D&D General Which Edition Had the Best Ranger?

[Don Durito]

It was an official rule book. Not agreeing with the rules meant you were a heartless DM...
And guess what? With the new Tasha's book. You'll get the same answers. I had resisted a long time the rolling method but people wanted it. I was glad the 2ed came around so that the method was flushed out.

I tend to weed out players who won't accept DM curation of the rules for the campaign.

If players want Generic D&D they can always try and find a generic DM.

 

[cbwjm]

FWIW, I don't think he's wrong to say he doesn't see any actual magic being used for those powers. I mean, it's his opinion and he's entitled to it. My chief disagreement is him calling others who do see similarities between spells and some 4e class powers as being hyperbolic or otherwise bad/wrong. I don't think it's unreasonable or unusual for someone to see something called a "power" that does something really crazy along the lines of what a spell would do, and view that as something similar as a spell. I doubt I'm alone with that assessment. So his attacks on others who do view them that way is what I was taking issue with.

The 4e PHB has a text block describing the power sources that says martial powers aren't magic in the traditional sense using training instead of arcane formula or prayers to perform their powers which makes me think that the designers saw martial powers as a form of magic, just not as overt as throwing a fireball.

 

[Minigiant]

I'll remind you of this next time you're jumped by Giants in a forest.

Cavalry Giants at that, riding war mammoths!

DM shenanigans! Mammoths are arctic!

Forest and Wood Giants are good alignment and don't cav charge people.

 

[AmerginLiath]

1st edition ranger will always be my first ranger love. Everything else just reminds me of what we had in our time slaying giant-types together...

 

[Voadam]

DM shenanigans! Mammoths are arctic!

This is D&D, expect DM shenanigans.

Probably arctic mammoths with the temperate arboreal and giant war mount templates if it is a 3e game, a Wildtusk Forest Mammoth if it is 4e, or just a plain old forest mammoth if it is AD&D or 5e.

If you had trained in [knowledge] nature as a proper ranger you would know these things.

 

[cbwjm]

The 1e ranger looks like it could dish out a lot of damage thanks to the level bonus against giants. I looked at what was considered part of the giant category and it applies to a whole lot of humanoids. I do quite like the 2e version of the ranger, perhaps because that was the first version of the ranger I knew of, with the various kits that could be applied to it (I like kits in general), but probably the 3.5 version would be my favourite, all of its class abilities seem to mesh well together, I really liked the way they did favoured enemy allowing the ranger to expand their choices at higher levels.

 

[Minigiant]

This is D&D, expect DM shenanigans.

Probably arctic mammoths with the temperate arboreal and giant war mount templates if it is a 3e game, a Wildtusk Forest Mammoth if it is 4e, or just a plain old forest mammoth if it is AD&D or 5e.

If you had trained in [knowledge] nature as a proper ranger you would know these things.

A wizard did it.

Either way, a forest giant on a forest mammoth would be charging slowly to avoid accidentally skewering themselves on falling trees.

So a forest ranger would still be in light or medium armor, peppering them with arrows.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The 4e PHB has a text block describing the power sources that says martial powers aren't magic in the traditional sense using training instead of arcane formula or prayers to perform their powers which makes me think that the designers saw martial powers as a form of magic, just not as overt as throwing a fireball.

The description is there to help people see through the power card structure to what is actually happening, which isn’t magic, but can be something beyond what is possible IRL.
Most martial powers aren’t beyond what is possible IRL, however.

 

[Lanefan]

DM shenanigans! Mammoths are arctic!

Forest and Wood Giants are good alignment and don't cav charge people.

Giants don't come in "Forest" or "Wood" versions in these parts, bucko.

But Hill and Stone Giants are common-ish there; Mountain and - in the north - Frost a bit less so...

 

[David Howery]

DM shenanigans! Mammoths are arctic!

uh... didn't some mammoth species live down in the temperate regions? I know that mastodons or some of their relatives lived all the way down into the tropics in the new world.

say, are we getting a tad off topic here?