How much would it affect balance to give Rangers access to 0-level Orisons at the same time they get 1st level spells? Opinions and suggestions requested.
I don't think it would be that bad. The earliest this is happening is 4th level, by which point the primary casters have second level spells. Orisons in combat will almost certainly be a suboptimal option, and a bit of extra utility spells won't matter that much.
You'd have to decide what spells where orisons for rangers. The only obvious one on the first level list is Read Magic, so you'd probably need to draw from the Druid or Cleric lists.
It seems like a bigger flavor change, but clearly you're ok with that.
It seems like a bigger flavor change, but clearly you're ok with that.
The Ranger in question is actually a modified Urban Ranger variant based on UA and then Pathfindered; the little bit of extra magic ability fits in pretty well with his "Detective" character concept, so I don't feel it will harm the flavor. The only thing I'm concerned with is the Druid player, whose character is not getting an extra class feature (minor though it may be) like the Ranger is.