ADDITIONS/ERRATA: -This was fun, but midway through making this I realized I DON'T recommend this combo lol. An alternative path would have been to go the Savage route and make this a He-Man Battle Cat situation. This would've worked better with the Enlarge Companion spell which makes Megan Clumsy 1 (penalty to Dexterity, her main attack stat). Plus, without needing Dexterity for AC, she could've worn a Barding of the Zephyr and I could've used her as a flying mount against a dragon, which was my original idea for ending this battle but it meant a massive hit to her AC: 2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3014 -In my enthusiasm I skipped a couple prerequisites: Stealthy Prey required Camouflage. Shared Prey required 2 other feats, HOWEVER that is a souped-up version of the 8th-level Warden's Boon feat, which is 1 action to share gives Hunter's Edge with an ally for 1 round, which is close to what happened here. All in all, this was still a pretty accurate depiction of a Level 20 companion-focused ranger. - 25:37 The Eldritch Shot ability works with ANY spell, not just a cantrip
Oddly, Aragorn can be better represented as a Champion of Justice with Healing Hands and Mercy. And lots of skill increases in Survival, of course. Legolas, especially movie Legolas, is a ranger, and Gimli is a Fighter. That's my opinion, at least.
I precisely wanted to start this argument! lol And highlight that the core mechanic of the PF2 ranger is different from the picture of the wilderness/survivalist that people normally have about rangers (Aragorn being the archetype). Honestly I think both Ranger and Fighter represent Legolas well While Ranger with Blessed One and Marshal (or upcoming Commander) archetypes works for Aragorn
I've said it before and I'll say it again: PF2's interpretation of 'ranger' is my favorite, bar none. It's effective, and it's so modular that it can capture almost any fantasy you have for what makes a ranger, of which there are so many different interpretations, all without being imbalanced or bloated.
Part of what's fun about Pathfinder "Hunter's Mark" is you just do it, and you also have the choice based on build for what you want it to do--hit it very hard, hit it very fast, or outsmart it. You aren't really shoehorned into one style. I keep thinking about how different Rangers, Fighters, Rogues, and Swashbuckers all feel with how they play, despite the fact that you could easily build a character who fights with finesse melee weapons on all three.
Absolutely. One of my favorite Pathfinder characters was a hulking thug of a man that beat the tar put of his foes with a club. Naturally, he was a Rogue. Playing an enforcer with a ton of out of combat utility with all his skills was just great.
@@Amanofan7777 PF2E Rogue, too, is just beautiful to me. The numerous choices of Mainstat for them, with the variety of build textures you can get from it, is just delightful.
I think precision rangers work best with animal companions. Since both you and your animal companion can benefit from the huge precion dice bonus on your prey. Flurry rangers don't work that well with animal companions in my opinion, since you probably want to spend your actions on doing more attacks. I am not quite sure on outwith rangers, but I assume outwit rangers probably want to spend their actions on skill use during combat.
@@hammerspace8866 Outwit also give some extra AC, so having an additional "pseudo-tank" on the group could be beneficial. Now the fun part: I thought to myself "I think a bear animal companion could be a good tank" so I checked its stats. Turns out, you want to be a Flurry Ranger with this companion. In a nutshell, if the bear lands 2 hits, it auto-grabs the enemy. XD
I'd rather have a platypus animal companion and have a running gag of it just being a normal platypus when it's around me but then whenever it gets around the corner it becomes a super animal companion and does awesome things and then the bad guys are all like Perry the Platypus and then it comes back to me and it's just a normal platypus again
The Salamander companion that just came out in Howl of the Wild could work as a basis for a Platypus. It has the swim speed and venom. Reskin the jaw attack to a claw attack and you're golden.
This is a really cool video! One of my players wanted to play a ranger, but coming from 5E he didn't want to be disappointed. I think this may change his mind.
That was a savage turn for Legolas. That's the power of fighting lower level enemies. People complain about PF2e being too hard and the math being unforgiving, but that's only if you keep fighting higher level enemies. Fighting lower level enemies can give an entirely different feel for the game and you can still have tough combats with waves of monsters or many at one (but be careful to not let your casters blow them away with a single spell, they can be nasty).
@@AndreAlbuquerque-uk2oi It's because if the GM uses too many low level enemies and a tight map, casters can catch all of them with a single AOE and due to their low saves, they will critically fail and probably dying instantly, which might make the fight trivial. Also, this should be avoided if there are more than one caster with good AOE. It's more about enabling good AOE for the players, but spreading the enemy forces a little to avoid total defeat and give the rest of the party something to do as well.
