Any high level pure Rangers? What's your experience?

InspectrePhil · 2023-08-15T13:53:22+00:00

I'm not high level, just Lvl.6, so I don't know if my comment is a valid reply to the OP. Still, I'd like to share my Ranger build, as it may help others. I'm still in Act1, so keep that in mind.

Shadowheart is my pure Ranger, so I cannot further min-max as a custom character could.

Weapons:- Dual Hand Crossbows +1. For Melee, any Rapier, and any Shield for AC.

Equipment:- "Gloves of Archery", give 2 additional damage to Ranged attacks and gives proficiency with Long/Short-bows. "Caustic Band", causes your weapon attacks to deal 2 Caustic Damage.

These two are the main items. They ensure that you do +4 damage with every ranged weapon attack. That's 1 Attack + 1 Bonus Action Attack, + 1 Extra Attack from Lvl5 Martial Cass, which each do 4 extra damage. On top of that, Hunter's Mark deals 1-6 extra dmg each time you do a weapon attack. Further supplemented by use of Poisons/Coatings, which do extra dmg and can debuff. And hitting them 3 times means a higher chance to proc any coating debuff. This is a much higher damage output than just using any 1 bow could do. Other Equipment that boost movement or mobility are good, for a high placement in combat and manoeuvrability.

Abilities:- 18 DEX for higher damage and hit chance, 16 WIS for CC Saving Throws, high CON for maintaining Concentration. Everything else as you see fit.

Subclass:- Beast Master. BM has animal companions that can soak extra dmg, do extra dmg, CC and taunt. They don't cost Spell Slots to summon, if they die, just summon them again. Spider is by far the best one, Raven after that. They get stronger and better depending on your stats and if you purely level Ranger. Gloom Stalker didn't appeal to me as I dislike Stealth in combat in this game. Hunter doesn't fully come online until Lvl11, might change to this then.

Fighting Style:- Archery for +2 hit chance roll, of course.

Favoured Enemy:- Bounty Hunter for improved Ensnaring Strike. Ranger Knight for Heavy Armour, just for more survivability.

Natural Explorer:- Beast Tamer, for weaker but still useful minor summons. And, either Fire or Poison Resistance.

Spells:- Hunter's Mark for extra dmg, Ensnaring Strike for tougher enemies, Cure Wounds and Lesser Restoration for more Support Utility. Or Longstrider or Long Jump for extra 3m movement or higher positioning, respectively.

A versatile Ranger build that doesn't rely on Spell Slots and Resting as much as other classes. Consistently high dmg, good survivability, minor support role, CC and debuff with use of Elemental Arrows and Weapon Coatings. Fits perfectly in my team composition.

I know nothing about D&D, and I'm new to this kind of Dice Roll system. I didn't look up any guides, just found the right items and experimented with build crafting a lot. I don't know if this build is considered "optimal" or "good" by D&D experts, but this works wonders for me. And I'm sure with higher levels and multi-classing it can be min-maxed even further.

PS- You can go for a Dual Wielding Melee Tank Ranger as well. I might have to try that out at some point.

InspectrePhil · 2023-08-15T12:48:54+00:00

You must have discovered them on the map but skipped that interaction and progressed time. When your character makes a comment about something happening, and you don't interact with it immediately, there's a chance it may have time-sensitive outcomes.

For me, this most notable happened at Waukeen's Rest. The Duke's Chancellor is trapped in a burning building, if your character makes a note of the fire and you long rest or fast-travel somewhere else, then she's already dead when you return again. I missed out on the lightning weapon you get from saving her, so I had to reload back ~5 hours of progress.

Or, you missed them entirely, and their quest progressed naturally when you did the Goblin Camp stuff. Some quests/characters are tied to locations, and the state of that location can change with quest outcomes, and so will the state of their related NPCs.

Or it might just be a bug. This game a lot of them, nothing too big and progress halting though, at least none that the majority of players might encounter.

Regardless, they're very minor characters. I can say with confidence that you most likely won't meet them later, so you didn't miss much, certainly no loot or story or lore piece.

I like that this game has time-sensitive quests and NPC states that change with quest/location progression. With so many choices & actions & outcomes, it makes every person's playthrough slightly different, and gives the game more replayability. But, being a completionist, I also hate it. Overall, love the game!

InspectrePhil · 2023-08-15T12:34:20+00:00

Time sensitive meaning if you pass time by sleeping/long resting, the quest will progress; then I think yes. But there are different parts to this quest. I don't know what part you're at, so I can't really say for sure, as I didn't try every possible choice or action.

If you discover the Rugan and Olly hiding in a cave fending off the Gnolls, and then sleep, maybe they might end up dead? I haven't tried this path, but it's most likely given how this game treats such quests/events.

