The "Classic" Ranger, or, the grooviest alt.ranger on the net!
 

The Classic Ranger

Hit Die: d10
Skill Points: 4 + Int bonus/level.
Class Skills: As standard ranger, plus Bluff, Gather Information, and Sense Motive.
Proficiencies: As standard ranger. Note: While all warrior types are familiar with simple weapons, martial weapons, shields, light armors, and medium armors, it is the fighters, paladins, and psychic warriors who prefer heavy armor. Rangers and barbarians do not, however, so we at Old Jack's Guild of Rogues recommend that both these classes be accorded two-weapon fighting and amibexterity to compensate for the lack of armor skill.
Alignment: Rangers are the defenders of the frontier, and must swear to protect those weaker than themselves. They must adhere to a Good alignment, or become ex-rangers.
Track: Gained as a bonus feat at 1st level.
Quarry Bonus: The ranger chooses the target of his hunt, either at the beginning of the session or when the player characters would normally be preparing spells, as the DM prefers. The bonus applies to attack rolls and Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Wilderness Lore (Track) checks made when dealing with the chosen Quarry. At the ranger's option, he can switch the attack roll bonus to an armor class bonus on a round-by-round basis, as per Expertise. The ranger may change his quarry mid-session if the DM allows, but it requires three full rounds of the ranger studying his prey.
Normally the Quarry Bonus applies to a single individual the ranger is hunting for at the time, in which case the full bonus is awarded. Alternatively, the ranger may choose a small party (a number of specific foes up to his level) against which he receives one-half the bonus, or an entire race or organization against which he receives one-third the listed bonus. When reducing the bonus, drop fractions. At every four levels after the first, the base Quarry Bonus rises by +1.
Favored Enemy: At 1st level, the ranger chooses one particular class of creatures as a Favored Enemy. He may choose his ranger sub-type from the folllowing list:

• Beast-Killer (Animals, Beasts, Magical Beasts, and Vermin)
• Bounty-Hunter (Evil Humans and Demihumans)
• Dragon-Slayer (Dragons and Reptilian Humanoids)
• Giant-Killer (Giants)
• Goblin-Slayer (Orcs, Goblinoids, and Monstrous Humanoids)
• Planes-Stalker (Demons, Devils, and Evil Elementals)
• Sea-Stalker (Aquatic Creatures)
• Spirit-Slayer (Fey and Spirits)
• Vampire-Hunter (Undead)
• Weed-Killer (Oozes and Plants)
• Xenobiologist (Abberations and Shapechangers)

The ranger always applies his full Quarry bonus to his favored enemy, rather than reducing it to 1/3.
Detect Enemy: A ranger of 2nd level can detect his favored enemies as a spell-like ability at will, just like a paladin's detect evil ability.
Smite Enemy: Once per day, the ranger can declare his next attack against a favored enemy to be a Smite. The smiting must be declared before the attack is rolled, so a miss ruins the attempt. The ranger gets a +4 bonus to his attack roll and his level to damage if he hits. Since this damage is superanturally derived, it even affects creatures without vital areas and the like.
Ranger Spells: As standard ranger.
Animal Companion: After 5th level, the ranger can call upon any sort of animal he has befriended with animal friendship to be his special animal companion. This animal companion no longer counts against the ranger's total animal friendship hit dice, and it acquires certain special abilities while it is bound to the ranger. A ranger may only have one such animal companion at a time. The animal's subtype changes to magical beast, and it gains the following:
Improved Evasion/Share Spells/Empathic Link/Share Saving Throws/Spell Resistance: These qualities are identical to those of the paladin's mount.
Speak with ranger: The ranger and the animal can communicate verbally in a tongue only they can understand; other creatures will no comprehend their speech without magical help.
Blood Bond: The companion gains a +2 bonus to all attacks, checks, and saves if it witnesses the ranger being threatened or harmed. This bonus lasts as long as the threat remains apparent.
Ex-Rangers: A ranger who ceases to be good in alignment loses all divine spells and the loyalty of his animal companions. He retains all proficiencies, feats, and other abilities, but may no longer gain levels as a ranger until he returns to a good alignment and receives atonement from a cleric of sufficient level.
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Improved Ambidexterity [General]
Prerequisites: Base Attack +6, Dex 13+, Ambidexterity, Two-Weapon Fighting
Benefit: When fighting with two weapons of your size category, such as longswords for an Elf or short swords for a Halfling, you gain a +2 bonus to all attacks, negating the penalty for an off-hand weapon not being light.
Normal: You suffer a -2 penalty to your attack rolls when fighting with two weapons and your off-hand weapon is not one size category below you.
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Converting the Favored Enemy system to the Quarry system
Actually, this isn't all that hard. Just follow this guidline: an ability for which the ranger had to choose one of his favored enemies now works only on this ranger's single favored enemy; an ability that automatically worked on all favored enemies now works on whatever the ranger's quarry is at the time. For example, feats like Supernatural Blow and Favored Critical would now only work on the ranger's favored enemy, while the 3rd level ranger spell detect favored enemies becomes detect quarry. The detect enemy ability given to the ranger at 2nd level is more like the paladin's detect evil power, only working on the ranger's favored enemy, and only with a range of 60 feet.
Prestige classes like the Foe Hunter, Gnome Giant Killer, and Shadow Scout who gain favored enemy bonuses should have those bonuses replaced with quarry bonuses that stack with the ranger's. The Extra Favored Enemy feat should be dropped for a feat that grants a +1 quarry bonus.

You're giving -lots- of extra powers but I don't see anything taken away. Do you think the ranger is underpowered, and that's why you made this class? If so that's fine, but it seems a bit much - still much better than Monte's hackfest though. :)

I like how you classified the Favored Enemies, and the animal companion is a nice touch.

I thought this was posted before, or perhaps I had merely heard of this thread. Or maybe that one had sneak attack. Well, I'm glad these alt. ranger threads are still popping up, but I dig the Customizeable one that Tarin Greenflame posted a little while ago. Quarry bonus is perhaps the most sensible alternative to favored enemy that I've seen. Where did you hear about it?

The Quarry Bonus comes right from the Star Wars bounty hunter (though they call it "Target") -- and that class got sneak attack in addition to the target ability. They were so similar, it seemed like a natural crossover, especially with the addition of favored enemies.

Reminds me of a woodland/naturalist paladin more than anything else. Pretty interesting take on the ranger class. The favored enemy classification seems a little more broadened, which is nice.

Is bluff necessary as a class skill?

Very, very nice.
I'm going to have to borrow it for my campaign.
( Except for the alignment restriction, I can't get get my mind around hunters _having_ to be good. )

No, actually I think the standard ranger is pretty good. It just didn't fit my homebrew. My setting is based mainly on recapturing the feel of AD&D 2e (take that, ya 1e-lovin' pansies!) and I needed a "classic" ranger that felt more like the good-aligned single-foe-hunting "nature paladin" of 2nd edition. A lot of it comes together better than I had hoped: for example, in 1e rangers added their level to damage giants & goblins, and in 2e they got a +4 bonus to attack their favored enemy... and combining them looks an awful lot like 3e's smite mechanic.

As for what's taken away, this ranger focuses on one favored enemy at the expense of others -- he can only favor one foe at a time, and his secondary favored enemies, if they're an entire race, won't exceed a +2 bonus. All in all, though, the Quarry Bonus makes the ranger a pretty flexible guy and an all-around dangerous hunter once he hits level 8 and can start applying a bonus to whatever he wants.

*BUMP*ed for a bit of eratta...