Thing I love about PF2 Ranger is the flavor is basically as much as you want it to be. You could be a nature warden, classic style ranger, or you can just be someone whose good at surviving with a respectable amount of knowledge in regards to ecology (not even just animals -- there's support for rangers who are great at fighting plants and fungus but idk how often that would come up lol) or even forgo the ecological aspects and be a more urban bounty hunter instead. You could make a ranger who focuses on archery or crossbows, or focused on dual weapons, or heavy two-handed weapons, or sword and off-hand, or entirely unarmed or even having some degree of magic and all do quite well. Sometimes people complain that ranger is basically just a fighter with more gimmicks and less power but I fundamentally disagree. It's just a well-designed, versatile class!
I agree. If you wanna simplify it that much, all martials without spellcasting are just fighters with gimmicks. I think “Fighter with X” is a silly way to conceptualize TTRPG.
@@zjplunkett I sort of get it and sort of don't. I do think there is a sort of unspoken litmus test that if a class just makes me wish I was playing a fighter, or feels like a worse fighter, then the class needs some work. Inventor is often said to just feel like a worse barbarian crossed with a fighter and it honestly feels like that. I don't feel it with Ranger whatsoever though. I think some people see the game purely in DPR and forget there's plenty of other ways to go about combat and roleplay.
Something to be pointed out: there are quite a few archetypes, like the dual weapon warrior and the clawdancer, that increase the effectiveness of a flurry ranger to "cuisinart on PCP" levels. Sure, they aren't as flashy as, say, the arcane archer, but they let you puree an opponent in the blink of an eye.
No joke, Strom "Huzzah" Winterfang is my Strength based Ranger with Intelligence for recalling knowledge in Ulfen, Warfare, and Tundra Lores. His beasts are a Bird and Wolf.
Yeah I'm playing a strength ranger rn. She's an Minotaur Oread with high intelligence and a handful of lores (Dragon, Beasts, Minotaur, etc) and primarily wrestles enemies. Her beast is a bird of prey.
If you have to explore and track things in the wilderness AT ALL, a ranger will save you entire sessions. PF2e ranger is pretty great all-around, in combat and out of combat, but really shines in the wilds. And they are a pure martial with optional spells, as opposed to a hybrid class, which is great because PF2e already has some awesome hybrid casters.
There are a couple of ranger builds I want to try out. A support flurry ranger with warden's boon and shared prey. Imagine a fighter,barbarian,monk or rogue getting the advance of your ranger's flurry and having less multiple attack penalty or an outwit ranger that uses master monster hunter and the other feats to give the party buffs when identifying monsters. Precision ranger with an animal companion also seems like it would be a lot of fun.
Another cool thing I like about rangers (and other martials that get focus spells) is their quicker spell proficiency progression. It makes them great for people who want a gish through archetyping
Rangers are my favorite class in PF2e I just like being good with a bow, favorite Ranger I’ve played is Strider a fleshwarp precision ranger with the rogue and eldtrich archer type, extra sneak attack and magical arrows are super fun
You hit the nail on the head. I have played both D&D 5e and PF2e and will agree that the PF2e is the best with an animal companion! The last time I added my cat Luna to my ranger. It was a great time!
that was really fun to watch, thank you for showing that on foundry. I use Fantasy Grounds, but It is nice to see how well foundry works with the PF2E ruleset.
Legolas will always be a bow fighter for me When Ronald mentioned the ranger from LotR my first idea was Aragorn, not him. But I get it for the demo Anyways nice showcase!
The things is that the amount of attacks of a Flurry Ranger is higher than a Fighter's, which fits better in this case, even if the OG inspiration for the Ranger was Aragorn.
Thinking about running Curtain Call (levels 11-20 AP) and am watching to get a sense for what I'd be getting myself into. :) I know it's RP-heavy, but I still expect *some* fights.
Personally, survey wildlife seems like the absolute best low level skill feat for a ranger. In exploration mode you can literally just roll to learn what creatures are in the area, then begin tracking the most powerful one you recognize, then hunt prey on the one you are tracking, so if you end up in a fight with that creatures, hunt prey is already applied. I have had rangers use it to hunt bandits, bears, dragons, and it even works in dungeons, though the gm might make the test harder. you don't actually have to know WHAT you are tracking either, you just have to be tracking it. For example, if the ranger in your combat scenario surveyed wildlife, and found the tracks of something they did not recognize, Like a a Nosferatu, they could hunt prey on it, then start the fight with hunt prey active.
Survey Wildlife often ends up on people's list of worst skill feats and I never quite understood why. Sure, it's a bit campaign niche, and yeah it's a little over-caveat'd, but when it works. It works. It's a great way to strategically engage with the setting of the game. Do wish it was written in a slightly broader way to include any areas in which animals could roam though.
@amelialonelyfart8848 I'm not sure how much broader it can be without being broken. It's already pretty broad. The skill feat does not specify a creature type, and no, "wildlife" in the title is not a creature type. It gives examples of what the ranger looks for, it gives a limitation for the GM to use by increasing the DC, so it is self limiting. As written, it works on any creature in the area, and it does not specify what type of terrain. The only way I can think of to brauden the feat would be to remove any mention of the examples of what the tracker looks at, and that would be broken. I will say, survey wildlife is Meh, at best on most classes, but on a ranger, and arguably investigator, it is incredible.
