What's so special about a ranger / cleric?

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I've seen it a few times on here that it's a powerful combo. Especially for solo. Why? What am I missing? Is it because of his favored enemy?
Mulit class or dual?

 

The biggest advantages of ranger/clerics does not exist anymore since it was 'fixed' in the enhanced edition - it used to be that rangers got access to the full druid spell progression - as soon as you got cleric spells for a certain level, the druid spells for that level would be unlocked as well, meaning you got access to spells such as insect plague and iron skins.
Ever since the fix though, this is no longer the case - rangers still get access to some of the druid spells but at a delayed rate, meaning you don't get access to some of the really good ones (or at least not until very far into the game)

you can however revert the situation back to how it was in the original baldur's gate by finding your baldur.ini file (should be in your documents/baldurs gate II - Enhanced edition folder) and find the following line :

Code:

'Game Options',    'Cleric Ranger Spells',    '1',

and change it to :

Code:

'Game Options',    'Cleric Ranger Spells',    '0',

Rangers also get 2 free pips in the 2-weapon fighting style, they get to pick a racial enemy - giving you +4 to your attack rolls vs those creatures, and access to the stealth skill (though that benefit is negligible since you'll want to use heavy armors anyway.)
If you multiclass you also get access to the ranger's HLA list - this is a big bonus since priests get only a few HLA's, they simply don't have a lot of abilities to choose from.
The ranger HLA options includes things such as Critical Strike, (Greater) Deathblow, (Greater) Whirlwind Attack & Hardiness (and a few more) all of which are really useful to have.

As far as dual or multiclassing goes, if you dualclass you probably won't get access to the ranger HLA's, or you'd have to dual at a very high level, meaning it will take ages before you get back your levels after you dual into cleric. If you do dualclass, you'll probably want to wait to lvl 13 so you get to 2 attacks per round.
Going multiclass however, you should still be able to hit ranger level 21 and cleric level 25 - a ranger stops getting bonuses to his Thac0 at this level, nor does he get any more bonuses to his saving throws/# of attacks at higher levels, so it's pretty much as powerful as a ranger is going to get. Also, at lvl 25 you should be able to get your cleric Holy Symbol as well.
The big drawback here is that a lcl 25 cleric only gets half the lvl 7 spells a lvl 40 cleric would get, but i think all the advantages outweigh this fact.


so yeah - TL,DR; - you need to edit the ini to get back full druid spellprogression which Beamdog 'fixed', you get a racial enemy, proficiency in 2-weapon fighting, more and better HLA's. Multiclass is better then Dualclass, especially if you are running a solo character.

 

They didn't "fix" it, they fixed it. It was an engine flaw. The combined spellbook still gives ranger/cleric a significant advantage and their warrior abilities make them a force to be reckoned with.

 

Good to know I can undo the 'fix' if I ever get the EE versions. Thoughtful of Beamdog to include that option in the ini.

R/C are indeed much loved because they get (got if you've got EE) access to cleric and druid spells. It gives you good defensive and offensive spells from both classes.

As for multi vs dual, I would suggest multi for a solo, and even for a full party it's probably a better choice. The biggest reason to go for dual (Ranger to Cleric) is, I think, the extra high level spell slots. Dualling would probably be best at level 9 Ranger, though I suppose at lvl 13 you could still reach around lvl 38 cleric, if you are able to reach the ToB xp cap.

 

I would highly recommend a Stalker/Cleric dual rather than the traditional R/C multi.

 

How about a Stalker / Cleric mulit class?

 

You have to wonder why they fixed it since in parties R/Cs were not that impressive until much later in the game and solo-wise just about every other multiclasses + some kits were OP anyway.

I would still recommend multiclassing for solo because of fighter HLAs and massive XP. For parties, dual-classing is a great. You'll breeze through those cleric levels quickly thanks to cleric XP progression, and you can equip heavy armors/shields to protect yourself while vulnerable.

Any multiclass with a kit is a very good thing, which is why you normally can't do it without using game mods like Shadow/EEkeeper.

 

Because it's glaringly inconsistent with the rules. Beamdog devs don't concern themselves with the balance of existing classes, that was TSR's job.

 

TSR? WOW talk about old memories

 

I don't know about EE, but in the original you could not choose a kit for muti-classing.

Now for a human dual classing, I'd say to definitely go for it. Archer is a poor choice for dueling to Cleric, but the beastmaster also works. The weapon restrictions don't hurt as much since the cleric can also use slings, staves, and clubs. It still hurts not being able to use Flail of Ages or that maces that sleep or slow upon hit.

 

Nah, not so much. If they were really following the rules, ranger/clerics would not only be granted their cleric spells, but they'd also gain a extra spells per day above and beyond what a cleric gets as a Ranger. What Beamdog did was take away the consolation prize Ranger clerics received in exchange for losing the 3 first, second and third level spells they should have been able to cast, wholly separate from their cleric spell list, as a level 16+ Ranger.

 

Wait, wait, hold up. Ranger/Clerics do get additional spells per day, don't they? Or is that something we've fixed in unofficial patches? It's been ages since I've played one, but I distinctly remember having a gorillion low-level spells per day and that was part of the reason why I often chose a ranger/cleric.

Also, being able to cast all druid spells and being able to cast a few more low-level spells per day aren't anywhere near comparable. Let's not call it a "consolation prize".

