Ranger Favored Enemies

[evilgiraffe42]

Hey all, I'm brewing up a ranger concept in my mind, but had a question from those of you who have a better understanding of whats out there on the server.  Considering that Favored enemy really is the core of the ranger class, I don't want to be making choices that will end up being useless in the long run.  So what do you guys think are the best choices for favored enemies?  I just want to be able to get use out of the choices I make rather than pick something and find out I never use it, or that it quickly becomes obsolete.

[Valimar Dragonbane]

Mechanically speaking, Undead is always a solid choice.  I'd say Orcs is probably a good choice too.  Otherwise, I'm not sure what to recommend to you, since I'm not privy to what race a monster is labeled in the creator.

Is there an overall theme to the character that would cause you to select one over the other?  Worse case scenario, you could nudge either Fire or Vincent to see if said creature is actually what it should be (monstrous humanoid, abomination, etc).

[Dismus]

Goblinoid is very good. You can use it to fight goblins at low levels and then gnolls at high levels.
Giants a few of the higher level dungeons have a lot of giants.
Undead as there are a lot of undead dungeons at lower levels.
These 3 I would take personally.

Orc would only be good at the middle levels though it could be a good option.
Dragons are only good at higher levels.

[evilgiraffe42]

Jan 27, 2014 12:44:37 GMT -5 Dismus said:

Goblinoid is very good. You can use it to fight goblins at low levels and then gnolls at high levels.
Giants a few of the higher level dungeons have a lot of giants.
Undead as there are a lot of undead dungeons at lower levels.
These 3 I would take personally.

Orc would only be good at the middle levels though it could be a good option.
Dragons are only good at higher levels.

I thought gnolls were their own choice?  Glad to hear undead and Giants are good choices, both were ideas brewing in my head for the source of his favored enemy RP wise...

Edit: No, you're right...I'd forgotten that gnolls were goblinoids in nwn...even better!

[Vincent07]

From a pure mechanics standpoint, Undead and Construct are always your best bet, due to their critical hit immunity and damage reduction.  This becomes especially true if you are able to eventually take Bane of Enemies.

We do also have a lot of them on the server.

Otherwise, pick whatever you think fits your character.

[morwen]

I always pick undead as the first Ranger enemy. And I've had a lot of success with rangers over several server environments in NWN. Undead are a constant and it's one of those instances you can be gamey and play to the mechanics, but also consistent RP wise as well.

[trylobyte]

My opinions on favored enemies...

Must-Have:
Undead (Witchlords, Wyvernspur, Deepgrave)

Competitive:
Construct (Witchlords, Ogre Redoubt)
Orc (Most mid-level dungeons)
Giant (Ogre Redoubt, Moonsea Behemoth Cave, Frost Giants)

Viable:
Goblinoid (Hullack Goblins, Sunset Gnolls, Cavern of Death)
Human (Moonsea Bandits, Zhentarim, PCs)
Outsider (Slaad tower, Murky Swamp ruins, PCs, Cavern of Death)

[Garage Trashcan]

Nobody has yet to mention outsiders. There's a couple dungeons filled with Fiends where this would be useful.

My epic-level pure ranger has Undead, Orcs, Humans (because generic NPC villain), and Elves (because Drow murdered your family). So yeah, that's just a comparison. My choices are definitely not the best, but Undead is by far the most solid pickup.

[darthweasel]

If your concept has an anti drow bias you should pick elves.

[Lumnakar]

Going slightly off topic but remaining on ranger abilities, I got curious at the mention of Bane of Enemies. Do rangers get any other neat deals for staying with it for 20 levels? And, not ever having had an epic PC - do you need 20 class levels for Bane of Enemies or 20 character levels and ranger class thrown in somewhere?

[Dismus]

You need 21 levels of ranger to get bane of enemies

[evilgiraffe42]

Thanks guys, yeah I was planning on going pure ranger which is a bit of a change for me (I've got a ranger based assassin with FE Human and Elf since those make the most sense for him).  RP wise for favored enemies I'd kinda gotten to the "mad-libs" point of coming up with his background.  I had the general skeleton sketched out and just had to fill in a few blanks to flesh him out, hence the uncertainty of what choice to make.  Of course now this talk about ranger abilities has me thinking of something to post in the suggestion board...

[Garage Trashcan]

Don't go pure DEX. Don't make the same mistake I did! You only lose like, 1 AC!

[The Red Mage]

Yes, please, at least, pick up power attack. It's so worth it.

[evilgiraffe42]

Actually planning on going STR based anyway 16 dex 15 str at first level and just dump all my level ups into str from then on out.