Ranger

[Edstyles]

Man the ranger feels great in Baldurs, its so versatile .
You want a tank ? Np Even dishing decent damage as tank due to mark and titankiller and armor talents and shield for tankiness while still being dexterity based

Want damage ? Np can dish high damage from ranged or meele . Perfectly tailored for dual wield

Want strength based? It can be done too though this is my least favoured approach

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Origineel geplaatst door Edstyles:

Strength get phat 2 hander weapons tho :) and alot of them are quite strong . That is prolly the biggest sell point of strength as well as scaling pretty well into lategame. Like everburning blade is obvisouly too good for it being at a tutorial xD

I mean, outside of a Barbarian Berserker build, it's rarely as good as it sounds.

For example, take a Ranger with Dueling Fighting Style and Colossus Slayer and Shield. You'd deal 1d8 +2, which is equivalent to a polearm or a longsword wielded 2-hd (with higher minimum damage), and only .5 less average damage than a greatsword - however, with Colossus Slayer you'll deal an additional 1d8 on every strike except the first. So, really, you're dealing 2d8 +2 per turn compared to the greatsword's 2d6, all the while getting the benefit of +2 to your AC from the shield. Of course, greatsword really starts to shine with GWM and that sweet +10 to damage (not to mention the possibility of an extra attack) if you can handle the -5 to hit (which will lower your damage over time). Then again, there are Feats such as Piercer that can almost close that gap, so it's not as big a deal as one might think.

I mean, it's true that in the end the 2-hd great weapons are going to do the most damage - they should, since you are giving up shield to use them, and naturally the largest weapons should do the most damage. It's just not as massive a gap as people might think, if you build your character correctly.

A 1-hd 1d8 weapon such as a rapier, along with the Dueling Fighting Style and Piercer Feat, as well as a Battlemaster's maneuvers or Ranger's extra damage dice vs. favored foes, and a shield with shield master is probably more powerful overall than a fighter with GWM and a 2-hd sword or axe.

[Edstyles]

I think strength is great . Just not on a ranger .

[Aldain]

Origineel geplaatst door Edstyles:

I think strength is great . Just not on a ranger .

I mean Strength isn't unplayable or bad really.

It's more that Dex winds up eclipsing it both offensively and defensively because Str based defensive options wind up being fairly mediocre (super buff magic heavy armor notwithstanding) and Dex saves are often massively damaging if you fail them.

Outside of Shove (which BG3 does make comically fatal I will agree) Strength doesn't have much combat utility outside of making non-finesse weapons hit harder, so it's a bit more a gripe with the balancing of 5e than anything.

It's just the inequity between them, you can dump Str and not suffer too badly (aside from carry weight) but if you dump Dex you're slow and a huge target with less defense.

[Edstyles]

you forgot 1 thing tho. Jump. strength is insane in this part. Togueter with jump spell you can cover the entire battlefield with 1 jump. Its kind of comical, makes me think of the hulk jumping around and smashing people. Very good in order to put proximity threat on anything you may find dangerous and block their view from attacking your other characters not something you can do with dexterity build as you will notice as well that you wont be able to reach high areas without the strength behind the jump. I know cause my dex built ranger cant get to the high areas even with the spell but it doesnt matter cause he also uses a bow and he is good with it as a ranger should .

Its not the only thing jump does as well it also provides you with more mobilty as in you can travel longer. So even dwarves who have limited walking range as they are tiny, they can cover the battlefield thanks to jump and therefor making a 2 hander the obvious choice as you will be using your extra turn for jumping .

Also dump all loot on that strength mule xD to carry your belongings.

[WeenerTuck813]

Weirdly I REALLY like the feel of -actual- classic Ranger in BG3, meaning the classic Archery long bow rout.

Really good damage and INSANE attack bonuses, with a surprising amount of armor.

My dex archery Ranger playthrough was like +11 attack with like 8-25 damage, inflicting Disadvantage on their attack when hit, with 21 AC and was a combat monster.

[WeenerTuck813]

I think Str will feel better with Paladin release.

Plus imo Str Barb min maxes better than dex, the 2H GWM Barb is a monster

There will be plenty of Str classes on release

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Typically, I'll only use Str with a Barb or Pally. If I play Fighter (which I rarely do), I'll go Dex-Fighter and Champion for crit-fishing, or Cavalier, and both of those do just fine with Dex instead of Str. In all honesty though, usually I'm just taking a dip into Fighter if at all. It's the most boring class. "Sometimes hits, sometimes misses".

Everything else is Dex based for combat (or a caster).

I just started up a new Human Ranger in BG3 - 14/16/16 Str/Dex/Con, and 12 Wis. Ranger Knight, fire resistance. Dueling at level 2, and at level 3 I took Hunter for Colossus Slayer. Wielding a shield and a rapier. Spells are Longstrider, Jump and Fog Cloud. I'm about to start the fight at the Grove gate, but so far everything has been just mop up work. With Astarion and Shadowheart, none of us have taken a single hit since the tutorial. I use Blessing of the Trickster on my MC, and Astarion sneak attacks. We took out all the scavengers/adventurers without a scratch (used the explosive barrel, as well as the falling stone), and then all of the undead with pre-positioning (Astarion camps inside the antechamber, and he took out three Skelewiz's before they saw him and entered combat, then my MC and Shadowheart took out the fourth during the surprise round, leaving only the Skelebois without a scimitar - I stole it form him earlier - to swing wildly with punches. He got exactly two swings in, both of which missed Shadowheart). Basically, I feel like we're just assassinating things, and the extra two damage from Dueling is like wielding a longsward with two hands, except I also get a shield bonus because I'm wielding a rapier 1-hd. It's pretty cool.

