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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Squire James" data-source="post: 155798" data-attributes="member: 548">Good Things about Rangers:1.  +1 per level BAB and d10 hit dice, like fighters.2.  Good class skills, with a decent number of skill points.Bad Things about Rangers:1.  Too much Good Stuff at level 1, then nothing much after that.  For instance, a Polymorph Self spell is not necessarily very powerful if you consider that a Druid of that level is doing it 5 times a day (albeit limited to animals) and tossing Firestorms to boot!2.  Favored Enemy ability at the mercy of the DM, and in many cases the bonuses don't make too much of a difference (especially if they pick something that cannot be critically hit).3.  Poor saves compared to many semi-spellcasters.  They should probably get good Reflex saves.I think the Bad Things can be fixed without giving a Ranger a power advantage over other character classes (except against Favored Enemies, where they SHOULD be better!).  Taking the Bad Things one at a time, I suggest these changes:1.  Track at level 1.  Choose a bonus feat from a short list of "Ranger feats" at levels 2 and 3 (the list should contain Ambi, TWF, the bow feats, and 5-7 others; NOT Weapon Specialization).  If the player desires a Ranger without spell abilities, he may choose another bonus feat at the levels he would normally gain a level of spells (levels 4, 8, 11, and 14 if he has good enough Wisdom to gain bonus spells).2.  A +1 to a Favored Enemy occurs every 2 levels, starting at level 2.  This gives the level 1 Ranger some time to decide what runs around in that campaign, and might even give time to form a logical basis to hate their enemy before getting bonuses to fight them.  The +1 may be added to an existing Favored Enemy to a maximum of +5, or be applied to a new enemy.Favored Enemy bonus applies to these factors:  attack rolls, skill checks (as noted in the PHB), saving throws against Favored Enemy magical effects, and save DC against the Ranger's spells.  Note the replacement of damage bonus with attack bonus... if he really wants a damage bonus the Ranger should be encouraged to choose Power Attack as a feat.  The attack bonus applies even if the Favored Enemy is not subject to critical hits (as would the damage bonus if Power Attack is used).  I would even consider letting the Favored Enemy bonus be added to BAB for Power Attack purposes (but not others, like number of attacks).3.  Reflex saves use the same progression as their Fortitude saves.</blockquote>

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