The Ranger

I am going to be honest with all of you. I friggin love Rangers. They are easily amongst my favorite classes in terms of aesthetics and powers, they are fun to play, fairly durable in combat, and yet still have a great degree of both mobility and variances in combat styles, making them so fun to play. Herein I will present to you five builds to showcase just how fun they can be.

A Note on Favored Enemies and Favored Terrain

We could debate the metrics of which Favored Enemy type is more commonly used in game, or which is technically most numerous. But frankly, just ask your Game Master(assuming he is not a jerk) what kind of enemies you will predominantly be facing and go from there. If your GM is not cooperative on that end, frankly, just don’t play a Ranger. Nothing sucks more than being told “yeah, you’ll be facing a ton of orcs” then meeting exactly 3 of them in the entire campaign, and two of them being friendly merchants. The same goes for Favored Terrain. Pick terrains you will be predominantly on.

Base Ranger

The base Ranger is a switch hitter, a combatant capable both at range and in melee. Characters such as Aragorn come to mind for inspiration.

Race

Human, put that floating +2 into Strength.

Ability Scores

15Point-Buy

Str 16/Dex 14/Con 10/Int 10/Wis 14/Cha 10

Keep increasing both Str and Dex as much as possible.

20Point-Buy

Str 16/Dex 16/Con 10/Int 10/Wis 14/Cha 10 Put everything in Str

25Point-Buy

Str 16/Dex 16/Con 14/Int 10/Wis 14/Cha 10 Put everything in Str

Traits

Magical Knack will help restore your lower Caster Level once you get spells at lvl 4(As Rangers have a Caster LvL equal to their LvL-3). Hunter of the Society will expand your bonuses of your Favored Terrains and give you a small bonus to Initiative which is always nice.

Favored Class Bonus

Yep, you guessed it right. Straight into Hit Points.

Skills

Stealth, Perception and Survival are must. Then, Ride, Climb, Swim and Handle Animal will be the rest of your skills.

Feats by Level

1-Power Attack

Human Bonus-Point-Blank Shot Combat Style

2-Rapid Shot

3-Precise Shot

Ranger Bonus 3-Endurance

5-Boon Companion

Combat Style 6-Manyshot

7-Dirty Fighting

9-Improved Trip

Combat Style

10-Improved Precise Shot

11-Deadly Aim

13-Clustered Shot

Combat Style

14-Point-Blank Master

15-Improved Initiative

17-Mounted Combat

Combat Style

18-Shot on the Run

19-Improved Overrun

While in melee, you rely a lot on Power Attack and eventually Improved Trip to get the job done, and frankly, that is enough to be a fantastic melee character. So the overwhelming majority of your feats thus go on improving your ranged combat. You also grab on lvl 5 Boon Companion as you want to have your Animal Companion to be as strong as you can from the get go and Boon Companion removes that nasty -3 to its level.

Animal Companion

Unlike the Druid or the Hunter, your list of Animal Companions is severely limited. I recommend either a Horse or a Wolf from that list, and to make them focus on Power Attack, Trip, and Overrun.

Equipment

A Greatsword, a Longbow and the best armor you can afford. Long term aim to get a Composite Longbow and a Breastplate or a Mithral Chainmail.

Final Thoughts on the Build

You try(and manage surprisingly well) to do a little bit of everything. You have a great skill set, you do very well in melee, extremely well at ranged, got yourself a animal companion support, can cast a limited, but always good in terms of resources management, amount of spells, some of them significantly increasing your damage output(see Lead Blades and Gravity Bow). And via your Favored Enemies, you can deal some bullshit levels of damage, on top of being one of the best scouts in the game. And if all that wasn’t enough, you are still actually fairly durable with a more than decent HP and AC, with great saves.

The Trapper

So, this build is all about being a hunter. A master trapper, who will use both brute strength and clever traps placed strategically on the battlefield to absolutely destroy its enemies. We will be taking the Trapper Archetype and the Horizon Walker Prestige Class. Our leveling should look like the following:

Class

Ranger 6/Horizon Walker 10/Ranger +4

Race

Half-Orc, put that floating +2 into Strength. Take the Sacred Tattoos Alternative Racial Feature.

