Beating a Dead Horse... Ranger idea

[TBoarder]

I have an idea that may make Rangers a bit more... viable, to make Rangers actually want to take more than that one single level for the three feats.

I'm thinking about making a simple change to their favored enemy damage bonus, changing the +1 damage to +1d6 damage, incrementing up normally as the Ranger gains additional favored enemies (+2d6 instead of +2 at 5th level, etc). This would stack with the Rogue's sneak attack ability (when used against the favored enemy, obviously ). It would also work in conjunction with the Supernatural Blow feat from Masters of the Wild with no change needed to the feat.

Would this be too much to add to the Ranger? Has this idea been brought up before? If so, I'm sorry... I know the Ranger has already been beaten to death. I know I haven't seen all the variants out there, so if I'm stealing anybody's idea, I apologize in advance.

 

[Crothian]

It might have been brought up, who knows? I'd say we get 3 ranger ideas for every one of any other class. I think the idea works well, if a little on the powerful side. An extra 1d6 on all attacks that hit is pretty darn good. Especially with 2WF. I'd limit it to once a round, personally.

 

[Kamard]

You know, the horse died about two years ago, but its great grandchildren are still working hard to go the dog food farm just like their grandpappy.

As for the ranger, I think this is a solid change. I would agree with Crothian, or you could go with a +1d6 on each hand's strike in a round, or somesuch.

 

[Dagredhel]

How about retaining the standard damage bonus, but allowing the extra damage dice instead in those circumstances when a rogue's Sneak Attack damage would apply? Otherwise, I'd suggest a feat that allowed extra damage dice to be substituted for the standard bonus when the ranger makes a full round attack--- a game mechanic similar to Dirty Fighting or Improved Dirty Fighting.

 

[hong]

The thing about the ranger is that it isn't actually that weak. However, the way it gets its class abilities is skewed so that if a player specifically wants a particular fighting style (you know which one), then there's an overwhelming incentive to take one level of the class just for that.

What I would do, if you don't want people exploiting this quirk in the ranger class, is simply delay when it gets those feats. So instead of getting TWF and Ambidex straight away, you might delay it to 2nd and 4th level. And while you're at it, you could also change these two feats (plus Improved TWF later on) to any feat chosen from the list of fighter bonus feats. The added flexibility balances out the delay, and ensures that people who don't want to play two-weapon-wielding rangers get a fair deal.