Use bugbear as race too, and you have a near perfect line up with predator traits. Tall. Strong. Stealthy. This is a build I’ve been waiting to play in our group’s next campaign.
Ya, i have been re-reading over the artificer class frequently lately because i just want it to be better than it is somehow, and i came up with a very similar Predator-shoulder-cannon idea, but for the Artillerist. The little-cannon-of-choice=flamethrower/120-range-force-ballista/temp-hp-boost-nearest-squares(r10), that can small/hand-held-if-tiny, with or without legs (move OR climb 15 AND attack if you give it legs) just screamed "mount me on my character like Boba Fett or Predator to me. So i figure why not put the thing on a mechanized magical swivel-type targeting system exactly like in Predator? _The "magical gun" feature the Artillerist also gets certainly doesn't feel like a proper ranged weapon unfortunately- unless your GM rules you can modify the whole thing to maybe add those features to an existing ranged weapon maybe for versatility or something (better yet, swap the basic functionality of the cannon with the +magic damage to your 'arty' staff/wand/rod-thingy maybe?). _ _I guess you could also re-flavor/modify the rod/staff/wand to be an actual weapon as well as the limited spell-thrower that it is written as; making it akin with various other handy-Predator-gear from other media beyond the first movie [like spear and disc throwers etc.]. Like, for example, in addition to the other functions, the rod might be an actual club or mace, staff a quarterstaff/spear/javelin, and wand... i don't know, a wand you happen to have? or your one-handed pistol of some sort (firearm, xbow?), maybe even just your actual bow (any variant that, even if not fired normally, can be carried in one hand, ) used as a focus ... or something?
Most forgotten thing in this video: Shillelagh. It makes a primary Wisdom stat ranger perfectly viable. You can pick it up with a fighting style now, and it works with polearm master. All you need is a 14 in dex to get the most out of your medium armor.
Now i really kinda want to build a Fey Wanderer Ranger/Bard with the College of Swords or College of Eloquence... I think the combo here has great potential.
@@TheJeSTeR7530 I have played it, it's awesome. Damage and defense are mid, but the utility is unmatched by any build in the game. And the flavor was so fun.
While True, Shillelagh falls off rather quickly (IMO) because it HAS to be a nonmagical club or quarterstaff, meaning that when everyone else gets +1 or other, better affects, you're stuck with 1d8+Wis Mod forever
fr my ranger started as the nice guy and voice of reason in the party but after our defacto leader died so we could escape some vampires his grief is strong enough to beckon the attention of mother night and now hes a warlock
@@mishiara5499depends on Campaign, but for most I would say this is true. I say most because I'm in a campaign where I built a character for super range and actually regularly use it. Currently sniping from just about 1000 ft
Rewatching LOTR for the first time in a while. Looking at Aragorn, it's interesting to me that he was a big inspiration for the Ranger, the elements are there but he rides that fine line between Ranger and Fighter. With that in mind, Ranger Fighter multiclass is now one of my favorites to really embody that concept
I’ve always been firmly of the opinion that Aragorn is a fighter who was smart with his skill proficiencies during character building, while Legolas feels more like what I expect from a Ranger.
@@RS-ry4lp I would say Aragorn does have more of the ranger since we do see him use some nature based healing. Legolas I don't think does anything that a fighter couldn't do. Where Aragorn is doing some magical healing that would be the equivalent of a cure wounds spell. Though he also does it rarely enough you could go magic initiate cleric for that spell if you were building him.
Keep in mind the inspiration is from Aragorn in the books. A lot of specific features make sense coming from those sources. His tracking is highlighted, as well as his knowledge of creatures. His stamina and lack of need for rest. How stealthy he is, and a little bit of magic. The books show the connection a lot stronger.
@@tadious9415 The issue is that in a DnD sense, Aragorn is also a 17+ level Battle Master fighter. He is without peer on the battlefield in LOTR so while he does have tracking and healing abilities, he also can throw down in close combat with the best of them.
Рік тому+60
Stars Druid is not only useful for the weaponized bonus action. The Dragon constellation basically lets you ignore concentration checks unless you get hit with something brutal, and gives you Reliable Talent for those survival and nature checks. Any ranger can make good use of that feature. (And you also get Guidance and Guiding Bolt.) If you also do a 6/6 split, you also get a really good buff/debuff option.
It also makes an OBSCENE level of attacks. Round one with action surge is six attacks, plus you can use the Echo Knight's Unleash Incarnation ability on each attack action adds 2 more to the barrage, that's 8 attacks round one.
ooh i really like the eloquence bard with fey ranger idea. if you use druid cantrips for your ranger fighting style to pick up shillelagh, cranking wisdom doesn't hurt as much. and you can stylishly whack people with a stick.
I made a Halfling Ranger with both Shillelagh and Magic Stone. It's a lot of fun. Plus, when you go with a Wisdom Ranger, both Beast Master and Drakewarden benefit from your Wisdom score and utilize your Bonus Action, which isn't always being taken up by a spell or other action.
If you squeeze Crusher at some point into that kind of High Wisdom Druidic Warrior Fey Wanderer, you can bonk people with Shillelagh or Magic Stone at range and push them into areas of damaging spells like Spike Growth. I'm not super familiar with Bard spell list, do they get spells that would mesh with that playstyle? I think their AoE spells are mostly debuffs and control.
@@rashindus haven't thought that far out yet. maybe bard spells are best here for support and utility so that a higher wisdom doesn't impact spell dcs. but support and utility they definitely excel at: helping word, feather fall, disguise self, aid, that kinda stuff. this doesn't seem like a crazy powerful character but one that can participate in all areas of gameplay. except social, then it's just broken.
Make sure you pick up Counterspell with your Magical Secrets if you get that high level. With a +12 to your roll, you'll never need to upcast it. I could also see going Lore bard instead to get this spell 4 levels sooner.
The druid/ranger works well on my gloomstalker/wildfire. It gives me a nice teleport every round for mobility. And the wildfire spirit doesn't actually emit light, so you can stay hidden. My plan is to end up 15 druid, so it's a druid build to me, but it's 5/5 right now and I like it
For the Ranger/Druid, I think the 2 level dip in Stars Druid would actually be awesome! Take your pick: you can get an extra ranged attack every turn enhance your healing or help keep your concentration (which Rangers really need). On top of that, you get Druid cantrips along the way like Shilelagh and Guidance. It's a big reward for a small investment.
Plus the wildshape for utility. I feel like everyone thinks of moon druid and discounts wildshape if its not combat effective, but being able to say 'I turn into a mouse' twice per short rest is great for infiltration, ambush, escape, getting through obstacles, or preventing certain traps from working.
@@saltypork101 oh I don't say it isn't. But there are enemies that are outright immediate ne to such effects. As well as enemies that roll with adv. against such effects. So having two players in your party that are build around them can turn out problematic in a situation where you face one of those. It is a bit like keeping alternative damage options around just in case you face an enemy resistant or immune to you go to.
@@BobHerzog1962 I didn't @ you because I was only really responding to OP, but since you brought it up, these two characters are still a full ranger and a full warlock. There's plenty they can do damage wise against a creature that's immune to frighten. However, if you do build this all into one character rather than dividing it up into two, then you can leave your charisma at 13 instead of needing it high to be an effective warlock. This means more creatures will pass their save against form of dread. Now you get more opportunities to apply Beguiling Twist, which is a stronger effect than form of dread anyway. Because the uses of form of dread scale from your player level (pb pd) and only the temp hp scales from warlock level, all you need is a one level warlock dip to achieve this build. You might choose to take more than one level for extra pact slots, but it's not required. If you do take 2 levels, your pact slots give you practically unlimited goodberries with a little preparation. If you take 3 warlock, you get the unlimited goodberries _and_ effectively always-on pass without trace. 5 levels and you can take eldritch smite for burst damage as needed on your ranged attacks and some anti air potential with the automatic prone effect. This is to say nothing of all the other invocations you can pick up along the way that any ranger would love to have. Ranger/Warlock should really have been A tier.
For the Rogue, you said you probably wouldn’t choose Swashbuckler. Personally, I think there could be some fun synergies with tertiary CHA in a Fey Wanderer build
I played that combo for a decent length campaign, only thing is I never got to truly use the Umbral Sight ability to seem invisible against enemies relying on Darkvision - the one time I tried, the DM gave tremorsense to the Mimics lol
@@rashindus Even in some cases if your wisdom just barely meets the minimum depending on the domain and strategy/chosen utility it could still be very decent. Example of benefits not requiring a good casting stat is order domain (tho is better with sorcerer, but summoners also get good use out of it).
As a DM I wouldn't allow that. Not just because its OP to the point of being broken, but also because the Life Cleric feature says 'Whenever you use a spell of 1st level or higher to restore hit points to a creature...' which doesn't describe goodberry; goodberry summons the berries, its the act of eating the berries as an action that restores hitpoints, not casting the spell. It would be like saying features that increase the damage of spells, like an evocation wizard, also applies to every instance of damage a summoned creature makes; the spell isn't doing the damage, the spell is only summoning.
@@WolfbloodJakeWilliams Jeremy Crawford disagrees with you but anyway, adding Peace Cleric or Twilight Cleric to practically any Ranger also kicks ass. Nature and War Cleric with Ranger is pretty good too. Even after all that, I'd still place the Cleric multiclass behind Rogue and Fighter.
Druid has a lot concentration spells that can be used to help control or slow enemy movement, starting at level 2. Also, the wildshaping for non-combat situations helps for scouting .. it’s also just very thematic as Druid Ranger
This wasn't a multiclassed character but I once played a Hunter Ranger with Heavily Armoured and GWM at lvl 11, and combining Nature's Veil with Whirlwind Attack and GWM (and Horde Breaker) just feels awesome
While Kelly and Monty were talking about the Sorcerer dip0 to get Misty Step and Haste I kept muttering to myself, "Dip Sorcerer and be a Horizon Walker and you get all of it"
Shillelagh. Dump STR and CHA to 8, slap a 14 in DEX for the best use of medium armor (plus a shield). Put a 15 in CON which you will take to 16. 10 INT so you at least aren't rolling with a negative modifier on nature checks, hah. Put your 15 in WIS to take it to 17. Put ASIs in mobile, +2 WIS, and grab something like Fey or Shadow Touched or whatever you like that gives you that extra 1 WIS, and Polearm Master/Sentinel eventually. Then you'll have decent AC, good HP, dish out great damage, lots of spell utility and a great WIS score for out-of-combat utility. Makes for a very solid character.
I see Ranger/Druid like a hunter that relies on leading enemies into traps like having them run into a spike growth and raining arrows on them from a range. They could avoid it, but that can even give another round attacks on them. Can you pre trap an area with spike growth for example and have them chase after you? If so then you are more of a tactical range character I think. I don't know just throwing out ideas. Have a familiar use attack and run tactics so they chase after it into a disadvantaged area you prepared for them?
I'm actually playing a Shifter, Beast master ranger, with a 2 level dip in moon druid. My concept was using summon beast, wildshape, and be a one man stampede. I've been enjoying it a lot. :)
Was a Hill dwarf nature domain cleric 1 and then ranger all the way. Was in Heavy armor with a quarterstaff and a shield. took shillelahg as my nature domain free cantrip and took defense as my Fighting style. I was very tanky and only needed wis and con. Was fun and versatile!
I've said it on a few of these videos here but Kensei monk makes for a decent 3 level dip for most any martial character. From base monk you get the 3 ki points to use on flurry of blows, step of the wind or patient defense which are all useful ways to utilize your bonus action depending on the circumstance. And you get deflect missiles which, while situational, gives you an additional way to use your reaction. Then from Kensei you get two resource-less abilities in the form of Agile Parry & Kensei Shot to boost either your defense or ranged attacks. Granted none of this is mind-blowing or anything but there's nothing here that you won't be able to use relatively frequently.
