Must all rangers be full of hate? Must they brood and dwell on thoughts of genocide and racial cleansing? Must they prey on certain creature types to fully realize their inner badassity? Can't we all just get along?
Ok, enough silliness. Here's my idea:
Why not give the ranger bonuses when cooperating with favored creature types instead of fighting them? This bonus could apply to the aid other action, stack with flanking bonuses when flanking with such a creature, providing cover, shield other, and other things I can't think of at the moment.
Maybe there's a human ranger that prefers teamwork with elves. BAM! Favored Ally: Elves.
Make it so, Paizo :)
I've always seem Favored Enemy as more of "I know a lot about this creature's physiological and psychological traits" than "I really hate this creature".
It makes a lot more sense, considering you get the bonus to attack and damage even if you're using a crossbow. After all, no matter how much you hate orcs, that bolt is not going any faster. But if you know where the arteries of orcs are, you can aim better to hit where it hurts the most. That's the reason you don't have to be evil to have your own race as Favored Enemy anymore.
That said, I really like your idea. I think it adds variety and flavor to the class. I'd make it an archetype that changes, let's say... half your Favored Enemy for Favored Allies. Or trade Hunter's Bond for it.
The fact that Teamwork feats are kinda meh might be a problem, though, so I'd simply add some Teamwork feats to the list of possible bonus feats instead of completely replacing your Combat Style.
It might step a bit on the toes of Cavaliers, though.
I've always seem Favored Enemy as more of "I know a lot about this creature's physiological and psychological traits" than "I really hate this creature".
It makes a lot more sense, considering you get the bonus to attack and damage even if you're using a crossbow. After all, no matter how much you hate orcs, that bolt is not going any faster. But if you know where the arteries of orcs are, you can aim better to hit where it hurts the most. That's the reason you don't have to be evil to have your own race as Favored Enemy anymore.
This is the same rationale I use when approaching (most) rangers. I have an NPC ranger, the father of our rogue, who was a spy in the army back in the day. He has the Infiltrator archetype with favored enemy (humans), and used his Adaptation to fake the career he had to pose as. Does he hate humans? Of course not. He is one, he married one, he fathered one, and most of his neighbors and friends are human. But he does know more about how humans act, how they fight, how to fool them, and how to get around them. He's an older man now, and can't go after dragons and manticores like he used to, but he CAN kick the living crap out of street thieves or rowdy mercenaries like a man 20 years younger.
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I like the idea, but it'll need balance if you're comparing its usefulness to Favored Enemy.
Think about it: you're encountering your favored enemy only every once in a while. Every few encounters if you're lucky; maybe just once or twice in an adventure if you're not.
But you'd be using your Favored Ally bonus all the time. Your party is full of elves and half-elves? You've now got your Favored Ally bonus working 100% of the time. All humans? Same deal.
It would change a lot in usefulness based on how your playing group sets up characters and parties. If you're all rolling up characters completely independently, with no knowledge of what other folks are playing, then it will have one level of usefulness. If you're designing the party as a group with everybody working together to create characters, it will have a very different level.
I agree with previous posters, however I could an abiity called Favored Ally that could replace favored enemy and hunters bond that lets them grant benefits/teamwork feats to a particular ally in the field.
