shifts easier. And the racial encounter power is pretty awesome for melee rangers especially as a minor action. Verdict: Strong for melee, Good for ranged.
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"Life is like a Dungeon Master, if it smiles at you something terrible is probably about to happen."
As a ranger, you'll be trained in five skills, one of which must be a choice between dungeonneering or nature. Select the environment your campaign is most likely to take place in, and then get to work placing your other four. For the most part, many rangers choose to put two skills in to Perception and Stealth, this will increase the chance you get to surprise the enemy, without bring surprised yourself. If theres one thing a ranger cannot have enough of, its Combat Advantage. This leaves you with a final two skills to slot, and mostly navigation and social skills to pick from. Most people will put a point either into Acrobatics or Athletics depending on their build (or sometimes both) and then spend the final point in a situational skill depending on the party make-up.
A more detailed look at each skill is listed below.
Acrobatic (DEX) Both Acrobatics and Athletics are pretty even, and most rangers may drop a point into the one for which they have the highest ability score while other may wish to bring up their weakest. Acrobatics will allow for escaping grabs and will help you balance, as well as possibly reducing falling damage. Some may choose to pick up both skills, rather than placing a point into things like dungeoneering/nature or heal.
Athletics (STR) Both Acrobatics and Athletics are pretty even, and most rangers may drop a point into the one for which they have the highest ability score while other may wish to bring up their weakest. Athletics will allow for escaping grabs and will help you climb, as well jumping or swimming. Some may choose to pick up both skills, rather than placing a point into things like dungeoneering/nature or heal.
Dungeoneering (WIS) At character creation you must put one point into either Dungeoneering or Nature, so pick the one that caters to the theme of your game. If your game will take place in both, you may consider picking up both skills, but otherwise pick the one you'll get the most use out of and put your points into other places.
Endurance (CON) Endurance can be useful at times, but it really depends on how hard your DM pushes things like weather, eating and drinking, and time spent marching. If its looking to be a game where you'll need this, pick it up, otherwise save the point for a blue skill or at least Heal.
Heal (WIS) If you party is light on heals, or if the healer has gone down it may fall on your to pick up the slack. You've got a medium wisdom score most likely, and regardless of your play style normally have the mobility needed to lend a hand. This skill is very dependent on your group make up though.
Nature At character creation you must put one point into either Dungeoneering or Nature, so pick the one that caters to the theme of your game. If your game will take place in both, you may consider picking up both skills, but otherwise pick the one you'll get the most use out of and put your points into other places.
Perception (WIS) One of your two most important skills, you always want to make sure that you see the enemy before they see you. This will lead on you being able to get the jump on things without being victim of surprise yourself. One of your skill points should always go into this skill regardless of your build or playstyle.
Stealth (DEX) The other most important skill in your book is stealth, the easily your see your enemy and the harder it is for them to see you, the more likely you are to get combat advantage. Once you've got advantage you can lay on the damage easily. This applies more to archers than to melee but it can be useful to both. Archers can stay in the back with other ranged allies, and use them for cover to attempt stealth and easily keep gaining Combat Advantage.
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Thievery (DEX)
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"Life is like a Dungeon Master, if it smiles at you something terrible is probably about to happen."
Ranger Option Prime Shot Source : Player's Handbook Benefit: If none of your allies are nearer to your target than you are, you receive a +1 bonus to ranged attacks against that target.
Running Attack Source : Martial Power 2 Benefit: If you use a standard action that lets you move and you end that movement at least 2 squares away from where you began that move, you gain +1 bonus to attack rolls made as part of that standard action.
Ranger Fighting Style Archer Source : Player's Handbook Benefit: Gain Defensive Mobility as a bonus feat. Defensive Mobility : You gain a +2 bonus to AC against opportunity attacks.
Beast Mastery Source : Martial Power Benefit: To Be Added
Hunter Source : Martial Power 2 Benefit: Sheathe weapon as free action. +4 AC against Oppurtunity Attacks caused by making ranged attack. Gain Quick Draw as a bonus feat. You can draw a weapon (or an object stored in a belt pouch, bandolier, or similar container, such as a potion) as part of the same action used to attack with the weapon or use the object. You also gain a +2 feat bonus to initiative checks.
Marauder Source : Martial Power 2 Benefit: To Be Added
Two-Blade Source : Player's Handbook Benefit: Wield a one-handed weapon in your off hand as if it were an off-hand weapon. Gain Toughness as a bonus feat. Toughness: You gain an additional 5 hit points at each tier.
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"Life is like a Dungeon Master, if it smiles at you something terrible is probably about to happen."
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