Editing Ranger (section)

===4th Edition===
In 4e they get to mark their enemies, making them useful when you're fighting one tough thing and a bit crap against swarms. They can either slaughter one enemy, or irritate several, depending on what the situation calls for. Or they can completely miss with their most powerful once-per-milestone attack, and that's some fun. This edition removed the spellcasting abilities of earlier editions, since they had always been pretty shitty casters anyway and it was mostly a poor attempt to justify some of the more esoteric abilities of the class. The "spellcasting archer" archetype was eventually spun off into its own class, the [[Seeker]].<br />As each class had ways to specialize their abilities, so too did the ranger with the following:
*''Archer'' which just grants Defensive Mobility as a bonus feat so they get some extra AC vs Opportunity Attacks, which is decent.
*''Beast Mastery'', predictably, grants an animal companion. The issue with this is that it forces the Ranger to relying on either tandem attacking with the pet (Not always ideal for some pets) or focus on archery (Which sucks since all the pet-dependent powers rely on Strength and Prime Shot is gone, though the Horse does offer unbeatable mobility).
*''Hunter'' emphasizes switch-hitting by granting the Quick Draw feat as well as giving a better AC vs Opportunity attacks for shooting, so have fun using hand-crossbow and sword.
*''Marauder'' is the speedy two-weapon class with the Two-Weapon Defense feat, thus granting +1 AC/Reflex/Speed for using two weapons.
*''Two Blade'' is the offensive two-weapon class by only granting Toughness for bonus HP.
The ''Essentials'' book ''Heroes of the Forgotten Lands'' also provides two simplified Ranger [[Variant Class]]es to use: The '''[[Hunter (D&D)|Hunter]]''', which focuses exclusively on archery, and the '''[[Scout]]''', which brings the Ranger back to it's not-quite-Druid roots with actual magic and the ability to dual-wield. These two classes, as with most ''Essentials'' classes, severely narrow down the choices available to the class, with most attack powers being mandatory.

{{D&D4-Classes}}