@@pyronicdesign I suppose I just have a lot of experience with hard-ass GMs who would use 'wilderness' to just mean 'forests' and not apply it to where else it would apply reasonably (dungeons, encampments, etc) so it tipped me off as being a little too specific.
Well if you won’t talk about it, I will. I really wanna make an awakened animal witch that was the pet of a wizard until that wizard disappeared in an accident that also awakened the animal. So now the wizard’s old familiar is the familiar of their awakened former pet and they have adventures
He has right ranger is an old-time hybrid, from pre AD&D times. I can be incorrect, but ranger start to exist even they split classes and races (yup an elf in old time was class-race amalgamate, only humans can pick classes) and name what left from Elf after subtracting a Elf was an Ranger.
I'm going to be doing one of the higher level aps soon (stolen fate) and was wondering if animal companion ranger would be good enough for that or if they were more a lower level thing so this video actually is pretty helpful to me
Drizzts Do'urden is the first ranger with an animal companion (and don't event is a regular animal) and I do not remember if he even cast a spell in his hole story
@@TheRulesLawyerRPG I checked out making a character today and lo and behold, the 1, 2, and 3 action symbols plus the reaction symbol showed up with some actions that you could do. Interestingly, the attack action can be only done once "unless you have a second weapon". I'm interested in seeing if you make a small video about this.
@TheRulesLawyerRPG *pushes up glasses* Polymorph spells are "disrupted" if you cannot expand into the spaces required by changing size. Megan would not have grown larger from the Enlarge spell since she cannot 'push' the Nosferatu away. She would have needed to have been activated first, and then taken a Stride action to move to an open space (as animals don't instinctively understand 'Step' without special training, per Train Animal) and then been enlarged afterwards. Also Tigers are Large. Leopards are Medium. Also Also I wasn't aware that Megan obeyed your commands? I thought YOU were HER pet? Which is a feat now...
You need "space" to expand into which can be read more than one way. That could be read as being in a room that is smaller than your desired size. Or it could be read as "you can push creatures away, so long as they have room to move to." I think it would seem silly to most people to read this so strictly as to make the presence of 1 Medium creature that happens to be adjacent to a creature in an open area be enough to prevent such a kewl spell. Tigers are large, leopards are Medium is hewing a bit too much to "what Paizo says is gospel" for my tastes What's awesome is that one could be an Awakened Animal cat PC with a reskinned animal companion that is a human. That might be a video idea...
HM idk if a capybara would be a good choice as a combat animal companion they are v chill in my experience and mostly just like scritches and chewing furniture maybe in a dungeon where the enemies are all furniture?
It is not explicitly called out in the rules, so it's up to the GM. But I vote for Cool here. Plus there's this text from the Moving Through Creatures rules from Player Core 422: "If two creatures end up in the same square by accident, the GM determines which one is forced out of the square (or whether one falls prone)."
@@TheRulesLawyerRPG under the Polymorph trait (Player Core 301 )the last sentence says "If a polymorph effect causes you to increase in size, you must have space to expand into or the effect is disrupted." Enlarge Companion has the effects of the Enlarge spell that has the Polymorph trait. Did I just rules lawer the RulesLawyer?
@@ErikSt12 The RAI on that rule seems more like "you can't expand your size in a tiny room/hallway" more than if people are surrounding you in an open space, but I'm still learning all the specific rules. Technically you'd have the space if the enemies could be pushed out of the way, you just couldn't like smash them into walls and turn them into paste is my read on it at least.
@@ErikSt12 Space to expand into can easily be read as "you can't be Huge in a 10x10 foot room." And one can easily see growth of a creature overcoming people standing nearby. If one wants to be a stickler about it I'd think it's justified to at least have a chance to grow with a check of some kind. Megan failing to grow simply because one person stands next to her sounds kind of silly to me.
@@TheRulesLawyerRPG If that's the case, would it be possible to enlarge something so that it overtakes the space of an enemy? Essentially crushing them beneath the now bloated kitty. That would cause it to move through a space occupied by an unwilling creature if it tries to move anywhere.
animal companions don't have a max DEX Adding Mature (+1) Nimble (+2) and Ambusher (+1) to a base cat companion's +3 gets you a +7 DEX You can even take Incredible Companion again to boost DEX further with Daredevil
@@soldier660 He didn't go over what items or runes he has, so I assume he took an Apex item, which either raises an attribute by +1, or makes it +4, whichever is higher.
In round 3 wouldn't it be better to do 1 attack yourself? megan would still get 1 action if you don't command her, right? 2 attacks without multiple attack penalty seem better then 2 attacks from megan when she'll have a penalty on her 2nd attack.