Sure, but it also locks you out of wearing armour and ties your AC to wis&dex, your flurry of blows are only ever going to be d4s of damage, and 3 ki per short rest doesn't really go that far- that's only three rounds of combat you get to use those features in between short rests. It seems okay in isolation, but say you're a level 5 Ranger - are you really going to lose out on the features of level 6, your second subclass feature at 7 and an ASI at 8 , as well as your spell progression, to pick up some limited uses of fairly niche abilities that also come down with downsides of their own?
@@anthonynorman7545 it's an extremely niche build where you wear armour and lose Martial Arts so you have to use Str to make your unarmed attacks (which are only 1+Str damage, no Martial Arts dice), you still keep Flurry of Blows, Step of the Wind and Stunning Strike but obviously needing Str makes it an even worse prospect for a Ranger multiclass
37:31 sums up very concisely my biggest problem with so many of the convoluted multiclass ideas out there that self-buff or combine multiple effects from different places-they treat D&D as if it's a solo game. So many of these _broken multiclass combos_ are executed easier, earlier, and often better by planning with your party members rather than doing everything yourself.
Fighter 11: Attack 3 times, action surge, attack 3 times again, continue attacking 3 times per turn and pile on Precision Strike to tell that Sharpshooter penalty to eat lead
@@jpjfrey5673 Gloomstalker gets a quasi 4th attack as well at 11. Any miss they get to attack again. Third in subsequent rounds. Plus the gloomstalker gets that extra 1d8 plus advantage if in darkness.. Plus level 7 is a loooot earlier then 11.
@@Hyde_Hill that's not a 4th attack, by all means it's just a reroll on a 3rd attack. That GS only gets on the first turn, after which it's back to 2 effective attacks per turn. If you're planning to fail, you're going to fail. Meanwhile Fighter gets to say "WHAT miss?" by hitting Precision attack 5 times per combat and aren't restricted to first round of combat. Advantage can be achieved in multiple very easy ways, and a properly specced Fighter doesn't even need it to hit consistently. And that extra d8... woooooow, extra less-than-4.5 DPR. When Sharpshooter exists and is available to a Fighter much earlier and at no losses to accuracy because ASI isn't delayed
@@jpjfrey5673 so we're just going to ignore the bonus damage from hunters mark that rangers get, along with being able to turn invisible at level 11 and get advantage on all attacks for an entire round, or hide in the dark for advantage if you're a GS, which pairs amazingly with Sharpshooter? Not to mention that if any of those attacks crit, the hunters mark damage gets multiplied too.
I know you guys were memeing about the dragonborn/draconic sorcerer/drakewarden, but a 1 level dip in draconic sorcerer is actually really great on a ranger. You need 13 charisma, but if you start with the dip you get con save proficiency, extra HP, permanent 13+dex AC (basically mage armor, which is great since your dex based), some utility cantrips, and you can grab Shield.
My favoritr Gloomstalker Ranger + Shadow Monk, which I plan to do as my evil char in BG3. Blind Fighting, Darkness spell, considered invisible in darkness which you can also teleport to, extra fast movemet. You are more assassiney than actual assassins.
Y’all should check out Treantmonk’s Undead Warlock/Fey Wanderer Ranger build “Quiver” It drops some insane fear onto the battlefield. One of my favorite builds of his and it deserves some more love.
For Ranger/Cleric the ratio of the multiclass is very important. If you're only taking a 1-2 level dip in Cleric is very good. Take Gloomstalker + Twilight Cleric for example. A 1 level dip in Cleric here massively improves all of your gloomstalker abilities, Dread ambusher? Have advantage in initiative to go earlier in combat, Umbral sight? Now you have 300ft of darkvision, if an enemy has true/blind sight and can still see you in the dark just back up until their sight runs out and snipe away with advantage from the shadows. None of your party has darkvision which limits your effectiveness in combat? Now you can share 150ft of darkvision with your allies so you're in the dark as much as possible
I'm playing a Drakewarden Draconic Sorcerer. Rolled stats so I have a good Dex, Charisma, and Wisdom. It also speeds up your spell casting progression so you can upcast.
Maybe to sweeten the pot for the Ranger/Artificer multiclass, you can get the infusion that makes it so your bows don't require ammo, and removes the loading property for your crossbows, while also giving that nice +1. (It's repeating shot)
While that's good, with a feat you can remove loading and also turn your crossbow (or a gun with another, but very similar feat) into usable melee weapon. And if that crossbow is a hand crossbow, you get another attack. So, if that's the important part to you, there are easier ways
@@rashindusyes, that is another route for crossbow. There is a small wrinkle to consider thou. Crossbows have both the Loading and Ammo Properties. The feat only removes the Loading part. The Ammo side still requires you have an open hand to load the crossbow. The Infusion would remove both Properties, making crossbows as simple as Point and Shoot. With the Hand Crossbow, you can operate it with just one hand, so you other hand can hold a shield or another weapon. You can go SWAT or Pirates. Also with the second Infusion, you can use it to cover a wide array of utility items.
@@rashindus it's not what's important to me, I don't think it's a good multiclass. That aside you're still getting a decent amount from artificer levels. Infusions like the repeating shot as well as maybe the magic item infusion. Some additional useful spells to prepare. Some additional tool proficiencies. You're not getting nothing. Repeating shot just might be something a ranger wants while doing this multiclass
Yay!!!! The one in this series I was most looking forward to! For me, I tend to combine rangers most often with rogue, monk, or cleric. It really depends on what I’m trying to get out of the encounter. I did combine bard with feywanderer and it works super well since most others in that campaign don’t have good deescalation methods in their mechanics where as a feywander with a bard dip, very much has options. I’ve also combined fey wander with archfey warlock for a oneshot which went amazing. I tend to main a lot of rangers. One of my recent favorites was combining swarmkeeper with grave cleric as I made my swarm fragmentary souls that my ranger was traveling to help put to rest (as they were unable to do so on their own). I have also used drakewarden combined with only a few levels of light cleric. This was for an astral elf refugee who lost his faith in Corellon. The dragon was basically his service/emotional support pet and the levels on cleric were his slowly renewing faith (and the reciprocal support of his god). Rangers are honestly a lot of fun. Oh! And my recent campaign that wrapped up. I played a gloomstalker ranger with a dip in scout rogue. It worked out exceptionally. He is very good at what he does and it’s kinda a hilarious campaign. Oh, and suggestion on ranger druid. Try a gloomstalker, least 7 levels, add some Druid in, whichever works for your campaign. It’s a hilarious combo. (Even in wild shape, you would be invisible)
I appreciate how you guys have changed your minds on the Sword Bard. You're totally right, a multiclass into Sword Bard is awesome. I played a Battlemaster Fighter/Sword Bard once and that was just so much fun.
About the monk ranger... I took it up untill 14th level and it was the damage dealer of the party with around 50 60 dmg per round. One of the best combo was focused aim + archer fighting style + sharpshooter+ ki focused attack. It goes like this: Shoot at a target using sharpshooter with your shortbow longbow (dedicated weapon or kensai) , the minus 5 to hit gets compensated by +2 of archer and by a +2 to a +6 of focused aim in case you don't hit right away. Since you spent a ki point in your action you can use your BA make another attack with your monk weapon with ki focused attack. For 1 ki point you are giving yourself a +10%to a +30% chance to hit when needed and another attack that deals 1d8+15 dmg. Whant more? You can make this choice after you rolled and missed so in case it's not necessary you simply don't waste anything. And even if you missed after spending the ki point you get to make another attack... Whith this combo you are going to hit with sharpshooter attacks expecially while in darkness. Whant more? Be a gloomstalker way of the shadow and make four attacks at first turn with advantage while in darkness and consider taking eldritch adept for devil's sight and or Elven Accuracy. You are going to hit with that +15 dmg. This combo also has a good survivability. Try to reach this guy in melee with his mobility.. Do you want to shoot him then? Not so easy with deflect missile. Did you finally reach him? He can teleport away with darkness and shadow step or just by bonus action disengage.. Dex based saving throws spells? Evasion + proficency in dex saving throws..Not enough? Use patient defence for disadvantage to be hit and advantage to Dex saves.. Allright, wisdom saving throws spell then? Gloomstalkers got proficiency with Iron mind. You finally got him in melee and he can't get away... ok he can keep in hand his bow and make 4 unarmed attacks with hunter's mark on. No disadvantage, no need to change weapons... I am not saying it is the best combo ever, but I can tell you it is fun to play this character and hits hard.
I know Im late, but i wantrd to talk about potential options for Ranger/Clerics. If you go Twilight Domain Cleric for a couple of levels and then spend the rest on Swarmkeeper, you end up with a surprisingly strong character that you can flavor as a Warrior for the Raven Queen (being able to summon a Raven Swarm that Buffs your Allies with Temp HP and Damage your enemies with Swarmkeeper Features)
I had a Gloomstalker 8 / Barbarian 2 for a one shot. It was exactly the character described (greatweapon master with Alert) and it was pretty strong. I agree with it being a B. It was a bit rough not having spells in combat but I was able to use the slots for exploration.
Thanks Dudes! I’ve been looking forward to the ranger video since you announced the series. While the don’t multi class well together, rangers and wizard are my favorite classes. I would love to see you most powerful Players Handbook builds.
Gloom Stalker + Samurai as an elf is insane. Lvl 9 character making 6 attacks on the first round all at super advantage with Elven Accuracy and Sharpshooter to top it off is just disgustingly lethal
So as far as the "social manipulater" ranger-bard, a good way to make it work as a ranger would be take the druidic warrior (or whatever its called if I got that wrong) fighting style and take the Shillelagh cantrip to use wisdom as your primary weapon. You already need enough dex just to multiclass to almost max out medium armor, so one more point won't hurt, but you can then focus on wisdom for attacking and ranger spells, and simply be a melee ranger with a ton of social abilities and some early bard spells added in for fun.
I was playing an Astral Self/ Swarmkeeper multi for a weebit. So much battlefield control, Wisdom for all strength checks, and really good chip damage with Flurry+Hunters mark. Really was a sick build, dont sleep on this.
Even if you play full on at range shooter and have better uses for your BA, 1 level dip in Monk gives you potentially better AC than studded leather if you have at least 16 in WIS and a way to make, while you have only the bow in your hands, attacks of opportunity that could actually hit, even if just for d4+DEX.
My curiousity is more in the direction of monster slayer (lvl 3 ability to detect resistances, immunities and most importantly vulnerabilities) with dragon monk, which brings more elemental damage variety options.
Monk is ok, it would be my 4th or 5th pick after Rogue, Fighter and Druid. The main issue with Monk MC is the BA conflict with Ranger spells, and the melee vs range conflict. Ranger is most powerful as a ranged character with SS+XbowXpert but a Monk wants to be melee. Ranger has lots of good BA spells like Hunters Mark, Zephyr Strike, Ashardalon's Stride, Ensnaring Strike, but Monk wants to use that BA for an unarmed strike and FoB. Since Tasha's Ranger also has the option of using their BA for 1-2 attacks from their Beast or Drake companion which matches FoB for damage. So you really aren't gaining much from Monk until 5 levels of Monk for Stunning Strike which is a heavy commitment. There are certain character concepts that combine Monk & Ranger and are totally viable, but if you just want to be good in combat there is going to be a more effective build than Monk + Ranger.
I played a ranger 5 / cleric 2 -> 7, and I can confidently say that the Life cleric Goodberry stacking is absolutely insane for out-of-combat healing for a relatively low opportunity cost (1st-level cast goes from 1x10 to 4x10 and upcasts). Also, you can basically ignore crossbow expert in favor of spiritual weapon after a certain level, and having the "dead" slot levels lets you upcast really fantastic party buffs like Bless or Aid to keep your party going at all levels. It plays as if you're a ranger with spiritual weapon with lots of beginning-of-day and post-fight utility, and I love a good cast of Guidance :)
I'm planning to run a ranger 4 / cleric X soon in an IWD campaign. It's possible to start high Wis with Druidic Warrior fighting style from Tasha's to make a SAD Wis gish using Shilleleigh and a club or staff. Druid would also work, but you already have the best druid cantrips; you'd probably pick a different fighting style for druid.
