Monte's alt.ranger: Revision

[Jack Daniel]

That's argument enough when all you have to go on is precedent of past history. Why does a paladin cast spells? Because he's a divinely inspired warrior. Well so is a ranger, so shouldn't he get divine spells too? The difference between God and Mother Nature, metaphorically speaking anyway, is enough to warrant a difference in clerics and druids, and so it is with their martial counterparts, the paladins and rangers. I like to think of it as a sort of cosmological symmetry.

 

[Plane Sailing]

You forget that through most of their history the D&D ranger has had both arcane and divine spells. I would suggest that originally it was his ability to cast arcane spells which was particularly distinctive for the class. It was just from 2e onwards that he *only* cast divine spells.

Personally I think that WotC missed several opportunities, several directions that the ranger could have taken when they rebuilt the PHB. One option would have been to make him an arcane fighter to complement the paladin "divine fighter" - a niche which remains unfilled (apart from some prestige classes now). Another option would have been to have done something distinct like the Woodsman in the WoT d20 game. I'm sure there are plenty of others too.

Cheers

 

[Crothian]

he knew enough about killing Orcs to be considered a genuine goblinslayer

"Ya, I'm so good at killing orcs, they call me Goblinslayer."
"Why Goblinslayer?"
"Because I'm so good at killing orcs."
"But Orcs aren't Goblins."
"Right."
"So, shouldn't you become Orcslayer?"
"No, that's my brother."
"What's he do?"
"Kills Goblins."

 

[Tarin Greenflame]

lol

 

[Zarrock God of Evil]

Personally I found that it was not too bad. I gave the ranger his d10 hit points back and removed the good Reflex save....

-Zarrock

 

[Crothian]

This Ranger needs to have less bonus feats and more special abilities. I think the bonus feat are very bland and feats don't really fit the idea of the ranger. I'd perfer more in the ways of special abilities like the Druid has.

 

[Tarin Greenflame]

Ya might like my ranger varient then. It is a little unorthodox, however, as it does not have favored enemy as an ability set upon the ranger; rather the ranger may select from a pool of abilities (low lv rog/barb and dru abilities, with some unique ranger abilities in the pool as well, which include favored enemy and the quarry bonus) every time the ranger would normally have gotten a favored enemy. Fewer bonus feats (4 exactly, plus track at first level), less armor proficiency (no shields and no medium armor), but overall the class seems pretty well balanced. The ranger is set to be created in the vision of the player creating it, since like the ninja, the ranger has many archetypes/versions/visions, what have you. So, if the player likes the favored enemy ability, they can still chose it each time they gain a special ability, and would basically be a more balanced monte cook ranger.