That sounds like it would've been better yes I don't remember all the circumstances, but I do know I wanted to highlight the decision space from the 3-action economy and was focused less on showing optimal play, including for people who don't have the Mature feat
Hello. Just got introduced to your channel by happenstance. What game was that in the background during the first few seconds of your intro? And where can i play it? Much love and respect.
The ranger-type class is the ultimate litmus test for if a fantasy system is good. If you want to know if the system is good, look at the ranger. If thevranger us good, the system us good, but it does not have to be top tier, just good. If thev4anger us bad, that is a red flag. Rangers in pf2 are awesome, even after the removal of their snare feats, assuming you inlybuse the remaster. Rangers I. D&D are bad, often considered the worst class. And it does not matter if the dev revises it to be better, it has already failed the litmas test.
Yes there are, but it is a simplification for the 5e player who's asking "what action resources do I have on my turn?" and 5e says you have four. Many 5e players mentally wall off reactions and because they're already overwhelmed There's a time to split hairs if it enlightens; in this case it only confuses.
My main concern about animal companions is always the AC of my animal companion. It's always really low, even compared to Wizards, which makes me overly paranoid.
In the Strength of Thousands PF2 game I'm current running, the druid has 2 animal companies, a bear and bird. The party is level 5. The companions have an AC of 20 and 21 respectively. The party witch has an AC of 21, the druid has 22, and the rogue has 23. And with an armor potency rune the companions would match the druid and be 1 under the rogue. And that AC will continue to scale, and with the 3 feats the Ronald mentioned and armor they could continue to be closely follow the rogue. They won't get outscaled and left behind. Edit: I realized the animal companions were underlevelled and AC was 1 to low. I'm adjusting the numbers. Edit: I don't think they can use potency runes. Or at least their item AC is capped at 3. Not totally sure how that affects things.
A ranger can take the Magic Hide warden spell, which boosts the companion's AC for the rest of the encounter. Also, taking any caster dedication feat lets you grab the Protect Companion cantrip, which is basically Shield but for your companion.
All the title did was cite the well-documented disappointment in D&D's ranger and asked "Is this you?" There really should be no objection to addressing people who already are leaving Hasbro/D&D as we speak.
Normally I'd agree, but considering how many video titles I've seen from DND players that are some variation of "5E RANGER SUCKS" this just feels like part of the conversation and is even being less explicitly mean than those.
All videos must now be titled "Pathfinder sucks, D&D is better at ___!" and then the video proceeds to explain why the statement in the title is incorrect
ADDITIONS/ERRATA:
-This was fun, but midway through making this I realized I DON'T recommend this combo lol. An alternative path would have been to go the Savage route and make this a He-Man Battle Cat situation. This would've worked better with the Enlarge Companion spell which makes Megan Clumsy 1 (penalty to Dexterity, her main attack stat). Plus, without needing Dexterity for AC, she could've worn a Barding of the Zephyr and I could've used her as a flying mount against a dragon, which was my original idea for ending this battle but it meant a massive hit to her AC: 2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=3014
-In my enthusiasm I skipped a couple prerequisites: Stealthy Prey required Camouflage. Shared Prey required 2 other feats, HOWEVER that is a souped-up version of the 8th-level Warden's Boon feat, which is 1 action to share gives Hunter's Edge with an ally for 1 round, which is close to what happened here. All in all, this was still a pretty accurate depiction of a Level 20 companion-focused ranger.
- 25:37 The Eldritch Shot ability works with ANY spell, not just a cantrip
Not to completely fly the nerd flag, but Legolas is a fighter... Aragorn was the ranger of the fellowship.
Oddly, Aragorn can be better represented as a Champion of Justice with Healing Hands and Mercy. And lots of skill increases in Survival, of course. Legolas, especially movie Legolas, is a ranger, and Gimli is a Fighter. That's my opinion, at least.
I precisely wanted to start this argument! lol
And highlight that the core mechanic of the PF2 ranger is different from the picture of the wilderness/survivalist that people normally have about rangers (Aragorn being the archetype).
Honestly I think both Ranger and Fighter represent Legolas well
While Ranger with Blessed One and Marshal (or upcoming Commander) archetypes works for Aragorn
I swear to God, every single time I see the word "ranger" on the internet, there is literally always someone talking about Aragorn
@@Sina-dv1eg Someones gotta put respect on his name, can't have the elf take all the glory.
I think Legolas fits for this ranger that he built to do 6 flurry attacks in one turn lol
I've said it before and I'll say it again: PF2's interpretation of 'ranger' is my favorite, bar none. It's effective, and it's so modular that it can capture almost any fantasy you have for what makes a ranger, of which there are so many different interpretations, all without being imbalanced or bloated.
Part of what's fun about Pathfinder "Hunter's Mark" is you just do it, and you also have the choice based on build for what you want it to do--hit it very hard, hit it very fast, or outsmart it. You aren't really shoehorned into one style.
