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<blockquote data-quote="Swarmkeeper" data-source="post: 8163345" data-attributes="member: 6921763">What is your character's background?&nbsp; For your first level Ranger abilities, I'd suggest picking a favored enemy and terrain that jives with your background rather than strictly focusing on potential optimization for the particular campaign you are playing.&nbsp; Especially given the text for the ability:&nbsp; &quot;Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of enemy.&quot;&nbsp; Your background is one reflection of that experience.&nbsp; You might be pleasantly surprised how useful they'll be anyway even if they appear more random at first.&nbsp; Or perhaps they won't be mechanically useful at all and your character will need to learn and grow to overcome their &quot;stranger in a strange land&quot; dilemma - good story fodder.That said, as you explore the setting, your Ranger is learning about the common enemies and the terrain.&nbsp; The 6th level additional favored enemy text reflects this:&nbsp; &quot;As you gain levels, your choices should reflect the types of monsters you have encountered on your adventures.&quot;As an example, I recently created a Shifter Ranger with the Fisher background.&nbsp; Her favored enemy is beasts and favored terrain is Coastal as I thought those were thematically appropriate for the character.&nbsp; Certainly not optimized for our upcoming Curse of Strahd West Marches campaign, but true to her background.&nbsp; Then again, I can see how beasts will come in handy and, if the DM is lenient, maybe Coastal will be useful around Lake Zarovich.&nbsp; I'm gonna go out on a (Strahd zombie?) limb and say undead as a favored enemy is likely going to be quite appropriate at 6th level.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Swarmkeeper, post: 8163345, member: 6921763"] What is your character's background? For your first level Ranger abilities, I'd suggest picking a favored enemy and terrain that jives with your background rather than strictly focusing on potential optimization for the particular campaign you are playing. Especially given the text for the ability: [I]"Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of enemy." [/I]Your background is one reflection of that experience. You might be pleasantly surprised how useful they'll be anyway even if they appear more random at first. Or perhaps they won't be mechanically useful at all and your character will need to learn and grow to overcome their "stranger in a strange land" dilemma - good story fodder. That said, as you explore the setting, your Ranger is learning about the common enemies and the terrain. The 6th level additional favored enemy text reflects this: [I]"As you gain levels, your choices should reflect the types of monsters you have encountered on your adventures."[/I] [SIZE=3]As an example, I recently created a Shifter Ranger with the Fisher background. Her favored enemy is beasts and favored terrain is Coastal as I thought those were thematically appropriate for the character. Certainly not optimized for our upcoming Curse of Strahd West Marches campaign, but true to her background. Then again, I can see how beasts will come in handy and, if the DM is lenient, maybe Coastal will be useful around Lake Zarovich. I'm gonna go out on a (Strahd zombie?) limb and say undead as a favored enemy is likely going to be quite appropriate at 6th level.[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]

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