3.5e Ranger... Little Improvement But Still...

[Ranger REG]

After reading the summary on the main page of EN World, I like what I see, particularly their combat path that will begin at 2nd class level (to ease the front-loading problem), but I still have a gripe about armor restriction that goes with it. Personally, it should be removed and left behind in the last millenium and the 2nd edition ruleset. A rogue, a cleric, a poor hit-die wizards could use heavy armor (when proficiency is acquired) and still shoot a bow, or fight with two weapons at no penalty.

And last time I checked, ranger is still a combat-oriented class. AFAIC, heavier armor will still pose a problem when it comes to subterfuge/stealth skills that are useful for a ranger hunting his or her prey, but it should not pose a problem for combat abilities.

Now, unless I am missing something, I may have to houserule this.

P.S. I have yet to hear of any 3.5e change to the "wilderness hunter/survivalist" aspect of the Ranger (tracking, favorite enemy, animal empathy, etc.).

 

[Branduil]

I'd suggest a houserule stating that the feats are real if the character meets the pre-requisites. So a ranger with 12 dex who took the archery path would only get his feats in light armor, but a ranger with at least 13 dex(which let's face it is pretty much all rangers) would get his archery feats as real ones.

 

[ForceUser]

I still think the ranger's feat path choices are too restricting. Instead of all rangers being the dual weapon guys, now they are all dual weapon guys or archers. Same problem.

IMC I'm going to house-rule it to allow two more feat paths: the two-handed weapon guy and the sword & board guy. That will pretty much cover the gamut of combat options.

 

[Staffan]

From what I recall offhand from other posts:

1. Favored enemy starts at +2. Every now and then (not sure if it's still every 5th level), the ranger gets (a) a new favored enemy at +2 and (b) can increase a previous enemy by another +2 (so you can go from +0 to +4 at once).

2. Animal Empathy will now somehow be a proper class ability rather than an exclusive skill. It might still rely on a skill, but it won't be a skill of its own.

 

[ShadowStar]

I still think the ranger's feat path choices are too restricting. Instead of all rangers being the dual weapon guys, now they are all dual weapon guys or archers. Same problem.

IMC I'm going to house-rule it to allow two more feat paths: the two-handed weapon guy and the sword & board guy. That will pretty much cover the gamut of combat options.

If you wanna go Sword/Shield or 2-Handed you should really just have chosen a fighter. Now that you mention it though I am considering adding in the Monster Hunter and the Surviver (both skill oriented paths) as options.

 

[Emiricol]

I'm going to house-rule that in addition to everything they already get, rangers will also get d10 HD, 6 skill points/level, save bonuses, and the Figher bonus feat track. Ooh, and singing. Singing rangers. Yep.

That ought to make them... as good... as any other class...


*removes tongue from cheek*

j/k

 

[ForceUser]

If you wanna go Sword/Shield or 2-Handed you should really just have chosen a fighter. Now that you mention it though I am considering adding in the Monster Hunter and the Surviver (both skill oriented paths) as options.

I don't agree. In my mind, you should choose a ranger because you want to be a wilderness warrior, not because of a combat style.

[EDIT: Now that I think about it, maybe I'll just go with my original idea and use the Wheel of Time D20's Woodsman class instead.]

 

[Sejs]

If you wanna go Sword/Shield or 2-Handed you should really just have chosen a fighter.

Sword + Spiked Shield. Get me, I can dual wield AND be a shield fighter! And shield spikes are light no matter the size of the shield.

2 Handed. Double weapon (Quarterstaff, really as it's the only non-exotic double weapon). Can be both 2handed -or- Dual Wielded as situation demands. If a Ranger can get Sheleiligh (sp) and Spikes cast on their staff they'd be Billy Bada*s.


Wonder if Off-Hand Parry would work with a quarterstaff, come to think of it.. half a quarterstaff -is- a shafted weapon after all. It's all shaft.

^_^

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

ShadowStar

If you wanna go Sword/Shield or 2-Handed you should really just have chosen a fighter.

If you wanno go Bow/Arrow or Dual-Wield you really just have chosen a fighter.

 

[Enkhidu]

I don't agree. In my mind, you should choose a ranger because you want to be a wilderness warrior, not because of a combat style.

[EDIT: Now that I think about it, maybe I'll just go with my original idea and use the Wheel of Time D20's Woodsman class instead.]

That's what I did! By the way, I found the combat portion of the Favored Terrain abilites was sort of useless. I've always disliked class abilites being based on stats, and recently found something to replace the combat bonuses with -> the favored terrain abily of the Outdoorsman from Path of the Sword. It has better abilities (that make more sense, IMO) and more focused terrains. Slap those in place of the standard Favored Terrain, and don't forget to use the standard one good (Fort) save, and you'll be fine.