Lord to Ranger - worth it?

[Jon Smallberries]

My M Rawulf Lord is rather disappointing; probably a development issue, but nonetheless, he's not really pulling his weight.

I'm guessing he's level 11 or 12, rarely does more than 10 points of damage. He's still using the epee and a stilleto, since I haven't found anything better for him to use.

Since he was lousy in melee, I started developing his ranged attack skills, and he's pretty compentent with a bow and is really starting to take off with modern weapons (bought him a nice blunderbuss for his birthday ).

Since he's going to be my long ball hitter, I'm wondering if I should switch him over to Ranger at the next level up. Ranger has some nice ranged combat advantages, and his magic is not really developed at all, so that is not a big loss.

What do you think?

[Erydian]

Well - what do your stats look like? Rangers generally require high senses and dexterity, and I'm not sure what stats you've been pumping with your lord.

A side note on lords however: they are slow developers. Mine, who is just about the same level as yours (and also a Rawulf [img]smile.gif[/img] ), is also extremely disappointing. However, they do start to shine later on. The reason they develop so slowly has to do with the fact that they are by definition specialists with dual weapons. But, as you'll notice there is a definite lack of secondary weapons that are usable by fighters, lords, or valkyries, meaning that most of the time (there are a couple exceptions) you'll be dual wielding two weapons of different types. In order to dual wield two weapons of different types effectively, your character has to have ample skill in both weapon skills, as well as in dual weapons(since they receive a penalty to their combat skills because they are wielding two weapons). Therefore, since it obviously takes longer to raise two different weapon skills than it would to raise one (especially if you are using level up points to advance your magical skills) it also takes longer for your lord to pack the punch that the rest of the party's fighter types are capable of. They *do* get better though.

If you do switch your lord over remember that in game terms, he will no longer be a level 11 character. He'll be a level 1 character, that levels at the rate of a level 11 character. There's plenty of exp to be had however, as long as you don't mind working for it, and provided your stats are viable (a Ranger with low senses doesn't crit very often for instance, and I believe that level also has something to do with it), you could probably make the switch if you really cannot stand your lord. If you plan on equipping a Blunder Buss, you'll still do decent damage (even without the Instant Kills), though no more (and I might even say less) than you could do with a fully developed lord. [img]smile.gif[/img]

It's really up to you, what you prefer, and what you think you'll enjoy more, but lords do eventually improve.

Edit: I don't know what weapon skills you've been raising with your lord (I'm assuming dual weapons, sword and dagger by the weapons that you mentioned in your post), but if you decide to keep him, you might want to consider getting some mace skill. There is an excellent secondary weapon available that happens to be a mace, and with it, you could actually dual wield two weapons (maces) of the same type. Not a necessary thing, especially if you've already invested a lot of points in other skills, but something I thought I'd mention.

[ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: Erydian ]

[Ziggurat]

There must be something about those Rawulf Lords that make them attractive. At first, mine was subject to mental attacks and seemed slow to build up. Now, he holds his own quite well. I recently switched to 2 maces (Mauler and Diamond Eyes). His damage number is the highest in the party. I made a sac, however, in that I had 70 sword and 98 pole. But I wanted to use his dual weapon skill to max (now at 92). He's now up to 36 in mace/flail. Even when he was 15, he could do good damage with these 2 maces. Another bonus is that he got the portal spells soon after my bishop, it took alot longer for others to get them. I have no regrets now, but I did in the beginning.

[ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]