I keep thinking about how different Rangers, Fighters, Rogues, and Swashbuckers all feel with how they play, despite the fact that you could easily build a character who fights with finesse melee weapons on all three.
Absolutely. One of my favorite Pathfinder characters was a hulking thug of a man that beat the tar put of his foes with a club. Naturally, he was a Rogue. Playing an enforcer with a ton of out of combat utility with all his skills was just great.
@@Amanofan7777 PF2E Rogue, too, is just beautiful to me. The numerous choices of Mainstat for them, with the variety of build textures you can get from it, is just delightful.
I think precision rangers work best with animal companions. Since both you and your animal companion can benefit from the huge precion dice bonus on your prey.
Flurry rangers don't work that well with animal companions in my opinion, since you probably want to spend your actions on doing more attacks.
I am not quite sure on outwith rangers, but I assume outwit rangers probably want to spend their actions on skill use during combat.
@@hammerspace8866 Outwit also give some extra AC, so having an additional "pseudo-tank" on the group could be beneficial.
Now the fun part: I thought to myself "I think a bear animal companion could be a good tank" so I checked its stats. Turns out, you want to be a Flurry Ranger with this companion. In a nutshell, if the bear lands 2 hits, it auto-grabs the enemy. XD
Omg thank you so much for the shoutout! 💜 😁 I was just happily watching along and suddenly there I am! haha
Your video deserves it! Well done!
I'd rather have a platypus animal companion and have a running gag of it just being a normal platypus when it's around me but then whenever it gets around the corner it becomes a super animal companion and does awesome things and then the bad guys are all like Perry the Platypus and then it comes back to me and it's just a normal platypus again
The Salamander companion that just came out in Howl of the Wild could work as a basis for a Platypus. It has the swim speed and venom. Reskin the jaw attack to a claw attack and you're golden.
Sounds like you should play an awakened animal and BE the animal companion that pretends to be normal around their owner
Ranger was the first class i delved into after swapping systems from DND. It made me fell in love with the system. They are just amizingly designed.
This is a really cool video! One of my players wanted to play a ranger, but coming from 5E he didn't want to be disappointed. I think this may change his mind.
That was a savage turn for Legolas. That's the power of fighting lower level enemies. People complain about PF2e being too hard and the math being unforgiving, but that's only if you keep fighting higher level enemies.
Fighting lower level enemies can give an entirely different feel for the game and you can still have tough combats with waves of monsters or many at one (but be careful to not let your casters blow them away with a single spell, they can be nasty).
What you mean about dont let your casters blow them away? So they cant? Why? To break the math a little? The GM will not let them cast their spells?
@@AndreAlbuquerque-uk2oi It's because if the GM uses too many low level enemies and a tight map, casters can catch all of them with a single AOE and due to their low saves, they will critically fail and probably dying instantly, which might make the fight trivial. Also, this should be avoided if there are more than one caster with good AOE.
It's more about enabling good AOE for the players, but spreading the enemy forces a little to avoid total defeat and give the rest of the party something to do as well.
Thing I love about PF2 Ranger is the flavor is basically as much as you want it to be. You could be a nature warden, classic style ranger, or you can just be someone whose good at surviving with a respectable amount of knowledge in regards to ecology (not even just animals -- there's support for rangers who are great at fighting plants and fungus but idk how often that would come up lol) or even forgo the ecological aspects and be a more urban bounty hunter instead. You could make a ranger who focuses on archery or crossbows, or focused on dual weapons, or heavy two-handed weapons, or sword and off-hand, or entirely unarmed or even having some degree of magic and all do quite well.
Sometimes people complain that ranger is basically just a fighter with more gimmicks and less power but I fundamentally disagree. It's just a well-designed, versatile class!
I agree. If you wanna simplify it that much, all martials without spellcasting are just fighters with gimmicks. I think “Fighter with X” is a silly way to conceptualize TTRPG.
@@zjplunkett I sort of get it and sort of don't. I do think there is a sort of unspoken litmus test that if a class just makes me wish I was playing a fighter, or feels like a worse fighter, then the class needs some work. Inventor is often said to just feel like a worse barbarian crossed with a fighter and it honestly feels like that. I don't feel it with Ranger whatsoever though. I think some people see the game purely in DPR and forget there's plenty of other ways to go about combat and roleplay.
Something to be pointed out: there are quite a few archetypes, like the dual weapon warrior and the clawdancer, that increase the effectiveness of a flurry ranger to "cuisinart on PCP" levels. Sure, they aren't as flashy as, say, the arcane archer, but they let you puree an opponent in the blink of an eye.
Rangers are great, i love Paizo's take on the class
The Megan content we needed 🙌
Go Megan, go!!
I love how you said "Megan" and her ears perked up
Keep making combat demos, i love them!
Yes, I agree. This video helps me conceptualize all of the feats
No joke, Strom "Huzzah" Winterfang is my Strength based Ranger with Intelligence for recalling knowledge in Ulfen, Warfare, and Tundra Lores. His beasts are a Bird and Wolf.
