4e ranger discussion

here is some interesting ranger information that i copied from the wizards d&d forum:

i can see no reason that a Ranger should ever take the Archer Fighting Style . all it gives you is one feat (defensive mobility), compared to a feat (toughness) plus a unique ability (you can wield a one-handed weapon in your off hand as if it were an off-hand weapon) for the two-blade fight style. unless i had specific designs on an archer ranger paragon path, i'd pick two-blade every time.

i'd take the two-blade ranger, plus the quick draw feat, and aim for powers that worked with both bows and blades. that way I'd be able to quickly adapt to make the most of any situation. i'd try to maximize strength and dexterity and keep investing the free stat boosts in them, with only occasional bumps to constitution and wisdom as needed by any feats or powers. if a ranged-only power was especially good, i'd take it, but since you never know what kind of conditions you'll be fighting in, neglecting the melee powers is foolhardy.

feats:
bastard sword proficiency
weapon focus: heavy blades
two weapon fighting
two weapon defense
quick draw
scimitar dance

stats
an elf ranger can end up with dex 30, str 24 and wis 15.
30 is the maximum stat so far in 4th edition.

18 - base
+2 racial
+1 x 8 (4, 8, 11, 14, 18, 21, 24, 28)
+2 demigod (21)

not the most optimal stat allocation (going for 18 is pretty stupid), but you are definitely not going to suck at Two weapon fighting.
you could also go dex 28, str 26, wis 16, con 14, which only sacrifices one point of dex and is basically one of the best possible ranger twf builds.

the nigh-optimum starting array is 16-16-12-12-10-8. one racial boost to raise your primary to 18, the other to raise your tertiary to 14. 18-16-14 primary-secondary-tertiary.
if dex is your tertiary stat, it's only going up to 14.

16-16-12-12-10-8 turns into 16-16-13-11-10-8. If you can afford no bonus in three stats, you can have a free 13.

builds
a. ranger/pit fighter/demigod = bastard sword
b. ranger/stormwarden/trickster = scimitar

in build a, you do the following:
1. pump wisdom
2. probably go to scale armor specialization
3. cascade of blades (+2 vs +3 prof) + armor splinter
4. weapon proficiency (bastard sword)

in build b, you do the following:
1. pump dexterity
2. hide armor specialization
3. scimitar dance
4. look for powers that use bow and melee.

and the scimitar dance damage does not stack with exploits that do damage on a miss, so if you take a bunch of those powers, you may not want to have scimitar dance.

scimitar dance: if you miss with a melee attack with a scimitar and you wouldn’t otherwise still deal damage on the miss, you deal damage to your original target equal to your dexterity modifier. this damage receives no modifiers or other benefits you normally gain on weapon damage.

of course, i may play against type, and go for the build b, except use the bastard sword. i really like cascade of blades with the +2 to hit from stormwarden, and the extra +1 to hit from bs prof. And the 4 rerolls don't hurt either (1 elf; 3 trickster). With cascade of blades and armor splinter, it may be worthwhile to make sure your cleric has weapon of the gods, or dip for that prayer.

the numbers that I saw showed that they were fairly close, so you can use either weapon with either build. depending on how your gm does magic treasure, I've heard some people may take bs proficiency at heroic, and then retrain it to scimitar dance at paragon.