Rangers favored enemy

[Twelve]

I would think having humans at even +1/4 levels, other PC races at +1/3, everything else at +1/2, and half-elves at +9/1 would be better.

As a player that prefers rangers. I like this. ALOT
 
I agree that some of it has to be thought out.. my very first PC on EFU:A was a ranger.  I took FE: Vermin, because thats is typically all low level PCs fight, and I wanted to get a feel for the server.  Alas, after 4th level, it was a useless feat.

[derfo]

Even though I agree that +1/2 is likely OP I don't see the logic in  giving humans preferential treatment here.  Humans aren't as different  from one another as a cockatoo and a great lizard.   +1/3 round the  board seems like a decent bonus without going nuts.

Admittedly they are not as different as your example, and logically it isn't infallible, but leaving it at +1/3 across the board is not going to stop everyone from taking humans much more often than everything else.

As for the half-elf joke, no one would take FE: half-elves still even if that were a reality.

[TheImpossibleDream]

I can't seem to get a picture of it and lack a scanner but theres a picture in one of the sourcebooks with a bunch of humans all standing side by side and it demonstrates just how different they are physically and also if you read into them how different they act as well! So yeah some humans will be as different as a Great Lizard and a cockatrice.

[Craig210]

IMO the decision is and always will be mechanical. The reasoning is simple, PvP the majority of the time on EFU decides if you live or die. Whether it be a 1v1, or a gank squad most people on the server play humans, it makes sense to want to survive, it makes sense to want to win and not just roll over.

Up to +4ab vs Humans is a huge advantage, it also allows you to play around with your build, you can be a crush bot. But you can also place more attributes into other skills, such as INT WIS CHA CON and not worry that your ab won’t be up to scratch for PvP.
I think what defines characters however, is how you role play it. Both my rangers had a reason behind FE human beyond mechanics. One wanted to become a Ruby Hunter, a black harper he sought to make the counts men fear him as freedom fighters fear rubies. The other was a crazy ass son of bitch who ate people, enjoyed hunting them, enjoyed making them play sick games.
I don’t see this feat as a hatred, but more as the name says. It is an enemy you prefer to hunt, granted it is cheese, it can be lame to come across someone with more ab than a pure fighter buffed who is higher level.

I think the better solution here would be to motivate people to choose other FE’s, it only takes one person to show what is possible by not cheesing for others to want to follow suit.

[Yalta]

I've taken FE Human on my ranger, given the vast array of human characteristics he obviously didn't hate *all* humans; he hated Stygians, who were generally human, hence he took it...
 
I felt that was "enough" to warrant chosing FE Human, not sure what the DM's think.
 
If I could have chosen FE: Stygians, or Lawful Evil, I would have.
 
As an aside on this, having two or even three if you hit 10, FE's seems silly to me, its a bit like:
 
"Oh yeah i hate goblins... know what... I also hate magical beasts... oh oh yeah... and dragons hate them also"
 
Would be better if it was just one FE and people focused their concepts that way in my opinion

[Egon the Monkey]

[takes FE: Sending Warrior]

Yalta, you don't have to hate a FE. If you want berzerk vengeful rage... play a barb. Why would a hunter hate animals? They're his livelihood, he's just very very good at killing them. The same for a Helmite Guard concept with FE halfling to spot Halfling Rogues trying to sneak abour. Take a second one, you've got practice in fighting something else. Feasible, considering how EfU regularly pits you against the same race of mobs. With 1 FE, you'd have a total split between"mechanical FE" of stuff you might actually fight and "Gimpy RP FE" of Gnome Slayers.

[BeteNoire]

To me the problem isn't in the choice but rather the result and the reason of that choice. People like to see the changes in effect, they like to witness their feats in action, and the easiest way to do that is to select something you'll fight often and build a simple little story around it as an excuse (like we've seen in many posts prior to this).

The only real solution is to provide more things for people to fight in the FE categories. I bet quite a few people would love to be a Dragon hunting ranger, or even stomp on some outsiders, but when it will only be used once in that PCs life in a 15-30 minute fight or throughout a low end quest and probably never again, why? Provide some whelps, aberrations, drow, outsiders, and other things in some new high end quests or strong random spawns and you'll probably see a few more of those selections arise.

