We ran into an issue in our game today, and I’m just wondering if anyone else has seen this or might know a solution.
One of our players is (well, was…) a ranger. Every time he would use animal companion (after level 5, this wasn’t always the case), it would instantly aggro him and start a combat. No one else had him marked as an enemy, only the ranger. We once tried attacking it when we were in camp, and Astorian ran over to heal it. If no one made any moves and just ended their turn, the combat rotation just went in circles and nothing would happen. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
Was your ranger wearing the Abyss Beckoner gloves?
Abyss Beckoners (Found in the back of the Zhentarim cave at Waukeen’s Rest)
Very Rare
“Demonspirit Aura: The wearer’s summoned creature has resistance to all damage except Psychic damage.
At the start of the summoned creature’s turn, it must succeed a Wisdom Saving Throw or be driven Mad.”Someone actually played a ranger? That does sound like a bug.
Gloom 5 / Thief 4 / Battlemaster 3 leveraging hand xbows is very strong.
The problem is Swords Bard 7/Thief 3/Fighter 2 does everything that build does but better.
Swords Bard 6 is double Gloomstalker Ranger 5’s damage in every situation, it gains more expertise and proficiencies, and it’s full spell casting is insanely useful in dialog and combat. Enhance Ability basically means never failing a skill check from Bard 3 on.
Even the Fall back of SB 8/Thief 3/Fighter 1 outpaces the Ranger build on all fronts.
Completely agree - I was responding to someone who expressed surprised at anyone playing Ranger at all. The Gloomstalker build is certainly overshadowed by the swords bard build, but it’s still a very strong build and perfectly viable in tactician - as you know, it just isn’t that tough. And while swords bard is stronger, it too is overshadowed by Sorlock EB rider-stacking builds which are in turn completely ec;lipsed by simple tavern brawler zerker throw builds.
All I was saying is that it’s not completely unreasonable for someone to play Ranger and while it’s certainly not the best it’s still a very strong build and perfectly capable of destroying tactician.
Gloom/Assassin is literally the only way to make rogues or rangers playable, so it’s not impossible someone accidentally started that combo with a ranger
I have limited experience with ranger. I have had episodes where non-companion NPCs are afraid of my familiar and/or summoned companion and run away from them or make comments like “go away”. I have not had an animal companion instantly aggro my ranger Tav or anyone else. Definitely sounds like a bug.
I haven’t picked up that game in a bit, but will now be trying it out for science.