 

With high enough wisdom, a normal cleric can max out the low level spell slots available. I'm pretty sure that R/C get no extra spell levels and never did before either. It's been a while since I played with only baldurdash fixes, though.

 

Depends on your definition of "extra". IIRC, Starting at ranger level 9, a Ranger/Cleric starts getting more spells than a Cleric of the same level (only counting the cleric levels), but that is just the ranger's spells per day being added to the cleric's spells per day.

In theory, those ranger spells should be chosen from the druid's spell list rather than the cleric's. Hence the reason for the bug in the original game, they just gave access to both lists.

 

I'd have to use EE keeper to add the kit.

 

I always add kits to my multi-classes with SK.

I understand the "extra" spells with regards to the ranger spells, but then they would have had to implement it like in NWN, with a class simply having their own spell book (of sorts). That way the spells wouldn't have to be mixed in the same spell book (also leading to less questions about which level a spell would be cast at for spells that increase damage or duration with level).

 

They didn't think it was worth making a separate spellbook for all arcane and divine classes since the only place where it would cause a conflict was the odd multiclass where the two classes fell into the same category. All things considered, the IE implementation was fairly elegant in terms of GUI and simplicity, even if inaccurate.

 

Personally, I agree with their thinking. It was not worth the effort and the necessity of complicating the interface.
I honestly don't see a Ranger/Cleric as THAT much more powerful than a Fighter/Druid. You only get extra spell slots for the first four levels.
It IS more powerful than a fighter/cleric, but given that my first introduction to AD&D was the Gold Box game Curse of the Azure BondsI personally think the ranger should be slightly more powerful than the fighter. It does have hefty ability requirements while virtually anyone can be a fighter so it should be something special. In the Gold Box games (excluding the first) the Rangers and Paladins were something special.

Anyways, back to the original topic, the ranger/cleric is indeed better than a fighter with no tradeoff aside from alignment restrictions due to the Infinity Engine's nerfing of multiclass fighter proficiencies.
You get access to the druid spell list after level 9 in addition to the cleric spell list, a few bonus low-level spells, you get two pips in two weapon fighting for free, and you can use stealth while wearing leather armor (or no armor) or any armor a thief can stealth in (such as elfin chain mail).

On the subject of choosing a stalker, well, that depends. Do the armor restrictions on the stalker make up for the benefits when you consider that you are also a cleric as well? A pure ranger can wear heavy armor just like a cleric.
I would not recommend an archer, although you could do so if you chose slings instead of a bow.
I think the beastmaster has possibilities, as being limited to club, staff, and sling is not as limiting as a ranger/cleric as it is as a pure ranger.
I'm unsure if you can use maces and flails as a cleric, but I do not think so.

Anyways, back to the weapon proficiencies. If you use the "Multiclass Grandmastery" from the ease-of-use/G3 Tweaks, you do get a minor tradeoff with the fighter.

I personally have modified WeapProf2DA such that a multiclass fighter can get grand mastery in select weapons. What weapons? ONLY the ones that ALL his classes can use. That does mean that the poor Cleric/Fighter/Magic-User can only take five pips in slings and staves (and clubs if you have universal clubs).
For any other class, the restriction is not so bad. A fighter/magic-user/thief can take pips in anything a magic-user can use since there isn't anything a mage can use that a thief cannot.
With double-classes (two-class muticlass) instead of triple, what you can take 5 pips in is limited to what your second class can normally use.

 

I agree that the mixed spellbook is an acceptable compromise. The way they implemented it in NWN was correct, but pretty horrible from a UI point of view.

I don't know about dual class R/C, but a multi-class gets access to druid spells from level 1. At least the one I solo'd through BGTutu and BG2 did.

A Stalker / Cleric is interesting, but the backstabbing would only be possible with staves, I think. Armor restrictions are not that important in BG2, as you can get a leather armour that is almost as good as the best of heavier armours. I think the White Dragon Scale armour is still wearable by a Stalker and allows sneaking and has one of the best ACs in the game.

An archer can only put 5 pips in bows, not slings, therefore slings would be a pretty awful choice for an archer. And also why a cleric dual/multi class is not a good idea for an archer.

Beastmaster would be possible, but I honestly never saw the benefit of the beastmaster class.

I'd just slap on a cleric kit instead of a ranger kit.

 

Ranger/Clerics get access to 25 strength with DUHM (among other buff spells from being a cleric), Ironskins + all the nice offensive spells druids get, and the multiclass ones get Whirlwind/Critical Strike+Hardiness.
It was basically the divine version of the F/M. No Timestop, but boy does it hit hard and it can take a lot of punishment.

If they fixed Archer sling proficiencies, then Archer/Cleric multiclass would be a devastating combo. I have no idea why but they also decided that slings should all benefit from STR in EE, effectively rendering the Sling of Seeking useless. Still, you can imagine what this means for an Archer/Cleric with 25 Strength and the Sling of Everard.
Stalkers could also backstab with clubs.
Cleric kits aren't as interesting in EE. They fixed Lathander (you used to be able to spend all your boons at once, for a temporary 5+ attacks per round), Talos doesn't make sense for R/C and the Helm sword removes your weapon and doesn't stack with Improved Haste anymore.