Eloquence Bard + Fey Wanderer is definitely Saint Germain from the Netflix Castlevania. (I haven't seen his original character in the game personally... so might not line up there.) He is ridiculously charismatic, and weaponizes it alongside the power of the great difference between his wisdom and the wisdom of those around him. He is knowledgeable to a fault, and before you understand why, you've already joined in his quest for whatever strange thing it is he wants to find.
Gloomstalker/Echo Knight can get 8 attacks first round, and is one of my favorite multiclass options to play. So much fun with Spike Growth and an echo that can hit things in it and not take the spike damage, great battlefield control options if you go Polearm Master/Sentinel. Played this in a lot of one-shots, hope to use it in a full campaign someday.
I played a spore Druid Gloomstalker ranger, and it worked phenomenally, I took the 6 levels in ranger so I still had extra attack but I also had great spells to throw out.
Sleeping on that Ranger/Sorcerer combo Dudes! Quicken Web, quicken Bless (DS) to boost your sharpshooter hit rate, quicken a Fireball. You go 5/5 and by the time you get there you have the spell slots of a 7th level caster and at 6/6 you have 7 quickened fireballs per day. I actually did this with a Fey Wanderer since I already had a decent Charisma and originally it was just for the extra spells slots to cast Enhance Ability, but man was it powerful!
Heck yeah. I've been thinking metamagic points are under-appreciated and not used often enough too. I actually began a complete re-write of the arcane caster classes so that they all get some amount of metamagic ability. This required some modification of things to keep sorc from immediately becoming crap compared to Warlock and Wizard of course, but i think what i came up with makes a lot more sense compared to how they just threw the Warlock class at us and arbitrarily made wizard be forced to cast with int, while the other arcane casters use CHA?!? How about we choose which mental attribute, or we just combine sorc, wiz and warlock into a Mage class and then have those as subclasses... makes more sense to me anyways.
I think you guys might be discounting Druidic Warrior quite a bit. Even though you still need Dex access to Shilleleigh makes you WIS MAD. Or a fighting style and Nature cleric/druid.
I’ve thought about a fey wanderer/sorcerer (I had in mind a divine soul) who primarily uses their magic to improve their archery, but also improves counterspell, since that’s a charisma check as a sorcerer. Even with neither charisma nor wisdom maxed out, you’d likely end up higher than most counterspell users +5 bonus, but not the abjuration wizards heights. At level 20, I was thinking 12 ranger/8 sorcerer, for the most asi’s and spell slots to max out things like elemental weapon or spirit shroud. Maybe not the biggest spells, but this isn’t focused on magical damage.
I like the idea of a Warforged Drake Warden with a Clockwork Drake for flavor and then a few levels of Artificer to pick up a few good abilities and add more flavor to the theme of the build.
I played a Horizon Walker / Moon Druid multiclass character who was basically a custom Lineage Eladrin (cus I wanted to make her a Nymph) and honestly it was amazing. Her teleport was reliant on trees being around but still worked wonders. I grabbed Find Familiar with Magic Initiate and the fantasy of being an all-around protector of the forest was STRONG. She could turn into a dire wolf for travel and her Owl familiar would scout ahead or hang out on her back, maintaining their psychic connection even though I was Wild Shaped. In combat I could hang back and shoot with her long bow or I could jump into the frey. Being a druid meant I got Cure wounds, which I cast through my Familiar. But being a ranger meant I had extra attack. So no matter the scenario, I had options. Lob two arrows from 120ft away, heal my friends from a distance, or turn into a bear or wolf and charge in to drag them out? It was so so good.
Love the concept of that character; sounds a lot of fun, AND strong. I've said it before, but i think just about any ranger/druid combo will be good for fun and versatility in all pillars of play.
A cool DM would let you combine the features of the Steel Defender with The ranger's Companion. Like 1 creature that's like a Frankenstein's monster, but in animal form. Give it the Steel Defender's ability scores, the Primal Companion's skills and saves, and AC. Then stack HP, and features.
Hey! I've been really looking forward to this video. I absolutely love this series, and the ranger is my all-time favorite class, by far. As for your assessment of multiclassing with the druid, I agree with a B: the two classes share a lot of spells, so you don't gain much from the druid. However, when it comes to the cleric, I would have given it an A because their spell lists are quite different, and getting a boost in spell slot levels is perfect for gaining higher-level-casted invocations or spells. I played a multiclass with crossbow expert and shield (the artificer infused my crossbow, so I didn't have to reload), and it was incredibly strong in melee with Spirit Guardians. Congratulations on the video and the channel, thanks for what you guys do!
i could see a ranger 5 nature cleric 5 with shillelagh being a good melee character, focusing mostly on wisdom. i could also see a ranger 5 spores druid 5 being quite good for summons and ranged attacks
One fighter option not mentioned is EK, giving another way to get Shield, and also Find Familiar, as well as the usual fighter abilities. One thing that keeps the Wizard single level dip slightly more competative with the sorcerer is, as the guys mentioned, Find Familiar, but specificly the ability to cast it as a ritual, the EK doesn't give. But unless your going for arcane spells beyond first level, I think EK is the most natural dip to do that.
Not super important but worth poiting out that with the druid multiclass you get Shillelagh that lets you focus on wisdom instead of dex if you wish to go melee
Ranger cleric works fairly well if you go cleric 5, swarmkeeper X, don't max dex, but prioritize wisdom and use shileighleigh to hit stuff with a stick, this will allow you to hopefully push people in and out of your spirit guardians to proc it multiple times.
About the monk ranger... I took it up untill 14th level and it was the damage dealer of the party with around 50 60 dmg per round. One of the best combo was focused aim + archer fighting style + sharpshooter+ ki focused attack. It goes like this: Shoot at a target using sharpshooter with your shortbow longbow (dedicated weapon or kensai) , the minus 5 to hit gets compensated by +2 of archer and by a +2 to a +6 of focused aim in case you don't hit right away. Since you spent a ki point in your action you can use your BA make another attack with your monk weapon with ki focused attack. For 1 ki point you are giving yourself a +10%to a +30% chance to hit when needed and another attack that deals 1d8+15 dmg. Whant more? You can make this choice after you rolled and missed so in case it's not necessary you simply don't waste anything. And even if you missed after spending the ki point you get to make another attack... Whith this combo you are going to hit with sharpshooter attacks expecially while in darkness. Whant more? Be a gloomstalker way of the shadow and make four attacks at first turn with advantage while in darkness and consider taking eldritch adept for devil's sight and or Elven Accuracy. You are going to hit with that +15 dmg. This combo also has a good survivability. Try to reach this guy in melee with his mobility.. Do you want to shoot him then? Not so easy with deflect missile. Did you finally reach him? He can teleport away with darkness and shadow step or just by bonus action disengage.. Dex based saving throws spells? Evasion + proficency in dex saving throws..Not enough? Use patient defence for disadvantage to be hit and advantage to Dex saves.. Allright, wisdom saving throws spell then? Gloomstalkers got proficiency with Iron mind. You finally got him in melee and he can't get away... ok he can keep in hand his bow and make 4 unarmed attacks with hunter's mark on. No disadvantage, no need to change weapons... I am not saying it is the best combo ever, but I can tell you it is fun to play this character and hits hard.
I like the cavalier mixed with Drakewarden or Beastmaster and using it as a mount because if you have a dm that will kill your mount having the ability to resummon it easily rather than having to keep buying mastiff or horses works
I played a Swarm Keeper Ranger that took the Druidic Warrior fighting style and invested only in Wisdom. Cleric multiclass was top notch, I'd definitely give it an A.
Druids can use their Wild Shape to cast Find Familiar as an action (as of Tashas), which I think would pair really well with a Ranger for gaining advantage and for thematic reasons. And on the Shepherd specifically you have even less need of your Wild Shape than other Druids do.
I love my swarm keeper, and am sad to see it mentioned so rarely in these ranger videos. I love the idea of the fighter/swarm keeper pushing enemies around the board though.
I have a Gloomstalker Artillerist, and the idea is to mix the Eldritch Cannons and Ranger spells for field control. Whether that actually works in practice remains to be seen.
For Cleric War Domain gives you War Priest which lets you attack as a Bonus Action an amount of times equal to your Wisdom Modifier which is great. Also you could get Crusader’s Mantle which is arguably better than Hunter’s Mark.
I had a fun character at the start of curse of Strahd (spell check) that was level 5 being 4 colossus slayer ranger and 1 genie warlock with 2 weapon fighting (had mapped to lvl 8). Go to spells were hunters mark and cure wounds. Had a couple "monster-house" scenarios that it helped having the returning spells on a short rest. Combat was dropping hunter's mark, make the weapon attack (or attacks if target is already marked), add prof mod damage, and add d8 colossus slayer. Don't know about a 1 to 20 campaign, but was key where it was.
On monk/ranger: I also like the idea of an archer who can still hold their own in melee. The enemy thinks they've got the upper hand by forcing the archer into melee, and then the archer just unleashes a flurry of blows.
It's called being a DEX martial. You don't need fists when you can just pull out shortswords and show em what's good. Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, any class that can benefit from DEX can do it, Monks do it worse than them all
Also Monk Ranger means you can generally ignore armor if you feel like it, letting you get around the stealth disadvantage most medium armors give, but still easily start with 16 AC. And once you get to Ranger 6 / Monk 2, you're moving an extra 15 ft per round if you take Deft Explorer.
@@voicetest6019 if you're a full DEX Ranger, you're wearing light. No penalties there. Why would you wear medium if your DEX is 18 or higher? Studded Leather is equal AC to Scale Mail at 18 DEX and more at 20. Just why?
@@jpjfrey5673 Monk Unarmored Defence gives you 16 AC if you have 16 Dex/Wis, matching the cap of Scale Mail, Leather and Breastplate. If you get to 18 Dex/16 Wis, it meets Studded Leather's cap as well as Half-Plate If you go above those scores, it beats studded leather and half plate.
I'm currently playing the Ranger/Bard multiclass that's mentioned in the video, it's amazingly fun. The dudes mention that the character is not great in combat, which is totally true. What it is great at though is concentrating on Bless and Faerie Fire while throwing out debuffing Vicious Mockerys and bardic inspirations, which makes it so that you're still absolutely a help to your team in a fight AND still get that incredible buff to your social skills. Something that's a little overlooked about Fey Wanderer as well is that you add your Wis not just to skill checks, but to ALL ability checks including the ones you make for Counterspell and Dispel Magic. For this reason, I actually went College of Lore on my build so I could get those powerhouse defensive spells earlier, and honestly your skills get so ridiculously buffed when you're going this route that the minimum 10, while certainly very nice, is not necessary at all. I absolutely love this character, both mechanically and RP wise, and it's definitely a build you should try out if you haven't.
I think that in all the cases when discussing Druid you miss Wil Shape at all. You discussed it here only as a Moon Druid battle option but the most important thing about Wild Shape isn't actually a combat but exploration and investigation. This is why Druid is so high on this list.
Been playing a Ranger/Fighter for a few months. Currently 6 Fey Wanderer and 3 Gunslinger. So now I'm building various guns to expand my abilities in combat. It's been a fun one to use on the battlefield and even in role play since I have solid charisma.
