I'm back... I want to stay.

[rheingold]

@boeroer - "moose" it's a fantastic name for an animal companion I now now what my next run will be - a boreal dwarf ranger with really low intelligence who's antelope companion is called "Moose"

He is not the most reliable hunter in his tribe, no one ever knows what he will actually bring back. His most well known dish is "pot luck".

Edited September 25, 2016 by rheingold

[Boeroer]

Hehe. Sounds nice. Make sure to pick up Persistence - it's wounding is great with low INT.

 

@Slacker83: I guessed so. That's why I said you shouldn't read that special part.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Boeroer

[Slack83er]

So today I've been off work, and started my new pg. It's just an all-round boreal dwarf ranger, with 16 dex and 16 per, bear companion (it's not called moose, my fault haha) and I'm 4th level now. His damage is ok, and the bear just tanks there along with eder. Thus far, he's ok. I come from Vailia and have hunter bg. Found my first good crossbow... but maybe i'll choose arbalests just because in the flavour text it says it's dwarven  

Any advices to go on or just keep playing?

[Slack83er]

Question: Is 4th level too early to attempt raedric's castle?

[Boeroer]

Depends on difficulty and whether you have full party or not. Even then I'd say it's pretty tough at lvl 4 for a beginner.

[Slack83er]

I've completed the place, no matter the level...maybe the bear companion really did his part of the job I'm no full party atm, just me, bear, eder aloth and durance. I'm wondering if I could change something... the bear is good tank but low dmg, in the social interaction I'm no good talker, and my party seems to die easily from anything which is called "paladin".... 

Advices? If I have to restart, no prob, I'm not so far....

[Boeroer]

The paladins and champions in Raedrics Hold are very tough. No need to change anything. Your bear will do a TON of damage after you give him "Merciless Companion", "Vicious Companion" and "Predator's Sense" while using Wounding Shot on the targets the bear attacks. Alternatively, you can use any ability of any party member that causes a "damage over time" effect on the target the bear attacks. If he has Predartor's Sense, he will rip everything apart after two or three hits which suffers from such a DoT effect. Even paladins...

[Slack83er]

I thought of this DoT effect, at first it seemed not so powerful... I'm still low level, and don't have many talents or feats..

As for the talking abilities? It seems most require Res18 (i'll never reach) or Int16 or the like... What do I get to change if I respec? Main stats? Talents?

[Boeroer]

Well to be honest I personally think the dialogue options you gain with high RES or INT or whatever stat are not worth any hassle. They don't change the outcome of the dialogue 90% of the time - and then it's mostly to avoid a fight or to make a fight easier (missing loot). Who wants that?

 

And there are also a lot of checks with PER, some with MIG, even a few with CON. You can't cover them all. You will not skip any content because of that or miss any item or so. It's just to have another option for answering - and then most of the time the answer of the npc is the same as if you took another (non stat-checked) line.

 

But if you deperately want to retrain because of dialogue options you can put 15 in all of those stats you think will matter for dialogue and leave the rest at 10 for example. With items or resting bonuses or food it's rel. easy to gain 16 to 18 in any of those stats then.

 

Wounding Shot with an arbalest is actually pretty good. The 100% bonus damage is great and helps to put down sturdy foes. And Wounding Shot also triggers Predator's Sense and Merciless Companion (aka pet's Sneak Attack) at the same time. With this combined approach, any enemy will go down quickly.

Edited September 27, 2016 by Boeroer

[Slack83er]

Wounding Shot with an arbalest is actually pretty good. The 100% bonus damage is great and helps to put down sturdy foes. And Wounding Shot also triggers Predator's Sense and Merciless Companion (aka pet's Sneak Attack) at the same time. With this combined approach, any enemy will go down quickly.

 

Now I understand my mistake: I don't have Wounding shot, I got marked prey. That's the reason I don't do Dot... then I got Swift Aim... I did wrong didn't I?

