The Perfect Ranger
OK. The problem of the ranger is that he's not a ranger -- he's a mishmash of rogue (stupid skillz), druids (stupid spellz), and fighter (stupid featz). So, how to make Rangy McRangeough, our rangery ranger ?
Simple.
Start with the spells. They are stupid. What is it, a fantasy game ? Ranger don't need those, they just cheapens the concept. Remove spells. Replace with bonus combat feats, at levels 4, 8, 12 and 16.
Continue with the skills. Come'on, 6 skill points ? It's not a ranger, it's a rogue. Trim they down a bit, 2 skill points per level are enough, honestly. Compensate by giving some more bonus combat feats, levels 1 and 20.
Then, proceed to Fav. enemy. Everyone just hates this, so remove it. Remove also that Evasion thingie, rogue, rogue I say! Vade Retro Nequas! Replace with some bonus combat feats, at levels 2, 6, 10, 14 and 18.
Now, what's up with the wussy d8 ? Bump it up to d10.
What's up with tracking ? If you want to track, you take the feat, you don't multiclass into ranger just for front-loading purpose! Remove the auto-track ability. Replace with the capacity to take Weapon Specialization as a feat from level 4 on.
Now, you have a great ranger, but the problem is, he's too much figthery, actually. Remove everything fightery from it -- it includes d10 (drop to d4), full BAB (drop to half), good Fort save (drop), bonus feats (drop all of them) and Weapon Spec (drop).
Now, you have a class that looks like the commoner.
Yeah, on a second thought, it really looks like a commoner.
So the comment everyone will make is "it got the shaft!"
And that, good sirs and ladies, is the proof that you have reached the real, deep, true nature of rangerhood -- a shafted class.