-The issue with Beastmaster x Barbarian is that the beast's power is based on your Wisdom spellcasting and would be impeded by the Strength and Constitution focus the build would need (either that or you use the shaky 2014 pet rules). Thankfully Drakewarden doesn't have this issue, so you can be an angry dragon keeper. Speaking of unusual Ranger playstyle, you can totally focus on spellcasting and be a battle druid of sorts. All you need to do is fight with a quarterstaff and a shield so you don't mind your Dexterity only being good rather than great. Shillelagh enables you to be exceptionally Wisdom focused (benefiting a Fey Wanderer or Beastmaster) while aggressively progressing your spell slots as a Druid or Cleric. You can get the cantrip easily via the Druid multiclass or even just your Fighting Style selection. To a lesser degree, Eloquence Fey Wanderer could work in a similar way, although to a more limiting degree.
Gloomstalker/Twilight cleric gets portable invisibility for the entirety of the channel divinity that the rest of the party doesn’t get penalized for unlike the Hexblade darkness combo.
If you choose pact of the blade with the ranger/warlock you can have a bow as your pact weapon. Also you can take the eldritch smite invocation which does work with ranged pact weapons
The two Druid multiclasses that immediately come to mind for the Ranger are Shepherd for more animals in play, and Moon to make yourself one of said animals. Maybe a Spores Druid/Fey Wanderer, like your time in the Feywild infected you with some contaminant that, despite its horrific effect, can't seem to dampen your charismatic charm. Edit: I've looked into the Cavalier/Beast Master combo, and it honestly doesn't do that much for the Ranger. I built one with only two levels of Fighter for Second Wind, Action Surge, and an additional fighting style. I went with Interception to allow me to defend my Primal Companion while riding it, and at one of my Ranger ASIs, I took Mounted Combatant, which gave me most of what you'd get from Cavalier anyway.
Swarmkeeper Ranger + Stars Druid. Apply your gathered swarm ability (and occasionally Favored Foe) to your Archer Form attack to get significant utility out of your bonus action, before you even think about what to do with your action.
Pact slots can give you an absolutely obscene number of goodberries to haul around for essentially unlimited healing out of combat, as well as pretty much always-on Pass Without Trace. That's extremely impactful. Ranger/Warlock is not a D. It's an A. It's an A just for that, but you also get a whole suite of eldritch invocations, not just the single invocation you would from a feat, and being a Ranger means you don't need any of the EB invocations if you don't want them! You can have any combination of Eldritch Sight, Misty Visions, Eldritch Mind, Devil's Sight, Beast Speech, and many more, but those are the ones that any Ranger would love to have. Oh, and a little deeper into Warlock, Eldritch Smite is the way you get smites on a Ranger without being dependent on 5 out of the 6 ability scores. You can even use them on your ranged attacks.
Drake Warden Range/Wildfire Druid is an idea I had as well, and it's great; with the right build, you can have multiple summons and essentially be a Pokémon trainer in D&D. Another combo I like is the Archfey Wanderer, a Fey Wanderer Ranger/Archfey Warlock multiclass, which lets you charm your enemies, strike while their guard is down, and quickly get away to do it all over again. I also like the idea of a Beastmaster Ranger/Beast Barbarian, where you fight alongside your beast companion instead of just commanding it, especially if you can convince your DM to let you learn Primal Savagery and Alter Self.
Swarmkeeper Ranger + Dao Genie Warlock + Telekinetic Feat = 40 ft forced movement across Spike Growth. One of my absolute favorites. If GM has terrain features like chasms, lava, and acid it is tremendously fun to play.
I still like Ranger / Sorcerer since metamagic allows for making the Ranger more adaptable. For example, use the metamagic Transmuted Spell on Flame Arrows and Lightning Arrows so you can change the damage to suit the enemy. Also use Subtle Spell to be able to get up close to an enemy for meele and still be able to use magic within a Silence area. Also with Abberant Mind you get telepathy and some nice free spells. Combine telepathy with Suggestion you could telepathically cast the suggestion directly into someone mind, and with Subtle Spell you wouldn't even need the V/S components. Also, you can regain spell slots since rangers don't get that many, not to mention all the useful cantrips now available to the ranger.
Thri Kreen Swarmkeeper 5/ Spores druid 2. Should be able to dual wield two short swords while carrying a shield, having dex and natural armor for good ac with spore druid sprinkled in for extra damage and more nature based magic. Be nice to have warcaster somewhere or resilient in CON to keep concentration on Hunter's mark. By second round, after hunter's mark and symbiotic entity with halo of spores, you have a steady 3D6 rolls for damage with 3 attacks, not including your ability modifier with an extra 1D6 once in that turn. The reaction damage is also available too from the spores which scales based on total level unless they did errata on it. Also has a nice swampy insect type theme. Edit: I forgot favored foe. That is another 1D4 damage once in each turn that scales with ranger level.
I made a Cleric Ranger into a tank once. An earth genasi with the current bonus action blade ward feature, 5 levels Fey Wanderer and 2 leveks Life Cleric. Equipped with shillelagh, shield, and heavy armor
I’m playing as a swashbuckler- Rouge/gloomstalker-Ranger bugbear and I get bonus points for both initiative and first round combat. It’s a great set up and both classes complement each other rather well. I’m currently a level eight, with four levels in each class. My feats are magic initiate Wizard and Warcaster. Using a whip with a bugbear gets fifteen feet of reach with a finesse weapon. In a single first round combat, I can dish out 5d6 from sneak attack and surprise attack, 5d8 between dread ambusher, zephyr strike (bonus action spell) and booming blade 1d8 initially 2d8 when the creature moves and 1d4 whip. If it’s within 15 feet of me and moves out of my reach, I get an opportunity attack from warcaster for another 1d4 1d8 3d6 (swashbuckler sneak attack) and 2d8 as it continues to flee. A total of 2d4, 8d6 and 8d8 (assuming everything falls into place).
@@Dack.howaboutyou because I play as a bugbear, I’m able to fit in a small space without squeezing. Last session, I hid in a laundry basket and killed a tabaxie from it with one hit. His dwarf companion tried to investigate the situation but couldn’t see me because he was relying on his dark vision instead of a torch/lantern and I got the combo off again. Roll playing as Bigfoot is simply amazing 😂
@@gatorman5547 Nice. That's hysterical hahah. I knew when i saw that new Bugbear squeeze-into-small-space ability that it was going to be trouble LOL. Fun, but maybe nightmare fuel for DMs ;)
Swords Bard, With Fey Wanderer Ranger. Rock a 14 Dex, and wear Medium Armor. 12 in Constitution, then focus Wisdom and Charisma. Fighting Style Druidic Warrior for Shillelagh, and Dueling Fighting Style from Bard. Dump Strength and Intelligence. That will make them pretty great in combat
My favorite low level multiclass is 2 ranger/1 forge cleric. I think this gives you the best archer I can figure. Snag sharpshooter with variant human and get a 16 dex. You can get the archery fighting style, a +1 bow and bless to enhance your ability to off set the sharpshooter penalty. 3 uses of bless a day along with other support abilities from both classes including guidance makes this a well rounded build.
My main character is a Beast Master/ Shepherd Druid. I love this combo. Speech of the woods is such a fun feature, alone, for some hilarious RP. Currently 12 Beast Master/ 2 Shepherd, and the plan is to go 16/4. The Duid levels give me flexibility with my lower level spell slots. Allowing me to focus on preparing more of my higher level Ranger Spells. And of course, SHARE SPELLS at Ranger 15. People are really sleeping on this ability.
Yeah i can't imagine a more fun theme if you like nature themed chars and versatility/flexibility... than combining ranger & druid. Pretty much any kinds. Even cleric works too, although i still say 5e cleric is OP since you can put it with almost anything and make your build better, hehe x)
Eloquence bard and feywanderer ranger make it that youll never lose a persuasion/deception ever again, using support bard spells and shilleilagh/magic stone you wouldnt need dex or str for attacks Pace without trace and the good wisdom make it good on scouting and tracking, and have decent fighting and AC can be medium armor, and good constitution, is a good combo
Currently playing a peace domain drake Warden. Jist having emboldened bond and bless with your drake and the rest of your party is pretty solid. Keeps it up for a long time and nearly guarantees damage each turn from the extra 2d4 (referring to Attack rolls) currently 2 lvl peace domain Cleric 9 levels drakewarden ranger. The rp is a solitary priests who believes all dragons can live in harmony with common kind.
Great video, as always, guys! One minor nitpick. You got the Barbarian/Favored Foe interaction wrong. It was confirmed by Jeremy Crawford that anything that requires "concentration as if it were a spell" counts as concentration meaning it doesn't work with Rage. Then again, Jeremy Crawford is fallible and a DM can decide what they want! This video makes me want to build a Dragonborn Drakewarden/Wildfire Druid. It's not super optimized, but it's a fun idea. You can flavor it as you or your dragon exhales fire which manifests as a wildfire spirit.
Gloomstalker Armourer is predator! The infiltrator armour has a shoulder mounted lightning cannon and a stealth field.
Use bugbear as race too, and you have a near perfect line up with predator traits. Tall. Strong. Stealthy. This is a build I’ve been waiting to play in our group’s next campaign.
You just described the predator
Lizardfolk can make skull trophies
Ya, i have been re-reading over the artificer class frequently lately because i just want it to be better than it is somehow, and i came up with a very similar Predator-shoulder-cannon idea, but for the Artillerist. The little-cannon-of-choice=flamethrower/120-range-force-ballista/temp-hp-boost-nearest-squares(r10), that can small/hand-held-if-tiny, with or without legs (move OR climb 15 AND attack if you give it legs) just screamed "mount me on my character like Boba Fett or Predator to me.
So i figure why not put the thing on a mechanized magical swivel-type targeting system exactly like in Predator?
_The "magical gun" feature the Artillerist also gets certainly doesn't feel like a proper ranged weapon unfortunately- unless your GM rules you can modify the whole thing to maybe add those features to an existing ranged weapon maybe for versatility or something (better yet, swap the basic functionality of the cannon with the +magic damage to your 'arty' staff/wand/rod-thingy maybe?).
_ _I guess you could also re-flavor/modify the rod/staff/wand to be an actual weapon as well as the limited spell-thrower that it is written as; making it akin with various other handy-Predator-gear from other media beyond the first movie [like spear and disc throwers etc.]. Like, for example, in addition to the other functions, the rod might be an actual club or mace, staff a quarterstaff/spear/javelin, and wand... i don't know, a wand you happen to have? or your one-handed pistol of some sort (firearm, xbow?), maybe even just your actual bow (any variant that, even if not fired normally, can be carried in one hand, ) used as a focus ... or something?
My wife is currently playing a Gloom stalker/Assassin Drow.
Most forgotten thing in this video: Shillelagh. It makes a primary Wisdom stat ranger perfectly viable. You can pick it up with a fighting style now, and it works with polearm master. All you need is a 14 in dex to get the most out of your medium armor.
Now i really kinda want to build a Fey Wanderer Ranger/Bard with the College of Swords or College of Eloquence... I think the combo here has great potential.
@@bob88667 Plus a hell of a lot of damage for little investment. Add on how few of those levels being "dead" and it certainly has me interested.
@@TheJeSTeR7530 I have played it, it's awesome. Damage and defense are mid, but the utility is unmatched by any build in the game. And the flavor was so fun.
Magic Stone is good too, and if you launch it from a sling it even works with Sharpshooter!
While True, Shillelagh falls off rather quickly (IMO) because it HAS to be a nonmagical club or quarterstaff, meaning that when everyone else gets +1 or other, better affects, you're stuck with 1d8+Wis Mod forever
Rangers in 5E have that Zuko level of character development
I'll just type this - best comment
Most accurate statement.
HONOR!
