Question - Ranger Knight and Armour

[Adam__86]

Confused about Ranger Knight and the way stats work with armour. So, Ranger Knight grants proficiency in Heavy Armour, but Ranger is DEX/WIS, and every Heavy Armour seems to have a negative towards DEX (assuming i'm reading correctly which I probably am not). So what benefit is Ranger Knight?

[squat_instructor]

heavier armors limit AC bonus you get from DEX, but they give more flat AC instead

[larhtas]

I strongly believe that the ranger knight giving you the heavy armor proficiency is made for the str ranger builds.

[Adam__86]

I'll be honest I am not sure what AC is... Accuracy?

[squat_instructor]

Armor Class

[Non-binary Tiddies]

Heavy armor just ignores DEX in favor of flat AC (which is usually higher than medium or light). I think it's so people who want to build a strength ranger or a tank ranger have an option.

[squat_instructor]

example:
- Light armor with 12 AC + let's say you have +3 from DEX = 15 AC
- Heavy Armor removes +3 bonus from DEX but gives you 17 AC on it's own

15 vs 17 AC in the end

[wendigo211]

A) There's no reason to go dex heavy on a Ranger unless you want to use a bow/x-bow. Thrown weapons and melee attacks benefit from Strength, so a strength based Ranger is perfectly viable and it's what the Ranger Knight is built around.
B) While armor caps the AC bonus you recieve from dexterity in armor, it does not cap your Dexterity modifier for other purposes. E.g. a character with a 20 dex in heavy armor using a rapier (Finesse weapon) still gets a +5 to hit and damage, even though he doesn't add any of that modifier to his armor class.

[Beytran70]

Originally posted by Adam__86:

I'll be honest I am not sure what AC is... Accuracy?

Armor Class i.e the number the enemy has to roll to match or beat to hit you with an attack or offensive spell (but not ones with effects like Fear, those are separate).

[Dr.Fumetastic]

Originally posted by Adam__86:

I'll be honest I am not sure what AC is... Accuracy?

Armor Class: it affects how (un)likely it is for an attack to hit you.
Heavy armors will make you unable to add your Dexterity modifier to your AC. They have no other penalty. On a Dexterity based class medium armor that allows you to add your entire Dexteritiy Modifier is usually better.

There are also Strength based Ranger builds that benefit from Heavy Armor which is the purpose of that skill

[Adam__86]

So just to clarify the AC+ outweighs the DEX-?

But is Ranger Knight gimped if you have say 20 DEX but 12 STR?

[squat_instructor]

it depends on the actual armor you're trying to compare, just put them both on and compare results

[larhtas]

Originally posted by Adam__86:

So just to clarify the AC+ outweighs the DEX-?

But is Ranger Knight gimped if you have say 20 DEX but 12 STR?

yes it's not ideal.
With an heavy armor a 8 in dex is the best. Because the heavy armor ignore your -1 malus from your low 8 dexterity.

[MewTressym]

Ranger Knight is basically what Minsc is. A Strength based Ranger. Mellee priority, little to no archery specialization. Currently you can only choose dual weapons or archery as your fighting style for Rangers, but Rangers used to also include 2H fighting style as one of their options. Ranger Knight is a carry over from that.

[Non-binary Tiddies]

Originally posted by Adam__86:

So just to clarify the AC+ outweighs the DEX-?

But is Ranger Knight gimped if you have say 20 DEX but 12 STR?

Really it depends on the armor. There are some late game medium armor that adds all your DEX proficiency to AC but there are also some mid-late game heavy armor that don't need proficiency at all (or rather the armor itself gives you Heavy Armor Proficiency as long as you are wearing it). I personally only use Ranger Knight on characters I'm going to lower or dump DEX on so I can focus on a STR build (dual wielding or great weapon ranger for example) that can have heavy armor in early game.

[larhtas]

Originally posted by MewTressym:

Ranger Knight is basically what Minsc is. A Strength based Ranger. Mellee priority, little to no archery specialization. Currently you can only choose dual weapons or archery as your fighting style for Rangers, but Rangers used to also include 2H fighting style as one of their options. Ranger Knight is a carry over from that.

+1
here, for a knight ranger with a low dexterity maybe take the defense style.