Yeah I'm playing a strength ranger rn. She's an Minotaur Oread with high intelligence and a handful of lores (Dragon, Beasts, Minotaur, etc) and primarily wrestles enemies. Her beast is a bird of prey.
If you have to explore and track things in the wilderness AT ALL, a ranger will save you entire sessions. PF2e ranger is pretty great all-around, in combat and out of combat, but really shines in the wilds. And they are a pure martial with optional spells, as opposed to a hybrid class, which is great because PF2e already has some awesome hybrid casters.
This is some high tier effort to post cat content. I approve (and I'm not even a cat person).
There are a couple of ranger builds I want to try out.
A support flurry ranger with warden's boon and shared prey. Imagine a fighter,barbarian,monk or rogue getting the advance of your ranger's flurry and having less multiple attack penalty
or an outwit ranger that uses master monster hunter and the other feats to give the party buffs when identifying monsters.
Precision ranger with an animal companion also seems like it would be a lot of fun.
I listen thru Ron’s intro every time just cuz I find the music so comfy 😊
This video was incredibly informative and hilarious. The clips of Megan swating the funko was cracking me up
if that was my first pathfinder impression, i would definitely be interested xD
Another cool thing I like about rangers (and other martials that get focus spells) is their quicker spell proficiency progression. It makes them great for people who want a gish through archetyping
I've been having so much fun with my ranger. Precision ranger really nails that character fantasy of sniping for huge amounts of damage.
Rangers are my favorite class in PF2e I just like being good with a bow, favorite Ranger I’ve played is Strider a fleshwarp precision ranger with the rogue and eldtrich archer type, extra sneak attack and magical arrows are super fun
You hit the nail on the head. I have played both D&D 5e and PF2e and will agree that the PF2e is the best with an animal companion! The last time I added my cat Luna to my ranger. It was a great time!
that was really fun to watch, thank you for showing that on foundry. I use Fantasy Grounds, but It is nice to see how well foundry works with the PF2E ruleset.
Yeah, Foundry has an official partnership with Paizo so the PF2e system runs really well there.
11:00 wow that's so silly how it works in 5e. I never noticed that.
New stealth rules are way worse than the old ones
Legolas will always be a bow fighter for me
When Ronald mentioned the ranger from LotR my first idea was Aragorn, not him. But I get it for the demo
Anyways nice showcase!
The things is that the amount of attacks of a Flurry Ranger is higher than a Fighter's, which fits better in this case, even if the OG inspiration for the Ranger was Aragorn.
Thinking about running Curtain Call (levels 11-20 AP) and am watching to get a sense for what I'd be getting myself into. :) I know it's RP-heavy, but I still expect *some* fights.
Personally, survey wildlife seems like the absolute best low level skill feat for a ranger. In exploration mode you can literally just roll to learn what creatures are in the area, then begin tracking the most powerful one you recognize, then hunt prey on the one you are tracking, so if you end up in a fight with that creatures, hunt prey is already applied.
I have had rangers use it to hunt bandits, bears, dragons, and it even works in dungeons, though the gm might make the test harder. you don't actually have to know WHAT you are tracking either, you just have to be tracking it. For example, if the ranger in your combat scenario surveyed wildlife, and found the tracks of something they did not recognize, Like a a Nosferatu, they could hunt prey on it, then start the fight with hunt prey active.
Survey Wildlife often ends up on people's list of worst skill feats and I never quite understood why. Sure, it's a bit campaign niche, and yeah it's a little over-caveat'd, but when it works. It works. It's a great way to strategically engage with the setting of the game. Do wish it was written in a slightly broader way to include any areas in which animals could roam though.
@amelialonelyfart8848 I'm not sure how much broader it can be without being broken. It's already pretty broad. The skill feat does not specify a creature type, and no, "wildlife" in the title is not a creature type. It gives examples of what the ranger looks for, it gives a limitation for the GM to use by increasing the DC, so it is self limiting. As written, it works on any creature in the area, and it does not specify what type of terrain.
The only way I can think of to brauden the feat would be to remove any mention of the examples of what the tracker looks at, and that would be broken.
I will say, survey wildlife is Meh, at best on most classes, but on a ranger, and arguably investigator, it is incredible.
@@pyronicdesign I suppose I just have a lot of experience with hard-ass GMs who would use 'wilderness' to just mean 'forests' and not apply it to where else it would apply reasonably (dungeons, encampments, etc) so it tipped me off as being a little too specific.
@@amelialonelyfart8848,
"Wilderness" is anything that isn't a settlement. Possibly, anything that isn't a building.
@@aralornwolf3140 Eh, debatable. Wouldn't call, say, a warehouse in the woods 'wilderness' because it's connected to civilization.
Okay I understand now why two-action Heal is the best use of it
I'm amused that the 1st edition AD&D ranger wasn't magical until it became a Pathfinder.