Haven't played a ranger but zuko is pretty bad ass
fr my ranger started as the nice guy and voice of reason in the party but after our defacto leader died so we could escape some vampires his grief is strong enough to beckon the attention of mother night and now hes a warlock
If you play a gloomstalker with 1 level of twilight cleric and sharpshooter, you can snipe enemies from 300 ft in complete darkness
I have a player in my game that did this and it's disgustingly op
330ft if you wait with your 3rd ranger lvl until after your 1st twilight cleric lvl, since gloomstalker extends pre-existing darkvision by 30ft.
Throw in eldritch adept and get devil's sight and this gets really really stupid
I still think that range is very niche, and is very rare though, maybe once or twice during a whole and long campaign.
@@mishiara5499depends on Campaign, but for most I would say this is true. I say most because I'm in a campaign where I built a character for super range and actually regularly use it. Currently sniping from just about 1000 ft
Rewatching LOTR for the first time in a while. Looking at Aragorn, it's interesting to me that he was a big inspiration for the Ranger, the elements are there but he rides that fine line between Ranger and Fighter. With that in mind, Ranger Fighter multiclass is now one of my favorites to really embody that concept
I’ve always been firmly of the opinion that Aragorn is a fighter who was smart with his skill proficiencies during character building, while Legolas feels more like what I expect from a Ranger.
Ranger doesn't necessarily have to do with ranged weapons, but going over a wide range of terrain which Aragorn is definitely a master with
@@RS-ry4lp I would say Aragorn does have more of the ranger since we do see him use some nature based healing. Legolas I don't think does anything that a fighter couldn't do. Where Aragorn is doing some magical healing that would be the equivalent of a cure wounds spell. Though he also does it rarely enough you could go magic initiate cleric for that spell if you were building him.
Keep in mind the inspiration is from Aragorn in the books. A lot of specific features make sense coming from those sources. His tracking is highlighted, as well as his knowledge of creatures. His stamina and lack of need for rest. How stealthy he is, and a little bit of magic. The books show the connection a lot stronger.
@@tadious9415 The issue is that in a DnD sense, Aragorn is also a 17+ level Battle Master fighter. He is without peer on the battlefield in LOTR so while he does have tracking and healing abilities, he also can throw down in close combat with the best of them.
Stars Druid is not only useful for the weaponized bonus action. The Dragon constellation basically lets you ignore concentration checks unless you get hit with something brutal, and gives you Reliable Talent for those survival and nature checks. Any ranger can make good use of that feature. (And you also get Guidance and Guiding Bolt.)
If you also do a 6/6 split, you also get a really good buff/debuff option.
Echo Knight + Gloomstalker = One Man Army. It's the ambusher who can be in multiple places at once
I echo your thoughts 😉
It also makes an OBSCENE level of attacks. Round one with action surge is six attacks, plus you can use the Echo Knight's Unleash Incarnation ability on each attack action adds 2 more to the barrage, that's 8 attacks round one.
I allow Echo Knights but manifest echo a # of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
ooh i really like the eloquence bard with fey ranger idea. if you use druid cantrips for your ranger fighting style to pick up shillelagh, cranking wisdom doesn't hurt as much. and you can stylishly whack people with a stick.
Polearm master, too!
I made a Halfling Ranger with both Shillelagh and Magic Stone. It's a lot of fun. Plus, when you go with a Wisdom Ranger, both Beast Master and Drakewarden benefit from your Wisdom score and utilize your Bonus Action, which isn't always being taken up by a spell or other action.
If you squeeze Crusher at some point into that kind of High Wisdom Druidic Warrior Fey Wanderer, you can bonk people with Shillelagh or Magic Stone at range and push them into areas of damaging spells like Spike Growth. I'm not super familiar with Bard spell list, do they get spells that would mesh with that playstyle? I think their AoE spells are mostly debuffs and control.
@@rashindus haven't thought that far out yet. maybe bard spells are best here for support and utility so that a higher wisdom doesn't impact spell dcs. but support and utility they definitely excel at: helping word, feather fall, disguise self, aid, that kinda stuff. this doesn't seem like a crazy powerful character but one that can participate in all areas of gameplay. except social, then it's just broken.
Make sure you pick up Counterspell with your Magical Secrets if you get that high level. With a +12 to your roll, you'll never need to upcast it.
I could also see going Lore bard instead to get this spell 4 levels sooner.
The druid/ranger works well on my gloomstalker/wildfire. It gives me a nice teleport every round for mobility. And the wildfire spirit doesn't actually emit light, so you can stay hidden.
My plan is to end up 15 druid, so it's a druid build to me, but it's 5/5 right now and I like it
Gloomstalker/Soulknife is the ultimate infiltration build, imo. Invisibility, Disguise Self, Psi-bolstered charisma checks, Thrown Weapon fighting style.
It's so, so good.
Not only that, but you never have to be worried about being disarmed lol!
Maybe a bit of druid just so you can go rat mode
For the Ranger/Druid, I think the 2 level dip in Stars Druid would actually be awesome! Take your pick: you can get an extra ranged attack every turn enhance your healing or help keep your concentration (which Rangers really need). On top of that, you get Druid cantrips along the way like Shilelagh and Guidance. It's a big reward for a small investment.
Plus the wildshape for utility. I feel like everyone thinks of moon druid and discounts wildshape if its not combat effective, but being able to say 'I turn into a mouse' twice per short rest is great for infiltration, ambush, escape, getting through obstacles, or preventing certain traps from working.
Fey Wanderer Ranger + Undead patron warlock for form of dread is a PB+J combo
That combo works better with two separate characters in the party
The problem with going all in on Fear and Charm effects is that eventually you will hit enemies immune to those. So you need an option B.
Beguiling Twist is very strong if you build around it!
@@saltypork101 oh I don't say it isn't. But there are enemies that are outright immediate ne to such effects. As well as enemies that roll with adv. against such effects.
So having two players in your party that are build around them can turn out problematic in a situation where you face one of those. It is a bit like keeping alternative damage options around just in case you face an enemy resistant or immune to you go to.
@@BobHerzog1962 I didn't @ you because I was only really responding to OP, but since you brought it up, these two characters are still a full ranger and a full warlock. There's plenty they can do damage wise against a creature that's immune to frighten.
However, if you do build this all into one character rather than dividing it up into two, then you can leave your charisma at 13 instead of needing it high to be an effective warlock. This means more creatures will pass their save against form of dread. Now you get more opportunities to apply Beguiling Twist, which is a stronger effect than form of dread anyway. Because the uses of form of dread scale from your player level (pb pd) and only the temp hp scales from warlock level, all you need is a one level warlock dip to achieve this build. You might choose to take more than one level for extra pact slots, but it's not required.
If you do take 2 levels, your pact slots give you practically unlimited goodberries with a little preparation. If you take 3 warlock, you get the unlimited goodberries _and_ effectively always-on pass without trace. 5 levels and you can take eldritch smite for burst damage as needed on your ranged attacks and some anti air potential with the automatic prone effect.
This is to say nothing of all the other invocations you can pick up along the way that any ranger would love to have. Ranger/Warlock should really have been A tier.
For the Rogue, you said you probably wouldn’t choose Swashbuckler. Personally, I think there could be some fun synergies with tertiary CHA in a Fey Wanderer build
Scout/Gloom Stalker was a great combo! Had that for an exploration game, worked really well.
I played that combo for a decent length campaign, only thing is I never got to truly use the Umbral Sight ability to seem invisible against enemies relying on Darkvision - the one time I tried, the DM gave tremorsense to the Mimics lol
Honestly I kinda feel like Scout is just a Ranger without magic
@@Lightfire398 I prefer Sneak Attack to spells. Personal preference, I s'pose.
@@Lightfire398 The magic is making the enemies disappear
Inquisitor/Gloomstalker is great too. :)
Goodberry spell from Ranger + Life Cleric is at least an A for me, which would be 1 of my 3 choices alongside Fighter and Rogue.
Clerics are generally so front-loaded and have so many subclasses to choose that anyone with enough Wisdom will get something good out of that dip.
I just came here to say this: one level of life cleric and goodberry: worth it!
@@rashindus Even in some cases if your wisdom just barely meets the minimum depending on the domain and strategy/chosen utility it could still be very decent. Example of benefits not requiring a good casting stat is order domain (tho is better with sorcerer, but summoners also get good use out of it).
As a DM I wouldn't allow that. Not just because its OP to the point of being broken, but also because the Life Cleric feature says 'Whenever you use a spell of 1st level or higher to restore hit points to a creature...' which doesn't describe goodberry; goodberry summons the berries, its the act of eating the berries as an action that restores hitpoints, not casting the spell. It would be like saying features that increase the damage of spells, like an evocation wizard, also applies to every instance of damage a summoned creature makes; the spell isn't doing the damage, the spell is only summoning.
@@WolfbloodJakeWilliams Jeremy Crawford disagrees with you but anyway, adding Peace Cleric or Twilight Cleric to practically any Ranger also kicks ass. Nature and War Cleric with Ranger is pretty good too. Even after all that, I'd still place the Cleric multiclass behind Rogue and Fighter.
Druid has a lot concentration spells that can be used to help control or slow enemy movement, starting at level 2. Also, the wildshaping for non-combat situations helps for scouting .. it’s also just very thematic as Druid Ranger
The Feywander-Eloquence Bard works great with Drudic Warrior - Shillelagh (Medium Armor + Shield) Build
(5 Level / 5 Level)
This wasn't a multiclassed character but I once played a Hunter Ranger with Heavily Armoured and GWM at lvl 11, and combining Nature's Veil with Whirlwind Attack and GWM (and Horde Breaker) just feels awesome
While Kelly and Monty were talking about the Sorcerer dip0 to get Misty Step and Haste I kept muttering to myself, "Dip Sorcerer and be a Horizon Walker and you get all of it"
I think what y’all missed about druid/ranger is circle of spores plus hunter’s mark with the mobile feat
Shillelagh. Dump STR and CHA to 8, slap a 14 in DEX for the best use of medium armor (plus a shield). Put a 15 in CON which you will take to 16. 10 INT so you at least aren't rolling with a negative modifier on nature checks, hah. Put your 15 in WIS to take it to 17. Put ASIs in mobile, +2 WIS, and grab something like Fey or Shadow Touched or whatever you like that gives you that extra 1 WIS, and Polearm Master/Sentinel eventually. Then you'll have decent AC, good HP, dish out great damage, lots of spell utility and a great WIS score for out-of-combat utility. Makes for a very solid character.
@@_bats_ true, though you can do the exact same thing with nature cleric and get access to spirit guardians/spiritual weapon
I see Ranger/Druid like a hunter that relies on leading enemies into traps like having them run into a spike growth and raining arrows on them from a range.
They could avoid it, but that can even give another round attacks on them.
Can you pre trap an area with spike growth for example and have them chase after you? If so then you are more of a tactical range character I think. I don't know just throwing out ideas.
Have a familiar use attack and run tactics so they chase after it into a disadvantaged area you prepared for them?
I'm actually playing a Shifter, Beast master ranger, with a 2 level dip in moon druid. My concept was using summon beast, wildshape, and be a one man stampede. I've been enjoying it a lot. :)
The timing is impeccable! I have been looking for ranger multiclassing options and man oh man you guys came in at the right time!
Was a Hill dwarf nature domain cleric 1 and then ranger all the way. Was in Heavy armor with a quarterstaff and a shield. took shillelahg as my nature domain free cantrip and took defense as my Fighting style. I was very tanky and only needed wis and con. Was fun and versatile!
I've said it on a few of these videos here but Kensei monk makes for a decent 3 level dip for most any martial character.
From base monk you get the 3 ki points to use on flurry of blows, step of the wind or patient defense which are all useful ways to utilize your bonus action depending on the circumstance. And you get deflect missiles which, while situational, gives you an additional way to use your reaction.
Then from Kensei you get two resource-less abilities in the form of Agile Parry & Kensei Shot to boost either your defense or ranged attacks.
Granted none of this is mind-blowing or anything but there's nothing here that you won't be able to use relatively frequently.
