Don Durito
Hero
Swashbuckler Rogue 3 is also a very good option for Rangers, and while the name doesn't fit, the abilities very much do fit the playstyle of the melee ranger (especially the 4e one).
I feel as though the PHB doesn't give enough guidance on how the player is supposed to use Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer. Which is upsetting because, based on what I've read, many players don't quite understand how to leverage them in the way they're meant to be played.
Leaning into them, they're hardly situational, but if you don't quite know what you're doing, they'll leave you scratching your head. Combat boosts are much more readily understood by a player.
When you make an Intelligence or Wisdom check related to your Favored terrain, your Proficiency Bonus is doubled if you are using a skill that you're proficient in.
Any Ranger that is Bonus action starved is going to find a use for it (Beastmasters lead the charge here, but Horizon walkers, Monster Slayers, Rogue or Monk M/Cs, TWF Rangers etc also).The feature looks overall unimpressive to me. Two-Weapon Fighting rangers can activate it without giving up an attack (unlike hunter’s mark), but it only applies to one attack per turn, rather than the 2-4 that hunter’s mark will.
The only real use I can see for it is to extend spell slots by using it during fights that are difficult enough to be worth spending a resource, but not difficult enough to spend a 1st level spell slot on; and saving hunter’s mark for tougher ones. You lose less if you don’t two-weapon fight because you aren‘t gaining as much damage from hunter’s mark, but at that point you probably also aren’t benefitting from saving your bonus action, so it’s unclear exactly who this feature is designed for. Given that hunter’s mark exists and isn’t overpowered, I’m not entirely certain why this similar feature is limited to once per turn, which is what really hurts it.
Thinking about these things objectively, do these things that had been "skipped" sound like fun? Were you really excited for your character to be lost, starved, and slowed?I was part of a game (ToA) where the DM had fleshed out the Hexploration, jungle survival, getting lost and foraging/ finding water rules, with rules for getting lost, finding drinkable water and food, difficult terrain slowing everyone down etc etc
You can imagine his rage when a PC rocked up with a Ranger with the Outlander background. For the entire campaign those rules were never actually used (because the Ranger just does all that stuff without fail, automatically).
Even when it comes to getting lost and foraging, the ranger doesn't instawin. Just because you know where you are doesn't mean you know where your destination is. You still have to get that info from somewhere, and it shouldn't always be from the patron of your adventure from the start. Just because you forage twice as much food doesn't mean that you automatically succeed in obtaining it. You may have expertise, but you still must roll.
The outlander background has more to do with foraging than the Ranger's features do. Even still, it assumes that there's anything edible nearby which there doesn't have to be for several hundred miles in a jungle. Not all berries or animals are edible.
Considering a level 1 ranger with new FF has damage that matches or is less than the damage output of a rogue at first level