Well if you won’t talk about it, I will. I really wanna make an awakened animal witch that was the pet of a wizard until that wizard disappeared in an accident that also awakened the animal. So now the wizard’s old familiar is the familiar of their awakened former pet and they have adventures
Damn, that combat demo makes me want to play with an animal companion!
Megan content is best content
He has right ranger is an old-time hybrid, from pre AD&D times. I can be incorrect, but ranger start to exist even they split classes and races (yup an elf in old time was class-race amalgamate, only humans can pick classes) and name what left from Elf after subtracting a Elf was an Ranger.
@10:40 I wasn't paying attention. I was looking at Megan. Did you say Nosferatu?
I'm going to be doing one of the higher level aps soon (stolen fate) and was wondering if animal companion ranger would be good enough for that or if they were more a lower level thing so this video actually is pretty helpful to me
Ah yes, a typical day for Legolas...
Drizzts Do'urden is the first ranger with an animal companion (and don't event is a regular animal) and I do not remember if he even cast a spell in his hole story
On a separate note, have you looked at the Cosmere rpg? It uses the 3 action economy. I’m not sure if you’ve done a video on this.
Ah, I'm a busy beaver these days, but if it has a 3 action economy I'll try to check it out
@@TheRulesLawyerRPG I checked out making a character today and lo and behold, the 1, 2, and 3 action symbols plus the reaction symbol showed up with some actions that you could do. Interestingly, the attack action can be only done once "unless you have a second weapon". I'm interested in seeing if you make a small video about this.
@TheRulesLawyerRPG
*pushes up glasses* Polymorph spells are "disrupted" if you cannot expand into the spaces required by changing size. Megan would not have grown larger from the Enlarge spell since she cannot 'push' the Nosferatu away. She would have needed to have been activated first, and then taken a Stride action to move to an open space (as animals don't instinctively understand 'Step' without special training, per Train Animal) and then been enlarged afterwards.
Also Tigers are Large. Leopards are Medium.
Also Also I wasn't aware that Megan obeyed your commands? I thought YOU were HER pet? Which is a feat now...
You need "space" to expand into which can be read more than one way. That could be read as being in a room that is smaller than your desired size. Or it could be read as "you can push creatures away, so long as they have room to move to." I think it would seem silly to most people to read this so strictly as to make the presence of 1 Medium creature that happens to be adjacent to a creature in an open area be enough to prevent such a kewl spell.
Tigers are large, leopards are Medium is hewing a bit too much to "what Paizo says is gospel" for my tastes
What's awesome is that one could be an Awakened Animal cat PC with a reskinned animal companion that is a human. That might be a video idea...
It would be nice to have links to the builds you do for these, like in Pathbuilder or an exported pdf from Foundry.
I hate the concept of the ranger character, it's just not in my taste. But this video made me fall in love with it anyway! Also Megan
HM idk if a capybara would be a good choice as a combat animal companion
they are v chill in my experience and mostly just like scritches and chewing furniture
maybe in a dungeon where the enemies are all furniture?
14:25 - what module are you using that gives you the fire effect?
Is there a way to replicate drakewarden ranger from D&D, preferably at the start and not needing to wait multiple levels?
Hmm there's a dragonblood versatile heritage in Player Core 2, and a "riding drake" animal companion
Ugh, Nosferatu Tuesdays are the WORST :P
It's the damned tacos. They bring in the bad crowd
15:07 Enlarge companion does not work when there is not enough space to increase ones size, or am I missing something?
It is not explicitly called out in the rules, so it's up to the GM. But I vote for Cool here.
Plus there's this text from the Moving Through Creatures rules from Player Core 422: "If two creatures end up in the same square by accident, the GM determines which one is forced out of the square (or whether one falls prone)."
@@TheRulesLawyerRPG under the Polymorph trait (Player Core 301 )the last sentence says "If a polymorph effect causes you to increase in size, you must have space to expand into or the effect is disrupted."
Enlarge Companion has the effects of the Enlarge spell that has the Polymorph trait.
Did I just rules lawer the RulesLawyer?
@@ErikSt12 The RAI on that rule seems more like "you can't expand your size in a tiny room/hallway" more than if people are surrounding you in an open space, but I'm still learning all the specific rules. Technically you'd have the space if the enemies could be pushed out of the way, you just couldn't like smash them into walls and turn them into paste is my read on it at least.
@@ErikSt12 Space to expand into can easily be read as "you can't be Huge in a 10x10 foot room." And one can easily see growth of a creature overcoming people standing nearby.
If one wants to be a stickler about it I'd think it's justified to at least have a chance to grow with a check of some kind. Megan failing to grow simply because one person stands next to her sounds kind of silly to me.
@@TheRulesLawyerRPG If that's the case, would it be possible to enlarge something so that it overtakes the space of an enemy? Essentially crushing them beneath the now bloated kitty.