Sure, but it also locks you out of wearing armour and ties your AC to wis&dex, your flurry of blows are only ever going to be d4s of damage, and 3 ki per short rest doesn't really go that far- that's only three rounds of combat you get to use those features in between short rests. It seems okay in isolation, but say you're a level 5 Ranger - are you really going to lose out on the features of level 6, your second subclass feature at 7 and an ASI at 8 , as well as your spell progression, to pick up some limited uses of fairly niche abilities that also come down with downsides of their own?
@@Autonamatonamatonyou can still wear armour but there are downsides to it.
@@abcrasshadow9341what monk feature(s) is still available while wearing armor?
@@anthonynorman7545 it's an extremely niche build where you wear armour and lose Martial Arts so you have to use Str to make your unarmed attacks (which are only 1+Str damage, no Martial Arts dice), you still keep Flurry of Blows, Step of the Wind and Stunning Strike but obviously needing Str makes it an even worse prospect for a Ranger multiclass
@@Autonamatonamaton strange that ki doesn't require unarmed...but why bother when it loses so much...
37:31 sums up very concisely my biggest problem with so many of the convoluted multiclass ideas out there that self-buff or combine multiple effects from different places-they treat D&D as if it's a solo game. So many of these _broken multiclass combos_ are executed easier, earlier, and often better by planning with your party members rather than doing everything yourself.
Great observation
Gotta love the Gloomstalker 5 / Fighter 2 MC.
First turn: attack 3 times, action surge, attack 3 times again.
Fighter 11:
Attack 3 times, action surge, attack 3 times again, continue attacking 3 times per turn and pile on Precision Strike to tell that Sharpshooter penalty to eat lead
Actually playing a gloom 5 fighter 2 and it’s a blast, the amount of damage I can lay down is insane
@@jpjfrey5673 Gloomstalker gets a quasi 4th attack as well at 11. Any miss they get to attack again. Third in subsequent rounds. Plus the gloomstalker gets that extra 1d8 plus advantage if in darkness.. Plus level 7 is a loooot earlier then 11.
@@Hyde_Hill that's not a 4th attack, by all means it's just a reroll on a 3rd attack. That GS only gets on the first turn, after which it's back to 2 effective attacks per turn. If you're planning to fail, you're going to fail. Meanwhile Fighter gets to say "WHAT miss?" by hitting Precision attack 5 times per combat and aren't restricted to first round of combat.
Advantage can be achieved in multiple very easy ways, and a properly specced Fighter doesn't even need it to hit consistently. And that extra d8... woooooow, extra less-than-4.5 DPR. When Sharpshooter exists and is available to a Fighter much earlier and at no losses to accuracy because ASI isn't delayed
@@jpjfrey5673 so we're just going to ignore the bonus damage from hunters mark that rangers get, along with being able to turn invisible at level 11 and get advantage on all attacks for an entire round, or hide in the dark for advantage if you're a GS, which pairs amazingly with Sharpshooter? Not to mention that if any of those attacks crit, the hunters mark damage gets multiplied too.
I know you guys were memeing about the dragonborn/draconic sorcerer/drakewarden, but a 1 level dip in draconic sorcerer is actually really great on a ranger. You need 13 charisma, but if you start with the dip you get con save proficiency, extra HP, permanent 13+dex AC (basically mage armor, which is great since your dex based), some utility cantrips, and you can grab Shield.
My favoritr Gloomstalker Ranger + Shadow Monk, which I plan to do as my evil char in BG3. Blind Fighting, Darkness spell, considered invisible in darkness which you can also teleport to, extra fast movemet. You are more assassiney than actual assassins.
Y’all should check out Treantmonk’s Undead Warlock/Fey Wanderer Ranger build “Quiver”
It drops some insane fear onto the battlefield.
One of my favorite builds of his and it deserves some more love.
For Ranger/Cleric the ratio of the multiclass is very important. If you're only taking a 1-2 level dip in Cleric is very good. Take Gloomstalker + Twilight Cleric for example. A 1 level dip in Cleric here massively improves all of your gloomstalker abilities, Dread ambusher? Have advantage in initiative to go earlier in combat, Umbral sight? Now you have 300ft of darkvision, if an enemy has true/blind sight and can still see you in the dark just back up until their sight runs out and snipe away with advantage from the shadows. None of your party has darkvision which limits your effectiveness in combat? Now you can share 150ft of darkvision with your allies so you're in the dark as much as possible
Perhaps, reconsider when you take which lvls. If you first get twilight before 3rd lvl ranger it'll get extended by 30ft.
I'm playing a Drakewarden Draconic Sorcerer. Rolled stats so I have a good Dex, Charisma, and Wisdom. It also speeds up your spell casting progression so you can upcast.
Maybe to sweeten the pot for the Ranger/Artificer multiclass, you can get the infusion that makes it so your bows don't require ammo, and removes the loading property for your crossbows, while also giving that nice +1. (It's repeating shot)
While that's good, with a feat you can remove loading and also turn your crossbow (or a gun with another, but very similar feat) into usable melee weapon. And if that crossbow is a hand crossbow, you get another attack. So, if that's the important part to you, there are easier ways
@@rashindusyes, that is another route for crossbow. There is a small wrinkle to consider thou. Crossbows have both the Loading and Ammo Properties. The feat only removes the Loading part. The Ammo side still requires you have an open hand to load the crossbow. The Infusion would remove both Properties, making crossbows as simple as Point and Shoot. With the Hand Crossbow, you can operate it with just one hand, so you other hand can hold a shield or another weapon. You can go SWAT or Pirates. Also with the second Infusion, you can use it to cover a wide array of utility items.
@@rashindus it's not what's important to me, I don't think it's a good multiclass.
That aside you're still getting a decent amount from artificer levels. Infusions like the repeating shot as well as maybe the magic item infusion. Some additional useful spells to prepare. Some additional tool proficiencies. You're not getting nothing.
Repeating shot just might be something a ranger wants while doing this multiclass
Yay!!!! The one in this series I was most looking forward to!
For me, I tend to combine rangers most often with rogue, monk, or cleric. It really depends on what I’m trying to get out of the encounter. I did combine bard with feywanderer and it works super well since most others in that campaign don’t have good deescalation methods in their mechanics where as a feywander with a bard dip, very much has options. I’ve also combined fey wander with archfey warlock for a oneshot which went amazing. I tend to main a lot of rangers. One of my recent favorites was combining swarmkeeper with grave cleric as I made my swarm fragmentary souls that my ranger was traveling to help put to rest (as they were unable to do so on their own). I have also used drakewarden combined with only a few levels of light cleric. This was for an astral elf refugee who lost his faith in Corellon. The dragon was basically his service/emotional support pet and the levels on cleric were his slowly renewing faith (and the reciprocal support of his god). Rangers are honestly a lot of fun. Oh! And my recent campaign that wrapped up. I played a gloomstalker ranger with a dip in scout rogue. It worked out exceptionally. He is very good at what he does and it’s kinda a hilarious campaign.
Oh, and suggestion on ranger druid. Try a gloomstalker, least 7 levels, add some Druid in, whichever works for your campaign. It’s a hilarious combo. (Even in wild shape, you would be invisible)
I appreciate how you guys have changed your minds on the Sword Bard. You're totally right, a multiclass into Sword Bard is awesome. I played a Battlemaster Fighter/Sword Bard once and that was just so much fun.
Don't forget about Monk's dedicated weapon feature from Tasha's. Now any weapon counts as a Monk weapon if you're proficient with it.
About the monk ranger... I took it up untill 14th level and it was the damage dealer of the party with around 50 60 dmg per round. One of the best combo was focused aim + archer fighting style + sharpshooter+ ki focused attack.
It goes like this:
Shoot at a target using sharpshooter with your shortbow longbow (dedicated weapon or kensai) , the minus 5 to hit gets compensated by +2 of archer and by a +2 to a +6 of focused aim in case you don't hit right away. Since you spent a ki point in your action you can use your BA make another attack with your monk weapon with ki focused attack. For 1 ki point you are giving yourself a +10%to a +30% chance to hit when needed and another attack that deals 1d8+15 dmg. Whant more? You can make this choice after you rolled and missed so in case it's not necessary you simply don't waste anything. And even if you missed after spending the ki point you get to make another attack... Whith this combo you are going to hit with sharpshooter attacks expecially while in darkness.
Whant more? Be a gloomstalker way of the shadow and make four attacks at first turn with advantage while in darkness and consider taking eldritch adept for devil's sight and or Elven Accuracy. You are going to hit with that +15 dmg.
This combo also has a good survivability.
Try to reach this guy in melee with his mobility.. Do you want to shoot him then? Not so easy with deflect missile. Did you finally reach him? He can teleport away with darkness and shadow step or just by bonus action disengage.. Dex based saving throws spells? Evasion + proficency in dex saving throws..Not enough? Use patient defence for disadvantage to be hit and advantage to Dex saves.. Allright, wisdom saving throws spell then? Gloomstalkers got proficiency with Iron mind. You finally got him in melee and he can't get away... ok he can keep in hand his bow and make 4 unarmed attacks with hunter's mark on. No disadvantage, no need to change weapons...
I am not saying it is the best combo ever, but I can tell you it is fun to play this character and hits hard.
I know Im late, but i wantrd to talk about potential options for Ranger/Clerics.
If you go Twilight Domain Cleric for a couple of levels and then spend the rest on Swarmkeeper, you end up with a surprisingly strong character that you can flavor as a Warrior for the Raven Queen (being able to summon a Raven Swarm that Buffs your Allies with Temp HP and Damage your enemies with Swarmkeeper Features)
I had a Gloomstalker 8 / Barbarian 2 for a one shot. It was exactly the character described (greatweapon master with Alert) and it was pretty strong. I agree with it being a B. It was a bit rough not having spells in combat but I was able to use the slots for exploration.
Thanks Dudes! I’ve been looking forward to the ranger video since you announced the series. While the don’t multi class well together, rangers and wizard are my favorite classes. I would love to see you most powerful Players Handbook builds.
Gloom Stalker + Samurai as an elf is insane. Lvl 9 character making 6 attacks on the first round all at super advantage with Elven Accuracy and Sharpshooter to top it off is just disgustingly lethal
So as far as the "social manipulater" ranger-bard, a good way to make it work as a ranger would be take the druidic warrior (or whatever its called if I got that wrong) fighting style and take the Shillelagh cantrip to use wisdom as your primary weapon. You already need enough dex just to multiclass to almost max out medium armor, so one more point won't hurt, but you can then focus on wisdom for attacking and ranger spells, and simply be a melee ranger with a ton of social abilities and some early bard spells added in for fun.
I do like your assessment of the Monk as a solid pairing. The community may be sleeping on it.
I was playing an Astral Self/ Swarmkeeper multi for a weebit. So much battlefield control, Wisdom for all strength checks, and really good chip damage with Flurry+Hunters mark. Really was a sick build, dont sleep on this.
Even if you play full on at range shooter and have better uses for your BA, 1 level dip in Monk gives you potentially better AC than studded leather if you have at least 16 in WIS and a way to make, while you have only the bow in your hands, attacks of opportunity that could actually hit, even if just for d4+DEX.
My curiousity is more in the direction of monster slayer (lvl 3 ability to detect resistances, immunities and most importantly vulnerabilities) with dragon monk, which brings more elemental damage variety options.
Monk is ok, it would be my 4th or 5th pick after Rogue, Fighter and Druid. The main issue with Monk MC is the BA conflict with Ranger spells, and the melee vs range conflict. Ranger is most powerful as a ranged character with SS+XbowXpert but a Monk wants to be melee. Ranger has lots of good BA spells like Hunters Mark, Zephyr Strike, Ashardalon's Stride, Ensnaring Strike, but Monk wants to use that BA for an unarmed strike and FoB. Since Tasha's Ranger also has the option of using their BA for 1-2 attacks from their Beast or Drake companion which matches FoB for damage. So you really aren't gaining much from Monk until 5 levels of Monk for Stunning Strike which is a heavy commitment.
