D&D ranger = Texas Ranger?

[WayneLigon]

I think the key word here is enemy - Rangers don't pick Favored Knitting Partner, or Favored Poker Buddy - it's enemy. When you single out a whole subset of creatures as your enemy, that's racist.

The 'favored enemy'='racist' thing is just silly semantics; the word 'enemy' is probably used because usually a PC will be applying it to a traditional enemy of the PC's, like giants or orcs, but one can also have 'beasts' as favored 'enemies', so you can make a ranger that's also a good traditional hunter. Don't be silly for silly's sake.

The thinking rangers were based on 'Texas rangers' instead of 'someone who ranges' is pretty funny. I ran a Mutants and Masterminds game for a group of people, one of which was a person not very well acquaninted with superhero terminology. When one of the players said his character 'was putting on his domino mask' (the little eyemask like Robin or Green Arrow traditionally wears), this guy gave him the strangest look. Later, the player said he thought the guy was fighting crime looking like a Domino's pizza delivery symbol.

 

[Lasher Dragon]

I've never seen anyone play a Ranger with Animals as a Favored Enemy. It's kind of amusing. Offhand I can think of 2 reasons someone would want Animals as a Favored Enemy - either they are a city-slicker Ranger and just don't like animals (city-slicker Ranger ), or they are a hunter/trapper and so have devoted much of their time killing animals to make a living. While they may not hate them in that example, they sure devote a lot of time to destroying them.

 

[kenobi65]

When I was realy young (7) I only played rangers and named them all Rick because of him. So apparently it worked.

I imagine that "Rick" only falls behind "Strider" and "Aragorn" in names for D&D rangers; I've known a few ranger Ricks in my time.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Ahh but how often is the Zoologist hunting down and destroying Geese with extreme prejudice?

The ranger isn't doing this, either. Nothing's keeping him from doing it, at least not rules-wise, but nothing is forcing him, either.

 

[Gentlegamer]

Look out! It's comin' right for us!

 

[Frostmarrow]

The one thing that disqualifies Favored Enemy in my book is that it hinges on knowledge the player's might not have. Picture this: Your ranger has monstrous humaniods as FE, which is entirely plausible, and you encounter a hag. Your PC does not know what a hag is. For that takes several ranks in Knowledge (Nature) which you might not have or maybe you just miss the check. Still, you can count a bonus attacking or interacting with the hag. It's just silly.

In the current campaign I'm playing in the halfling player continuously ask if the sound we're about to make listen checks to hear, comes from humans because he'll get a bonus if so.

Or maybe you are fighting an impersonator like a doppleganger, do you count your FE bonus against humans or monstrous humanoid? Does it depend on your perception or your knowledge -- or will FE help you see through the disguise?

 

[Klaus]

Yep, Favored Enemy will help you see through a disguise ("He looks like a human, he talks like a human, but he sure as hell does NOT move like a human!")

 

[orsal]

When you single out a whole subset of creatures as your enemy, that's racist.

Yes, but who says the race or creature type that the ranger makes his favoured enemy, has to always be an enemy? If a ranger takes Favoured Enemy: Orcs, it doesn't mean that all orcs are automatically his enemy. It means that (a) when an orc does become his enemy, he's especially effective, and (b) when an orc may or may not be his enemy, he's also more effective (Bluff and Sense Motive bonuses, useful in negotiations with not-necessarily-enemies).

I have seen players play rangers as prejudiced against their favoured enemy; it's done so often it gets stale. It's one way to provide a backstory to justify the favoured enemy selection, but it's not the only way.

 

[Lasher Dragon]

Who says a Nazi never made friends with a Jew? I'm sure it happened - doesn't make the Nazi not a racist.

 

[Drew]

Well, it's a good thing they had the heroic Poncho Villa looking out for them, eh?

Do I know Poncho Villa? We had lunch together! (Sorry, couldn't resist delivering the punchline to an old joke)

These threads on the origins and influence of D&D classes are great. Somebody should throw enough money at the good Col. Pladoh to convince him to sit down and spill his guts on the origin of all things D&D. I know he'll never do it (with the exception of his generous posts on this message board, of course.) Its a real shame, too.