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

[Carpe DM]

For my first-ever ranger "type" character (it's a Ravenloft Avenger), Undead was the key choice, leading up to Hunter of the Dead as a prestige class.

There are some really neat feats you can use too -- Favored Power Attack and Improved Favored Enemy are just two.

best,

Carpe

 

[irdeggman]

How about goblinoid (includes goblins, hobgoblins and bugbears) - a good CR variety?

 

[Tom Cashel]

The Rangers' favored enemy?

It's a toss-up between Gary Bettman and Bob Goodenow.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Goblinoid is great early on since it covers goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears since they are some of the most frequently encountered creatures during the low level phase of a campaign. Aberration is one that keeps on being usefull throughout the whole campaign.

 

[Optihut]

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?
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!

Perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me, but doesn't the favoured enemy work differently? I recall that you get a +1 at first level, which stays at +1 and later on you get a new type of enemy with a +2 bonus, then a +3 and so on.
So your ranger would have orc +1 at first level and at 15th level, he might have orc +1, undead +2, human +3, giant +4.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Magical Beast and Abherration are the two that will show up all over the place. Very safe choices.

 

[Voodoo]

Iv'e found Outsiders (Evil) to be an excellent choice, a good range of CR's and they've turned up alot in the climax fights of the campaign, when the extra damage is really useful.

That said I only chose evil outsiders because I wanted something different from Humans and Undead, which probably are the best choices.

 

[Mystery Man]

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.

I really like that variant as well. Of course the ranger in my game just likes to kill things so maybe next time. But it's a good variant, sooner or later (depending on how high the campaign goes) you're going to run out of different monster types to favor.

 

[Len]

Magical Beast and Abherration are the two that will show up all over the place. Very safe choices.

Two people have mentioned Aberration, but if a ranger in my group had Favored Enemy: Aberration he'd have been able to apply that bonus about six times in 11 levels. Which goes to show that it depends entirely on what monsters you face in your campaign.

That's why I think it's important to have some coordination between the DM and the player to make sure the player doesn't end up feeling cheated. The player should ask if he's choosing an enemy that will show up in the campaign, and the DM should make sure that it does show up from time to time.

 

[TheEvil]

Your memory is indeed failing you.

Perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me, but doesn't the favoured enemy work differently? I recall that you get a +1 at first level, which stays at +1 and later on you get a new type of enemy with a +2 bonus, then a +3 and so on.
So your ranger would have orc +1 at first level and at 15th level, he might have orc +1, undead +2, human +3, giant +4.

From the 3.5 SRD
Favored Enemy (Ex): At 1st level, a ranger may select a type of creature from among those given on Table: Ranger Favored Enemies. The ranger gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks when using these skills against creatures of this type. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against such creatures.
At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th level), the ranger may select an additional favored enemy from those given on the table. In addition, at each such interval, the bonus against any one favored enemy (including the one just selected, if so desired) increases by 2.
If the ranger chooses humanoids or outsiders as a favored enemy, he must also choose an associated subtype, as indicated on the table. If a specific creature falls into more than one category of favored enemy, the ranger’s bonuses do not stack; he simply uses whichever bonus is higher.

For 3rd edition, if I remember correctly, it is the reverse of what you said, your older ones get stronger when you pick up a new one.

Yet one more reason I prefer 3.5.