There are certain character concepts that combine Monk & Ranger and are totally viable, but if you just want to be good in combat there is going to be a more effective build than Monk + Ranger.
I played a ranger 5 / cleric 2 -> 7, and I can confidently say that the Life cleric Goodberry stacking is absolutely insane for out-of-combat healing for a relatively low opportunity cost (1st-level cast goes from 1x10 to 4x10 and upcasts). Also, you can basically ignore crossbow expert in favor of spiritual weapon after a certain level, and having the "dead" slot levels lets you upcast really fantastic party buffs like Bless or Aid to keep your party going at all levels. It plays as if you're a ranger with spiritual weapon with lots of beginning-of-day and post-fight utility, and I love a good cast of Guidance :)
When i heard ranger artificer, while i respect the mad max reference, i lean a bit more towards Horizon Zero Dawn, which would be super cool
Same! When Monty described it my first thought was, "Wait, so Aloy is a Ranger/Artificer?"
I'm planning to run a ranger 4 / cleric X soon in an IWD campaign. It's possible to start high Wis with Druidic Warrior fighting style from Tasha's to make a SAD Wis gish using Shilleleigh and a club or staff. Druid would also work, but you already have the best druid cantrips; you'd probably pick a different fighting style for druid.
Eloquence Bard + Fey Wanderer is definitely Saint Germain from the Netflix Castlevania. (I haven't seen his original character in the game personally... so might not line up there.) He is ridiculously charismatic, and weaponizes it alongside the power of the great difference between his wisdom and the wisdom of those around him. He is knowledgeable to a fault, and before you understand why, you've already joined in his quest for whatever strange thing it is he wants to find.
I'm playing a Ranger/Fighter and its going pretty well. I'm looking to take a quick dip in Cleric as well.
Gloomstalker/Echo Knight can get 8 attacks first round, and is one of my favorite multiclass options to play. So much fun with Spike Growth and an echo that can hit things in it and not take the spike damage, great battlefield control options if you go Polearm Master/Sentinel. Played this in a lot of one-shots, hope to use it in a full campaign someday.
I played a spore Druid Gloomstalker ranger, and it worked phenomenally, I took the 6 levels in ranger so I still had extra attack but I also had great spells to throw out.
I'm having so much fun at the moment playing a Dhampir, Echo Knight assassin that is soon to go Gloomstalker. Can't wait to really own the dark :)
Sleeping on that Ranger/Sorcerer combo Dudes!
Quicken Web, quicken Bless (DS) to boost your sharpshooter hit rate, quicken a Fireball. You go 5/5 and by the time you get there you have the spell slots of a 7th level caster and at 6/6 you have 7 quickened fireballs per day.
I actually did this with a Fey Wanderer since I already had a decent Charisma and originally it was just for the extra spells slots to cast Enhance Ability, but man was it powerful!
Heck yeah. I've been thinking metamagic points are under-appreciated and not used often enough too. I actually began a complete re-write of the arcane caster classes so that they all get some amount of metamagic ability. This required some modification of things to keep sorc from immediately becoming crap compared to Warlock and Wizard of course, but i think what i came up with makes a lot more sense compared to how they just threw the Warlock class at us and arbitrarily made wizard be forced to cast with int, while the other arcane casters use CHA?!? How about we choose which mental attribute, or we just combine sorc, wiz and warlock into a Mage class and then have those as subclasses... makes more sense to me anyways.
I didn't need to remember I can quicken fireball.
I think you guys might be discounting Druidic Warrior quite a bit. Even though you still need Dex access to Shilleleigh makes you WIS MAD. Or a fighting style and Nature cleric/druid.
1 would be SAD because the S is for Single
I’ve thought about a fey wanderer/sorcerer (I had in mind a divine soul) who primarily uses their magic to improve their archery, but also improves counterspell, since that’s a charisma check as a sorcerer. Even with neither charisma nor wisdom maxed out, you’d likely end up higher than most counterspell users +5 bonus, but not the abjuration wizards heights. At level 20, I was thinking 12 ranger/8 sorcerer, for the most asi’s and spell slots to max out things like elemental weapon or spirit shroud. Maybe not the biggest spells, but this isn’t focused on magical damage.
Quickened conjure animals is very good. 😊
I like the idea of a Warforged Drake Warden with a Clockwork Drake for flavor and then a few levels of Artificer to pick up a few good abilities and add more flavor to the theme of the build.
This multiclass combination can also work for playing Hick-up from How to train your Dragon/drake.
I played a Horizon Walker / Moon Druid multiclass character who was basically a custom Lineage Eladrin (cus I wanted to make her a Nymph) and honestly it was amazing. Her teleport was reliant on trees being around but still worked wonders.
I grabbed Find Familiar with Magic Initiate and the fantasy of being an all-around protector of the forest was STRONG. She could turn into a dire wolf for travel and her Owl familiar would scout ahead or hang out on her back, maintaining their psychic connection even though I was Wild Shaped. In combat I could hang back and shoot with her long bow or I could jump into the frey. Being a druid meant I got Cure wounds, which I cast through my Familiar. But being a ranger meant I had extra attack. So no matter the scenario, I had options. Lob two arrows from 120ft away, heal my friends from a distance, or turn into a bear or wolf and charge in to drag them out? It was so so good.
Love the concept of that character; sounds a lot of fun, AND strong. I've said it before, but i think just about any ranger/druid combo will be good for fun and versatility in all pillars of play.
A cool DM would let you combine the features of the Steel Defender with The ranger's Companion. Like 1 creature that's like a Frankenstein's monster, but in animal form. Give it the Steel Defender's ability scores, the Primal Companion's skills and saves, and AC. Then stack HP, and features.
Make your companion animal a cyborg
Colby did a melee Wildfire/Fey wanderer that looks like loads of fun!
Hey! I've been really looking forward to this video. I absolutely love this series, and the ranger is my all-time favorite class, by far. As for your assessment of multiclassing with the druid, I agree with a B: the two classes share a lot of spells, so you don't gain much from the druid. However, when it comes to the cleric, I would have given it an A because their spell lists are quite different, and getting a boost in spell slot levels is perfect for gaining higher-level-casted invocations or spells. I played a multiclass with crossbow expert and shield (the artificer infused my crossbow, so I didn't have to reload), and it was incredibly strong in melee with Spirit Guardians. Congratulations on the video and the channel, thanks for what you guys do!
i could see a ranger 5 nature cleric 5 with shillelagh being a good melee character, focusing mostly on wisdom.
i could also see a ranger 5 spores druid 5 being quite good for summons and ranged attacks
One fighter option not mentioned is EK, giving another way to get Shield, and also Find Familiar, as well as the usual fighter abilities. One thing that keeps the Wizard single level dip slightly more competative with the sorcerer is, as the guys mentioned, Find Familiar, but specificly the ability to cast it as a ritual, the EK doesn't give. But unless your going for arcane spells beyond first level, I think EK is the most natural dip to do that.
Not super important but worth poiting out that with the druid multiclass you get Shillelagh that lets you focus on wisdom instead of dex if you wish to go melee
Well , now there is Druidic Warrior for Shillelagh
Ranger cleric works fairly well if you go cleric 5, swarmkeeper X, don't max dex, but prioritize wisdom and use shileighleigh to hit stuff with a stick, this will allow you to hopefully push people in and out of your spirit guardians to proc it multiple times.
I will say played a Drow Gloomstalker ranger with a dip in twilight cleric and it was a ton of fun
About the monk ranger... I took it up untill 14th level and it was the damage dealer of the party with around 50 60 dmg per round. One of the best combo was focused aim + archer fighting style + sharpshooter+ ki focused attack.
It goes like this:
Shoot at a target using sharpshooter with your shortbow longbow (dedicated weapon or kensai) , the minus 5 to hit gets compensated by +2 of archer and by a +2 to a +6 of focused aim in case you don't hit right away. Since you spent a ki point in your action you can use your BA make another attack with your monk weapon with ki focused attack. For 1 ki point you are giving yourself a +10%to a +30% chance to hit when needed and another attack that deals 1d8+15 dmg. Whant more? You can make this choice after you rolled and missed so in case it's not necessary you simply don't waste anything. And even if you missed after spending the ki point you get to make another attack... Whith this combo you are going to hit with sharpshooter attacks expecially while in darkness.
Whant more? Be a gloomstalker way of the shadow and make four attacks at first turn with advantage while in darkness and consider taking eldritch adept for devil's sight and or Elven Accuracy. You are going to hit with that +15 dmg.
This combo also has a good survivability.
Try to reach this guy in melee with his mobility.. Do you want to shoot him then? Not so easy with deflect missile. Did you finally reach him? He can teleport away with darkness and shadow step or just by bonus action disengage.. Dex based saving throws spells? Evasion + proficency in dex saving throws..Not enough? Use patient defence for disadvantage to be hit and advantage to Dex saves.. Allright, wisdom saving throws spell then? Gloomstalkers got proficiency with Iron mind. You finally got him in melee and he can't get away... ok he can keep in hand his bow and make 4 unarmed attacks with hunter's mark on. No disadvantage, no need to change weapons...
I am not saying it is the best combo ever, but I can tell you it is fun to play this character and hits hard.
Yeah, you may have to work for it each combat, but that build is strong as heck especially if you are a combat-heavy group.
I like the cavalier mixed with Drakewarden or Beastmaster and using it as a mount because if you have a dm that will kill your mount having the ability to resummon it easily rather than having to keep buying mastiff or horses works
I played a Swarm Keeper Ranger that took the Druidic Warrior fighting style and invested only in Wisdom. Cleric multiclass was top notch, I'd definitely give it an A.
If you take enough Swashbuckler Rogue levels to get your enemy pull option, the Fey Wanderer will make it work more.
Druids can use their Wild Shape to cast Find Familiar as an action (as of Tashas), which I think would pair really well with a Ranger for gaining advantage and for thematic reasons. And on the Shepherd specifically you have even less need of your Wild Shape than other Druids do.
I love my swarm keeper, and am sad to see it mentioned so rarely in these ranger videos. I love the idea of the fighter/swarm keeper pushing enemies around the board though.
I have a Gloomstalker Artillerist, and the idea is to mix the Eldritch Cannons and Ranger spells for field control. Whether that actually works in practice remains to be seen.
Today i tought of making a gloom stalker multi class, now i get this vid... I think youtube loves me
For Cleric War Domain gives you War Priest which lets you attack as a Bonus Action an amount of times equal to your Wisdom Modifier which is great. Also you could get Crusader’s Mantle which is arguably better than Hunter’s Mark.
And heavy armor…
I love all these multiclass their videos.
I had a fun character at the start of curse of Strahd (spell check) that was level 5 being 4 colossus slayer ranger and 1 genie warlock with 2 weapon fighting (had mapped to lvl 8). Go to spells were hunters mark and cure wounds. Had a couple "monster-house" scenarios that it helped having the returning spells on a short rest. Combat was dropping hunter's mark, make the weapon attack (or attacks if target is already marked), add prof mod damage, and add d8 colossus slayer. Don't know about a 1 to 20 campaign, but was key where it was.
Bladesinger horde breaker hunter using greenflame blade is quite fun at higher levels.
I've played a Swashbuckler/Gloom Stalker and I have to say the character was phenomenal
On monk/ranger: I also like the idea of an archer who can still hold their own in melee. The enemy thinks they've got the upper hand by forcing the archer into melee, and then the archer just unleashes a flurry of blows.