[Boeroer]

Marked Prey is also good. You can take Wounding Shots next time or see that another party member gets some DoT ability. Like Envenomed Strike or some spell or chant which does damage over time (Combusting Wounds - wiz, Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon - wiz, Autumn's Decay - dru, Insect Swarm - dru and so on). For example the chanter's lvl 1 chant "Come Sweet Winds of Death" would serve perfectly well. Just let him sing that phrase all the time and the pet has permament Predador's Sense while the chanter is not too far away. The chant is pretty neat by itself, too. It does raw damage and slowly grinds down even heavy armored foes like those paladins. And it has this nice synergy with rangers's pets. If you have it, you can even skip WOunding SHot if you want (although it still does good damage with such a hard hitting weapon like crossbow or arbalest).

[Slack83er]

Thanks for the advices, I'll try.

[Slack83er]

I was considering INT... what purpose does it serve 'cept dialogue on a ranger? I don't have spells, or abilities which last long or have AoE or the such... can any of you clarify?

[Dr <3]

For example it prolonged the dtun time of stunning shots. That alone is a good reason.

 

Apart from that is handy if you use scrolls for eample

[Slack83er]

For example it prolonged the dtun time of stunning shots. That alone is a good reason.

 

Apart from that is handy if you use scrolls for eample

 

Thanks Dr.. but as of the 4th level, I've never used any scrolls, nor have I stunned anyone... I go for damage... good ol' crossbow and and a very pissed bear

[Slack83er]

I totally love my ranger. I've started again addressing all Issues I found in 1st playthrough until level 4. Hope I got some more knowledge now, and know where to allocate points for example...hehe. Just out of curiosity though... is there any other class which is so "play intensive", requires no micromgmt and is good even outside of combat? I find the ranger very satisfying but I'm just curious as it seems to me, EVERY other class I played before just requires some compromise... either range or melee... either social or combat... With the ranger I've done it all... I'm ranged but melee with the pet. I'm good in combat but also socially... And all this thanks to Boeroer who suggested the dwarven ranger to me... I thought it was boring... haha 

[Boeroer]

You're welcome. I also suggested a moose.

 

A chanter can be as you described. He can be ranged or melee, with stats that suit both dialogue and combat and low micromanagement. And he can summon "pets", too. Most would build them tanky and do damage with summons, chants and/or invocations. But it still is a very different experience compared to a ranger.

 

The animal companion of a ranger is really handy. One of the best things is that is has no health pool. As long as there's enough healing it can tank forever, trigger traps or used as bait or distraction without having to rest afterwards because of low health.

 

A nice trick for later: if your animal companion is build in a way that it reliably kills enemies, you can use the priest's spell "Triumph of the Crusaders" to heal it completely every time it kills an enemy.

[Slack83er]

You're welcome. I also suggested a moose.

 

A chanter can be as you described. 

 

Well... I ended up choosing a boar, and for now, I'm quite satisfied. It's also sturdy and stubborn...almost as a dwarf.

 

As for the chanter... isn't it fun to get kana? I like him... 

[Boeroer]

Sure. He's great.

[Slack83er]

Hi guys, I have a doubt. As I wrote in a previous post, I just restarted the game and changed all the things that didn't appeal to me in the first run. But the strange thing is... I seem to keep missing my targets much more than before! So the things I changed are: Ability scores as follows: 15-10-15-16-15-7.

Then... took boar instead of bear (just changed a letter...haha). All the rest is unchanged, i'm still from old vailia, hunter bg... don't understand what's happening.. who can enlighten me?

[Boeroer]

If your PER hasn't changed much I'd say it's just bad luck. Sure you picked Boreal Dwarf again and not Mountain Dwarf this time?

[Slack83er]

Per is still 16, just as before.. You're making me wonder if I did a mountain dwarf, but the problem was against humans... not against beasts... bad luck you say?

[Boeroer]

Yes - or using a different tactic without knowing. For example if you flank a lot before (using a cmpanion and the pet to sandwich an enemy) and now you don't it will make a huge difference at the beginning of the game. Or if you used Blinding Strike before with a rogue and now you don't - things like that.

[Slack83er]

Boeroer, I don't think I'm using different tactics... this sensation just started at the very beginning, in the camp. Wolf died quickly, the two bandits that killed sparfel just got rid of me in a blink, since i never hit the target... who knows...

[Boeroer]

Hm. Have a look at the character sheet and hover over your ACC value. A tooltip will pop up. What numbers are shown? It should start with 30 base ACC from ranger, then +x from level and so on.

Edited September 29, 2016 by Boeroer