I was reading the ranger's favored enemy description and one line there sort of confuses me.
I'm a little confused about this bolded line. It seems to say to me if I choose "orc" as my second favored enemy, then I may choose whether or not to apply the +2 bonus to the listed benefits against orcs.
In previous editions, ranger bonuses scaled in level. If I read this right, the scaling is gone, and now you just get a +2 for each favored enemy you have?
Is this correct?
Anyone know what the significance of the bolded line above is?
Am I able to keep selecting the same favored enemy? (At 1st level I choose "orc" and get +2. At 5th level, I choose "orc" again, and now get a +4)?
I was reading the ranger's favored enemy description and one line there sort of confuses me.
I'm a little confused about this bolded line. It seems to say to me if I choose "orc" as my second favored enemy, then I may choose whether or not to apply the +2 bonus to the listed benefits against orcs.
In previous editions, ranger bonuses scaled in level. If I read this right, the scaling is gone, and now you just get a +2 for each favored enemy you have?
Is this correct?
Anyone know what the significance of the bolded line above is?
Am I able to keep selecting the same favored enemy? (At 1st level I choose "orc" and get +2. At 5th level, I choose "orc" again, and now get a +4)?
You get a +2 to any favored enemy you have. When you gain a new favored enemy, you also get a +2 you can apply to one of them. This will get you 2 enemies, one at +2, one at +4, at level 5. The +4 can be the new one you just chose.
I was reading the ranger's favored enemy description and one line there sort of confuses me.
I'm a little confused about this bolded line. It seems to say to me if I choose "orc" as my second favored enemy, then I may choose whether or not to apply the +2 bonus to the listed benefits against orcs.
Correct. If you chose Humans at first level and has a +2 bonus with them. Then you chose Orcs at 5th level, and it starts at +2. Now you get to raise either humans to a +4 or Orcs to +4, the other remains at a +2.
In previous editions, ranger bonuses scaled in level. If I read this right, the scaling is gone, and now you just get a +2 for each favored enemy you have?
Is this correct?
Correct again. You get to chose where you are going to get better at. This allows you to adjust to the ongoing game. Example, you're playing in Crimson Throne, and chose Humans, being a city campaign. But your GM decides to take some side treks along the way, and you find yourself facing more Orcs from Belkzen than the Humans, and decide to up the Orc bonus for now until you get back to the city in some levels, when you can chose to level it out.
Anyone know what the significance of the bolded line above is?
Am I able to keep selecting the same favored enemy? (At 1st level I choose "orc" and get +2. At 5th level, I choose "orc" again, and now get a +4)?
Totally hypothetical Ranger:
1st Level - Orcs, +2
5th Level - Goblinoids, +2, increase Orcs to +4
10th Level - Humans +2, increase Humans to +4
15th Level - Giants +2, increase Orcs to +6
20th Level - Dragons +2, increase Orcs to +8
So by 20th level, you have five favored enemies, each with a base +2, and 4 additional +2s to spread over the enemies as you wish.
Make sense?
Thanks Rathendar and Gamer Girrl
That all makes sense now. I like that they allow you to select the current foe as the higher bonus.
Although from an RP standpoint it seems a little odd that your newly acquired foe just became your better bonus for attacks / skills -- but for game mechanics, I guess it helps to compensate for being stuck with a bad pick in earlier levels that has not panned out.
Thanks Rathendar and Gamer Girrl
That all makes sense now. I like that they allow you to select the current foe as the higher bonus.
Although from an RP standpoint it seems a little odd that your newly acquired foe just became your better bonus for attacks / skills -- but for game mechanics, I guess it helps to compensate for being stuck with a bad pick in earlier levels that has not panned out.
Well, depending on how the game is running, it could also be thus:
Joe the Ranger takes Goblins at first, and finds it very handy. But then the party, after reaching second, heads off to the lights of the big city, and Joe can't find many goblins to play with. But those thugs that keep trying to lighten his purse are a good target, and by the time he's hit fifth, he's gotten pretty good at knowing just where to hit 'em where it hurts :)
It was like that in 3.5 already, by the way.