Ranger Favored Enemy

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Ok, I haven't played the game the whole way through yet. I'm in the Goblin Horde Fortress, myself. I do know that next time I play through, a Ranger will be in my party, I just don't know what favored enemy choices are best. So, for those who've gotten further into the game, I'm asking what enemies are most plentiful and most beneficial to take as favored enemies.

 

Well it would be great if you could pick half dragons, or outsiders in general or humans or even better humanoids as a favored enemy since that's what you'll be facing most towards the end of the game but you can't, from what I recall there are a lot of hook horrors in the underdark, yuan-tis both in chapter four and chapter five and well that's pretty much what you'll meet. Oh and by the way towards the end mages seem to summon a lot of giants though I don't know if the favored enemy bonus works against summoned creatures (many of the giants are shades)

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oh oh and towards the end there are alse half-goblins and orogs. And by the way don't pick undead or anything that can't be sneak attacked as a favored enemy cause you won't be able to use the extra damage towards that enemy (at least that's how it goes with pnp DnD

[ September 25, 2002, 11:39: Message edited by: HeartOfDarkness ]

 

I've got a half-elven ranger/druid and an elven ranger/cleric, both of their racial enemies #1 are orcs. I'm in chapter one and I haven't regretted this decision yet. For my next choice I'm not sure yet, but I do hate both salamanders and yuan-ti, so maybe one of them.

 

Well, thanks for the advice. So far I've decided on Orcs and Yuan-ti as favored enemies. For awhile I thought I'd try Goblins, since they are plentiful, at least early in the game, but then I remembered that, while goblins are a real threat in this game, they are still too easy to waste a favored enemy slot on. Except for the magic using ones or the warg mounted ones, anyway. Now I just have to figure out what other creatures out of the list would be a good choice. Oh, and believe me, if I could pick humanoids, I would.

 

Aberrations seems like a solid pick. There's quite a few hook horrors and umberhulks toward the mid-game.

Trolls are sprinkled around most of the early and mid game. They count as Giants, dont they?


Oh god, it's split out into specific subtypes. Giant, troll, ogre. Hook Horror, Umber hulk. Ew ew ew ew ew.

 

I only took a 1-level mix-in of the ranger class, as they're perhaps the poorest class to play in game. But having those 2 feats for dual wielding free if wearing light or no armour, is a decent bonus effect at level 1.

As for favoured enemy, it just adds +1 to the hit chance, so it's no big deal. Even a high-level ranger will just hit better, no extra damage (well, you know what I mean). I followed a walkthrough's advice, which said that Trolls are the one enemy type that appear pretty much thoughout the game, and stay challenging.

 

I pick trolls myself since they are the most annoying. You can't just kill them with fire, you must first smack them down, THEN kill them with fire (or acid).
Them getting back up and needing to be smacked down again is annoying, so I give my rangers a little extra help with the trolls. They are common through the first few chapters when your party is weakest and that little bonus does the most good.

Choosing goblins or orcs is another very good choice early on as your initial pick, but loses value after the Goblin Fortress. Trolls stays useful throughout the game.

 

Another nice thing about rangers is that they unlock some nice magic items. My dreadmonk took 1 level in ranger because rangers, fighters, and barbarians are the only ones who can wear Dwarven Ogre, which gives a permanent Blur effect. It's the difference between getting hit once every 20 attacks, or once every 25. The continual +6 to strength isn't bad either.

-Max