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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steverooo" data-source="post: 892069" data-attributes="member: 9410">My $0.02:Good.  Rangers have always been hunters, and this fits with my Ranger concept.Good.  Rangers have been lacking the points they need to acquire even minimal competence in their "required" skills.  This, along with the elimination of Intuit Direction and Animal Empathy, will help.This, however, is a mistake...  The Ranger class has been TOO WEAK AND FLAVORLESS.  In order to fix this, they add an Animal Empathy Special Ability at level one, and then remove TWF and 2 HP?  This is backwards thinking!  (The class may be stronger at higher levels, but is weakened at first, certainly!)::Sigh!::  I have never liked the 3e Favored Enemy, so I am blasé about this one...This is a step back to 2e.  I wonder how the ability works?  I betcha it's based on CHA!  If so, ALL STATS are now important to a Ranger, and there is no longer any "throw-away" stat to sink bad rolls into.I also wonder if the Druid gets this, and if so, at what level?  In 2e, the Ranger got it, and the Druid didn't!  (Huh?)Real, or Virtual?  In any case, eliminating the "other" paths (such as Mounted, etc.) is still a mistake!(Again, I favor giving every class "Bonus Professional Feats" at levels 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20, from a selected list of PHB Feats, just like the Wizard gets, now.  I also favor ALL classes getting a Class-Specific Bonus Feat at each level, much like the 3e Druid/Monk... but that's just me...  I think more tiny abilities like Woodland Stride would make classes more interesting, and give reasons to stay single-classed, than the current classes do, with multiple levels of "You get more HPs, Skill Points, and maybe a spell".  YMMV.)Interesting...  As a Virtual Feat, or a real one?  If real, then this also fits with my conception of Rangers.Unless they have changed something, this IS NOT A Ranger-CLASS ABILITY!  It is a DRUID Class Ability!  Rangers have to cast Animal Friendship to get one, and (again), unless something was changed, they may not be able to (at all, or until 7th level).The ability is fine (in fact, I gave it to my Alt.Ranger), but the level seems late, to me.  I think this would be more useful to Rangers at lower levels than seventh...Nice, but also a bit late, IMHO.Huh?  Did they revamp the Reflex saves?  If not, then this isn't as much use to a Ranger as a Rogue.  His good saves are Fortitude, not Reflex!  No, Uncanny Dodge (of great value to Scouts and Skirmishers), at level one, is a better choice.No real problems, here, but I wonder if the Rogue gets'em, and if so, at what level?  Camouflage is a bad name, though...  Camo has been part of Hide since 1e, and I have always assumed that Rangers/Rogues took full advantage of it.  Seems now, Rangers will hafta wait until 13th level to do this!  Grrr!  I see that as "sounding" like a weakness, although, in truth, it is actually adding a new ability...  Needs a better name...That's it?  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f644.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":rolleyes:" title="Roll eyes    :rolleyes:"  data-smilie="11"data-shortname=":rolleyes:" />   Well, at least they finally gave him the Barkskin spell from the Plant Domain...  I guess that's something.For anyone who gives a rat, here's my Ranger archetype:Animal Empathizers,Climbers,Fighting Prowess,Guides,Hardy,Healers,Herbalists,Hunters (Favored Enemies),Information Gatherers (Scouts/Spies),Knowledgable (all types),Perceptive (to the point of being Mind-Readers?  Hence the 1e powers of Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, ESP, and Telepathy, and the 3e use of Divinations and the Alarm spell),Spellcasters,Stealthy,Survivalists,Swift,Trackers,Trapwise,Travellers,Two-Weapon Fighter (for backwards compatibility, ONLY!  This is not a class feature!)From the outtakes quotes above, it appears that he is only an Animal Empathizer with Fighting Prowess who is a Hardy Hunter with some Knowledge of Nature (only), who can cast a few spells and can be Stealthy, and can develop TWF, if he chooses.He is not particularly good at climbing, guiding, healing, herbalism, hunting anything but his favored enemies, information gathering, knowledge of anything but nature, has no special powers of perception (doesn't even get Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, ESP, Telepathy, etc., on his spell list), doesn't get spells involving the previous, many Animal/Plant ones, those involving movement and travel, many healing, and spells involving hunting, guiding, stealth, etc., such as Find the Path.  The only stealth abilities he gets are high level.  He gets nothing to help him survive or be swift, or even track, until Fast-Tracking at higher levels.  He is not Trapwise, even with a high Search skill, as he cannot even recognize DC 20+ traps.  He gets nothing to help him travel, save access to Climb, Jump, Ride, and Swim.Also, as far as I know, the Ranger still doesn't have the Balance skill to avoid those DC 15 checks to walk across ice, or avoid falling off cliffs or out of trees.  Nor the Endure Elements spell to help him stand up to the weather as well as a Cleric or Paladin.  Many other such problems (as I see them) have not been fixed.All in all, the 3.5e Ranger is worse than the 3.0 one at lower levels (as far as I can see), about even at 8th - 15th level or so, and perhaps a tad better at high levels (if he survives).  As a fix, I see it as a wash...I'm 1e old-school, and I voted "No".[EDIT: Typos]</blockquote>

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