Rangers Worthless?

[Azurewrath]

I made a ranger over the weekend. An elf with about 19 dexterity. I gave her a bow and thought everything would be fine. Boy was I wrong!

First off, they don't get any abilities at all. I got to level 2 and still had nothing to press. Second, and biggest issue- ALL OF MY ARROWS MISS!

I am not kidding. 8 out 10 of my arrows fly far to the right or left of the target and i do no damage at all with her. The firing time is incredibly slow which makes it even worse.

I believe i had point blank shot and rapid shot for my feats. Is anyone else missing almost all of their shots on their archers?

[xkuripuri]

Have you checked your dice rolls to see why you're missing?
I mean, at 2nd level, hitting things is always a bit tricky.

[Grifta]

Get Presice Shot (there is a -4 penalty for firing into melee normally)

If you're not sure why you're missing, pause the game, and hold the mouse over the "Steve attack Monster - Hit/Miss" in the bottom right. It lays out all of the bonuses and negatives to the roll.

*edit* added location to attack text

[abellius]

Definitely need precise shot feat for a pure archer build.

[Azurewrath]

So until I can get some better traits I am SOL i guess, or just give up the bow altogether until I am a higher level.

[Chadwick Strongpants]

Originally posted by azurewrath44:

So until I can get some better traits I am SOL i guess, or just give up the bow altogether until I am a higher level.

You could also just focus on taking out the enemy ranged units with your ranger, though I admit that may not be a good idea when fighting animals.

[timechef]

If you turn off the 'sharexp with party' option, you should level up fairly quickly to get those necessary feats.

And they are necessary. Archers in pathfinder (the tabletop version) are notorious for having to have certain feats to be effective.

[Azunai]

there is no "firing time" in the D&D ruleset. a turn is 6 seconds and low level characters simply have just 1 attack per turn. so each of your characters will only shoot or swing their sword once every 6s. rapid shot should give you an additional shot, but at a -2 penalty.

i guess the miss animation is a bit overly dramatic in this game. arrows that miss seem to go very far off. but in practice it doesn't matter at all - a miss is a miss, whether the game shows it as an almost hit that missed the mark only slightly or as a comically bad "missed the broad side of a barn" failure.

[Topy]

Not sure where your problems come from. My main is a Ranger and he is by far the most reliable damage dealer next to the Barbarian (amira?) in my party right now since he got a decent attack roll (+20 at level 7 with a few buffs rn). In the early levels the Ranger is kinda weak. Wait until you are Level 5-6 and you should see improvement with a few decent traits. I chose the animal companion plus the animal boon trait and have a magic item that boosts companion stats so i basically have another very bulky tank with natural attacks in my party so definitely not useless in my opinion.

[connelld1965]

I find for Rangers it is best to max Charisma just try to talk things out...

[Kommissar K]

Also note, 19dex, while cool, is also only a part of archery. Don't skimp on Strength, as that increases damage from composite bows.

[wulfster42]

Archery is insanely good actually but yes, you need certain feats.

You can get around having precise shot if you have a ranged pally subclass (at ....think it's level 3), they share precise shot with other party members within 10 feet.

Otherwise you REALLY need it, especially ifyour using rapid shot.

Rapid shot gives an additional -2 penalty to your attack bonus.

So...without precise shot firing into melee combat you would have a -6 to hit between them.

Ranger level 2(think you said that was your level) has a 2 base attack bonus and 19 dex is a +4

So that is a +6 total to hit....then -6 from rapid shot and no precise shot. Net is 0 attack bonus.

That is horrid...I mean.....sorcs/bards etc all have better then that (some alot better). Enemies could and often do have 20+ ac....so you would only hit on a 20 (if auto hits are a thing in pathfinder). Meaning 5% (if that) chance to actually hit.

Precise shot is super important, so is point blank shot (which adds +1 to hit and damage), and weapon focus if your going ranged isn't bad early on either (possibly before getting rapid shot).

Rangers are also not the best archers by far. Fighters are way better in my opinion. They get more feats faster, they get weapon specialization (which is basically better then favored enemies), and they get weapon schools bonus (so eventually fighters get +6 to hit and +8 to damage versus all enemies AND at 20 get an extra +1 crit multiplier. Fighters also get a boost to max dex bonus in armor.....giving you more AC then rangers as well, wearing the same armor.

Anyway for now...take off rapid shot.....and get precise shot at 3 (or if your level 3 at 4 instead of weapon specialization).

Also if you have a spellcaster, at level 3 you can get a spell called cats grace. It boosts dex by 4...and lasts for quite awhile. That will increase both your AC and to hit...and your reflex save as well, so it's very worth it.

With the right feats, and a starting 19 dex, at level 4 you can have:

20 dex (+1 at level 4), + 4 cats grace = 24 dex which is +7 to hit (and ac if your armor allows that much).

4 BaB (base attack bonus)

Weapon focus (+1 to hit)

Point blank shot (+1 to hit)

Precise shot (no penalty to shoot into melee).

That is a +13 to hit right there, a +1 composite bow...would make it +14. Bards song or bless is +1 more for +15.

So an enemy with 20 AC would then be hit on a roll of 5 or higher. If you got rapid shot at that point....even with -2 you would now attack twice a round and hit on a 7 or higher (better option).

By level 7 (a bit away), your sorc/wiz spellcasters will have haste. That adds 1 more attack bonus, and 1 more base attack per round. By that point your BAB is 7 (if pure ranger/righter), and even with rapid shot (which means you get 3 attacks all at -2 bab (and 1 more attack by that point at -7 i think) so you would need a 3 or higher to hit an AC 20 enemy ...three times, and an 8 or higher for the 4th hit.

So yeah, archery doesn't suck.

[Bijat]

Fighters aint 100% better then rangers. Rangers get a pet that can be rly useful to the party (wolf trip enemies) and get spells. While a fighter will do higher dmg with auto attacksa ranger will not be far off and will bring more to the party. It´s aint as simple as sayin this class IS better. Also rangers 20 aint a SUPER high benefit so they can multiclass pritty well while fighters 19 and 20 is so dam good u shoud not not go for them if u don´t simply 4dip fighter.

So a ranger/vivisector/paladin or a ranger/vivisector/fighter or a ranger/eldritch archer/wiz or some other combo is viable

[Valandryl]

Rangers have slightly lower attack and damage than fighters in the end but their self-buffs and pet clearly compensate (and more).
Ekun is a beast, I sure won't do without him.

[IllusiveViper]

they have a bit of a feat tax and are inconsistant in the first couple levels but Rangers are murder machines
classic feat chain is:
Point blank>precise shot>rapid shot>deadly aim>many shot>clustered shots
add weapon focus for more attack, and hammer the gap for more damage
consider taking a few levels in fighter for more attack and weapon specialization or a few levels in rogue can give you a ton of sneak attack damage

[Kyutaru]

Fighters can be the same murder machines as Rangers. Take all those feats and let other people buff you. They get even more feats so they are the true bow specialists. You have to sacrifice some strength to get that pet and ultimately it's the favored enemy bonuses that people pick the ranger for over the fighter.

All rangers have favored enemies but only the basic Ranger has a pet.