Changer of the Ranger

[LazerPointer]

While preparing for an upcoming campaign, I am unsatisfied with the ranger as it stands. Tracking, Wild Empathy, Favored Enemies (okay, that's pretty cool), Animal Companion, Spells, etc. are all fine.
My problem is with the Combat style. A few pre-ordained feats gained over the course of many levels, it seems vastly inferior to the fighter.
The party is mainly Halflings and Gnomes, so they don't deal as much damage as normal; anyone have ideas on how to spice up the ranger in the combat department? I wouldn't be against taking his spells away to augment his fighting prowess.

 

[Li Shenron]

Do you know what I think? Drop the combat style free feats completely and you'll still have a PC balanced with the others. Or, since it's the same, take those feat and don't bother too much about using them (for example, take the archery path, since at least once in a while you will make some ranged attacks and you'll get the benefits anyway).

Seriously, the Ranger was definitely powered-up enough by the revision and I think that you don't need to replace the bonus feats if you don't use them.

 

[rkanodia]

Of course Combat Style feats are vastly inferior to a fighter's feats. Those feats are all a fighter gets. A ranger gets all the stuff you listed. I would say that if a ranger is able to consistently perform in melee on a level equal to that of a fighter, then the ranger is broken. With high Reflex saves and the Evasion ability, he will survive against blaster mages much better than a fighter. With a large number of skill points and a huge skill list, he will be much less likely to be caught off-guard than a fighter, and he is much more able to avoid detection. Against a favored enemy, a +4 bonus to damage is as good as greater weapon specialization, except that it's availible at 5th level. Rangers also get all kinds of buffs that are useful in combat (such as animal buffs and barkskin), as well as area-effect magic like entangle and spike growth. I agree with Li Shenron that the ranger doesn't need any boost in his fighting ability; he's already strong enough.

 

[Darklone]

If you want to beef up the ranger, do this:
- scratch his spells. Perhaps give +10 ft movement in light armour.
- put the favored enemies together. E.g. don't distinguish between elves, dwarves etc. They are all humanoids. To sum it up: Simply put everything in about 10 fav enemy categories.

That'll boost them. A lot.

 

[Stalker0]

I agree with most here.... the ranger is fine as is. The fact he's a fighter with skills and a good reflex save sells me here.

What I have a prob with is his animal companion. That poor little wolf just dies so so many times

 

[CCamfield]

What I have a prob with is his animal companion. That poor little wolf just dies so so many times

I am having to adjust to this myself, well, I will, but I think the answer is to really take to heart what the text about the animal companion says: it's a pet, a friend, a helper in scouting and hunting... but not really a fighter. In that regard I wonder if the heavy warhorse would be the best bet (combined with at least the Mounted Combat feat to help keep it alive in combat).

 

[Jack Daniel]

My ranger is basically the 3.5 version with the following changes:

• Must be good-aligned
• d10 hit die
• 4 base skill points
• Low reflex save
• No evasion
• No archery combat style (but no armor restrictions on two-weapon fighting)
• Effective druid level for animal companion is ranger level -3

 

[AeroDm]

We also use Ranger -3 for companion level. Additionally we use the Complete Warrior alt ranger class where they lose spells for a much inferior group of abilities. the class is still extremely potent and desireable, so probably still overpowered.