The second option is of course to just ignore it. They are the strongest class in EFUA (don't debate it) but they are rarely causing any sort of turmoil or issues due to this AB bonus.

[prestonhunt]

FYI - They aren't the strongest class in EFUA.

Honestly, I hate the idea of a nerf to FE's.  I very much like the idea of items that can only be used by Rangers with a particular FE, with the caveat being of course that it was impossible to find said item for FE - Humans.

[Caddies]

FE selection should represents a ranger's extroadinary skill in hunting down and killing particular races or monsters. This extroadinary skill should be derived from sheer practice, and the practice should consequently be a derivative of sustained circumstancial need and/or emotional dedication (racial hatred being the most common).

So basically unless your PC regularly hunts down and slays humans because its his a job (bounty hunter, assassin, etc) or does so out of a sense of -racial- hatred or vengeance (Eldruth Veluuthra elf for example) then IMO you should definitely not take it.

Ofc. in the post above Egon is suggesting taking FE: Halfling 'because you spot halfling thieves good' as a viable Ranger concept LOL.

[9lives]

I mandate only that we rename the Ranger class to FE: Humans

[Anonymous Bosch]

The second option is of course to just ignore it. They are the strongest class in EFUA (don't debate it) but they are rarely causing any sort of turmoil or issues due to this AB bonus.

You mean allow players to play their game without passing judgement on their choices?  I won't hear of it!

[Egon the Monkey]

Ofc. in the post above Egon is suggesting taking FE: Halfling 'because you spot halfling thieves good' as a viable Ranger concept LOL.

Go on EFUSS. What's the most common class for a halfling, I'll bet? One with Stealth. It's rare to see a halfling PC who doesn't have stealth except for mages. Stargazers are renowned as sneaky. Halflings have a reputation for devious combat and theft, so it's logical to be trained to spot the race of people who are really good at hiding in corners. As Yalta points out, you can't take FE:Rogue, so you take the 2 races most likely to be hiding.

It definitely is viable for a concept, that's why my last merchant PC had it. Most of the PCs he called out for sneaking around the docks looking shifty, were, unsurprisingly halflings. He didn't hate halflings, he just always mistrusted them slightly and tended to watch his wallet around them.

[Caddies]

He didn't hate halflings, he just always mistrusted them slightly and tended to watch his wallet around them.

I rest my case.

[Ebok]

I just want to point out, that Ive never played a Ranger with Favored Enemy Human, well, not since the class gave the additional ab bonus'.

I always thought that it would've been more interesting to have the Favored Enemy work more like perk packages, rather then a flat attack bonus. You could easily set the more useful natural Fe choices as weaker, and give secondary benefits for other choices. Only Rangers get so many that it doesn't make this very viable.

In PnP 3 and 3.5 you have to be evil to select your own race as a favored enemy. In 4e they did away with FE but gave a damage boost to their hunted target, Ive always found that was successfully balanced.

You could always push the bonus gained on ab lower and increase the skill set side of things, too. Figured I'd toss some other use ideas into the mix.

[Garem]

As a player that prefers rangers. I like this. ALOT
 
I agree that some of it has to be thought out.. my very first PC on EFU:A was a ranger.  I took FE: Vermin, because thats is typically all low level PCs fight, and I wanted to get a feel for the server.  Alas, after 4th level, it was a useless feat.

There are frustratingly good vermin all over the server, some of which are very powerful enemies. BEHEMOTHS, if you will.

Really, there are only 6-8 different FEs I'd even consider taking on the server. Granted, that's better than what I would have taken on EfU pre-Archipelago (FE: Aberrations, Constructs, Lycanthropes anyone?).

Would it be possible to remove ranger bonuses from working against PCs? The problem is that people are worried about being PvP viable/beefy rangers, and understandably so. Die to orcs, you can respawn. Die to a player and your story is over. Clearly, we want to keep these aspects of our server, so if anything is going to be fixed make it the problem, that FE: human makes level 8-10 rangers ridiculously good in PvP.

Plus, I like the comment made earlier regarding special items vs. enemies as reward for ACTUALLY abiding by your favored enemy and roleplaying it appropriately. These would work in PvP against PCs.

Edit Addendum: +3 ab at level 9 is still very, very good. That's not an absurd or unreasonable alteration (corrected)