Cormyr and the Dalelands

Hey all, I'm brewing up a ranger concept in my mind, but had a question from those of you who have a better understanding of whats out there on the server.  Considering that Favored enemy really is the core of the ranger class, I don't want to be making choices that will end up being useless in the long run.  So what do you guys think are the best choices for favored enemies?  I just want to be able to get use out of the choices I make rather than pick something and find out I never use it, or that it quickly becomes obsolete.

Mechanically speaking, Undead is always a solid choice.  I'd say Orcs is probably a good choice too.  Otherwise, I'm not sure what to recommend to you, since I'm not privy to what race a monster is labeled in the creator.

Is there an overall theme to the character that would cause you to select one over the other?  Worse case scenario, you could nudge either Fire or Vincent to see if said creature is actually what it should be (monstrous humanoid, abomination, etc).

Goblinoid is very good. You can use it to fight goblins at low levels and then gnolls at high levels.
Giants a few of the higher level dungeons have a lot of giants.
Undead as there are a lot of undead dungeons at lower levels.
These 3 I would take personally.

Orc would only be good at the middle levels though it could be a good option.
Dragons are only good at higher levels.

I thought gnolls were their own choice?  Glad to hear undead and Giants are good choices, both were ideas brewing in my head for the source of his favored enemy RP wise...

Edit: No, you're right...I'd forgotten that gnolls were goblinoids in nwn...even better!

From a pure mechanics standpoint, Undead and Construct are always your best bet, due to their critical hit immunity and damage reduction.  This becomes especially true if you are able to eventually take Bane of Enemies.

We do also have a lot of them on the server.

Otherwise, pick whatever you think fits your character.

I always pick undead as the first Ranger enemy. And I've had a lot of success with rangers over several server environments in NWN. Undead are a constant and it's one of those instances you can be gamey and play to the mechanics, but also consistent RP wise as well.

My opinions on favored enemies...

Must-Have:
Undead (Witchlords, Wyvernspur, Deepgrave)

Competitive:
Construct (Witchlords, Ogre Redoubt)
Orc (Most mid-level dungeons)
Giant (Ogre Redoubt, Moonsea Behemoth Cave, Frost Giants)

Viable:
Goblinoid (Hullack Goblins, Sunset Gnolls, Cavern of Death)
Human (Moonsea Bandits, Zhentarim, PCs)
Outsider (Slaad tower, Murky Swamp ruins, PCs, Cavern of Death)

Nobody has yet to mention outsiders. There's a couple dungeons filled with Fiends where this would be useful.

My epic-level pure ranger has Undead, Orcs, Humans (because generic NPC villain), and Elves (because Drow murdered your family). So yeah, that's just a comparison. My choices are definitely not the best, but Undead is by far the most solid pickup.

If your concept has an anti drow bias you should pick elves.

Going slightly off topic but remaining on ranger abilities, I got curious at the mention of Bane of Enemies. Do rangers get any other neat deals for staying with it for 20 levels? And, not ever having had an epic PC - do you need 20 class levels for Bane of Enemies or 20 character levels and ranger class thrown in somewhere?

You need 21 levels of ranger to get bane of enemies

Thanks guys, yeah I was planning on going pure ranger which is a bit of a change for me (I've got a ranger based assassin with FE Human and Elf since those make the most sense for him).  RP wise for favored enemies I'd kinda gotten to the "mad-libs" point of coming up with his background.  I had the general skeleton sketched out and just had to fill in a few blanks to flesh him out, hence the uncertainty of what choice to make.  Of course now this talk about ranger abilities has me thinking of something to post in the suggestion board...

Don't go pure DEX. Don't make the same mistake I did! You only lose like, 1 AC!

Yes, please, at least, pick up power attack. It's so worth it.

Actually planning on going STR based anyway 16 dex 15 str at first level and just dump all my level ups into str from then on out.

A strength based ranger in Mithral Plate with an exotic double weapon using throwing axes as a back up ranged option would be very strong. As MIthral plate only gives a - 4 to things like Move Silently you're still able to make decent enough use of the HiPS you'll pick up at 18th level.

The double weapon to allow you to take advantage of those nice two weapon fighting feats with the added bonus of only having to enchant and find one decent weapon.

That being said play what is fun but I suspect the above is one of the stronger ranger builds you can produce (going pure ranger that is) as everything synergies quite well.  

Unfortunately, Mithril Plate Mail is still a medium armor, and thus does not allow you to use ranger feats.  Mithril Breastplate, on the other hand, is certainly viable, although it is ludicrously rare, and because of it's nature as being an ultra-niche armor, most people don't bother to hang on to it for other people.  They just sell it right to the store, where it gets eaten by resets.  Adamantine Full Plate, conversely, rarely makes it to the store, because most people hang on to it for their friends, or to sell to acquaintances.

Apologies you are correct! I would still hold out for the breastplate though or take the hit and just select 'two weapon fighting' as one of your feat choices (as it is now essentially a better version of dual wield). You would still pick up Improved Two Weapon Fighting for free which would function with medium armour.

In fairness looking at the Ranger class with the CD additions you get enough bonus feats to really take everything you would want to with the major exception of Weapon Specialisation. The obvious PRC choice is Hospilater (throw in the Div Might/Shield feats} but ranger is one of the few classes that really rewards you for taking a lot of levels in it. It also has access to some of the best skills in the game mixing in both survival and utility orientated skills.


When building for power on CD a good question to ask yourself is - How can I make my build less reliant on dexterity? Otherwise the Ranger really seems quite a solid choice.

Stay away from the double weapons. There are none tier 4 and up. They offer the same penalties for damage and AB as just using a scimitar/ longsword/ bastardsword and shortsword/ handaxe/ mace, all which have good options in loot. I wouldn't go for hospitaler, honestly. They are severely punished in the skill point division, and if you wanted the divine feats, you'd have to invest into strength, dex, con, wisdom, and charisma, which, well, you can't. The extra feats are nice, but you'd be better splashing a few fighter levels or taking divine champion.

It's always a mind game with ranger though, because you want to splash class, but you know you are delaying that big level 21 ranger strength. Ranger now gets enough skill points and skill variety to not need to multiclass, really.

I would always suggest going pure Ranger if you're going for Ranger although if you absolutely wanted to multi-class I just honestly think Hospilater is your best bet with a strength charisma focus but then why not take Paladin or Cleric? Then I suppose that hits the real point of the Ranger class it does some things well but there is almost always a better option if you go outside of the niche.  

I don't think the criticism about the lack of top double weapons is 100% valid only because CD has a very decent policy about deficiencies in loot and that is make some on par with what is in current loot and then send them to Vincent and they'll probably go in the module. It also allows any weapon focus type feats to stack with the one weapon you're using which is a bonus instead of having a deficiency in one hand or the other.

Otherwise Ranger pretty much gives you everything you need in a frontliner class - Full BAB, decent hit points, enough extra feats and access to essential skills - Discipline and Tumble. Along with some unusual goodies such as HiPS and a really decent epic feat which the other front line classes distinctly lack (looking at you in particular Paladin anf Fighter).