DnD's class gimmicks and players not utilizing exploration is the only thing making rangers difficult.Rangers are super simple, if they have time to prepare for a fight, they win. To instantly improve rangers drop spells and favored enemy (it's a dumb way to capture Ranger guile that actually gimps them since DMs will just refuse to put the favored enemies in the game). Here are the 2 quick simple ways to make bad ass rangers:>if a Ranger knows what they are fighting and prepares they get buffs to attack, defense, damage, and saves. At higher levels they can extend part of this buff to the party.>the longer a fight goes, the better the ranger gets from observing the enemy. Bonus to hit and something like sneak attack damage after 4,6,8 rounds, whatever your gameplay style dictates is a lot of combat rounds.And of course, stop leaving exploration, time, and resources on the cutting room floor. A ranger in the party should drastically improve exploration survivability and results the way a cleric improves heals and a rogue improves treasure and dungeoneering.I didn't give specifics bc it's setting agnostic advice but you can flavor it how ever you like, Ranger identifies the enemy type (from clues, tracking, scat, terrain, prey marks on a victim) they could then just know the right strategy / fighting style or the right potion / herbs to take, oils / poison to treat weapons. Then if it's DnD for instance they get a +2 to all combat rolls and AC at low levels, then +4, +6, and so on, while also giving half the bonus to party members at higher levels.(these bonuses might be high, I don't play nuDnD, and for what I play it's a +1, +2 at lvl4, and +4 @lvl 10, just play with them if needed)Now you have that bad ass Special forces fighter who knows how to engage, come up on the enemy, hit hard, get out, repeat.
>>97978542I like the Fighter being the baseline of always good, he never dips or has cons > the Paladin being the Tankier and better against evil > the Barbarian being best while raging > and the Ranger the best when prepared for the fight.So the fighter should be a ranger unless the ranger prepared, a paladin if the fighter isn't evil, and a barb who isn't raging.The paladin should have a chance to outlive the Barb's rage then win, and the Ranger should be able to beat each if he is prepared for the fight otherwise lose.
>>97978542There are games that give wilderness exploration and survival more attention in the rules, and ranger type characters are typically great there.For combat focused games like d&d and pf it makes some sense to let rangers have the niche of getting bonuses when prepared, like you suggest. But there is a problem in that groups of player characters in classical d20 style games are often intruders or instigators, except when they get ambushed. So scenarios where the PCs can prepare defenses are relatively rare, unless the GM deliberately plans for it.
wow those models look like shit
>>97978542Honestly, just having some temporary stacking bonus to hit/damage from either finding clues about an enemy or dealing damage to that enemy feels like it could be really streamlined and straightforward. You find some goblin tracks, you get +1 to hit/damage against goblins. The party finds some goblins, you shoot one, and now that goes up to +2.There would probably need to be a cap to the bonuses based on the Ranger's level, as well as a time limit. Maybe picking something as a favored enemy just means the bonus can't drop below a certain level, but otherwise the assumption is that a Ranger is always going to just be dealing extra damage the longer they're able to observe/fight something.For 5e where bonuses are more restrained, it might need to purely be extra damage, but that does a good job against hit point bloat.
>>97979038I dunno, the bald guy in the middle kinda looks like Orthodox icons which look straight through you.
>>97978542I usually play a ranger because its as close as medeival fantasy gets to a redneck class which I am and favored enemy is the best part. Getting to pick one thing you hate especially is great for roleplay.
>>97978542I only play classes that can wear cool helmets. Preferably closed-face.
>>97979737I have never had a DM put a favored enemy in the game in 30 years of playing. It's to easy to dick over and ignore that rangers watch, stalk, then prey.You can still RP hating something without being gimped by Dms.
>>97979956Are you picking obyriths or aboleths or something? Its more about the long hateful tirades you get to go on whenever someone brings up dragons anyways.
>>97980072No like the GM will purposely not use those monsters anymore. I have had GMs refuse to use Orcs or Goblins after seeing what favored enemy the Ranger took.And you can say bad gm, and you would be right, but that has been every single one for 30 years, at different age groups, settings, and geographical regions.Character abilities just shouldn't be something so obvious that GMs can exit their usefulness from the game.Meanwhile if you get a bonus whenever you identify something about the enemy like the other poster mentioned, it's not up to GM fiat and flavor wise fits more into what a ranger does in fantasy.
>>97980245I agree that favoured enemy is a bad mechanic that should be replaced. But your experience does not match mine at all, few GMs will write out entire enemy classes from their campaign just to be dicks. Just take one of the common enemies (for the setting, or region, or the campaign if it's a pre-written) and it should come up. A series of GMs doing this for decades makes me think there are other problems in the group dynamic. Did they also stop using undead when someone made a cleric?
>>97981429>Did they also stop using undead when someone made a cleric?Absolutely. That’s a favorite thing for GM to do. They don’t even have to look at the character sheet to know what to cut.
>>97980245Just pick the most annoying enemy type to fight so the shitty DM deletes them from the game.
the problem with rangers is that they're essentially a multiclass fighter/rogue/druidfighters and rogues can use bows effectively, rogues can ambush effectively, fighters are better with swords or whatever, druids are better with animals and nature shit in generalthere doesnt need to be a ranger class, unless its a prestige class I guess>>97983329kek, thats great
