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NeverWinter Nights : Hordes of the Underdark
Ranger Guide
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By DarthMuffin aka Coffee_Man and many muffin/coffee names|
E-Mail : See Contact Info Section |
Date : December 25, 2003 |
Version : V1.1 |
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NOTES
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-I don't PvP unless I am forced to. You won't find any good strategies
regarding duels in this guide.

-Please note that English isn't my primary language, so there are probably
some (many) spelling/grammar mistakes here and there, and even some typos.
Feel free to correct them if you want to, but I'm sure that my guide is
perfectly understandable.

-Important Note : Playing a Ranger doesn't mean you have to pump DEX! You
can also pump strength and do crazy damage!

-Important Note II : Staying in light armor to Dual Wield doesn't mean you
have to pump DEX either! You can use Cat's Grace to buff your AC!

-Important Note III : Dual Wielding doesn't involve using weapon finesse and
small off-hand weapons! You can pump strength and wield two katanas!

(You can't say I'm not trying to get your attention!)

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WHAT'S NEW?
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-This section (!)
-Info on a possible Ranger/Wizard multiclass
-More stuff in the feats section
-Changed some stuff in "Favourite Build" section
-Added info on Dexterity/Finesse Rangers
-Added permission of using this guide to Neoseeker and Sorcerers's Place

Also, I didn't get any E-Mails from readers yet. I don't know if it's a good
or a bad thing though. After thinking about it, I came up with 3 possible
answers to this :
1) My guide is perfect
2) Nobody read it
3) Nobody thought about writing something

Since my guide is probably not perfect, the 1) is out. I do hope that some
people did at least read some parts, so I'll take out 2). That leaves us
with 3). Well, if you think you have some useful stuff to say, go ahead and
E-Mail me; it won't do any bad to anybody.

Soon to come :
-Possibly a new build for a dexterity/finesse Ranger
-Information on 3.5 Ed. Rangers

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INTRODUCTION
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I wrote this because I realized that many people underestimate Rangers. I
saw some horrible topics with "Rangers SUCK" as the subject. At first, you
may think it's true... When you look at what they get, you can think that
favored enemies are not worth the loss of the fighter's weapon
specialization, the barbarian's rage and the paladin's saving throws. Also,
you have to stay in light armor if you want to use their Dual Wield feat,
which is actually Ambidexterity and Two Weapon Fighting all in one. The
catch is that even if your Ranger doesn't meet the requirements for these
feats (and Improved Two Weapon Fighting at level 9), he will still get them.
As for the favored enemies feats, they helped you to kill the tougher enemies
(if you chose them, and you should have). Don't forget that the bonuses are
cumulative, and at level 20 you would do +5 against each of your favored
enemies.

Light armor isn't really a problem. If you play an Archer or a
Dexterity/Finesse Ranger, you'll have a great AC. If you play a strength
Ranger, you can easily boost it with Bracers of Dexterity or your second
level spell Cat's Grace.

With the coming of Epic Levels, your Ranger continues to gain favored enemies
each five levels. So at level 40, you have a +9 against hated enemies.
Also, once you reach level 21, you will be able to choose the Bane of Enemies
feat, which allows you to deal 2d6 extra damage against them. And what's
even better is that every three levels past 20, Rangers get a bonus feat, in
which Favored Enemy is. As a consequence, you can potentially have nearly
every enemy in the game as a favored enemy... That's GREAT. That means that
you can do the usual +9 and the additional +2d6 against everything you run
into!

In this guide, I'll try to do my best to explain the possible builds and
gameplay strategies I used. Of course, feel free to send any good stuff you
know about Rangers. Just be sure to check the e-mail section at the end.

Finally, I have to say that I make a lot of references to role-playing and
powergamming. I'm not a very good role-player (but I try to!) because it
really bugs me to pick useless feats because of role-playing reasons. The
same thing goes for attribute spreading. However, being a pure Ranger fan, I
have some kind of grudge against powergammers who multiclass every single
character to get bonuses here and there. I'll try to stay general in my
builds, but this is not a guide for those who like to multiclass. Also, if
you're a hardcore role-player, please don't get on me if you think my builds
are too much geared for powergamming (like I said before, I can't stand
raising charisma because it gives nothing good to my Ranger).

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| NEWBIE'S GUIDE TO DnD ROLLS (Table of Content follows) |
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Those who understand the DnD system should go to the Table of Content right
away.

I'm writing this section because I didn't understand crap about the Attack
and Damage rolls when I first played NeverWinter Nights. In my opinion, the
game manual doesn't give a simple breakdown of these rolls, and there are
probably many people out there who don't understand. I'll keep this VERY
simple, just to make sure you understand the basics. If you want to learn
more about all the rules, I'd suggest reading a specialized guide (DSimpson's
great guide is available here at gamefaqs).

First off, you have to understand what those dX mean. "d" stands for "die".
The number following the "d" is the number of sides the die has. Normal dice
are d6, or dice with 6 sides. In NWN, all the rolls are made with a d20 (20
sides die). Thus, you can roll from 1 to 20. Some weapons use 2d6 to
calculate their damage; 2d6 means that you roll a d6 (6 sides die) two times.
As a consequence, the minimum roll would be 2 and the maximum 12.

Ok, lets get started with the attributes.

