Lorent (at level 29), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 120 30
Shield Use.........................| 122 31
Combat Maneuvers...................| 122 31
Edged Weapons......................| 162 62
Ambush.............................| 122 31
Physical Fitness...................| 122 31
Dodging............................| 122 31
Harness Power......................| 122 31
Spirit Mana Control................| 54 11
Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........| 5 1
Survival...........................| 122 31
Stalking and Hiding................| 122 31
Perception.........................| 122 31
Climbing...........................| 105 25
Swimming...........................| 105 25
First Aid..........................| 122 31

Spell Lists
Ranger.............................| 31

Did not realize it just copied stats twice.

Pretty what what Nuadjha said.

Stalking & Hiding is super important to a sword and board ranger, at least in my opinion. We don't have the AS of a warrior/rogue, so open swinging is pretty much not going to work and you don't have the mana capacity to use spells to supplant that issue.

What I usually suggest folks do is take down the Dodge training to .75x. Dodge is relatively expensive compared to our other primary skills and at the lower levels, missing a few ranks (that you can definitely make up later) will hardly leave you lacking in any sense. You'll also have 618 to buff up your Dodge ranks.

If you still need a few extra points here and there, you can drop some of that Climbing and Swimming. Albeit with some trouble perhaps in the toughest places, you can likely climb and swim through any place in the game that requires the skills with your current ranks, and most of those places are still pretty far into your future. Again, only if you really need the points, you can probably just drop them down to 15/15 ranks and be fine. If you need more for a new hunting area, you can just migrate some points back into which ever you need.

As for armor, that's going to be your personal preference. I think most rangers stick with brig these days, which requires a total of 27 (someone correct me if I'm wrong) Armor ranks to get the minimum spell hinderance. For hauberk, it's 110. I'm personally in hauberk, but like I said, I think it's the lesser preference at this time. There is some nice brig out there that you can make it all the way with. Something else to think about is that 620 only works on brig and the lesser AGs.

Harness Power can be dropped down to your exact level. If I remember correctly, any ranks past your level only result in one extra MP. That's ten extra MTPs right there.

All in all, everything looks pretty solid. The only thing I would really change is the Stalking & Hiding to 2x. You can probably do this by taking Dodge down to .75x. Your stats look good as well; nothing really needs changing there. Play around with your skills. It's completely fine if you're missing a rank or two of something here and there. Train stuff you want to train -- you'll have more fun and your character will be more your own. Unlike how it was in GS3, every TP need not necessarily be meticulously planned. Things can be shifted, tested, moved back, etc.

Oh, and if you haven't come across it yet, http://www.krakiipedia.org/ is a fantastic resource for information. It's helped me relearn some things and understand a lot of new things, too.

And welcome back.

~Brian, Sepher's player

Most rangers are going up to augmented chain and hauberk these days. Brig is a good stopping point at lower levels (30 ranks), but once you get into the 50s or so, I'd recommend hitting the armor use hard and getting 70 ranks for aug chain.

Other than that, it doesn't look like you're really hurting for points anywhere. You've got the old classic sword & board build pretty much covered, minus the 2x hiding that was mentioned. I wouldn't drop dodge down to .75x, since it doesn't look like you need to. You can recover the TPs from climb/swim or another tertiary skill and put em into hiding.

One piece of relatively new knowledge is that ranger spell ranks are, for lack of a better word, in-frakking-credible. In recent years, more information about ranger spells has been released, and many of our spells benefit tremendously from overtraining in the ranger circle. In fact, I currently know 172 ranger spells (and 30 minor spirit) at a cost of millions and millions of exp, but it was totally worth it. Basically, once you learn 640, get your minor spirit spells up to 20-30, then continue training in ranger spells for life. Even physical builds should have a minimum of 70 ranger ranks at cap, in my opinion.

Droit

---

Speaking to you, the ghostly voice of Kaedra asks, "Have I ever told you, I think you're crazy?"
>
The ghostly voice of Kaedra says, "That was an insane rescue."

It usually takes about 4 casts to kill an ancient lich, though I've done it in less. I've got a self-charging rapid fire amulet just for those buggers, too.

How many ranks are you working with, Brian?

Droit

---

Speaking to you, the ghostly voice of Kaedra asks, "Have I ever told you, I think you're crazy?"
>
The ghostly voice of Kaedra says, "That was an insane rescue."

Ok after playing around with the goal page, this is what I have come up with so far skill wise. Note, I have not changed over yet, looking for advice. This is still at level 29

Armor 30 ranks
Ranged Weapons 62 ranks
Physical Fitness 31 ranks
Dodging 31 ranks
Harness Power 31 ranks
Ranger spells 31 ranks
Climbing 25 ranks
Swimming 25 ranks
Stalk & Hide 62 ranks
Perception 62 ranks
First Aid 31 ranks
Survival 31 ranks

That would leave 337 Physical and 121 Mental TPs left at the moment. Advice and suggestions welcome.

Lorent's player.

>It usually takes about 4 casts to kill an ancient lich, though I've done it in less. I've got a self-charging rapid fire amulet just for those buggers, too.

