Throughout your experiences inDungeons & Dragons, you are sure to create a wide array of different characters from different classes and backgrounds. A go-to for new players is the fighter class. Marked by martial prowess and an impressive arsenal of weaponry, fighters often rush into battle to fight withsword or axe.
There is a surprising amount of variability in the fighter class, though, including builds that compete with rangers for long-ranged martial prowess. It can be a bit more difficult to cater a fighter for ranged combat, but with a few tweaks and some careful choices, it can be a great addition to any party.
This article uses the Dungeons & Dragons 5e 2024 edition. However, there are other ways to make a ranged fighter in previous editions, so make sure to talk to your DM about the options available to you.
7Class Overview
The Basic Idea
There are a few key things to consider when building a ranged fighter. You’ll want to build your character towards being accurate and heavy-hitting at a long range, either through repeated ranged attacks or through one or two harder-hitting attacks. In addition, action economy comes into play for attacking and then being able to follow up each attack by either reloading your weapon (i.e., crossbows), or doing some other bonus action in relation to helping you and your team in battle.
You’ll also want to consider movement speed and stealth, as being more suited for ranged combat means you’ll be less likely to keep pace with your enemies at close range. So, you’ll not only want the option to hide from danger, but also move quickly from it.
A high movement speed also means the ability to get the drop on your enemies through climbing or moving around cover.
6Species Options
Who Your Character Is
With the 2024 edition of D&D, the species of your character no longer alters the ability scores of your character. With this, you only have to look at the identifying traits that each species allows for when making a character. Each of the species adds something to the idea of a ranged fighter, but the aasimar, elf, and goliath species each have features that could make your experience much easier.
Aasimar, rather obviously, have their Heavenly Wing trait, giving you a flying speed equal to your normal movement speed. This allows for an easier range of movement and allows your character to get good angles on enemies hiding in cover. The Elven Lineage trait for drow allows you Darkvision for 120 feet, allowing you to pick out targets easier, or the high elf option comes with the ability to cast Misty Step after level five for better movement.
The choice to be a goliath might be counter-intuitive given their large stature, but choosing the Cloud’s Jaunt trait from the Giant Ancestry table means the ability to teleport as a Bonus Action up to 30 feet, which is great for your action economy and easy movement for follow-up shots.
5Ability Scores, Skills, And Feats
What You Excel In
The ability scores to focus on for this class are quite similar to any modification to the fighter class. A high Constitution is never a bad idea for added HP and staying alive for longer in combat. You’ll also need a high Strength and Dexterity score to use the various ranged weaponry available to this class. The optionfor Finesse weaponryis great, and a high Dexterity allows for better movement and dodging, but Strength is a solid standby and helps with Heavy weaponry. Your skills will be vital to you in combat and exploration. Seeing what your party needs is a good idea, but a ranged fighter can definitely benefit from proficiencies in Stealth, Survival, Nature, Acrobatics, and/or Athletics.
This allows for a more min-maxing quality to the character, but any skill can easily be swapped out for flavor. The obvious feat for this character archetype is the Archery fighting style feat, allowing your character a +2 to attack rolls made with ranged weaponry. You can better diversify your character depending on how you want them to act in battle with other feats like Skulker for stealth snipers, Crossbow Expert for a crossbow specialty, or Piercer for all-around better piercing damage.
4Subclasses
Combat Specialties
There are two subclasses that add different key abilities to a ranged fighter. The Champion subclass is the lesser of the two, but i still has some key features that make critical hits easier to accomplish (i.e. Improved Criticals, and Superior Critical) and Remarkable Athlete, which gives you advantage in Initiative rolls and Athletics Checks.
Arguably, the better of these two subclass options is the Battle Master. Through this subclass, you gain the Know Your Enemy feature at level seven, which is quite similar to a ranger feature, imparting knowledge about an enemy’s resistances, immunities, and vulnerabilities. You also gain various Maneuvers fueled by Superiority Die, each of which gives attacks and actions you make special abilities attached to them:
3Spells
Utility & Combat Alike
Just because fighters are a martial class doesn’t mean you have to avoid magic entirely. A few spells here and there can be a great way to add specialization to your character and modify their utility in and out of combat.
This can be done either through feats likeFey Touched or Ritual Caster, multiclassing, or by subclass. Subclasses are probably the easiest of these ways. The Eldritch Knight subclass is the best of the available ones for this endeavor, which gives you spell slots and a list of possible spells from the wizard class. Possible spells that you may want to take for this build include: Alarm, Blink, Enhance Ability, Invisibility, or Misty Step.
Use Dash as an Action and Bonus Action.
Fourth
Make a creature Invisible.
The Psi Warrior subclass is also an option. It doesn’t grant you spells per se, but, in a roundabout way, gives you some magical abilities that are similar to some spells.
2Weapons And Armor
Bolts & Arrows
Your equipment can modify your playstyle for a character just as easily as features can. Knowing this, there are a few key things you’ll want to start off with, or buy from a merchant early in the game. Armor-wise, light to medium armor is best for a ranged fighter. True, heavy armor is great for a higher AC, but its negative effects on climbing and stealth make it a liability for what a ranged fighter should be aiming for.
Even with being a ranged combatant, having at least one backup weapon for when an enemy gets too close is a solid idea. Especially considering most ranged weaponry rolls at Disadvantage when an enemy is too close.
For weapons, anything ranged is a viable option. Bows and crossbows will be your bread and butter for this character, but slings, throwing knives and axes, javelins, and similar weapons can all be part of your arsenal. You have the option to diversify, having a clutch of weaponry for various ranges and damage types, or you can push your character into specializing in one weapon type. For example, using crossbows and grabbing the Crossbow Expert feat, and other similar optional features.
1Optional Multiclassing
A Bit Of Help
It is perfectly possible to create a ranged fighter using only the fighter class, but still some players may want to dive into other classes to bolster their efforts. In doing so, the best class to multiclass into is definitely the ranger. In doing so, you would be able to get some of the best ranger features and a ranger subclass without diving into the class entirely.
The rogue class is also a fair idea for multiclass, as it will allow for better stealth and the option for Sneak Attack, doing more damage with a single ranged blow.
It’s worth at least going to level three for our preferred ranger subclass. But, going up to level fourteen in ranger gives you better movement through Roving and Tireless, plus Nature’s Veil will let you hide more effectively. Each of the ranger subclasses has something to offer.Doom Stalker and Fey Wanderereach give you a host of extra spells to choose from, but Beast Master and Hunter fit better into the idea of martial prowess that the fighter class already allows for.