Ability Scores

15Point-Buy

Str 16/Dex 10/Con 14/Int 10/Wis 12/Cha 13 Increase your Cha by 1, then everything else in Str

20Point-Buy

Str 17/Dex 10/Con 14/Int 10/Wis 13/Cha 14 Put everything in Str

25Point-Buy

Str 18/Dex 10/Con 14/Int 10/Wis 14/Cha 14 Put everything in Str.

Traits

Unnatural Presence will allow intimidating animals and vermins, Armor Expert will reduce our Armor Penalty which is nice.

Favored Class Bonus

We will predominantly be in melee, so yeah, HP.

Skills

Stealth, Perception and Survival are no-brainers, and we need Knowledge(Geography), Intimidate and Disable Devices.

Feats by Level

1-Power Attack

Combat Style

2-Intimidating Prowess

3-Dirty Fighting

Ranger Bonus 3-Endurance

5-Companion Boon

Combat Style

6-Shatter Defenses

7-Cornugon Smash

9-Heavy Armor Proficiency

11-Improved Grapple

13-Greater Grapple

15-Weapon Focus(Greataxe)

17-Skill Focus(Intimidate)

19-Improved Initiative

Combat Style

20-Dreadful Carnage

Yep, the ranger too can be a Cornugon Smash build. They also can get, via the Menacing Combat Style, Shatter Defenses by level 6 which is stupid. Power Attack and Improved Grapple take care of the rest.

Animal Companion

Just take a Wolf and be done with it. Have it focus on the Trip maneuver.

Traps

So, we learn a handful of traps throughout our career. I recommend traps that will enhance our Snare Trap or our Wounding Trap which will be our starting two.

Horizon Walker

So the question here becomes “why are we taking all 10 levels of Horizon Walker” for this build?

Terrain Dominance is my answer. See, all three terrains we will choose Dominance for, we will be able to add its Favored Terrain Bonus as a Favored Enemy bonus.

And if this isn’t clear enough, our bonus here can become downright gigantic. Pick the Favored Terrains that your campaign most heavily focus on. In doubt, Mountain, contains almost 1/3rd of all creatures in the game. You can get a bonus here as massive as +18 on Attacks and Damage. Let that number alone sink in for a moment. That bonus applies on all your attacks, all your damage, all your traps… That’s crazy.

Equipment

Pick a good old Greataxe and the best armor you can afford and go to town. Eventually upgrade to a full plate armor. Make sure to choose enchantments that will help your Stealth as you do remain a ranger.

Final Thoughts on the Build

Okay, so, you have downright bullshit attack and damage bonuses from your Terrains, which can be anywhere between +4 and +18 depending on how you chose them, which means some colossal amounts of damage with that greataxe of yours (by lvl 18, we are talking, with a +18 Terrain, an attack routine of +35/+30/+25/+20 for 1d12+42 per attacks before including Traps and your Wolf Companion, nor buffs or magic items).

That is terrifying. And you still have two more levels to go. And that’s on top of Shatter Defenses+Cornugon Smash. Downright good build.

The Hermione G-Ranger

Okay, look, don’t ask, I made the pun and then that build came to me in a fever dream and I have to make it. We are taking the Code Runner Archetype and the Rogue’s Counterfeit Mage Archetype. Our leveling should look like the following:

Class

Ranger 1/Rogue 6/Ranger +13

Race

Human, put that floating +2 into Dex.

Ability Scores

15Point-Buy

Str 7/Dex 18/Con 13/Int 14/Wis 14/Cha 7 Increase Con at lvl 4, then everything else in Int.

20Point-Buy

Str 7/Dex 18/Con 13/Int 16/Wis 14/Cha 7 Round up Con, then everything else in Int

25Point-Buy

Str 7/Dex 18/Con 14/Int 17/Wis 14/Cha 7 Put everything into Int.

Traits

Pragmatic Activator switches Use Magic Devices from Cha to Int, and Arcane Scholar to make Knowledge(Arcane) into a class skill.

Favored Class Bonus

Skills. Whack. I know. You’ll need em.