At character Creation, you have to spend your 30 attribute points in the
desired sectors. Note that it is possible that you only end up with 27
points at creation; that means that your class needs a specific number of
points in a certain attribute. In the case of the Ranger, the game
automatically sets your wisdom to 11, since you need at least 11 in wisdom to
cast your first level spell (you can't lower it).

Now, we were saying that you had to spend your 30 points. Since the coming
of the really crappy (personal opinion here) 3rd edition rules, you can't
just pump a crazy amount of points in one attribute. As you add more points,
the cost for each point goes up. For example, a human who wants to raise his
strength from 13 to 14 will cost him 1 point. If he wants to raise it again
from 14 to 15, it will cost two. Here's how it works :
The 6 first points cost 1 point each
The 7th and 8th points will cost 2 points each
The 9th and 10th points will cost 3 points each
The 11th and 12th points will cost 4 points each
Et cetera.
This table works for any race. For example, an elf starts out with a
dexterity of 10; raising it to 16 will cost 6 points, and 10 points to 18.
Elves also start with 6 constitution; raising it to 12 costs 6 points, while
raising it to 14 costs 10.
At levels 4,8,12,16,20,24,28,32,36 and 40, you get to raise one attribute by
one point. If your strength is at 19, you can raise it directly to 20 when
you hit one of these levels. That being said, it is better to raise many
attributes at character creation and then pump points in one attribute than
raising a single attribute at the beginning and spreading the points you get
when you level up in the others.
See the end of the section for an example with a sample character.

Right next to the number of points you have in an attribute, you'll see
another number with a "+" or a "-" in front of it. An attribute with 10
points in it has a "+0". Any attribute over 10 has "+X", and any attribute
under 10 has "-X". This is the ability modifier. This the number used to
calculate the various rolls. You DON'T get any modifier for an odd numbered
attribute. Here's a breakdown :
6 --- -2
7 --- -2
8 --- -1
9 --- -1
10 --- 0
11 --- 0
12 --- +1
13 --- +1
14 --- +2
15 --- +2
16 --- +3
17 --- +3
18 --- +4
Et cetera.

Now, it gets interesting. How do I know if I'll hit my enemy? You'll have
to check your Attack Bonus (if any) in your character sheet. What the hell
is an attack bonus? Simply put, it's your ability to hit with a certain
weapon, and it is calculated with your ability modifier and special feats
(weapon focus, two weapon fighting). For example, you have 14 strength and
weapon focus in short sword : your attack bonus would be 2 (14's modifier) +
1 (weapon focus) = 3 + base attack. Your base attack goes up as you level in
a certain class (you can get these attacks in the tables at the end of your
manual). A level 1 cleric, who has a 0 base attack, with 16 strength and no
feats would have an attack bonus of 0 + 3 + 0 = 3. Again, see the end of the
section for an in-depth example. Keep in mind that melee weapons use the
strength modifier to calculate the rolls (except if you chose the weapon
finesse feat. In that case, the finessable weapons (dagger, short sword,
rapier etc.) will use the dexterity modifier) and ranged weapons (bows,
crossbows) use the dexterity modifier.

To succeed in hitting an enemy, your roll (a d20 in NWN's case) + your attack
bonus must beat the enemy's AC. It's as simple as that. For example (yes, I
like examples), lets say you roll a 12 : add your attack bonus (we'll keep
the cleric with 3) = 15. If your enemy has an AC lower than 15, you hit. An
AC of 15, you hit. An AC higher than 15, you miss.

Weapons also have critical thread range. Let's take a short sword, with a
thread of 19-20/x2. If you roll a 19 or a 20, your next attack will do
double damage. Axes, with a thread of 20/x3, will critical on a 20 roll, but
will do triple damage.

For the damage rolls, it's even easier. First, check your weapon's base
damage. Let's take a short sword, which has a damage potential of 1d6 (1 to
6 damage points). Weapons use the strength modifier to calculate the damage,
so lets say that our character has a strength of 14 (+2). The damage
potential would be :
1 to 6 + 2 = a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 8.
Two handed weapons (Great Sword, Great Axe et cetera) use your strength
modifier multiplied by 1.5. For example, a fighter with 14 strength wielding
a great sword would do :
2d6 + (2 x 1.5) = 2 to 12 + 3 = min of 5 and max of 15 damage.
Feats like the fighter's weapon specialization add to the damage. The same
fighter with weapon specialization in great swords would do :
2d6 + (2 x 1.5) + 2 (w.spec.) = 2 to 12 + 3 + 2 = min of 7 and max of 17
damage.
Finally, off-hand weapon only takes one half of your strength modifier. For
example, if you have 14 (+2) strength and you dual wield short swords, your
damage would look like :
1d6 + 2 = 3 to 8 (main hand)
1d6 + 1 = 2 to 7 (off-hand)

Now, you know the basics. Lets have an example with a sample character.

Bob is a level 4 human fighter.
His attributes are :
STR 16 (+3) --- 6 x 1 + 2 x 2 = 10
DEX 10 (+0) --- 2 x 1 = 2
CON 16 (+3) --- 6 x 1 + 2 x 2 = 10
WIS 10 (+0) --- 2 x 1 = 2
INT 12 (+1) --- 4 x 1 = 4
CHA 10 (+0) --- 2 x 1 = 2
Total = 30

He has, among others, the weapon focus and weapon specialization feats in
long swords.

His attack bonus would look like :