Robin Hood Character

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I am completing the Underdark with my Shapeshifter, one of my favorite characters ever, and starting to think about my new game. I may start in BGTutu, not sure. Since I have been catching up on the Robin Hood series from the BBC, I am thinking about playing as a Robin Hood type.

The first instinct is Robin Hood as an archer, but that discounts his skills in melee and Robin Hood a rogue. Still, I have never played archer and I am thinking about it. However, is the archer a viable build in SoA and TOB? Or what other build would Robin Hood be?

I'd make some kind of outcast/outlaw party. Nalia would have to join.

 

Maybe go with a regular Ranger instead of an Archer? Archers are the ranged equivalents of Kensais in terms of effectiveness, but also have the option of wearing armor and still casting ranger spells (not that they can cast many!).

A regular Ranger would still be able to use long swords as well as bows. Maybe Chaotic Good? I dont think a Stalker would suit him, never thought of Robin Hood as the backstabbing type.

 

Robin Hood should definitely be an archer. Regular rangers will don full plate mails (ie:Minsc!) but Robin Hood does not, AFAIK. Also, his trademark is his great skill in archery, his ability to hit the 'bull's eye' repeatedly. Sure he is also decent in swordplay but that comes from good ability scores and high lvl of experience.

I happened to find his character sheet in the great netbook of classes and kits:

Copied and pasted directly:

By the way, Errol Flynn's Robin Hood was an Archer-Grandmaster, and not a
thief of any type. Consider his stats as follows:

Str: 16 14th level Archer-Grandmaster
Int: 17 Leather Armor +2 (AC 6, AC 2 with Dex. bonuses)
Wis: 15 Hit points: 110
Dex: 18
Con: 18 Long Sword +2
Cha: 17 Long Bow +3

As you can see he has great ability scores, which makes a great hero. Also, the author says he is not a thief. Indeed, I can not picture him backstabbing or pickpocketing the unwary. Sure he does suprise attacks, and steals from the rich, but more like a thug like, not a common thief. Forest is his home and base of operations, and this suggests he has to be a ranger of sorts.

As for your question, archers do very well in SoA. Get true grandmastery fix, this is a must to reap the benefits of true grandmastery, in accordance to Pen and Paper rules. Then go with shortbows or longbows. Gessen is the best pick, a shortbow but is capable of hitting as +4! And requires no ammunition whatsoever. Suprisingly, earliest best bows are short ones as well. Tasheron's bow is +3 and Tugian bow is even better, granting +1 attack/round. Which, I believe stacks with Grand Mastery's +1+½ attacks. So you will have a base attack rate of 2+1+1+1+½ to an amazing total of 9/2! Add your high level attacks at lvl 13, which gives +1 attack/round. Wow! Unhasted, your archer will have a 5 attack/round. Now cast Improved Haste and...he will be as if he is constantly greater whirlwind-attacking! 10 attacks/round is nothing to be sneezed at! Add archer's supreme to hit and damage bonuses...he will be able to kill anything in a round, fast! To be more nasty at high lvls, get critical hit and smite HLAs. Since you can achieve 10 attack/round easily you do not need Whirlwind Attacks that much. Smite will knockback many enemies, damaging them heavily, stunning them, and not allowing them to get closer to you..ever! That is awesome! Critical hit HLA will increase your damage output significantly!

Do not forget to get Deathblow ability, it should be one of the first HLAs you get. It is very powerful and will kill very annoying critters instantly, with no saving throw!

These include:umber hulks, gauths, beholders, and mind flayers:the most dangerous and annoying monsters out there! Your character can kill TEN mind flayers in a round, easily, and with ranged attacks for safety, unless he rolls a critical miss (1) on one attack roll. (and he misses that attack only) Now I do not know many characters that can do this easily!

Yeah, archers should rule, don't worry! You just need a good solid tanks in the front lines, and there are many many NPCs to fit in this role.

So get grandmastery in shortbows first, then go for longbows.

Hope this helps!

 

Robin Hood.. 17 Intelligence? Since when was he a genius? 13 Intelligence maybe, quite smart.