Skills

As per usual, Stealth, Perception and Survival. However we will also be using Linguistics, Knowledge(Arcane, Local, Nature, The Planes and Religion) and Use Magic Devices. If you get extra skill points, put them in Disable Devices and Spellcraft. We will also need to invest 5 ranks in Perform(Dance) by lvl 19

Feats by Level

1-Skill Focus(Linguistics) Human Bonus-Orator

3-Weapon Finesse

5-Point-Blank Shot

7-Precise Shot

Rogue Talent(Combat Trick)

7-Dodge

Combat Style

8-Mobility

9-Dirty Fighting

11-Kirin Style

Combat Style

12-Wind Stance

13-Kirin Strike

15-Craft Wand

Combat Style

16-Spring Attack

17-Kirin Path

19-Wand Dancer

Combat Style

20-Lightning Stance

Alright, so with Orator we are actually a fantastic social character, Kirin Style allows us to add up to Double our Intelligence bonus on Damage rolls from any melee or ranged attacks(which does include spells from Wands), Precise Shot is necessary for our Rays to hit, Weapon Finesse will help early on for the very little amount of melee that we will be doing, except, once again, with Wands. Finally, moving will grant us Concealment via Wind Stance, and Wand Dancer will let us use our Wands without attacks of opportunity while in melee which is great.

Rogue Talents

3-Fast Stealth

6-Combat Trick

Equipment

Start with a Longbow, but as soon as you can get your hands on Wands focus exclusively on those. Those are fairly cheap and allow you to blast spells from any sources via your Intelligence based Use Magic Devices. As for armor, grab the best you can. Aim for a Celestial Chainmail. Carry a Short Sword for melee defense if absolutely necessary

Final Thoughts on the Build

You are definitely miss I-Know-It-All G’Ranger. And just like Hermione, you use Wands to a devastating effect. Being able to add double your Intelligence Bonus to damage on a Scorching Ray can be downright brutal. On top of it all, you get some Sneak Attack, great stealth, surprisingly good social capabilities, and you still have your Favored Enemies and most other Ranger goodies. Plus you are ridiculously mobile in combat making it a real pain to target you. And with all these wands, you can also work formidably well as Battlefield Control, Buffer, Healer and the like depending on the wands you carry.

The Bounty Hunter

Let us be honest here. You were waiting for this build. Rangers with their ability to track down their targets make for incredibly good Bounty Hunters flavor wise and of course, I had to make a build dedicated to it. We will be taking both the Urban Ranger Archetype and the Assassin Prestige Class. Our leveling should look like the following:

Class

Ranger 5/Assassin 10/Ranger +5

Race

We will go for Elf this time, and we will be taking the Fleet-Footed Alternate Racial Feature.

Ability Scores

15Point-Buy

Str 11/Dex 18/Con 10/Int 15/Wis 13/Cha 7 Round up Int, then everything else in Dex

20Point-Buy

Str 12/Dex 18/Con 10/Int 16/Wis 14/Cha 7 Put everything in Dex

25Point-Buy

Str 10/Dex 20/Con 10/Int 16/Wis 14/Cha 7 Put everything in Dex

Traits

Warrior of Old gives us a fun bonus to Initiative, Armor Expert lets us all but cancel our Armor Penalty.

Favored Class Bonus

We only have 10 in Con. Yeah, it goes straight in HP.

Skills

Stealth, Perception and Survival as per usual, but also a minimum in Disguise as it is a prerequisite for Assassin. The rest can go in Climb, Swim, Disable Devices and Ride

Feats by Level

1-Point-Blank Shot Elf Bonus-Run

Combat Style

2-Precise Shot

3-Rapid Shot

5-Weapon Finesse

7-Deadly Aim

9-Manyshot

11-Ranged Death Attack

13-Ability Focus(Death Attack)

15-Mounted Combat

Combat Style

16-Improved Precise Shot

17-Clustered Shot

19-Mounted Archery

Combat Style

20-Point-Blank Master

Yeah, as you can see, we go all in on Ranged Combat here. Precise Shot is a must, Manyshot and Rapid Shot increase the number of attacks you can throw, and Clustered Shot takes care of those nasty DR. We do pick up Ranged Death Attack so we can…well…use our Death Attack with our Longbow… And of course, Deadly Aim helps crucially with damage.

Animal Companion

Since we do not get to take Boon Companion, our best bet here is a horse to be able to get to the town where our quarry has been hiding as fast as possible.

Assassin

Assassin gives you some sneak attack for increased damage, a Death Attack that you can snipe and one shot kill an enemy if you prepare for it, or Paralyze it, whichever’s your fancy really. Plus you get to use Poison so that’s nice.

