Sighter's page

*And even when the Ranger is supposed to be getting his chance to shine against his favored enemy, the Barbarian is still getting his rage boost against those enemy's from rage, the PF Rogue can still sneak attack them, the PF Fighter still gets his new boosts as long as he keeps using his weapon, and the casters are still casting. So, really is the FE boost even doing anything more than, temporarily, bringing the Ranger up to par with what the other classes are doing all the time?

Rangers gain a wide arrangement of bonuses from their FE. It boosts skills as well, doesn't need to be activated, doesn't have a per day use, and can be heightened every five levels to a much higher and higher point. Couple these kind of bonuses with the right kind of terrain or feat, and depending on the situation, the Ranger can own it.

If a Ranger is tracking his favored enemy in his favored terrain, then well, he excels where any other class with points in survival would at the same time. If he were to use, lets say, Improved Feint to feint, he gets a bonus at it. The balancing condition is that the Ranger requires a certain environment/creature to excel. Paladins still need evil targets for smiting, Rogues the right conditions, and Fighters aren't usually too useful outside of whacking things.

Rangers are specialists, which is their bane and their boon. I've GM'd homebrewed campaigns with Rangers and I've played them as well. In either case, the favored enemy did come up. Not every adventure did it arise, though. I prefer that, because it gives the ranger the spotlight now and then, but allows others to be able to step in.

Also, favored enemy is just one of the class features thrown at Ranger. Complaining about that and ignoring other points of the class is kinda like saying that a Rogue is disappointing cuz' Sneak Attack requires certain situations. I think calling it the Iconic Ability is a bit of a stretch. That implies its the only reason to become a Ranger. I think the changes to Track in pathfinder, along with Favored environments make it a nice class.

Track of course, usually doesn't involve combat. And nor does Wild Empathy, really. Combat isn't the only arena to the game and I don't think one should judge a class completely on one small ability that requires a certain situation. Its really a GM's prerogative to fix this for you. You need to get him to fix it, if not to throw more Orcs at you (c'mon, Orc Invasion!) or suggest a replacement for Orcs. Its a cooperative game, so if a GM won't help you play the character right, then maybe its time for a new GM.

Sighter wrote:

Um...

Is the Lion Blade prestige written for 3.5 or for some version of Pathfinder I'm unaware of? Its skill block looks more 3rd edition than pathfinder.

Was this intended or just something that slipped by?

Everything will be in 3.5 until the Pathfinder rules are released at GenCon in august.

It has been said the the final version of the rules will be closer to 3.5 than to the beta, so it shouldn't be very hard at all to convert.

Ah. Thank you good sir! I did not know that.

Yes, its very easy to convert, considering that its just some skill things. I just figured it was better to ask and know, and knowing is half the battle you know.

Um...

Is the Lion Blade prestige written for 3.5 or for some version of Pathfinder I'm unaware of? Its skill block looks more 3rd edition than pathfinder.

Was this intended or just something that slipped by?