[WeenerTuck813]

Origineel geplaatst door Pan Darius Kairos:

Typically, I'll only use Str with a Barb or Pally. If I play Fighter (which I rarely do), I'll go Dex-Fighter and Champion for crit-fishing, or Cavalier, and both of those do just fine with Dex instead of Str. In all honesty though, usually I'm just taking a dip into Fighter if at all. It's the most boring class. "Sometimes hits, sometimes misses".

Everything else is Dex based for combat (or a caster).

This is pretty spot on. Some Str Ranger builds can be real good but mostly he nailed it.

Str will feel less neglected when Pally drops

Realistically dex is amazing because it can be attack, dmg, and AC
For strength to be an option you need to compensate armor class somewhere. Barbarian does it through resistance to physical damage halving damage taken, paladin does it through heavy armor class armors negating the need for dexterity

[Ronin Gamer]

Origineel geplaatst door WeenerTuck813:

Weirdly I REALLY like the feel of -actual- classic Ranger in BG3, meaning the classic Archery long bow rout.

Really good damage and INSANE attack bonuses, with a surprising amount of armor.

My dex archery Ranger playthrough was like +11 attack with like 8-25 damage, inflicting Disadvantage on their attack when hit, with 21 AC and was a combat monster.

Yeah I remember in Solasta even I had stupidly strong bonuses with my ranger archer that regularly gave me good rolls. I'll need to research more on the bonuses angle and why Ranger seems to get so much with a bow to that extent.

[WeenerTuck813]

Origineel geplaatst door Ronin Gamer:

Origineel geplaatst door WeenerTuck813:

Weirdly I REALLY like the feel of -actual- classic Ranger in BG3, meaning the classic Archery long bow rout.

Really good damage and INSANE attack bonuses, with a surprising amount of armor.

My dex archery Ranger playthrough was like +11 attack with like 8-25 damage, inflicting Disadvantage on their attack when hit, with 21 AC and was a combat monster.

Yeah I remember in Solasta even I had stupidly strong bonuses with my ranger archer that regularly gave me good rolls. I'll need to research more on the bonuses angle and why Ranger seems to get so much with a bow to that extent.

Fighting style archery is +2 attack
And
Dex is one of the few abilities you WERE able to hit 20 with when hag hair was working

Wound up being +5(Dex)+2(Prof)+2(Archery)+1(Magic weapon) I forget how I hit 11.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Origineel geplaatst door WeenerTuck813:

Origineel geplaatst door Ronin Gamer:

Yeah I remember in Solasta even I had stupidly strong bonuses with my ranger archer that regularly gave me good rolls. I'll need to research more on the bonuses angle and why Ranger seems to get so much with a bow to that extent.

Fighting style archery is +2 attack
And
Dex is one of the few abilities you WERE able to hit 20 with when hag hair was working

Wound up being +5(Dex)+2(Prof)+2(Archery)+1(Magic weapon) I forget how I hit 11.

You can also add Bless for 1d4, Lightning Charges for +1, high ground for +2, and advantage.

[Ronin Gamer]

Origineel geplaatst door WeenerTuck813:

Origineel geplaatst door Ronin Gamer:

Yeah I remember in Solasta even I had stupidly strong bonuses with my ranger archer that regularly gave me good rolls. I'll need to research more on the bonuses angle and why Ranger seems to get so much with a bow to that extent.

Fighting style archery is +2 attack
And
Dex is one of the few abilities you WERE able to hit 20 with when hag hair was working

Wound up being +5(Dex)+2(Prof)+2(Archery)+1(Magic weapon) I forget how I hit 11.

I don't remember ranger getting to pick a fighting style, but it's been awhile since I played one so I may be forgetting. Also I've never taken advantage of hag hair. I value protecting the girl over helping the evil hag, so I'm happy to sacrifice a stat point.

[WeenerTuck813]

Origineel geplaatst door Ronin Gamer:

Origineel geplaatst door WeenerTuck813:

Fighting style archery is +2 attack
And
Dex is one of the few abilities you WERE able to hit 20 with when hag hair was working

Wound up being +5(Dex)+2(Prof)+2(Archery)+1(Magic weapon) I forget how I hit 11.

I don't remember ranger getting to pick a fighting style, but it's been awhile since I played one so I may be forgetting. Also I've never taken advantage of hag hair. I value protecting the girl over helping the evil hag, so I'm happy to sacrifice a stat point.

They get a fighting style maybe at lvl 3? I don’t remember exactly but they get it

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Fighting style at level 2.

[Aldain]

Origineel geplaatst door WeenerTuck813:

Origineel geplaatst door Ronin Gamer:

I don't remember ranger getting to pick a fighting style, but it's been awhile since I played one so I may be forgetting. Also I've never taken advantage of hag hair. I value protecting the girl over helping the evil hag, so I'm happy to sacrifice a stat point.

They get a fighting style maybe at lvl 3? I don’t remember exactly but they get it

Level 2 actually.

Level 3 is the subclass.

Dammit PDK stop sniping my attempts at being a google bot.