Is favored terrain too situational?

[A_psychic_rat]

right from the get go picking a favored terrain seems too situational and unreliable, if your party goes on a jaunt anywhere outside where your used too it turns off and is usless.

for this reason i say there is no reason not to take the archytype that replaces favored terrain with addaptations. it just seems so much more usefull

am i missing something about this feature that i should be loving?

[Arachnofiend]

It is, which is why the Ranger has a ton of other class features and 6+Int skill points as well.

The Ranger is a class that performs admirably in all situations but against certain enemies in certain places he can put on his cool kid sunglasses and say "I've got this".

[A_psychic_rat]

so why not take the adaptations and be more all round awesoem instead of speacialty awesome?

[Rhorik Hogsvard]

It's pretty campaign-dependent. There's a lot of difference between, say, Jade Regent vs. Skulls & Shackles.

[Bob Bob Bob]

The trick to favored terrain is to go into Horizon Walker for Terrain Dominance and the delicious "When dealing with creatures native to that terrain, the horizon walker treats his favored terrain bonus for that terrain as a favored enemy bonus (as the ranger class feature) against those creatures." I think there was a build out there that got up to +20 favored terrain bonus in everything and +40 in one specific terrain by using the Rogue Talent Terrain Mastery because, unlike every other favored terrain power, it increases all favored terrains by 2.

The build was pretty single focused (I think every feat was more rogue talents) but +40 attack/damage against specific creatures and +20 attack/damage against a couple more sets seems pretty nice. And the +20 bluff, sense motive, perception, and knowledge doesn't hurt either. Probably helpful to spread the skill points around so you're trained in all knowledges.

[Otherwhere]

As Rhorik said, it's campaign-dependent. A smart player will ask the GM what terrains would make good choices. (Don't pick deserts if you're going to adventure in tropical jungles, or on the Plane of Fire, etc.)

AND it is more realistic in that someone who knows how to survive and hunt in the jungle may be a bit off his game in a frozen arid waste.

[Claxon]

Certain campaigns make it easier than others. I'm playing a ranger in skull and shackles right now. Favored Terrain Water has paid off like crazy!

Besides which, to me the best part of favored terrains isn't the mechanical scaling bonus, though they can be nice. It's the other abilities that depend on being in favored terrain. And to help with this you can always purchase Boots of Friendly Terrain.

[Mysterious Stranger]

It is situational but depending on the character and the campaign it can be golden. Two of the most forgotten terrains are urban and underground. Urban may seem like a strange choice but it does give the ranger a boost. No one said you had to like your favored terrain. I can see a ranger who hates urban environments being more on edge when in town.

Underground is great if the GM goes for the classic dungeon crawl type of adventures.