Ranger VS Paladin VS Fighter

[Zoltan]

Hi there, I'm a newbie and I'm a chronic re-starter! I cant really decide which class to go on, I'm really undecided. Can you encourage me and give some advices and share your experiences?

I'm thinking about a fighter with 3-4 rogue levels wielding longsword+shield or a great sword (I dont like dual-wielding) With magic device ability maybe I can have a familiar? If my fighter level increases will my companion have a greater HP?

Well, there's also ranger and paladin choices. Paladin doesnt sounds good to me but ranger does. Also an animal companion would be nice! But I'm afraid rangers are not good at combat like fighters. Is it true? What's difference between them in combat? Fighters got the most feats?

[Morgan_Corbesant]

rangers are equal in fighting, as are barbarians, and paladins. rangers get dual-wield and ambidexterity for free, but you dont like to dual wield. fighters get more feats true, but i found that after about 7 or so feats, the rest just suck. powerattack, cleave, improved powerattack, specialization, toughness, weapon focus, are about the only ones that i find usefull at all. i use weapon finesse too, but i dual-wield kuhkri's.

[Kerneth]

The main difference is in what each class is or is not good at.

Fighters have an enormous number of feats available, which is great in the early game but after a while becomes redundant. They can wear heavy armor, and heavy weapons, but have no magical talents unless you multiclass them. For a non-dual-wielding Fighter, all you really need to worry about are str and con, though you may want to get a bare minimum of 12dex so you get +1 to your armor class when wearing Half and Full Plate (I get half-plate before even leaving the Prelude, if only it were that easy in pen and paper...). Personally, I get 10 in wisdom, int, and cha even with a fighter so I don't have penalties.

Rangers, if you plan on using their dual-wield skill, are limited to light armor. The main benefits to a ranger are minimal spellcasting at higher levels, free dual-wielding, and the animal companion. Keep in mind with a ranger that, since you are wearing light armor, your dexterity bonus to your armor class becomes much more important. Rangers are going to want good scores in strength, dexterity, constitution, and wisdom in order to function. That means you're going to be spread a little thinner than a fighter would be, especially if you also want a minimum of 10 in cha and int so you don't have penalties. The 9-int talking-like-a-moron thing is very annoying to me.

The first class I played through the game with was a Paladin (actually, he was a level 4 Fighter/level 16 Paladin, I wanted weapon specialization). Same weapon and armor availability as a fighter, and the same lack of need for high dexterity scores. On the other hand, Paladins also need decent Wisdom and Charisma in order to spellcast and use their special abilities. I didn't find that too big an issue, my half-elven Paladin had 14str 12dex 14con 10int 12wis 14cha when starting. Just added more Wisdom as he gained levels so I could get more spells.

It's primarily personal preference which class you want to play. I wouldn't go with Ranger unless I planned on dual-wielding, and I'd go with a Paladin over a Fighter (even if it meant sacrificing weapon specialization) for access to clerical spells and abilities.

The Monk and Barbarian classes also make phenomenal melee characters, I'm currently playing a Monk and he's downright frighteningly effective at times.

[ 07-30-2002, 04:20 PM: Message edited by: Kerneth ]

[Zoltan]

"Powerattack, cleave, improved powerattack, specialization, toughness, weapon focus."

These feats are avaiable for only fighters?? Rangers cant have these skills???

I'm undecided about weapon focus/specialization. Dual-wielding does not sounds good to me because you have to wear light armor and you get -2 penalty anyway.

And I dont know about weapons in game. I hope that there's good great swords and longswords. But if there's fine shortsword and longswords tell me so I'll be careful when I'm choosing weapon. Which weapons you prefer? I'm looking for advices

[Draggor]

Only fighters can get weapon specialization but any character can get the others, fighters just get them sooner. Use magic device won't give you a familiar, you'll have to pick up a level of wizard or sorcerer for that. There's good examples of all the different weapons, I'd recommend longswords, good critical hit range and lots of different ones that do elemental damage(to break things open).
The only difference between rangers and fighters in combat is that fighters wind up more skilled by the amount of feats they have and are better armoured. As your first few feats I'd recommend weapon focus, power attack, cleave, knockdown, toughness.

[john]

I finished the first time with a ranger and Tomi as his henchman,they worked well with sword or bow.This time I'm playing fighter /rogue with Grimgnaw as my henchman,so far were kicken assI onlu use a +2 longsword and a good +2 shieldand were almost unstopable,who needs magic?By the time I finish this game Icewind 2 will hopefully be out so I won't try a mage or sorc...Any class you pick will be fun to play and each has their own advantages and disadvantages..

[Zoltan]

I'm thinking RANGER class over fighter. Because weapon specialization ability of fighters is reduced in 3rd edition.

I mean..

in 2nd edition a Fighter can be Master or Grand Master in a weapon.
Rangers and Pala's can be only specialized.

Specialized: +1 THACO +2 DAMAGE

Mastery: +3 THACO +3 DAMAGE

G.Mastery +3 THACO +5 DAMAGE

Rangers cant take weapon specialization but it gives only +1 or +2 something.

An animal companion would be nice! I'Ll play ranger! too bad I would not wear full plate (

[AndyG]

Am I misunderstanding somethiong? Only rangers have to wear light armor in order to dual wield. This is because they get those feats as a class ability. Fighters and anyone else who wants to get the dual wielding feats can dual wield in heavy armor. It still requires a dexterity of 15, which fighters don't normally have any reason to get.

[DraconisRex]

Play an elf fighter someday. YOu can get a 15 dex really, really easy. And since Constitution doesn't impact the availablity of feats, you can choose to boost that with potions, boots, etc.

With weapon finesse, dual weild, chain armour (magical) and a high dex (I even lowered strength to improve Int (for more skills) you'll do slightly less damage, but hit more often and be better armoured than a ranger.

[Piestrider]

I'm playing a Ranger right now. I'm in Chapter 3, level 15, and I wield either the Dagger of Chaos(my main weapon) a shield and a longsword, or a longsword and a short sword. Rangers also rock at missile weapons. Get them a good bow and some decent arrows and they can deal decent damage 35+! I have him with enough rogue skills such as detect traps and unlock that I use Linu now because I really don't need a rogue. I either do It myself or just bash locks. The familiar summoning is awesome especially early on in some of the harder battles. I recommend either the Bear or the Dire wolf. They kick some serious a$$. The one downside I've seen with my Ranger is that he can't cast any spells but that's why I have Linu. Overall I'm extremely happy with my Ranger. I would recommend a Ranger just because they are so dang useful.