Theren Vale - Optimization Guide

Current Build Summary

Wood Elf Hunter Ranger 4 | DEX 20 (+5) | WIS 17 (+3) | CON 15 (+2) | HP 36 | 437 gp

Spells: Hunter's Mark, Cure Wounds, Detect Magic

Carrying: Scale Mail, Scimitar of Warning, two Shortswords, a quiver of arrows, +1 crossbow bolts

The DEX 20 from last level-up landed and it is doing exactly what it should. Everything else about this build changed in one roll.

The Bow Is Gone, and So Is Your Fighting Style

The natural 1 that killed the goblin boss also snapped the bow. That is not a gear inconvenience — it disabled a class feature.

Archery grants +2 to attack rolls with ranged weapons. With no bow and no crossbow, that feature currently does nothing at all. Every attack you make is a melee attack with a finesse weapon, and Archery does not apply to any of them.

You are also carrying a quiver of arrows and a stack of +1 crossbow bolts with nothing to fire either from. The bolts are the more painful of the two: +1 ammunition is genuinely good and it is dead weight until there is a crossbow to load it into.

Buy a bow. You have 437 gp and this is what it is for.

A dead goblin's shortbow is free and the DM already offered one, but a shortbow is 1d6 at 80/320 — worse than either purchase, and you can afford better several times over.

Priority Changes

1. Scale Mail, Still

This was the first recommendation in the March guide and it has not been acted on. It is now costing more than it was.

Scale mail is AC 14 + DEX (max 2) = 16, with disadvantage on Stealth.

Breastplate is AC 14 + DEX (max 2) = 16, with no Stealth penalty. Same AC, no disadvantage, 400 gp.

Studded leather is AC 12 + full DEX 5 = 17, no Stealth penalty, and costs 45 gp.

Studded leather is now strictly better than both. At DEX 20 the medium-armour cap is throwing away three points of your best ability score. You get +1 AC over what you are wearing, lose the Stealth disadvantage entirely, and pay 45 gp instead of 400.

The March guide recommended a breastplate because DEX was 18 then. It is 20 now, and that changes the answer.

2. Two-Weapon Fighting Is Not Free

You are carrying the Scimitar of Warning and two shortswords, which looks like a two-weapon build. It half is.

Two-Weapon Fighting as a bonus action adds no ability modifier to the off-hand damage unless you have the Two-Weapon Fighting style — and you have Archery. So your off-hand shortsword does 1d6, not 1d6+5.

Once you have a bow again, the melee weapons are your fallback rather than your plan, and that is the right shape for a Hunter. Until then, expect the second attack to be worth about half what it looks like.

3. The Scimitar of Warning Is Better Than Its Damage

1d6+5 slashing is unremarkable. What it actually does is:

• Advantage on initiative — permanently, while it is on you
• You and every companion within 30 feet cannot be surprised, short of magical incapacitation
• It wakes sleeping allies the moment combat starts

That last one is why the party should never post a watch again in the way it has been. Attune to it and keep it on your person whether or not you are swinging it.

It is also finesse and light, so it pairs with a shortsword for two-weapon fighting, and it uses DEX.

Spell Usage

Hunter's Mark works with melee attacks exactly as it does with ranged, so it has lost nothing.

Next Level-Up Plan

Level 5 gives Extra Attack, and it is the largest single jump this character will get. Two attacks per turn, both carrying the Hunter's Mark 1d6, and both benefiting from DEX 20.

That is also the level where a bow stops being a convenience and starts being most of your damage. Buy one before then.