Ranger Alternate Class Ability

[Lysarius]

I'm looking for feedback on an alternate class ability idea for rangers. I'm hoping to address 2 problems with this alternate ability

1.) Ranger animal companions don’t scale well (They start out weak and just keep falling further behind the power curve for combat. They don’t have any abilities that make them particularly useful as scouts.)

2.) Ranger abilities trail off after 11th level

a. For the next 9 levels (12th – 20th) rangers get: camouflage, hide in plain sight, 2 favored enemies, and more spells (2 more 1st lvl spells; 2 more 2nd lvl spells; 3 more 3rd lvl spells; and access to up to 4 4th lvl spells)​

b. Problem with spells – lack of flexibility. Many ranger spells would only be useful in certain situations. Since rangers can only memorize a few spells of each level per day, they focus on the handful of spells that are flexible enough to be useful in a wide variety of situations. As a result most ranger spells are rarely memorized since they may not be of use on a given day.​

Alternate class ability: Ranger Spontaneous Casting
- If the ranger selects this option, he/she does not gain an animal companion at 4th level
- Rangers gains spell casting ability as normal at 4th level, but instead of memorizing their spells the ranger casts spontaneously
- Number of spells cast per day does not change
- Number of spells known each day are based on the following table

lvl 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
4.. 3*
5.. 3*
6.. 4
7.. 4
8.. 5 .. 3*
9.. 5 .. 3*
10. 6 .. 4
11. 6 .. 4 .. 3*
12. 7 .. 5 .. 3
13. 7 .. 5 .. 4
14. 8 .. 6 .. 4 .. 3*
15. 8 .. 6 .. 5 .. 3
16. 8 .. 7 .. 5 .. 4
17. 8 .. 7 .. 6 .. 4
18. 8 .. 8 .. 6 .. 5
19. 8 .. 8 .. 7 .. 5
20. 8 .. 8 .. 7 .. 6

* Assuming the ranger has a high enough wisdom to begin casting these spells at this level

Opinions?

Is it balanced?

Does adding spontaneous casting give the 4th lvl ranger a reasonable trade off to replace the animal companion?

Does it achieve the goal of making levels 12-20 more attractive to play a straight 20 lvl ranger build?

 

[Machiavelli]

To me, the ranger spellcasting is only worth anything with the Spell Compendium spells. Then, the ranger picks up minor shapeshifting ("aspects"), and a host of moderately useful combat spells, mostly for ranged combat.

Of course, some utility can be milked out of the ranger's default spell list with the use of wands, but finding someone to actually MAKE those wands may be very difficult. Making them yourself costs a feat that a ranger probably won't want to give up.

 

[Chu Li]

Flavor-wise, I've been an all-time friend of those semi-caster classes like ranger or paladin. Their spellcasting is a lame joke, though. By the time potentially useful spells become available you'll earn dismissive gestures from your druid or cleric when attempting to cast them. CasterLvl = 1/2 Class lvl? That way a 20th lvl paladin would merely be able to get a meager +2 bonus out of a greater magic weapon spell. I find that...humiliating.
I've house-ruled that your caster lvl is 1 when you acquire your casting ability +1/further lvl in the relevant class. so for a ranger the caster lvl is it's Class lvl-3. I use the same method to determine the ranger's animal companion benefits.
works nicely my campaigns
What keeps bugging me is the lack of available PrCs for semi-casters that don't further penalize your spellcasting such as by "+1 to spellcasting class"/2 levels. When you take a full-casting class you might as well forget about any physically-oriented abilities.

Sorry for trailing off a bit.

Chu Li

 

[Baby Samurai]

The distracting attack ranger class ability from PHB II is a great replacement for the piece of crap, window dressing class ability that is the ranger's animal companion.

 

[VioletSamurai]

I've house-ruled that your caster lvl is 1 when you acquire your casting ability +1/further lvl in the relevant class. so for a ranger the caster lvl is it's Class lvl-3.

I'm doing the same thing.

 

[dagger]

My favorite on one is in Complete Champion and replaces spellcasting. You get extra bonus feats at 4th, 8th, 11th, and 14th level. The feats are chosen from a special list based on whether you are a Ranged or Two Weapon type. We have added some more feats to the TWF tree since TW Defense sucks, but I have not included those below.

Benefit: You no longer gain spells as a ranger, but you can
now select a bonus feat at 4th, 8th, 11th, and 14th levels. You
can choose any feat from the following list for which you
meet the prerequisites: Blind-Fight, Combat Expertise, Eyes
in the Back of Your Head (CW), Improved Disarm, Improved
Favored Enemy (CW), Improved Feint, and Improved Trip, as
well as from one of the following lists, depending on your
combat style.

Archery: Far Shot, Improved Precise Shot, Improved
Rapid Shot (CW), Manyshot, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot,
Ranged Disarm (CW), Ranged Pin (CW), Ranged Sunder (CW), Sharp-
Shooting (CW) and Shot on the Run.

Two-Weapon Combat: Greater Two-Weapon Defense (CW),
Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon
Defense (CW), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Two-Weapon
Defense, Weapon Finesse.