Editing Ranger (section)

==Pathfinder==
===1st Edition===
[[File:Harsk.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Harsk, Pathfinder's iconic Ranger]]
[[Pathfinder]] helped the sad-sacks out, but they're still only an OK class instead of a great one. The biggest changes were the ability to use medium armor without penalty and that now both their casting and animal companion progressed at level-3 instead of half level. Their fighting style improved greatly, gaining the ability to ignore prerequisites, coming more frequently and having better options. There's also some archetypes that enabled the ranger to make and use traps - which would be cool in a campaign where you had plenty of prep time to get all the traps ready, but are utterly useless the moment combat rolls around and the traps got all used up or evaded, plus none of the traps were good enough to be worth losing spellcasting over. This is brought up in particular because come the Second Edition, Paizo also opted to scrap casting from the ranger's list of things to focus on being a dual-wielder or crossbow-centric fighter who, with the right feats, became a trapmaker. Eventually they and rogue spawned the [[Slayer]] hybrid class, which was really just a Ranger that swapped out spell casting for some sneak attack and Rogue talents.

{{Pathfinder-1st-Edition-Classes}}

===2nd Edition===
Reminiscent of 4th Edition, [[Pathfinder Second Edition]] did away with the Ranger's casting potential as a core feature. In its place, the Ranger focuses on a special action called "Hunt Prey", a much more flexible variant of 5E's Hunter's Mark spell. This action makes it easier to track the designated enemy and negates some of the range penalties when shooting, but then there's the subclasses - These add a secondary effect for the ranger (reducing the penalty for attacking multiple times in a turn, a bonus to learning about and avoiding your prey or bonus damage for the first hit in the turn - the only way to use crossbows). While not utterly a failure as a [[skill monkey]], their skill utility is limited to Nature (especially for pets), Stealth and Crafting (for those focused on trapmaking) as well as having the best proficiency progression on Perception - especially for scouting.

Aside from these core features, Ranger feats tend to focus on one of three things: Combat (Especially with regard to crossbows, archery or dual-wielding), crafting Snares (which now aren't an obscure and utterly useless nightmare, though still hamstrung by the limitations) and the expected animal companion feat line. The APG, however, aims to resurrect their spellcasting in the form of Focus spells, as is the case for [[Paladin|Champions]] and [[Monk]]s.

{{Pathfinder-2nd-Edition-Classes}}
{{Pathfinder-2nd-Edition-Archetypes}}

=====APG Focus Spells=====

Rangers finally got their own version of Focus spells added in the ''Advanced Player's Guide''. Many of these options are designed around aiding teammates and companions. But let's be honest, most rangers are going to take Gravity Weapon and nothing else.

Their new Focus Spells include:

* '''Focus 1'''
** ''Gravity Weapon'', which adds a status bonus to damage on attacks, depending on damage dice;
** ''Heal Companion'', which does exactly that;
** ''Magic Hide'', which gives your animal companion +1 AC (due to how math works in 2e it's much better than it sounds);
** ''Snare Hopping'', which lets you channel your inner [[Creed]] and allows you to teleport a snare to a different unoccupied space;

* '''Focus 2'''
** ''Animal Feature'', which lets you get cat teeth;
** ''Hunter's Luck'', which lets you roll at advantage on Recall knowledge checks;
** ''Soothing Mist'', which gives you a heal that also ends persistent damage, specifically acid, bleed, fire, negative and poison damage;

* '''Focus 3'''
** ''Ephemeral Tracking'', which lets you... track creatures through water and air... tbf you can't normally do this but still kinda lame;
** ''Ranger's Bramble''. [[FAIL|You get to cast a cantrip at the cost of a Focus point]];

* '''Focus 4'''
** ''Enlarge Companion'', [[Awesome|which lets you make your companion '''BIG''']];

* '''Focus 5'''
** ''Hunter's Vision'', which lets you fuck over concealed enemies; and
** ''Terrain Transposition'', which is a 90 foot teleport to a clear space you can see. You get an additional 90 feet if you have favored terrain and you're at your favored terrain.