Humans are so over done.
Undead at level 1 and then go evil outsider as those become common opponents at higher level regardless of season.
The fact that Kyle had told you NOT to go with humans should convince you to pick them with no other reason needed ;)
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I'll agree with the others here too. Though I think taking humans was a bit too cheesy for me, maybe your character has a reason for it. My ranger (9th level currently) took undead first then evil outsiders (without even seeking the advice of others). He started life as a cleric for 2 scenarios and is part of the Silver Crusade. Made perfect sense, in character and out of it.
Came in handy recently, because I haven't done the holy enchantment on my bow yet. No oil of bless weapon, either (my own forgetfulness). In a recent game the only way I was getting past some demons' DR was via Deadly Aim and favored enemy bonuses.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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I'd pick Evil Outsider over undead any day. Undead are rarely that hard to hit, and rarely have significant DR to overcome, so the bonuses aren't terribly helpful. Plus, they have no SR and generally poor saves, so your caster friends can do their thing just fine as well. Evil Outsiders are where things get tricky, and you need every bonus you can get.
On the other hand, I can think of 3 hella deadly vermin encounters out there, not even counting swarms.
You will have human opponents most often.
Undead opponents second most common.
Then it starts getting tricky.
However, as RainyDayNinja said, I would pick outsiders first since they are most likely to have special defenses that you need to blast through or are so dangerous that you need to take them down quickly.
Then I would pick undead and human as number 2 and 3.
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The overwhelming majority of Rangers I've encountered in PFS had Humanoid (Human) as their Favored Enemy. I met a dart-throwing Dwarf Ranger once who had Humanoid (Reptilian) as his FE, and after he explained his backstory I commended him for going against the grain (I believe he was Wyrmscourged). Then everyone else at the table proceeded to tell him he should have gone with Human. *sigh*
For the longest time I thought it was so cheesy that all these Humans hated their own kind so much. In one of the past editions (2nd, I think) only evil Rangers were allowed to chose their own race as their FE. But when I drafted up my Urban Ranger (who's now 4th level) the only choice that made sense to me was Human. He's not nature-themed, and he's even got a level of Bard for social skills.
So, to avoid being a hypocrite, I got over it. Choosing Human as your FE will make you effective, whether you RP your reasons for it or not. This game is equal parts roleplay and rollplay. I don't roll my eyes anymore when I run a table of Human Rangers who all hate Humans, but I do explain my evolution on the stance as a preface when telling GMs what my FE is (in case I run into a former version of myself).
I haven't yet decided what my next FEs are going to be.
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The overwhelming majority of Rangers I've encountered in PFS had Humanoid (Human) as their Favored Enemy. I met a dart-throwing Dwarf Ranger once who had Humanoid (Reptilian) as his FE, and after he explained his backstory I commended him for going against the grain (I believe he was Wyrmscourged). Then everyone else at the table proceeded to tell him he should have gone with Human. *sigh*
For the longest time I thought it was so cheesy that all these Humans hated their own kind so much. In one of the past editions (2nd, I think) only evil Rangers were allowed to chose their own race as their FE. But when I drafted up my Urban Ranger (who's now 4th level) the only choice that made sense to me was Human. He's not nature-themed, and he's even got a level of Bard for social skills.
So, to avoid being a hypocrite, I got over it. Choosing Human as your FE will make you effective, whether you RP your reasons for it or not. This game is equal parts roleplay and rollplay. I don't roll my eyes anymore when I run a table of Human Rangers who all hate Humans, but I do explain my evolution on the stance as a preface when telling GMs what my FE is (in case I run into a former version of myself).
I haven't yet decided what my next FEs are going to be.
My ranger didn't hate his own race. He disliked evil members of his race (even more-so than evil members of other races). He also had merciful on his bow so that he could do massive non-lethal damage to prevent anyone from "accidentally" dying. Sure it cost him a round when he came up against undead (had to use standard action command word to turn off the merciful) but it was way worth it.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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There's kind of two ways to approach your Favored Enemy selection.
On the one hand, you can pick based on what you think you'll face a lot of, so you'll be hyper-effective much of the time.
On the other hand, you can pick based on what you'll have a hard time dealing with, so that your FE bonuses can help you overcome those difficulties.
It's the difference between getting to speed up your human kills in every scenario, versus not having to be afraid of constructs or demons when they show up.
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I would stack Humans and then pick minor enemies for the others, animals and vermin or something. Then Bane (human) your weapon, then you can instant enemy all the big enemies for amazing hit! +8 Attack +2d6+8 damage vs humans, and instant enemy a few times a day will give that on a few BBEGS.
Undead are pretty common, but they kind of disappear at mid-higher levels. Outsiders (evil) are good at higher levels, but still not as prevalent as humans.
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Used to be that taking anything but human or undead would actually set you back rather give an advantage. Both were so damned prevalent. This was in Seasons 0-2 though.
I'd like to suggest evil outsider or construct purely they are the hardest of the lot, in my mind, but it's probably easier to list the FE types that are NOT worth picking. I've seen lots of fey, magical beasts, aberrations, animals and different kinds of humanoids (human, reptilian and goblinoid, but only 7 dragons, a dozen oozes, very few plants and even fewer monstrous humanoids. Outsiders? Earth maybe, because earth elementals can pack whallop, but no to the other types.
Oh yeah, darn earth elementals. I mean gods, sheesh, aargh! Dr, precision damage immunity, huge damage potential and an intelligent tremorsense-possessing bastard of a creature surfing around with earthglide.
You know, pick Outsider (earth) afterall. I want them gone!
The most important thing...
The only important thing...
In fact the ONLY thing, is everyone must pick favored enemy KOBOLDS.
It should be an added written requirement that everyone has to multiclass into something that has favored enemy. Then they have to pick favored enemy KOBOLD. It is imperative we exterminate those vicious, worthless, traitorous, parasites!
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The overwhelming majority of Rangers I've encountered in PFS had Humanoid (Human) as their Favored Enemy. I met a dart-throwing Dwarf Ranger once who had Humanoid (Reptilian) as his FE, and after he explained his backstory I commended him for going against the grain (I believe he was Wyrmscourged). Then everyone else at the table proceeded to tell him he should have gone with Human. *sigh*
For the longest time I thought it was so cheesy that all these Humans hated their own kind so much. In one of the past editions (2nd, I think) only evil Rangers were allowed to chose their own race as their FE. But when I drafted up my Urban Ranger (who's now 4th level) the only choice that made sense to me was Human. He's not nature-themed, and he's even got a level of Bard for social skills.
So, to avoid being a hypocrite, I got over it. Choosing Human as your FE will make you effective, whether you RP your reasons for it or not. This game is equal parts roleplay and rollplay. I don't roll my eyes anymore when I run a table of Human Rangers who all hate Humans, but I do explain my evolution on the stance as a preface when telling GMs what my FE is (in case I run into a former version of myself).
I haven't yet decided what my next FEs are going to be.
Favored enemy has nothing to do with hatred, that's your old edition assumptions bleeding through. It makes a lot of sense for a human to take favored enemy human, that means he has studied human behavior and fighting techniques. IMO, your average ranger will always take their own race as their first favored enemy, because that's who you train how to fight with.