Equipment

A Longbow and the best armor you can get. Since you have a super high dex, it will probably be a Chain Shirt, but aim long term for a good old Celestial Chainmail.

Final Thoughts on the Build

Okay, so you can shoot up to 6 arrows per rounds, each dealing some fairly good damage between Deadly Aim and Sneak Attack(and if you got yourself a belt that increases both Str and Dex, and a Composite Longbow, your Str bonus too!), you can shoot from horseback in impunity, shoot in melee with no retaliation, can Death Attack from a distance with a fairly high DC, and on top of it all you still add your Favored Enemy and your spells(like Gravity Bow) for downright stupid damage while firing from relative safety. Yeah, a surprisingly good build.

The Forest Guide

Okay but what if we wanted to make the rangiest ranger of them all? Like the master of the wild that goes around unseen, can scout ahead while completely unseen, and in its forest be the apex predator, while still being the unsung guardian of the local village? Well, yes, I do happen to have a build for you. We will be taking the Falconer Archetype and the Hinterlander Prestige Class. Our leveling should look like the following:

Ranger 6/Hinterlander 10/Ranger +4

Race

Human, put that floating +2 in Dex

Ability Scores

Put everything in Dex

15Point-Buy

Str 14/Dex 17/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 14/Cha 7

20Point-Buy

Str 14/Dex 18/Con 13/Int 11/Wis 14/Cha 7

25Point-Buy

Str 14/Dex 19/Con 14/Int 11/Wis 14/Cha 7

Traits

Take Hunter of the Society for a small Initiative bonus and additional bonuses on Favored Terrains, and Magical Knack for increased Spellcaster Level.

Favored Class Bonus

HP.

Skills

As per usual, Stealth, Perception, Survival. We will also be taking Knowledge(Nature), Climb, Swim and Handle Animal.

Feats by Level

1-Point-Blank Shot

Human Bonus-Precise Shot

Combat Style

2-Two Weapons Fighting

3-Weapon Finesse

Ranger Bonus

3-Endurance

5-Weapon Focus(Longbow)

7-Piranha Strike

Hinterlander Bonus

7-Rapid Shot

9-Deadly Aim

Hinterlander Bonus

9-Improved Precise Shot

11-Improved Two Weapons Fighting

Hinterlander Bonus

11-Manyshot

13-Clustered Shot

15-Weapon Focus(Kukri)

17-Greater Two Weapons Fighting

19-Slashing Grace

Combat Style

20-Two Weapons Rend

I have no idea how I managed to pack all that up in a single build but here we are. We have a full Ranged build with Precise Shot, Clustered Shot, Manyshot, Rapid Shot and Deadly Aim, and a full Two Weapons Fighting build with Greater Two Weapons Fighting, Slashing Grace, Two Weapons Rend and Piranha Strike. So we get to fully do both classic Ranger combat styles at full efficiency without compromising on either of them, with great damage and great accuracy for both too.

Falcon Animal Companion

So as a Falconer, your animal companion must be a falcon. However, your falcon gets some savage abilities like being able to distract foes and even Stagger them which is a very powerful debuff. And all of that by level six!!! That’s absurdly good. And on top of that, flying and a small target means excellent reconnaissance abilities.

Hinterlander

So, what that prestige class does is take everything the ranger is and turn it up to 11. Your Favored Enemies are more powerful, you become better with the bow, you keep leveling your ranger spellcasting, you get to better protect small settlements and villages. You get essentially to be the ultimate ranger.

Equipment

A pair of Kukri, a Longbow(that you will upgrade to a Composite Longbow as soon as you can) and the best armor you can find. A Chain Shirt is probably your best option early on, but once again, that Celestial Chainmail is just the absolute best.

Final Thoughts on the Build

Okay, so we are the ultimate switch hitter, we are a full ranged build, a full melee build, we can cast spells at almost full capacity, we are one of if not the best scout build in the entire game via our Falcon and our own insane stealth, we are surprisingly resilient, have some excellent saving throws. You know those people who say “Rangers suck”?

Send them this build to shut them up. You are a full ranger and embody everything this means, and are not only extremely versatile, but you are on par with expert builds with almost everything you attempt to do.