dd.stevenson
Super KY
I agree that the ranger's write up is pretty bland and uninspiring. However.I do have the PHB.
The Ranger has always been one of my favourite classes (and one of the ones I'm most frequently disappointed with when the class design has been a bit meh).
As I was reading through the PHB, with every class I was thinking "this is great! I can't wait to play one of those!".
Then I got to the ranger and... it was 'meh' all over again. I didn't find anything in the class which was exciting or even really interesting. Even the 'favoured enemy' has become utterly toothless. Advantage when tracking and recalling information about them. Hoo. Ray. I'm struggling to find any reason why to play one. Even the 'natural explorer' is hampered because you can only be any good in one natural environment. Would it have killed the class to make it good at exploring at all terrains? That would at least make them worthwhile additions to a party.
I'm almost thinking that if I wanted to play a ranger as I visualise them, my best bet would be to play a 'barbarian' and reskin rage as 'singleminded focus'. Then I can have a big, tough, fast loner.
So sad.
One of my players has an archer ranger, and we've found that favored terrain is no joke if you choose a common terrain that normally slows movement (like, forest). I'm not convinced that favored enemy will amount to anything more than a bonus language, but I was surprised enough by the terrain that I'm willing to wait and see how it feels in play.
I won't say I'm happy with the ranger, but so far, while in the wilderness, he's more than pulled his weight compared to the fighter and the cleric. (We're up to level 4 now, which means he still has a lot of opportunity to disappoint me!)