Hey Rangers! What is the *best* choice in Favoured Enemy?

[dead]

One of my players will be playing a Ranger in an upcoming campaign and this got me thinking . . . What would be the *best* selection of Favoured Enemies?

You see, if a Ranger chooses, say, Orc as his Favoured Enemy at 1st Level then, sure, this will serve him well in the lower levels as low-level PCs tend to come across a lot of Orcs. Later on down the track, however, say at 15th Level when his Favoured Enemy vs. Orcs bonus is at +4, what good will it do him? I mean, he won't be running into Orcs that much anymore (unless they're hero Orcs pumped up with character levels) and those he does run into he can dispatch with his right hand tied behind his back (a -4 penalty?).

So . . . I was wondering if it would be more *efficient* for a 1st Level Ranger to choose, say, Giant or Green Dragon as his Favoured Enemy because *later* it will pay off as an investment. A 1st Level Ranger isn't going to be fighting Giants, but that bonus will be at +4 at 15th Level when he really needs it! As for Green Dragons, well . . . as with all dragonkind, the CR ranges from low to very high so a Ranger could face off with a Green Dragon at anytime of his career -- thus making the choice at 1st Level a wise one.

I don't know, have these issues come up for anybody else in their game?

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Also, what Favoured Enemy selection have you chosen for your Ranger?

Do you regret any choices?

Is it up to your DM to throw hordes of your Favoured Enemy at your feet so you make good use of the ability?

 

[KenM]

I think it depends on what kind's of monsters the PC's will be playing in the campign.

 

[Li Shenron]

In 3.0 the choice is much tougher because, as you have noticed already, the most useful choice at low level is often unuseful at high levels.

A category that is normally always useful is undead, but in 3.0 you won't benefit from the bonus damage vs undead!

If I have to pick one type, I'd therefore say Magical Beast or Aberration, which are more or less present in every campaign at every level.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Best to work this out with your DM but you never can go wrong with human!

A lot depends on the game world and story, many DM's just throw monsters at players using everyone in the books but there are common foes, undead, orc, and drow that seem to always be at heart of every game.

 

[Dagger75]

For the none human ranger, I would go with human. How many evil villians are human, a bunch of them.

I personally like the Unearthed Arcana variant of favored terrian with bonuses to certain skills rather than attacks. Comes up much more often.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I'd say human is a good choice...

Or undead. They tend to pop up a lot in games and it's a hugely broad category... IMO, it's normally very difficult to deal any 'extra' damage to them?

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

In our group, Giant and Abberation have proven to be good choices.
They do exist in all CR ranges and are such common types to fight against.

 

[Klaus]

Now that 3.5 allows the damage, Undead is a good choice.

Another good choices are Magical Beast and Monstrous Humanoid. These two categories cover SO much ground, from a wizard's familiar to the Tarrasque (MB), or Lizardfolk, Centaur, Medusa, etc. (MH).

When all things are considered, the types that doesn't require a subtype are very good bets.

And remember that you don't have to choose "Green Dragons", just "Dragons".

 

[Voadam]

Humans, undead, and depending on campaign, evil outsiders.

Human is great because in addition to many NPCs being human it also gives you all the little skill bonuses when you interact with people.

Magical beasts are not bad either, lots of them and not infrequently fought. Aberrations and giants are actually comparatively rare IME.

I would be tempted to go for halfling and gnome though, I hate the little guys.

 

[Darklone]

I second humans and undead.