variants/options for rangers?

[GlassJaw]

I've checked out the ranger variants in the various books (PHB2, Completes, UA, etc) but compared to some of the variants for the other classes, none of the ranger options struck me as that great.

Does anyone know of any other sources for ranger variants? What about your own house rules?

Personally, I wish the PHB ranger was a combination of the ranger and scout. I never really liked the combat styles feat chain. It always struck me as a holdover from 3.0. The skirmish ability makes a lot more sense for the ranger, as does fast movement and trackless step, etc.

 

[llashismll]

Rangers being probably my favorite class I definately feel ya. Here is the houseruled ranger variant that I use...I also use a second variant I designed for a friends campaing wherein he wanted to combine druids and rangers into one class...its basically a ranger with wildshape and no spells...and the wildshape is somewhat more limited than the traditional druid version (no plants or elemental or huge creatures at all)

Ranger

• 
  as PHB with following changes:
  • Animal Companion: Gained at 1st level as druid
  • Combat Style: Add 3rd style Skirmish
  o 2nd level-Mobility
  o 6th level-Spring Attack
  o 11th level- Bounding Assault
  o 17th level- Rapid Blitz
  • Add a Two Weapon Fighting or Archery combat feat at 17th level as per chosen combat style
  • May choose organization as favored enemy
  • Favored Enemy: if your favored enemy bonus is +6 or higher you may crit the creature even if it is not normally susceptible to crits. If the creature is not immune to crits then the ranger receives a +2 bonus to confirm crits.
  • Wildshape: A ranger strengthens his ties to the world through the beasts of the land. She not only worships the beasts and respects their power, but she gains the ability to become them. In order to become an animal a ranger must adopt it as her totem, in order to do this she must hunt and kill the animal and eat its still beating heart. A ranger loses her ability to speak in animal form, but she gains the ability to communicate freely with animals which share her new form. She keeps all her possessions; as long as they are not metal they meld into her new form. A ranger can shift into an animal a number of times per day equal to her Charisma modifier. A ranger maintains an almost feral appearance when not in animal form but can still easily blend into human society.
  o 4th level: A ranger is able to turn into a small or medium creature.
  o 8th level: A ranger can turn into a large creature.
  o 12th level: a ranger can turn into a tiny creature.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

There are a bunch of alternate ranger fighting styles available, most of the ones I use are found in the book 'Wildscape', and excellent resource for running wilderness adventures. There was also a Dragon article or two on them.

I have found that the extra fighting styles were sufficient to expand the class out.