No love for the ranger?

[jasin]

Someone in my group has been talking about an action/horror game set in
Karrnath (think Brotherhood of the Wolf), and I've been thinking about
playing a ranger, in good part thanks to this pic:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/foe_gallery/99893.jpg

It's the different faces of the Silver Flame, and the inquisitrix chick
on the bottom just screams "ranger" to me.

So I've been thinking about ranger tricks and tactics... and I can't
really think of any!

Google Groups isn't very helpful either; it seems there hasn't been much
talk about the ranger ever since people got over it being turned into a
"wilderninja" in 3.5.

Is it just me, or are rangers really not very popular? Why is that? My
tentative theory is that it's the way favored enemy works (or doesn't
work): many people, especially the kind of gearheads that can come up
with convoluted feat-spell-class ability combos for other classes, don't
like the usefulness of a core class ability being so firmly in the DMs
hands.

Any thoughts, whether on ways to play an interesting, colourful and
efficient ranger, or on the ranger's popularity or lack thereof?

 

[moritheil]

I'm not really sure where you get the idea that there are no tactics from. Do you also think that fighters do not employ any tactics? (I'm trying to get a handle on what your concept of tactics is.)

 

[Moon-Lancer]

Is it just me, or are rangers really not very popular? Why is that? My
tentative theory is that it's the way favored enemy works (or doesn't
work): many people, especially the kind of gearheads that can come up
with convoluted feat-spell-class ability combos for other classes, don't
like the usefulness of a core class ability being so firmly in the DMs
hands.

Any thoughts, whether on ways to play an interesting, colourful and
efficient ranger, or on the ranger's popularity or lack thereof?

I used to love rangers. But when the dm avoided my favored enemy, i stopped using them becuse your right, too much of thier power is in the dms hands. I like an ability that is usefull more often. Now i would only play a ranger with favored enemy undead or human, becuse dms really cant avoid those. I like the rangers archtype, i dont know, something just turns me off to them. Maybe its becuse my first three moonlancers were all rangers

I also thought druids were cool, but i had a bad stigma becuse only the girls in our groups would play druids, and usaly only druids, and becuse they were never good players (at the time) i also found the druid alittle on the weak side, but now I would play a druid over a ranger (finaly gotten over them not having evasion)

 

[moritheil]

I used to love rangers. But when the dm avoided my favored enemy, i stopped using them becuse your right, too much of thier power is in the dms hands.

That plays right into your hands. It's really easy to get rid of the more outrageous enemies by simply taking them as favored enemies: evil outsiders, dragons, aberrations . . .

 

[Thanee]

I was quite happy with my ranger.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Baramay]

I agree that dealing with favored enemies can be difficult. A DM must keep a record of your favored enemies so he can apply the additional damage or adjust your skills accordingly. My DM often uses monsters from d20 books and we have no idea what classification they fall into. Often after a fight I would ask if the monster was one of my favored enemies and get an "uh yeah".

On the flip side the Spell Compendium has some great spells for a ranger regardless if they are facing a favored enemy or not. The paladin spells are impressive as well.

 

[Dross]

I agree that dealing with favored enemies can be difficult. A DM must keep a record of your favored enemies so he can apply the additional damage or adjust your skills accordingly. My DM often uses monsters from d20 books and we have no idea what classification they fall into. Often after a fight I would ask if the monster was one of my favored enemies and get an "uh yeah".

On the flip side the Spell Compendium has some great spells for a ranger regardless if they are facing a favored enemy or not. The paladin spells are impressive as well.

You never thought to ask the DM before or during the fight?

 

[reanjr]

Now i would only play a ranger with favored enemy undead or human, becuse dms really cant avoid those.

Tried talking to your DM about it? I usually coach my players on favored enemies when they create a ranger so that they pick something useful. In my campaigns, the primary opponents are NPCs so Humanoid should be the top of the list I tell them, Fey and Aberrations should be low on the list. Depends on the campaign, but I try to give them a heads up so they can choose something useful.

I do the same thing when someone wants to play a class that won't be of much use (barbarian in an intrigue/investigative campaign)

 

[Moon-Lancer]

well i have a diffrent dm now, and she would be more honest then my last dm, who was more the kind of dm that thought of it as winning, or at least was really paranoid about players having too much of an advantage.

It would be nice though to play another ranger charicter longer then a few levels. A ranger was the my first charicter that I played, and the campains kept falling apart so i kept re makeing the same charicter. It was only untill I found the dm i have now, that i have been able to play d&d longer then a few levels, and i was really burned out on rangers, even though i hadent played them for many levels, it has been the same levels over and over. .


Asking the dm about favored enemy is a good idea though. I bet that can help alot.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Favored enemy is a "mother, may I?" ability. It's not easy for some fair DMs to make favored enemies common enough to make the ability worth it. I would suggest stealing skirmish... that would make TWF even more useless for rangers, but I don't think that's a big deal! TWF really has nothing to do with rangers anyway.

Rangers make great PCs, but their combat ability is pretty weak and not under their control.