This is my first build, that I'm posting, so any help is much appreciated. Basically the plan was to go for a ranger that fights with 2 weapons, and has epic dodge. I went half STR based, and half Dex based for obvious reasons, to allow for epic dodge, and the ability to still dish out some damage.
Its got 4 favoured enemies.. but I didnt say which, since thats server dependent. (I play on a dueling server, so I pick the 4 most common races played there, human, elf, dwarf, half-elf)
For the weapons I chose Katana and shortsword, but its realy preferance. One can easily use a 2bladed sword, and drop the extra weapon focus feats. (but you lose the ability here to use a shield with a weapon you have weap focus/spec in)
As always, carry a TowerShield for the tougher opponents to use with your main handweapon.
I decided to not put points into wisdom for spells, since I play on a server where you can easily get items with +12 dex, so the buffs werent realy too useful for me. If you need the spells, just drop a few STR points and swap into wis (lower damage though)
Race Human (but can probably be modified easily to use other races) Alignment Good-Neutral(any works)
Starting
Str 16 Dex 18 Con 12 Wis 8 Int 8 Cha 8
Leveling
1FTR1-Weap. prof. exotic, dodge, mobility 2FTR2-Weap. focus(whatever you want on your mainhand, though I chose katana) 3Ranger1- FE1, Imp-crit katana 4Ranger2- +1dex 5Ranger3 6Ranger4- Spring attack 7Ranger5-FE2 8Ranger6-+1dex 9Ranger7- Weap. Finesse 10Ranger8 11Ranger9 12Rogue1- +1str -Weap.Focus (offhand, I picked shortsword) 13Ranger10- FE3 14Ranger11 15Ranger12- Imp-Crit Shortsword 16Ranger13- +1str 17Ranger14 18Ranger15- Toughness 19Ranger16 20Ranger17- +1dex 21FTR3 - epic weapon focus (mainhand) 22Ranger18 23Ranger19- 24FTR4- +1dex- weapon spec(mainhand), Epic Weapon spec(mainhand) 25Ranger20- epic weapon focus (offhand) 26Rogue2 27Ranger21-Bane of enemies 28Rogue3 29Rogue4 30Rogue5 - Great dex 31Rogue6 32Rogue7- +1dex 33Rogue8- Great STR 34Rogue9 35Rogue10- Defensive Roll 36Rogue11- +1 Str - Great STR 37Rogue12 38Rogue13- Imp Evasion 39Rogue14-Epic Dodge (make sure you have at least 30 tumble here) 40Ranger22- +1str (Skill dump)
Ending
Str 22 Dex 25 Con 12 Wis 8 Int 8 Cha 8
Skills
Disipline 43 listen 43 Spot 43 Tumble 30
You can put into UMD also at the first Rogue level
HP 424
Naked (normal katana/shortsword) AC 23 AB 36(mainhand) 37(offhand)
With +5 gear on (Katana+5/Short Sword+5) AC 44 AB 41(mainhand) 42(offhand)
With +5 gear on (Katana+5/Tower shield+5) AC 52 AB 43
Saves
Fort 24 Reflex 24 Will 14
Edited By MB52 on 04/13/06 01:05
Why spring attack in a dex build? You'll be avoiding AoO anyhow. My suggestion is to drop dodge, mobility and spring attack (dodge is not a prerequisite for ED, the manual is wrong... not even 30 ranks in tumble is a prerequisite 1 rank is enough, still tumble should be maximised for AC reasons).
I'd go with either foci in one weapon only, small size (kukri since you already get WP:exotic) either one slashing or piercing weapon and one bludgeoging (mace or lighthammer).
Also, Weapon finesse should be gotten as soon as possible. BTW, katana is not finessable, swap it for rapier.
You cannot take IC with less than +8 BAB.
Starting with 10 INT really limits your skills. You need to max out just one of spot/listen not both, especially when you are so tight on skillpoints. Hide, move silently, discipline, tumble and spellcraft is what I would max out, plus some UMD. Not to say some set/disarm traps. But that requires higher INT. Also, you should start out as a rogue to get more skillpoints. I'd start with 12 INT, 14 STR. Also, ending on 25 DEX instead of 26 makes you lose 1 AC and 1 AB
Finally you've got an xp penalty with this build.
Might I suggest something like this maybe?
Ranger(22), Rogue(14), Fighter(4) Human, any alignment
You can swap some lvls in epic to get bane of enemies earlier but ED later. Your choice. The skill selection is nice, you are now able to set epic traps and to disable deadly ones.
This version has got an xp penalty in the interval 17-20 and 26-40.
Just a few tweaks
Cheers, Kail _________________ To hear the sound of Freedom, many gave their lives They fought for you and me Those memories will always live inside us, and now it's our time to be free
Edited By Kail Pendragon on 04/13/06 03:14
Yeah, I knew Katanas weren't finesse weapons but the main reason I took Katanas, was for more damage. Would the STR modifier for damage still be the same with a Rapier then a Katana?
I actually use 2 katanas in this build, cause the server I play on, the AB penalties make no differance. I just tried to modify it a bit to help out the AB slightly for here.
I suppose I should have mentioned that, the build is for mostly dueling servers (level 40), since it doesnt seem to me it would level up well in a persistant world (1-40) Thats also a reason for low int, since I found the points I got by 40 to be sufficient.
Ok, so I can drop dodge, mobility and spring attack, that should help free up some feats, I always assumed those were needed feats in any build.
Thanks for the post, I'll definatly keep that all in mind, and rework it a bit tommorow and see what I can get.
This was my basic attempt to find a balance with a epic dodge character, and damage. (usaly dex based chars have low damage) And so far my version on the server I play has proved to do comparable damage, compared to STR based builds.
Edited By MB52 on 04/13/06 03:54
just one quick note. perhaps drop one level of rogue, push back ed, and get yourself another ranger feat. you can grab another fe or just make room for another feat. everything mentioned before also makes loads of sense. i hate to see a ranger with no wis, but that is just my preference.
-c _________________ “If you bring a Ranger with you, it is well to pay attention to him...”
Yeah, the STR bonus to damage is the same for rapier and katana. Katana nets you +2 DMG on average per successful hit compared to rapier, +1 DMG compared to longsword. No big deal, IMO.
Cheers, Kail _________________ To hear the sound of Freedom, many gave their lives They fought for you and me Those memories will always live inside us, and now it's our time to be free
Thats true.. hmm alot to think about now.. hehe, thanks.
Hmmmm, for average damage on two weapons, I always think a double weapon works best, 1d8/1d8 against your 1d10/1d6 (which is the same) but you don't need to take WF, EWF and EWS two times, since Weapon Finesse doesn't works on double weapons, you could drop that too and get Blind-Fight, won't need two Improved Criticals either, so more feats, after releasing Dodge, mobility and Spring Attack, you should take Power Attack and Cleave and you still have feats left. Your AB lowers by 1 from 7 DEX modifier to 6 STR modifier, however, by dropping EWF and EWS you can take more Great DEX to get Epic Dodge earlier or Great STR to end with 24 STR/ 25 DEX or 22 STR / 27 DEX.
What do you think? I think a double weapon would make you much stronger.
Edited By Thaxll'ssyllia on 04/15/06 03:49
Another good thought. I'm glad I posted this here. Ok,now I got alot to fit in for the next version(well actually more room since I dont need alot of things like dodge etc..).
