[Partial OT] The Monte Cook Ranger

[Cheiromancer]

When our campaign starts up again in the fall, I will run the following by my players:

Monte's Ranger, except

-Bonus Feat at 2nd level, at 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter. (Instead of 1st level, 4th level, and every 3 levels thereafter. That's one less feat over all).

-1 point of favored enemy at levels 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, and every level from 10 onward. Maximum favored enemy bonus against any one critter is 1+Int Bonus. (This is to provide more flexibility and choice to the player. Total of 16 points of favored enemy, compared to 15 points from Monte's version).

 

[JCLabelle]

What I suggest you do, if someone decides to play Monte's Ranger in one of your campaigns, is to add the <Light or no Armor> restriction on the bonus feats use. Just like the PHB Ranger can't use TWF/Amb while wearing Medium or heavier armor. The ranger can't use/profit from any of those feats while wearing Medium or Heavy armor.

 

[mattcolville]

It looks cool- very cool- I am finally put the ranger class back in the game.

Some questions (sorry if I am just missing the answers)-

Nono, I welcome questions and criticism. This isn't a finished version, it's more like a first pass.

Creature Lore- How many times can a ranger do it and how long does it last for consideration of their higher level powers?

I don't know and this is a good question. My instinct is; it works once per encounter. You don't get the opportunity to make your Creature Lore check until there's some evidence of the creature's presense. A track or something. I'd let the GM allow the CL check to carry over to the next encounter if, for instance, the party's going to be fighting nothing but goblins for the next 5 encounters. No real reason to force the Ranger to make the check over and over again.

One of my players has an NPC Ranger and the CL ability worked *great* in the Shocker Lizard encounter from the Book of Challenges. The party went from thinking "we're screwed" to having the Ranger saying "Nono, these things arne't that tough and the damage we're taking is because they're all shocking at the same time! As soon as we start killing them, the damage will go down!" Which was perfect. It was the whole reason I put the ability in there; the Ranger might not have seen one of these before, but he's studied and listened to other Rangers, and he's an expert.

Does Camoflauge work at all times or only when outdoors?

My instinct is; 'however the magic items work is how the ability works' but ISTR that the items work in situations that seemed pretty odd to me. I'd have to look at the Boots and Cloak again.

It would be cool if the Creature Lore skill could be specialized on the different creature types- and have that work into the higher level powers of your Ranger.

You're a genius. Creature Lore should work more like Favored Enemy. You *pick* at, lets say, every third level, another creature type from the list. The DC's don't change (nor should they, you're wilderness lore should go up) you just end up knowing about more and more creatures as you level up. Brilliant. I should have thought of that.

 

[Atma]

Well

I like what Monte Cook did with the ranger, but I do feel his version is too strong. More feats, better spells, better saves, better skill points... all for a reduction in hit die to a d8?

I basically took his ranger, restored the spell progression to normal, and changed the bonus feat progression to one at 2nd level and one every 4th level after that (so 2nd, 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th. I just don't feel comfortable giving people potential access to 3 feats at first level - in my opinion, that's something that should belong to fighters alone.

I also slightly changed the way favored enemies work (you can either gain one at +1 and increase your others or gain one at your highest current modifier+1) but that's really neither here nor there.

I also gave them woodland stride at 4th level and trackless step at 8th level... Both seem very much like ranger abilities moreso then druids.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Nono, I welcome questions and criticism. This isn't a finished version, it's more like a first pass.

I hope I am able to spot your future revisions- this has to be one of the better rangers I have seen.

Good luck!

FD

 

[mattcolville]

I hope I am able to spot your future revisions- this has to be one of the better rangers I have seen.

Good luck!

FD

Thanks. I'll encorporate your changes in the next revision and give it to my players, see what they think.

 

[-Ekimus-]

HEY! i was wondering where my thread went lol. thanks 333 Dave for the post, and for Matt for his ranger idea too, i'll have to talk to my DM about using one of these, we've been trying to figure out a way to fix this class. thanks

 

[Christian]

Well, if it's suggestions & ideas you're looking for, there are quite a few at The Ranger Project.

 

[Jalkain]

MC's ranger is pretty good. With the feats and skill points it might make it a little easy to get into some prestige classes.

That's one of the reasons I am a little suspicious of Monte's ranger. Good skill points, good BAB, AND extra feats. If a class provides early entry into a large number of prestige classes, then there's definitely potential for imbalance. Show me a PHB core class that combines extra feat slots at low level with good skill points.

Also, the two mechanics are used to define different character concepts. More feats are given to specialists so that they can develop their main class function (combat for fighters, magic for wizards). More skills are given to the generalist characters. I would say the ranger falls into the latter category, so in that respect at least, the PHB has done a good job.

As an aside, note that the cleric gets neither extra feats nor good skill points. I suspect this is why the class appears unusually strong on paper (because the importance of feats and skills is often played down when compared to BAB, spells, armour, and saves), but seems balanced when it is played.

 

[Crothian]

That's one of the reasons I am a little suspicious of Monte's ranger. Good skill points, good BAB, AND extra feats. If a class provides early entry into a large number of prestige classes, then there's definitely potential for imbalance. Show me a PHB core class that combines extra feat slots at low level with good skill points.

Well, the only way to know how a class stands up is to play it. I've got a 5th level (soon to be sixth) Ranger of the Monte Cook Variety. I'm going to take the Deepwood Sniper, but not until I reach 7th level of Ranger.

So far, there have been no problems with me being over powered. Actually, I would say I'm about average power wise.

Now, if you really want to find out if the class helps one get into prestige classes, start plugging the numbers. Pick a prestige class that a Ranger type would go for, see how easy you can get it with the core rules, then compare to the MC Ranger. I haven't done this, so until then it's just a guess.