Ha! That's a HUGE difference in damage from what my 70 ranks does. Sepher's always been far more physically talented than magically (mostly based on RP choices, among other things), which sadly doesn't lend itself very well to the area, or at least that particular creature. I really, really don't want to change his training that drastically, but I've been toying with the idea. I'll probably wait until just before the next FIXSKILLs and see if I can't compromise with myself somehow. Hell, maybe I'll find a way to physically dominate those bastards in the mean time.

~Brian, Sepher's player

That's very solid. I'd personally use 200 of those PTPs and get Armor Use up to 50 ranks, and use double chain. It's a very good mid-level armor for a ranger archer since it's chain and it covers the arms.

~ Nuadjha, the Briar Fox

You inhale deeply upon your pipe, puckering your lips as you send out three rings of smoke before you, then puff out a small vine of smoke that darts right through all three which causes them to disperse in a hazy shroud!

Hey Luke - long time no see!

I don't play Prime these days - I'm over in plat with a capped paladin of Ronan, but it's good to see you back. I don't think I've had Kyrion in-game in at least a year.

-Scott

Coolness. I got the other back from Kerl a couple years ago. I'll let you know when next I have Kyrion somewhere near the Landing (he was up in Icemule last I checked).

<<<is there a site that shows how many ranks of armor to train off the extra rt for rangers?>>>

Here you go: http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Armor_Use

~ Heathyr and friends

>What I cant resolve in my mind is at 12lbs for my current armor moving up is going to add alot of weight, more then the padding would. The new armor is not going to be 5x nor would it have the flairs. For the Spell failure rate at 6% now I dont know that all factors considered its worth it. Maybe because I tend to cast more then I use my bow with some creatures, opinions?
GILBERTJ26



1. It's flare not flair.

flair

/fle(ə)r/

Noun

A special or instinctive aptitude or ability for doing something well.

Stylishness and originality.

flare

/fle(ə)r/

Noun

A sudden brief burst of bright flame or light.

2. Padding doesn't add weight.
3. http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Armor
4. http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Encumbrance
5. http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Spell_hindrance


-farmer

Hey. Maybe his armor has flair. You know know!

On topic, I always tell rangers they don't have to use hauberk. You can even get by without much trouble in brig. If you have some really nice armor that works for you, then stick with it.

Personally, I prefer my hauberk (and when I don't forget, which is like always, I put the AdvGld heavy damage padding on there).

~Brian, Sepher's player

<<<This is a question I've run through my head many many times.. I currently have 5x 12lb brig with flairs and resistance, AG 8. I am thinking of adding padding. But before I go and do that, I keep seeing people post about moving up to chain or ( I cant spell it) Hauberk?>>>

Brigandine is AG 12 with a base weight of 25. Are you sure you're not wearing double leather (ASG 8 with base weight of 16)?

My 45ish ranger wears fully lightened 4x double leather with heavy crush resistance. It's very light armor for a ranger. But then again, she's a very light ranger for a ranger (halfling). I am happy with my armor, but I wouldn't recommend it for most people. I'd suggest going to brigandine (assuming that's not what you have now) and then eventually moving up to chain as TPs allow.

On the other hand, one nice thing about the double leather is zero spell hindrance. Most find a minimal hindrance acceptable, but it's something to consider.

<<<What I cant resolve in my mind is at 12lbs for my current armor moving up is going to add alot of weight, more then the padding would. The new armor is not going to be 5x nor would it have the flairs. For the Spell failure rate at 6% now I dont know that all factors considered its worth it. Maybe because I tend to cast more then I use my bow with some creatures, opinions?>>>>

As farmer pointed out, padding does not add weight. As a matter of fact, armor doesn't count as weight at all, unless it's heavier than normal for its class. Your current armor is slightly lighter than normal, which reduces your encumbrance, so you might see a mild increase in encumbrance by moving to normal-weight armor. But even normal weight armor is NOT counted as weight, while you're wearing it. To put it another way, it doesn't matter whether your armor weighs 15, 25, or 100 pounds. You aren't going to see that weight, provided it's normal or lighter than normal armor and you are sufficiently trained to wear it.

An interesting side-effect of this is that you can actually decrease your encumbrance by wearing heavier armor, if you get that armor lightened. The lighter your armor compared to its base weight, the greater the reduction to your encumbrance. Just ask any bard with sonic armor.

So my advice would be to figure out what your target armor will be (say, chain hauberk) and get a suit right now of whatever enchantment you'll be happy with. Then keep your eyes open for GM alterers to start lightening it for you. Once it's enchanted and lightened to your satisfaction, then you can think about getting it padded when the opportunity arises. All that takes time, but if you start now you could have a pretty killer suit of armor by the time you're trained for it, for very little cost.

~ Heathyr and friends

>>It's flare not flair.<<

Hey, they may have a flaire for flares!


The bells of Hell
go ting-a-ling-a-ling
for you but not for me

<An interesting side-effect of this is that you can actually decrease your encumbrance by wearing heavier armor, if you get that armor lightened. The lighter your armor compared to its base weight, the greater the reduction to your encumbrance. Just ask any bard with sonic armor.>

That I did not know, and the earlier discussion about reducing encumbrance that wolffc3 asked in the cman vs dodge folder might be the answer he needs to get himself unencumbered when he is spell free.