'Fraidy Cat Fighters

[Old Gumphrey]

The mechanic is a bit silly if you think about it. Hardened warriors and foe hunters run for cover in fear while the spellcasters get ballsy and sling magic. It's just a nuance of the system, really. Maybe rework fear so that you can use a fort save instead? Aside from lots of specific magic items and multiclassing that's about all I can think of. :\

 

[Scion]

Oh! luckblade!!

It is all about the luckblade.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Paladin-in-a-box!

Get a paladin cohort from some teensy race - Grig, maybe.

Carry him in your backpack, and benefit from his Aura of Courage

Alternatively - you know the saying "If I could bottle what he's got and sell it, I'd be rich"? Someone did. You take a 3rd level paladin, three lemons, some water, and a blender, and make a lemon-paladin smoothie...

-Hyp.

 

[Len]

So basically, what everyone is saying is rangers aren't demon hunters?

They might as well bite the bullet and rename/split the class into swashbuckler and hunter.

Gee, that seems like a pretty flimsy basis for trashing the whole class. Rangers make slightly better demon hunters than fighters, perhaps. The same fear issue applies to dragon-hunting and mummy-hunting. Paladins seem like the archetypal demon hunters to me, because of the religious connotations, but that's not a reason to ditch rangers.

The "'fraidy cat fighter" issue has been discussed a lot lately. As far as house-rule fixes, it seems easier in this limited case. How about giving rangers a bonus to fear saves vs. their favored enemies, to go with the skill and damage bonuses? That doesn't seem like too much of a stretch (especially if it's a bonus rather than an immunity).

Anyway, skimming the monsters in the SRD, it seems that devils more often have fear-causing abilities than demons, so maybe it's not such a huge problem. Is that the case? (I don't have the umpteen monster books to judge properly.)

 

[rangerjohn]

No, its more about trying to figure out there nitch. The only things they are good at is either two-weapon fighting, evasion and skills, hence a swashbuckler. Or Archery and tracking and such. Now mind you they are not the epitome of these things, they simply get free feats. I still, even with 3.5 don't know how the whole class sticks together. It sure doesn't make me think of Aragorn, like the 1ed ranger did, his combat prowess, has gone down since then. Admitedly his hey day was with Unearthed Acarna, but then so was a lot of other classes.

Now he is a tough rouge, not a warrior. How can he be considered a warrior with a d8 hd? Even a cleric can be a better combantant, being able to use heavy armor, thats before spells are brought into the equation.

 

[hong]

The mechanic is a bit silly if you think about it. Hardened warriors and foe hunters run for cover in fear while the spellcasters get ballsy and sling magic. It's just a nuance of the system, really. Maybe rework fear so that you can use a fort save instead? Aside from lots of specific magic items and multiclassing that's about all I can think of. :\

Fighters are affected by the good ol' instinct for self-preservation just as much as the next PC -- that is, anywhere from completely immune to completely chicken, depending on the player.

Stuff that requires a Will save is Magic. Sometimes it's the sort of Magic that doesn't go away in an antimagic field, but it's still Magic. Frightful presence, aura of fear, the fear spell -- it's all Magic.

 

[Otterscrubber]

Hmmm.....lemon paladin smoothie....hmmmm. I'll have to run this one by my DM but its at the top of my list so far

 

[Darklone]

There are some feats out there (Some in the KPG, some regional FR feats) that lower the fear effects you're suffering from... so instead of panicking, you're frightened, instead of being frightened, you're only shaken, etc.

Get the group to cast Heroism on you. Nice +2 to saves that stacks with most other buffs (and lasts a long time). I'm sure you don't mind the additional +2 to hit.

 

[Hypersmurf]

There are some feats out there (Some in the KPG, some regional FR feats) that lower the fear effects you're suffering from... so instead of panicking, you're frightened, instead of being frightened, you're only shaken, etc.

Blooded (PGtF) gives immunity to shaken, I think.

-Hyp.

 

[Gideon]

You also might want to ask to add it in to your favored enemy class. Such that to drop one of your favorite enemy slots you get a bonus to saves against creature X. That needs to be toyed with, but could be a possibility.

I would ask your DM if you and he could play with the ranger class features to come up with something that fits your charachter a little better.

Develop a new feat.
Fearless: The charachter has brass ones. +4 vs. all fear effects.
Prerequisite: Iron Will, brass ones

Multiclass: Church Inquisitor seeems like it might be good. Immune to charms and enchantmants at a certain level. That could be good when you find those succubus's Erinyes(sp?)

The things everybody else mentioned are excellent and I don't really have anything to add there. If you want a long term solution, something custom that is co-designed with your DM seems the best idea.