Creating FR characters for 3.5e rules

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I'm creating 2 new characters one is a Ranger/Cleric (ECL 12)
1. How many Ranger levels should I take?
2. What armour limitations are there?
3. Any feats I should really get?
4. Would an Archer specialist upset the cleric side?
5. Where can I find info about the gods of FR and specialised clerics?

The other character is Fighter/Druid (ECL 11)
6. How many Fighter levels should I take?
7. Can I dual wield?
8. Scimitars or clubs or both?

Other questions (if they exist in 3.5e rules)
9. Where can I find info about the Rashemi?
10. Where can I find info about Ethrans?
11. Which books should I buy (I have the PHB) to help me play these more effectively?

Thanks
DS

 

I'd recommend taking at least three levels of ranger so you can get the feat endurance for free. Level 6 for Improved Combat Style if you're going for a balanced ranger/cleric, level 9 for evasion if you're making a battle heavy ranger/cleric.

For feats I like lightening reflexes for rangers once they get evasion, Improved Turning I always like as it increases your chance to flat out destroy undead. Since most rangers have high dex, Combat Reflexes isn't have bad, Ranged Shot is nice for a ranger who likes to fight from a distance, Stealthy isn't half bad either if your ranger operates by ambush.

Archer should be fine, if you're refering to weapon restrictions, clerics can use anything the ranger opens up for them. It really boils down to whether you want your cleric up front (in which case he's going to be stuck in light armor) or in the back.

Faiths and Pantheons is the book that best discribes the gods of FR and specialty clerics, the FR campaign setting will give you the basics to the deities (domains and such)


I'd take 4 levels of fighter to get weapon specialization (depending on how much you use wild shape, it might be best to get weapon specialization (claw or bite)). Druid levels are more important then fighter IMO, as things really start to take off at level 8 when the druid can change into large animals. Also the more levels of druid, the better the animal companion.

You can purchase two-weapon fighting, but unless you go heavy on the fighter levels, you're probably better off with a two handed weapon or single and shield as effective two-weapon fighting eats up alot of feats.

I'd go with scimitars over clubs because scimitars have a larger critical range. Also Druids of Meliekki can use any item usable by rangers with out any loss of divine spell casting.


Rashemi as an ethnicity is detailed in FR Races of Faerun, the nation Rashemen is detailed in FR Campaign Settings

Ethrans (untried) Feat and the Hathran (sisterkin) prestige class are both in the FR Campaign setting

Unfortunately anything regarding FR seems to only exist in 3e so things here and there have to be converted.

 

Okay, let's see...

1. Depends on what you want to achieve characterwise. If you want an able spellcaster with additional stealth and fighting skills, 2 or three levels are enough. If you want a melee char, 4 levels of cleric (for the buffing spells)are enough.

2. None. Clerics can use heavy armor. But a ranger clanking through the woods in a full plate is not that believable.

3. Practised Spellcaster fom Complete Dive or Complete Arcane. It helps with the spellcasting of multiclass chars. For an archer the feat Zen Archery is very important. It lets you use your WIS modifier instead of the DEX modifier. There also is a feat called Intuitive Attack out there that does the same with melee attacks and the STR mod.

4. Cleric archers can be very effective. I would create an elven cleric of Corellon Larethian, though. With the War domain, he gets Weapon Focus (Longbow) for free on 1st level.
Alternativly, a ranger/cleric multiclass character can benifit from the archery combat style.

5. Faiths and Pantheons is good for 3.0 info. It must be adapted to 3.5.
For 'fluff', seek out the 2nd ed. books 'Faiths & Avatars', 'Powers & Pantheons' and 'Demihuman Deities'.


6. 4 at most. More are just not interesting. I'd recommend less, because of the loss of spellcasting power.

7. Sure. But as IS said, you have to invest in feats to do that.

8. In 3.5 rules, there is no restriction anymore on what weapons a druid can use. Speak with your DM if he wants to use them anyway.

9, 10, 11. The book you want is 'Unapproachable East'. It is one of the best 3.0/3.5 FR books out there, and has a lot of informations about Rashemen and the wychlaran.

For "crunch" and an update of the 'Hathran' PrC to 3.5, I suggest getting the Players Guide to Faerun. The Guide is very useful for creating FR characters and updates the realms to 3.5.

 

Thanks for your help, to begin with I've bought the Players Guide to Faerun, Races of Faerun and Faiths and Pantheons of Faerun. I will build up the characters carefully as they are a mercenary family I'm adding to IS's Lich hunt.

@Fabius Nice idea with Corellon, problem is he's chaotic good my party is most likely to be neutral evil; I can't really have the leader of the group being some kind of goodie, when her youngest brother is an evil assassin

 

huh...

Didn't realize that some of the FR books are 3.5.

I have FR Campaign Setting and FR Race of Faerun and they deal with Intiute Direction, Animal Empathy, Wilderness Lore and Scry as class skills, not to mention a much cooler PC yuan-ti pureblood build then 3.5 so I, as usual turned to assumptions and assumed that all the FR books had been put out prior to 3.5.

 

IS: If you like yuan-ti then get Serpent Kingdoms. It deals with all kind of serpentfolk in the Realms, including the creator race you go against in NWN.

By the way. 3.5e has been around for some time, and Wizards is still producing Realms material. If you play in the realms, you have to get the Player's Guide.
Other good books are said Serpent Kingdoms, the revision of The Shining South, Underdark, Champions of Ruin, Champions of Valor and Waterdeep: City of Splendors. And there is a Moonsea sourcebook coming up this year, not to speak of Dragons of Faerun, which is due next month.


@DarkStrider: Well, the other "god" I can think of who has the longbow as a favoured weapon is the Silver Flame. But it's in the wrong setting. And LG.

There is a nature deity list on page 90 of Faiths and Pantheons. These are the only deities who have druids and ranger in their priesthood.

 

Malar could be a potentional evil nature god.

and yes Players Guide to Faerun is a must have, but you also ned the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting to fully use it.

 

I've been wanting to get that Sperent's Kingdom book for some time. Since the inception of my favoite PC about the time of the release of IWD2 (though at that time I trying to figure out how to make him a half-pureblood, which is a non-existant race, a human and yuan-ti pureblood pairing produces a pure human or a pureblood) when I was still a very casual fan of D+D, the yuan-ti purebloods have become a favorite PC/Monster race of mine. Finding out they had abilities like produce acid, alternate form and spell-like abilities such as baleful polymorph only added to the love affair, but I haven't been able to justify spending 30+ dollars to help myself with primarily one character.

The reason I had assumed FR was 3.0 was because it is so popular, I figured with a cash cow like that, they'd have just pumped out books after switching from AD+D to 3e.

 

AFAIK, they still haven't... Anyway, I believe only two elven deities have the longbow as their favourite weapons, Shevarash and... whomever the other "legendary archer" was (Solonor or something); Corellon's favourite weapon was the longsword. Anyway, a ranger-cleric would have little problem with archery - especially if elven - but the requirement to use light or no armor to benefit from the weapon style can be a bit nasty.