For a more realistic Robin Hood I'd go with 16 Con and 13 Int, maybe 16 Wis instead. Also, I think some long bows require more than 16 Str to wield.

 

Robin Hood could also be a fighter, since he was a also a soldier and noble before turning into an outlaw. In a sense, he could even be a sort of fallen paladin ; former crusader, now an outcast. Or maybe a swashbuckler: definitely a rogue, but not the backstabbing type.

I'd say that the build depends pretty much on which interpretation of the legend you have in mind.

 

You could also make him a Generic Archer (from Tactics). This is essentially the same as an Archer, except:
1. It's a fighter kit rather than a ranger (so you level up a bit faster, and dual classes are avaiable (not that you'd want to do that here))
2. You can put 2* in non-ranged weapons (rather than being limited to 1), so better thac0 and damage, plus an extra 1/2 attack.

 

Which version of Robin Hood do you want to use?

In the most popular version, Robin Hood displayed no thieving abilities. He was a fighter, first and foremost, and a leader. He fought against an evil despot -- he chose to ignore evil laws, not break laws he felt were just. IMO, he was lawful good -- he believed it more important to further the cause of the rightful king and solidify the society to the common goal of overthrowing the usurpers. He placed duty and honor above individuality.

Robin Hood could be extremely affective as a generic fighter (much like Mazzy). With grandmastery in long bows and long swords, Sir Robin would be deadly in any engagement (except those needing blunt weaons to damage -- give him some proficiency in staves for role playing purposes).

I would give Robin Hood the following stats:

LG Fighter
Str: 16
Int: 15
Wis: 15
Dex: 18
Con: 16
Cha: 18

***** in long bow
***** in long sword
** in staff
** single weapon style

A swashbuckler would work for the Disney version of Robin Hood (and CG -- with much the same stats, but lower Charisma).

 

Lawful Good? he was an outlaw, if he were Lawful Good he would have turned himself in out of respect of the law, even if he felt he could do good by disobeying it.

Chaotic Good sounds more appropriate:

He could be a fighter though, I'll grant you that. I suppose the problem is that 2nd D&D has forestry skills exclusively as the province of the Ranger, whereas in real life things are not so black and white (if Robin Hood ever existed anyway, they still arent sure). in 3E he could be a fighter/rogue/ranger.

 

Yet another myth promugated by those who do not understand Lawful Good -- Lawful Good is not Lawful Stupid. YOu are describing Lawful Neutral (with a low wisdom score). LG characters obey just laws and will openly disobey and fight against unjust laws. It is the duty of a LG character to oppose despots -- especially when the despots are the ones making unjust laws.

 

A fighter could he work, he did fight in the holy land with King Richard (at least in popular mythos). As a noble he likely would have had fighter training. However, Sherwood Forrest is an integral part of the mythos and he and his gang were masters of the forrest. He has to have stealth because he can sneak in and out of the castle, ambush in the forrest, etc. A stalker would give more melee ability, but still no GM. I guess with an archer he at least has GM in bows. Robin Hood has to have GM in at least that, but really does undermine his melee ability. I guess there is just no perfect combo.

 

Bows do rather suck by the time you get to the later stages, although they're awesome in BG1.

Armour restrictions aren't too bad, either - you can wear the black dragon scale in SoA and white dragons scale (-2 AC) in ToB. High dex will give you a good AC anyway.

You could also try a custom kit - Six's Kitpack has several archer variants including a thief/archer (sniper). Read more or download here. (I have not tried this mod, personally, so I suggest reading up on it first).

 

Ranger Archers are the way to go. Bows are great in BG2 as well, and archers are one of the most broken classes.

For a truly explosively broken build, go Fighter/Swashbuckler or Fighter (Archer)/Thief. But if you do the latter you might as well go Ranger Archer anyway.

I don't think Robin Hood really need melee skills - I mean, he's famous for his archery, but whatever floats your boat I guess.

 

Swashbuckler, unless you want Kevin Costner's version, where he's a Ranger (Archer kit).