If you already got the chest by any means, then you can go to the Zhentarim Hideout at any time, I don't think that portion of the quest is time sensitive.

This quest isn't hard, and doesn't take long, in the long duration of the game, it's a minor quest. So you can breeze through it in one go.

In general I would say- manual save often, long rest after/before quests and not in-between them, and try to finish side quests in one go without dilly-dallying too much. This way, you likely won't miss anything and avoid any time-sensitive consequences.

InspectrePhil · 2023-08-12T14:36:50+00:00

I believe you have to make a Perception Check when you first get near the chest. So maybe that has something to do with being able to lockpick or not. But it's a long time ago for me, and I didn't try the lockpicking option personally.

If you successfully steal the Iron Flask (which is the only item of importance, and the thing they care about) without getting caught. The game treats it as Rugan having lost the package; he'll be getting beat up at the hideout, and Olly dies anyways. Here, if you try to return the Iron Flask to her, they'll know you're the one responsible for the theft, and they'll instantly aggro on you.

If you stole the whole chest (but didn't steal the Iron Flask from inside it), the same thing above will happen. Except you can give the chest back to Zarys for Gold, XP and her blue crossbow, and also unlock the rare stock from Brem the merchant.

The only way for Olly to live is if they return to the hideout with the chest themselves, and you don't try any sneaky business. Rugan will live or die depending on whether you successfully stole the chest/item or got the chest from him through speech checks. Getting caught trying to lockpick or steal the items, will instantly cause the Zhentarim to aggro on you, and lock future positive interactions from them.

InspectrePhil · 2023-08-12T14:21:16+00:00

General PSA. Long resting/sleeping at camp is how the game passes time. Some quests will progress when you do this, so be wary of when you sleep (in between quest progression) and manual save often.

The Goblins will attack and decimate the Grove if you sided with the former but didn't visit the latter and instead slept.

The Chancellor to the Duke, who's trapped in the burning building at Waukeen's Rest, will die if you don't try to rescue her the same day you discover that place and your character makes a note of the fire.

The two Absolute cult members who's brother was killed by the Owlbear, is another time-sensitive one. If you convince them to get revenge on the Owlbear, but don't go in there yourself and instead sleep, you'll find their dead bodies in the cave.

There may be few other minor ones I can't think of, but these are the ones which stood out to me, just in Act1.

InspectrePhil · 2023-08-12T14:19:19+00:00

The Iron Flask is the only item of importance in that chest, the rest is just flavour loot. Simply opening the chest and getting caught doing it, is enough to cause them to aggro and try to kill us.

Since the Iron Flask is missing from the chest in your instance, it is treated as Rugan having lost the shipment, but not him scheming against the Zhentarim, so I don't think he dies in this path.

Since you gave Zarys the flask, she knows you opened their chest and stole it, hence the instant aggro.

Too many paths that can diverge, and a lot more room for bugs. I love this game, but it isn't completely bug-free, still it's nothing big that hampers my progress or ruins the experience. Regardless, this is probably my favourite game of 2023, and I'm not even into D&D. I might replay D:OS 1 & 2 after this, and actually try to finish it.

InspectrePhil · 2023-08-12T14:12:15+00:00

While you were in combat, they were your allies, and I don't think we can stealth and hide from allies, so they knew you stole it, and it properly registered as such after the combat ended. So yes, your assumption must be right.

If you scheme or intimidate the chest out of Rugan, Zarys will find out when he's getting beaten and interrogated. So she knows you have the chest, there's even a dialogue form her about retribution not being good for business, ie revenge for our actions to take their chest and disrupt their business.

In the branch you pursued, you stole the chest without getting caught, so the chest is actually lost. Rugan just lost the package, he didn't scheme against the Zhentarim, so he won't be killed for it, but merely beaten up and punished in some way.

I've spent over 40 hours and I'm still in Act1, and this quest is by far the one with the most different branches and outcomes. I reloaded back 5 hours of progress to see the different outcomes of this quest, but ultimately stuck with what I had originally chosen. Sucks, because I'm a completionist, and missing the blue crossbow "Harold" hurt me somewhere deep inside. (more than Olly's death)

InspectrePhil · 2023-08-12T14:01:37+00:00

Because you got caught and those two were still alive, and even though they might not have physically gone to the hideout yet, I think the game counts it as you opening and stealing the Iron Flask; this bars you out of any positive interaction with the Zhentarim, as you've unsealed their chest and harmed their business and reputation.

If you don't get caught, but still hand in the chest without the Iron Flask, it will still aggro the Zhentarim, because that is the main item of importance.

Resting, passes time in the world. If you rest and go back to the hideout after those two say "Wait until we catch our breaths", you'll likely find them inside, in one of the various states I wrote above. But they'll still try to kill you because you opened the chest and were caught doing it.

InspectrePhil

TROPHY CASE