Round two

[JHe]

Hi!

Im near the end of Book II and I have plans to play it again with ranger using Bows.
I have no idea what skills and attributes would be good so little help needed.
No need to build the most greatest and coolest and mighty elite super ranger, just guide me the right path of the skills/attributes.


Thanks
JHe

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Hi!

Im near the end of Book II and I have plans to play it again with ranger using Bows.
I have no idea what skills and attributes would be good so little help needed.
No need to build the most greatest and coolest and mighty elite super ranger, just guide me the right path of the skills/attributes.


Thanks
JHe

The two primary attributes for a Ranger are Dex and Con. Strength can be helpful for carrying capacity, and of course you'll want a decent End, but the first two are the most important.

Skills you of course want Bow, and probably a melee weapon for the first couple levels (one you get your Bow skill over 10 and get the Feat, other weapon skills really become unnecessary for the most part). A level of Foraging and Repair can be good, as it will help with the food issues, the money issues, and the wear-and-tear on your bow. One level of Merchantile can also help, as it makes basic arrows cost 1 gold rather than 2. There's no big danger in leaving out repair or foraging until you can get them from trainers and/or equipment. Also a level of light armor is nice eventually, but the drawbacks of not getting it until you can find the book are negligible.

[JHe]

Hmm, interesting.

You say a level of light armor is nice. Do you mean that ranger propably dont need armor skill at all?


Thanks
JHe

[Randomizer]

Repair is essential to keep your bow from wearing out and breaking.

Armor isn't needed as much since you are mostly attacking at a distance and most monsters are only melee attacks. You can add it later and maybe even find a book so you don't need to use skill points.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

It can be nice to have, but it's not an urgent thing for rangers. Depending on how you feel about adding in magic with your characters, especially. Training enough elemental magic to be able to cast Dense Nimbus removes the only real danger that rangers face--other ranged opponents. Any creature without a ranged attack should barely ever have on opportunity to get close enough to hit you. Also, the penalty for wearing armor you're not trained in is fairly small relative to the armor ratings of the later-game armor.

Stay light and stay mobile. If they can't hit you, they can't hurt you.

[JHe]

Cool, thanks for answers! I think I can handle it now.

[KillingMoon]

I've never ever invested a single point in repair! I let the blacksmiths take care of that, although it does mean I find it handy to keep a back up weapon with me.

A question you need to answer for yourself when you're going for a skill that has a trainer is: do I invest any point in that skill before I reach the trainer?
I normally don't. Hunter is quite easy to reach anyway - well, any trainer, except Zeblin, isn't too difficult to reach anyway - so I've until now saved my skill points for things like skullduggery, pick locks and alchemy. It all has to do with playing style, of course. Normally I'm slugging through the first bit of the game just using my fists.
You'll probably spill a lot of arrows if you're still lowly skilled, so for a ranger it probably makes even more sense to use your fists first.

[Evnissyen]

Repair is essential to keep your bow from wearing out and breaking.

Yes, but how much in Repair do you need for it to be 'effective'?

I haven't been investing in Repair because I've been concentrating on other things, mostly Bows (I don't like to camp out, anyhow, in Book 2), but honestly, the cost on my bow upkeep is becoming annoyingly expensive.

"Want me to repair that? Sure! 270 gold and it'll be like new!"
"But... It's barely even scratched...! Aw... okay."

[Kreador Freeaxe]

A question you need to answer for yourself when you're going for a skill that has a trainer is: do I invest any point in that skill before I reach the trainer?
I normally don't. Hunter is quite easy to reach anyway - well, any trainer, except Zeblin, isn't too difficult to reach anyway - so I've until now saved my skill points for things like skullduggery, pick locks and alchemy. It all has to do with playing style, of course. Normally I'm slugging through the first bit of the game just using my fists.

Why on Alchemy, then, since the trainer is quite easy to find in Port K? In general, I like trainers for complementary skills, so I can focus my skill points on my primary skills. Especially if you want to go for the True Ranger Challenge, you need to stick with your bow almost exclusively, because at no point can your percentage of kills from something other than bow rise above 20% (1 in 5).

Repair is essential to keep your bow from wearing out and breaking.

Yes, but how much in Repair do you need for it to be 'effective'?

I haven't been investing in Repair because I've been concentrating on other things, mostly Bows (I don't like to camp out, anyhow, in Book 2), but honestly, the cost on my bow upkeep is becoming annoyingly expensive.

"Want me to repair that? Sure! 270 gold and it'll be like new!"
"But... It's barely even scratched...! Aw... okay."

One point in Repair will generally fix all of your equipped stuff overnight while camping (and unlike foraging stuff, you don't lose your repairs if your sleep is interrupted). You can wait after that until you get to the dwarves and have spare money to pay to raise the skill higher. At 8, you fix most stuff in 2-4 hours camping, no matter how badly it was damaged. I think a bit higher and you should be able to get a weapon out of those weapon fragments (you can't, so far as I know, but it would be cool).

[Evnissyen]

Aww... and I was so looking forward to spending yet another three points in Bows... .

Anyhow... does our hero[ine] ever actually sleep? I mean, what with him/her spending the night foraging for food and repairing his/her equipment.

Seems odd... .

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Aww... and I was so looking forward to spending yet another three points in Bows... .

Anyhow... does our hero[ine] ever actually sleep? I mean, what with him/her spending the night foraging for food and repairing his/her equipment.

Seems odd... .

You can almost always find Tinker's Gloves in Everdale. It's a bit of a mad dash, but it'll save you the skill points. Sometimes you'll find them in Keebo's shop, as well. They're not that expensive, especially compared to the constant repair costs.

[Evnissyen]

True, I forgot about those. I'd already invested in Burglar's Gloves (+2 pick locks) . . . but I can put the Tinker's Gloves in my second equip setup, for whenever I end up camping.

The only annoying thing about switching gear is that I always have to rearrange my inventory afterward. But it's a minor thing.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

The only annoying thing about switching gear is that I always have to rearrange my inventory afterward. But it's a minor thing.

I suffer from that same mania.

[Evnissyen]

I suppose I could put all my "essential" items at the top, and let the collected / saleable items fill below them - instead of sticking all my essential items at the bottom . . . but then: I'd probably end up, at some point, accidentally selling one of my essential items.

[Rowanas]

I keep things in neat columns according to their type, so switching out invariably annoys me. that's why I do it by hand.