A Guide to Ranger Enhancements

By Nuitaran

Enhancements can be tricky things. Some of them sound much better than they are, proving to be disappointing in practice. Some are completely worthless, and others are so great that you will never want to get rid of them.

A piece of advice when shopping for your Enhancements: consider your personal taste and your playing style, as this will be what truly changes the usefulness of an Enhancement. For example, if you are a Ranger who almost always uses a bow and has a 30 Dexterity with Weapon Focus: Ranged, Favored Attack isn’t going to do a thing for you except for in exceedingly rare situations.

Your character will gain Enhancements as he increases in ranks; however, he can only have a maximum of 4 active Enhancements at any point. The choices for the 4 Enhancements slots are drawn from a list of both class and racial Enhancements that increase as the character increases in ranks. This guide will focus purely on the Enhancements available to the Ranger class.

For this guide, I will focus on the highest level Enhancement from each line, whether it comes in the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th level versions of the Enhancements. Each Enhancement is given a usefulness rating of 1-5 (with 5 being the most useful). The notes will state why this rating is given as such.

Vermin Empathy Official Text: You can use this ability to pacify Vermin much like you can pacify animals with Wild Empathy. Comments: It’s hard enough just getting Wild Empathy to work at higher levels, getting this to work on scorpions and spiders is even more difficult. It’s not worth a slot. Rating: 1

Ranger Lore (Ranger Lore II) Official Text: You gain energy resistance of 10 versus one chosen element, or improve your existing resistance by 10. Comments: I included all of the Lore enhancements in one entry with the same rating. Desert Lore grants Fire Resistance, Tundra Lore grants Cold Resistance, and Swamp Lore grants Acid Resistance. Unless you have the available action points to swap this in for a few quests where you know you will need it, it can easily be made up for with your own energy resistance spells, or those of another Caster. Waste. Rating: 1

Ranger's Dexterity (Ranger’s Dexterity III) Official Text: Grants a +3 increase to Dexterity score. Comments: There’s nothing wrong with more dexterity. It means a higher attack bonus with your bows, and possibly a higher AC. Rating: 5

Elemental Empathy Official Text: You can use this ability to pacify Elementals much like you can pacify animals with Wild Empathy. Comments: Much like Vermin Empathy it is too rarely that this ability works, and the cooldown is too long for it to really be an asset. Rating: 1

Favored Attack (Favored Attack III) Official Text: When attacking a favored enemy, you receive a +3 bonus to attack. Comments: I personally swear by this one. If you have a set of common favored enemies it can be a great asset. It helps keep up with the Fighters in attack bonus even while Two Weapon Fighting. Rating: 4

Favored Resistance (Favored Resistance III) Official Text: When making a saving throw against a spell or effect from a favored enemy, you receive a +4 bonus on saving throws. Comments: If you have common Favored Enemies who use spells or abilities that require saves, this is a great asset. Absolutely consider taking it if your Favored Enemy is Abberation and you are planning on going up against some Beholders and Mind Flayers. Rating: 3

Energy of the Wild (Energy of the Wild IX) Official Text: Grants a 60 point increase to spell points. Comments: If you use a lot of spells, and you have an enhancement slot available, this could be a good choice. The amount you gain, however, can easily be made up for in items. Rating: 3

Extra Empathy (Extra Empathy IV) Official Text: You gain the ability to use Wild Empathy 4 additional times between each rest. Comments: I rarely even use up all my standard Empathy uses between rests. This isn’t worth a slot. Rating: 1

Favored Damage (Favored Damage IV) Official Text: When attacking a favored enemy, you receive an additional +4 bonus on damage rolls. Comments: This is a great ability, but Favored Defense and Favored Attack can be a lot more useful. Consider taking it if your Ranger is lacking in Strength or if you have an extra slot. Rating: 3

Favored Defense (Favored Defense IV) Official Text: When attacked by a favored enemy, you receive a +5 bonus on Armor Class. Comments: This is another of my personal favorites. Combine this with Favored Attack and a good Two Weapon set, and you become the ultimate DPS [Damage Per Second] fighter against your favored enemies. Rating: 4

Improved Devotion (Improved Devotion III) Official Text: Grants a 30% increase to the effectiveness of your 3rd level and lower healing spells. Comments: This applies to wand use as well as spells, so it can be a great choice if you do a lot of wand-whipping, but Devotion items are fairly common. If you can find an item that does the same, use that instead. Rating: 2

Ranger's Action Boost (Ranger's Action Boost V) Official Text: This enhancement grants the ability to receive short-term boosts to skills, energy resistance, or running speed. Comments: Although I am not a fan of Ranger Action Boost myself, some people swear by it, and it is a great way for those Rangers with a few levels of Rogue to replace Rogue Action Boost. The boost to Energy Resistance and running speed are short, and can be made up for with a Rangers own spells, so unless you need the skill boost, this one can be left out. Rating: 2

Skill Athleticism (Skill Athleticism VI) Official Text: Grants a +8 bonus to Swim and Jump skills. Comments: Underwater Action items are a dime-a-dozen, and a Ranger can cast Jump. This is a waste. Rating: 1

Skill Stealth (Skill Stealth VI) Official Text: Grants a +8 bonus to Hide and Move Silently skills. Comments: Unless your Ranger really has a need to be super sneaky, this one really isn’t worth it. Rating: 1