No one told me that gloomstalker rangers are basically monks with arrows. It's one of many discoveries I've made on my latest Baldur's Gate 3 sojourn that's seen me revisiting a semi-abandoned save game. My mission? Respec my entire party to rangers, despite having zero comprehension of how to create a solid ranger build, and see for myself what makes the class so loathed among Dungeons & Dragons players.
But what started out as a harmless experiment has taught me about more than just subclasses and feats. I'd forgotten that this particular save had gone markedly off-the-rails by the time I'd decided to park it, a gift for future me to worry about. But the desperation of loading into the Gauntlet of Shar while masquerading as a rookie ranger and morally ambiguous True Soul had me trying out some in-game pathways I'd never dared to before.
Death from afar
Baldur's Gate 3's Dark Urge is the wickedest I've ever felt in a video game
Before my self-insert BG3 Tav was a gloomstalker ranger, she was a storm sorcerer. As such, respeccing her to a melee caster class from a pure magical one was always going to involve some tinkering in terms of her gear build. One thing I'd forgotten, though, is that at this current moment in Act 2 where I'd left off some five months ago, I actually had no vendors or merchants left to buy said new gear from.
Last Light had fallen, since I'd helped Flaming Fist Marcus kidnap Isobel. Moonrise Towers had turned hostile following my valiant rescue of ex-hookup Minthara, turning on the Absolute despite having used Kar'niss and his convoy to breach the towers. Every tiefling was dead between the shadow-cursed lands and the Emerald Grove, and I'd even gone back to the goblin camp to finish the job after helping my drow paladin girlfriend paint the grass red with the blood of innocents. Gnarly, yes, but what can I say? Hundreds of hours into one of the best RPGs ever, you've got to start acting up to keep things interesting and fresh – right?
Anyway, that leaves me, a newly-appointed gloomstalker decked out in the most inappropriate attire, hanging out in the Gauntlet of Shar and winging it against powerful enemies. Thankfully, before succumbing to the ways of the ranger, I'd used my smarmy sorc charisma to talk Yurgir into offing himself. His Hellfire Hand Crossbow is sure to give me a helpful leg-up in my new vocation, especially while I'm still swanning about in my flouncy Poisoner's Robes despite being in a part of the game where everything seems to be immune to poison damage.
After shaking my fist at the skies and cursing my past self for doing this to me in the first place, I turn my attention to respeccing the other members of my party. It should come as no surprise that this particular Tav has not been winning many popularity contests, with only four party members left on-side after all that chaotic villainy: Astarion, Shadowheart, Lae'zel, and Minthara. Jaheira is hanging out at camp, too, but that's more out of necessity since I killed all her Harpers and left her headquarters to be consumed by shadows.
After experimenting and finding a lot of success with the gloomstalker subclass, I give my BG3 romance partner Lae'zel the same treatment. I set Lae'zel's favored enemy as Ranger Knight, allowing her to keep using heavy armor even if she is no longer a fighter. In turn, I select the archery fighting style for my Tav, but allow Lae'zel to specialize in defense so she can get a little bonus from being weighed down in all that chainmail and plating. Astarion is a little bit unlucky, having been selected for the hunter subclass instead of the sneakier gloomstalker. And Minthara? I make her a beast master ranger, just because I think she would genuinely hate it.
Knocking (arrows) at hell's door
Creating my own band of Harper rejects to replace all those I'd murdered feels less of a Robin Hood venture and more like a psychotic break.
Respecced and ready to get wrecked, my party ventures forth to conquer Balthazar in the Gauntlet. My favorite way to dispatch the necromancer is to surprise him in his quarters after defeating the waves of Undead Dark Justiciars, and although I've done so at least five times in the past, I approach this fight with apprehension. Am I even able to bring him down with four rangers and a whole lot of luck?
Turns out, yes I can. By focusing all my force on Balthy and the Flesh Golem, he easily falls to the rapidfire attack frequency of my gloomstalkers. Ensnaring Strike is every bit as useful on the dealing end as it is frustrating to receive, and paired with a nice thick cloud of fog to obscure the undead's magic attacks with, the fight ends up being a doozy. I make a note to try adding a few levels of rogue assassin when I'm next able to level up to really lean into my new stealthy ambush sensibilities.
I don't know what comes over me next. Maybe it's the adrenaline rush of polishing Balthazar off faster than ever before, or maybe I'm just riding the wave of unbridling calamity that this playthrough has built up over 16 hours. But at some point after completing the Gauntlet, I decide that this would be the playthrough where I allow Shadowheart to kill Dame Aylin and become Shar's Chosen. I will make Shadowheart not only a gloomstalker ranger once I scrounge up enough coin, but a Dark Justiciar to boot.
This is something I've never done before, even given my penchant for taking the morally reprehensible roads less traveled in many of the best RPGs. But one thrust of the Spear of Night is enough, sealing the fate of the Moonmaiden's daughter and turning Shadowheart into a hardened religious zealot. And you know what? I kind of like her this way.
With no Harpers at my side, no Aylin to back me up against Thorm, and an imminent tongue-lashing from Z'rell as I reach the gates, Justiciar Shadowheart proves essential during the siege on Moonrise Towers. Sneaking in through the kitchens and side entrances allows me to stagger each section of the attack, but I'm not prepared to be reunited with Flaming Fist Marcus and Kar'niss in the upper stories of the castle. This is where I end my experiment for the time being; with all my spell slots newly depleted, my party is in need of a long rest or four before taking on the ex-Sharran in the mindflayer colony.
All in all, I would not recommend anything I have described above. Gloomstalkers are surprisingly good once you get the hang of them, sure, but creating my own band of Harper rejects to replace all those I'd murdered feels less of a Robin Hood venture and more like a psychotic break after awhile. The fact that I now have a drider on my ass? Just the cherry on top of a truly unhinged playthrough.
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