This is my second entry here. I'd love any feedback from the other members. The premise was a character that could take on a larger enemy force by using his environment for cover and tactical advantage. Thus, the Bushwhacker was born. There are some SD/Rangers and some STR-based rangers, but this build came up unique in a search.
Notes: You end up with a pretty decent melee presence. Ideally, I would use a two-handed weapon and heavy armor. If dex-boosting gear was available, perhaps dual-wielding in leathers? You're better served by the extra damage of the two-hander over a shield since by ducking in and out of the fighting you can insure you're not taking too much of a beating.
I contemplated dropping WIS to 12 and raising CON for the extra HPs. The ranger spellbook isn't that great, but in a low magic world, they could be useful. Also, since I was taking so many levels in ranger, it felt silly not to at least be able to cast all the spells.
Favored enemies are very module specific so I didn't pick any choices here. You get to choose 8, which can give you a fairly large number of enemies to get the bonus against.
Builds I found most similar are: christian.schnabel's Hunter in the Dark, which goes for EDR Mithdrates' Stalker of the Magical, which gets Dev Crit later in the build and ends up with lower strength and hps Cinnabar Din's Baneblade, which is a scythe-master
Edited By Daschel on 03/02/08 08:55
Nice and juicy melee build!
A couple of suggestions:
By taking the second SD level later, you can get a better tumble rank and +3 AC.
You have a very high animal empathy. You say something about using the resources of the wilderness, but do any animal have such a high DC? You could spend some points in spot or listen to be able to find the creatures hiding in the bushes.
I question if a stealth skill rank of 43 is enough to hide effectively in full plate against lvl 40 creatures. A creature could cross class spot and still be able to see you every time they beat 14 on a d20 roll*. The successful spot rolls would be more frequent earlier in the carreer (eg. every time you beat 4 on a d20 roll at lvl 20). I have seen other builders take ESF in the stealth skills to make it worthwile to HIPS a full plated str based character. But maybe the spells one with the land and camouflage is enough to make things work after all?
*assuming: your hide rank 43 their spot rank 21 difference is 22 Your armor check penalty is 8 Your dex bonus equals their wis bonus (eg. another ranger) _________________ I generally avoid temptation, unless I can't resist it...
Edited By Mick Dagger on 03/03/08 16:41
Nifty build. One comment though: Baneblade is not a scythe master. It doesn't even take Exotic Weapons (I personally hate scythes anyway). _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
Sorry.. I don't know why I thought it was a scythe build, but I was looking at tons of rngr/ftr/sd's and must have gotten them confused...
I have actually gotten this guy to level 40 now. He sneaks just fine actually. I do have to turn off stealth and turn it back on to shake an observant enemy sometimes. However, I think it's fine. Hide/Move Silent starts at 34/34 (after the -8 armor check pen).. add +4 to both for one with the land, +10 hide for camouflage, and 1-2 to both for cat's grace.
I did make some adjustments to the build as I levelled though.
I moved the SD levels to 22 and 37 to max tumble ranks. I took two points from wisdom and added them to consitution. The level 3/4 spells didn't seem worthwhile in a mid-high magic environment. I replaced toughness with knockdown. I already got the hitpoints from the con boost and knockdown made the ambush tactics that much more deadly. With the ability to catch enemies flat-footed, I didn't think IKD was needed.
In my opinion, skills often vary with your environment. In the world I play in, there are certainly epic animals that you could use the high animal empathy skills with. On the flip side, I could see using those skills for spot and listen or in trap skills fitting in with the general idea of this build.
1-20 looks like this now: 01:Ranger(1): Dodge, Power Attack, Favored Enemy, R: {Dual Wield} 02:Fighter(1): Weapon Focus: Greatsword 03:Fighter(2): Knockdown, Cleave 04:Fighter(3): STR+1, (STR=17) 05:Fighter(4): Weapon Specialization: Greatsword 06:Ranger(2): Blind Fight 07:Ranger(3) 08:Ranger(4): STR+1, (STR=18) 09:Ranger(5): Great Cleave, Favored Enemy 10:Ranger(6) 11:Ranger(7) 12:Ranger(8): STR+1, Improved Critical: Greataxe, (STR=19) 13:Ranger(9): R: {Improved Two-Weapon Fighting} 14:Ranger(10): Favored Enemy 15:Ranger(11): Mobility 16:Ranger(12): STR+1, (STR=20) 17:Ranger(13) 18:Ranger(14): Iron Will 19:Ranger(15): Favored Enemy 20:Ranger(16): STR+1, (STR=21)
I believe this build would be more powerful dual-wielding. _________________ " -- They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more."
Sorry.. I don't know why I thought it was a scythe build, but I was looking at tons of rngr/ftr/sd's and must have gotten them confused...