It's called being a DEX martial. You don't need fists when you can just pull out shortswords and show em what's good. Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, any class that can benefit from DEX can do it, Monks do it worse than them all
Also Monk Ranger means you can generally ignore armor if you feel like it, letting you get around the stealth disadvantage most medium armors give, but still easily start with 16 AC. And once you get to Ranger 6 / Monk 2, you're moving an extra 15 ft per round if you take Deft Explorer.
@voicetest6019 most Rangers I play have a maxed dex so they use light armor anyway
My druid/ranger uses dragon scale mail, so I'm sitting at a 17 AC.
@@voicetest6019 if you're a full DEX Ranger, you're wearing light. No penalties there. Why would you wear medium if your DEX is 18 or higher? Studded Leather is equal AC to Scale Mail at 18 DEX and more at 20. Just why?
@@jpjfrey5673
Monk Unarmored Defence gives you 16 AC if you have 16 Dex/Wis, matching the cap of Scale Mail, Leather and Breastplate.
If you get to 18 Dex/16 Wis, it meets Studded Leather's cap as well as Half-Plate
If you go above those scores, it beats studded leather and half plate.
I'm currently playing the Ranger/Bard multiclass that's mentioned in the video, it's amazingly fun. The dudes mention that the character is not great in combat, which is totally true. What it is great at though is concentrating on Bless and Faerie Fire while throwing out debuffing Vicious Mockerys and bardic inspirations, which makes it so that you're still absolutely a help to your team in a fight AND still get that incredible buff to your social skills. Something that's a little overlooked about Fey Wanderer as well is that you add your Wis not just to skill checks, but to ALL ability checks including the ones you make for Counterspell and Dispel Magic. For this reason, I actually went College of Lore on my build so I could get those powerhouse defensive spells earlier, and honestly your skills get so ridiculously buffed when you're going this route that the minimum 10, while certainly very nice, is not necessary at all. I absolutely love this character, both mechanically and RP wise, and it's definitely a build you should try out if you haven't.
That sounds... pretty dang boss actually.
I think that in all the cases when discussing Druid you miss Wil Shape at all. You discussed it here only as a Moon Druid battle option but the most important thing about Wild Shape isn't actually a combat but exploration and investigation. This is why Druid is so high on this list.
Been playing a Ranger/Fighter for a few months. Currently 6 Fey Wanderer and 3 Gunslinger. So now I'm building various guns to expand my abilities in combat. It's been a fun one to use on the battlefield and even in role play since I have solid charisma.
Shepherd druid and beast master could be cool. Like your beast master pet is the alpha. RTA guys
-The issue with Beastmaster x Barbarian is that the beast's power is based on your Wisdom spellcasting and would be impeded by the Strength and Constitution focus the build would need (either that or you use the shaky 2014 pet rules). Thankfully Drakewarden doesn't have this issue, so you can be an angry dragon keeper.
Speaking of unusual Ranger playstyle, you can totally focus on spellcasting and be a battle druid of sorts. All you need to do is fight with a quarterstaff and a shield so you don't mind your Dexterity only being good rather than great. Shillelagh enables you to be exceptionally Wisdom focused (benefiting a Fey Wanderer or Beastmaster) while aggressively progressing your spell slots as a Druid or Cleric. You can get the cantrip easily via the Druid multiclass or even just your Fighting Style selection. To a lesser degree, Eloquence Fey Wanderer could work in a similar way, although to a more limiting degree.
Gloomstalker/Twilight cleric gets portable invisibility for the entirety of the channel divinity that the rest of the party doesn’t get penalized for unlike the Hexblade darkness combo.
Doesn't work, the channel divinity creates dim light, gloomstalker needs darkness
If you choose pact of the blade with the ranger/warlock you can have a bow as your pact weapon. Also you can take the eldritch smite invocation which does work with ranged pact weapons
When it comes to the Ranger/Fighter, can the Fey Wanderer/Samurai add their wisdom twice to their Persuasion checks?
Yes
The two Druid multiclasses that immediately come to mind for the Ranger are Shepherd for more animals in play, and Moon to make yourself one of said animals. Maybe a Spores Druid/Fey Wanderer, like your time in the Feywild infected you with some contaminant that, despite its horrific effect, can't seem to dampen your charismatic charm.
Edit: I've looked into the Cavalier/Beast Master combo, and it honestly doesn't do that much for the Ranger. I built one with only two levels of Fighter for Second Wind, Action Surge, and an additional fighting style. I went with Interception to allow me to defend my Primal Companion while riding it, and at one of my Ranger ASIs, I took Mounted Combatant, which gave me most of what you'd get from Cavalier anyway.
Swarmkeeper Ranger + Stars Druid. Apply your gathered swarm ability (and occasionally Favored Foe) to your Archer Form attack to get significant utility out of your bonus action, before you even think about what to do with your action.
Pact slots can give you an absolutely obscene number of goodberries to haul around for essentially unlimited healing out of combat, as well as pretty much always-on Pass Without Trace. That's extremely impactful. Ranger/Warlock is not a D. It's an A.
It's an A just for that, but you also get a whole suite of eldritch invocations, not just the single invocation you would from a feat, and being a Ranger means you don't need any of the EB invocations if you don't want them! You can have any combination of Eldritch Sight, Misty Visions, Eldritch Mind, Devil's Sight, Beast Speech, and many more, but those are the ones that any Ranger would love to have.
Oh, and a little deeper into Warlock, Eldritch Smite is the way you get smites on a Ranger without being dependent on 5 out of the 6 ability scores. You can even use them on your ranged attacks.
Drake Warden Range/Wildfire Druid is an idea I had as well, and it's great; with the right build, you can have multiple summons and essentially be a Pokémon trainer in D&D. Another combo I like is the Archfey Wanderer, a Fey Wanderer Ranger/Archfey Warlock multiclass, which lets you charm your enemies, strike while their guard is down, and quickly get away to do it all over again. I also like the idea of a Beastmaster Ranger/Beast Barbarian, where you fight alongside your beast companion instead of just commanding it, especially if you can convince your DM to let you learn Primal Savagery and Alter Self.
Swarmkeeper Ranger + Dao Genie Warlock + Telekinetic Feat = 40 ft forced movement across Spike Growth. One of my absolute favorites. If GM has terrain features like chasms, lava, and acid it is tremendously fun to play.
I lately wonder on arcane trickster bladesinger multiclass, so I can't wait for your rogue video. Great work as always!
I still like Ranger / Sorcerer since metamagic allows for making the Ranger more adaptable. For example, use the metamagic Transmuted Spell on Flame Arrows and Lightning Arrows so you can change the damage to suit the enemy. Also use Subtle Spell to be able to get up close to an enemy for meele and still be able to use magic within a Silence area.
Also with Abberant Mind you get telepathy and some nice free spells. Combine telepathy with Suggestion you could telepathically cast the suggestion directly into someone mind, and with Subtle Spell you wouldn't even need the V/S components. Also, you can regain spell slots since rangers don't get that many, not to mention all the useful cantrips now available to the ranger.
Thri Kreen Swarmkeeper 5/ Spores druid 2. Should be able to dual wield two short swords while carrying a shield, having dex and natural armor for good ac with spore druid sprinkled in for extra damage and more nature based magic. Be nice to have warcaster somewhere or resilient in CON to keep concentration on Hunter's mark. By second round, after hunter's mark and symbiotic entity with halo of spores, you have a steady 3D6 rolls for damage with 3 attacks, not including your ability modifier with an extra 1D6 once in that turn. The reaction damage is also available too from the spores which scales based on total level unless they did errata on it. Also has a nice swampy insect type theme.
Edit: I forgot favored foe. That is another 1D4 damage once in each turn that scales with ranger level.
I made a Cleric Ranger into a tank once. An earth genasi with the current bonus action blade ward feature, 5 levels Fey Wanderer and 2 leveks Life Cleric. Equipped with shillelagh, shield, and heavy armor
I’m playing as a swashbuckler- Rouge/gloomstalker-Ranger bugbear and I get bonus points for both initiative and first round combat. It’s a great set up and both classes complement each other rather well. I’m currently a level eight, with four levels in each class. My feats are magic initiate Wizard and Warcaster. Using a whip with a bugbear gets fifteen feet of reach with a finesse weapon. In a single first round combat, I can dish out 5d6 from sneak attack and surprise attack, 5d8 between dread ambusher, zephyr strike (bonus action spell) and booming blade 1d8 initially 2d8 when the creature moves and 1d4 whip. If it’s within 15 feet of me and moves out of my reach, I get an opportunity attack from warcaster for another 1d4 1d8 3d6 (swashbuckler sneak attack) and 2d8 as it continues to flee. A total of 2d4, 8d6 and 8d8 (assuming everything falls into place).
This. Is. The. Problem. With. Gloomstalker. Hahahah. Sick build though bro. Love it.
@@Dack.howaboutyou because I play as a bugbear, I’m able to fit in a small space without squeezing. Last session, I hid in a laundry basket and killed a tabaxie from it with one hit. His dwarf companion tried to investigate the situation but couldn’t see me because he
was relying on his dark vision instead of a torch/lantern and I got the combo off again. Roll playing as Bigfoot is simply amazing 😂
@@gatorman5547 Nice. That's hysterical hahah. I knew when i saw that new Bugbear squeeze-into-small-space ability that it was going to be trouble LOL. Fun, but maybe nightmare fuel for DMs ;)
Swords Bard, With Fey Wanderer Ranger. Rock a 14 Dex, and wear Medium Armor. 12 in Constitution, then focus Wisdom and Charisma. Fighting Style Druidic Warrior for Shillelagh, and Dueling Fighting Style from Bard. Dump Strength and Intelligence. That will make them pretty great in combat
My favorite low level multiclass is 2 ranger/1 forge cleric. I think this gives you the best archer I can figure. Snag sharpshooter with variant human and get a 16 dex. You can get the archery fighting style, a +1 bow and bless to enhance your ability to off set the sharpshooter penalty. 3 uses of bless a day along with other support abilities from both classes including guidance makes this a well rounded build.
My main character is a Beast Master/ Shepherd Druid. I love this combo. Speech of the woods is such a fun feature, alone, for some hilarious RP.
Currently 12 Beast Master/ 2 Shepherd, and the plan is to go 16/4. The Duid levels give me flexibility with my lower level spell slots. Allowing me to focus on preparing more of my higher level Ranger Spells.
And of course, SHARE SPELLS at Ranger 15. People are really sleeping on this ability.
Yeah i can't imagine a more fun theme if you like nature themed chars and versatility/flexibility... than combining ranger & druid. Pretty much any kinds. Even cleric works too, although i still say 5e cleric is OP since you can put it with almost anything and make your build better, hehe x)
Ranger is my favorite class since my first one back in 3.5. I just enjoy going pew pew pew from across the map.
Eloquence bard and feywanderer ranger make it that youll never lose a persuasion/deception ever again, using support bard spells and shilleilagh/magic stone you wouldnt need dex or str for attacks
Pace without trace and the good wisdom make it good on scouting and tracking, and have decent fighting and AC can be medium armor, and good constitution, is a good combo
Currently playing a peace domain drake Warden. Jist having emboldened bond and bless with your drake and the rest of your party is pretty solid. Keeps it up for a long time and nearly guarantees damage each turn from the extra 2d4 (referring to Attack rolls) currently 2 lvl peace domain Cleric 9 levels drakewarden ranger. The rp is a solitary priests who believes all dragons can live in harmony with common kind.
Great video, as always, guys! One minor nitpick. You got the Barbarian/Favored Foe interaction wrong. It was confirmed by Jeremy Crawford that anything that requires "concentration as if it were a spell" counts as concentration meaning it doesn't work with Rage. Then again, Jeremy Crawford is fallible and a DM can decide what they want!
This video makes me want to build a Dragonborn Drakewarden/Wildfire Druid. It's not super optimized, but it's a fun idea. You can flavor it as you or your dragon exhales fire which manifests as a wildfire spirit.