That would cause it to move through a space occupied by an unwilling creature if it tries to move anywhere.
A question about the video and pf2 Isn't the maxium attribute score suppose to be +6 ? or i´m missing something ?
He Showed +7 in the video
animal companions don't have a max DEX
Adding Mature (+1) Nimble (+2) and Ambusher (+1) to a base cat companion's +3 gets you a +7 DEX
You can even take Incredible Companion again to boost DEX further with Daredevil
@@TheRulesLawyerRPGthats nice but i meant the 2 rangers, they have +7 Dex which would be 24, in the old system, the maximum is 22, if i´m not wrong.
@@soldier660 He didn't go over what items or runes he has, so I assume he took an Apex item, which either raises an attribute by +1, or makes it +4, whichever is higher.
I like "combat examples"!
In round 3 wouldn't it be better to do 1 attack yourself? megan would still get 1 action if you don't command her, right?
2 attacks without multiple attack penalty seem better then 2 attacks from megan when she'll have a penalty on her 2nd attack.
That sounds like it would've been better yes
I don't remember all the circumstances, but I do know I wanted to highlight the decision space from the 3-action economy and was focused less on showing optimal play, including for people who don't have the Mature feat
Love Ranger, my first character was a d&d 3.5 ranger. Pf2e is so much better than D&D
Hello. Just got introduced to your channel by happenstance. What game was that in the background during the first few seconds of your intro? And where can i play it? Much love and respect.
Are you talking about the VTT? That's Foundry VTT
@@TheRulesLawyerRPG Any links for it? Please help, much appreciated. Much love and respect.
The ranger-type class is the ultimate litmus test for if a fantasy system is good. If you want to know if the system is good, look at the ranger. If thevranger us good, the system us good, but it does not have to be top tier, just good. If thev4anger us bad, that is a red flag.
Rangers in pf2 are awesome, even after the removal of their snare feats, assuming you inlybuse the remaster.
Rangers I. D&D are bad, often considered the worst class. And it does not matter if the dev revises it to be better, it has already failed the litmas test.
Player Core 2 gave the snarecrafter dedication and even has special interactions with rangers! Now all we need is the move trap focus spell
@@ndsmario456 you mean spell hopping?
I should stop speaking jokes into the ether, never know what's going to happen.
Furry flurry, away!
Adventure Path material in a showcase video :(((((((
I'll assure you that after having run the entire AP in question, knowledge of that feat would have spoiled absolutely nothing about the AP
Or use Tasha's Ranger.
"There are no additional action types in pf2e." Other than free actions or reactions. Lol.
Well, a free action is just an action cost of 0, but yeah reactions is legit
Yes there are, but it is a simplification for the 5e player who's asking "what action resources do I have on my turn?" and 5e says you have four.
Many 5e players mentally wall off reactions and because they're already overwhelmed
There's a time to split hairs if it enlightens; in this case it only confuses.
@@TheRulesLawyerRPG I know. I'm just teasing. Lol.
Pf2e beast master fantasy is better than pf1 and 5e imo.
Cat :-)
Every system has its flaws. If the ranger on Pf2e is amazing, the "paladin" (champion) is boring.
My main concern about animal companions is always the AC of my animal companion.
It's always really low, even compared to Wizards, which makes me overly paranoid.
In the Strength of Thousands PF2 game I'm current running, the druid has 2 animal companies, a bear and bird. The party is level 5. The companions have an AC of 20 and 21 respectively. The party witch has an AC of 21, the druid has 22, and the rogue has 23. And with an armor potency rune the companions would match the druid and be 1 under the rogue. And that AC will continue to scale, and with the 3 feats the Ronald mentioned and armor they could continue to be closely follow the rogue. They won't get outscaled and left behind. Edit: I realized the animal companions were underlevelled and AC was 1 to low. I'm adjusting the numbers. Edit: I don't think they can use potency runes. Or at least their item AC is capped at 3. Not totally sure how that affects things.
A ranger can take the Magic Hide warden spell, which boosts the companion's AC for the rest of the encounter. Also, taking any caster dedication feat lets you grab the Protect Companion cantrip, which is basically Shield but for your companion.
It's not that I don't like Pathfinder, I just think it's pretty crappy to crap on D&D in your PF2 titles to fish for clicks.
D&D is pretty crappy though, so it's morally correct to crap on it.
All the title did was cite the well-documented disappointment in D&D's ranger and asked "Is this you?"
There really should be no objection to addressing people who already are leaving Hasbro/D&D as we speak.
@@TheRulesLawyerRPG I enjoy your content overall, just disappointed at taking shots at other games.
Normally I'd agree, but considering how many video titles I've seen from DND players that are some variation of "5E RANGER SUCKS" this just feels like part of the conversation and is even being less explicitly mean than those.
All videos must now be titled "Pathfinder sucks, D&D is better at ___!" and then the video proceeds to explain why the statement in the title is incorrect