A Guide to Ranger Enhancements

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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.

cellspacing="2">
style="vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(212, 201, 125);"> style="font-weight: bold;">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 style="vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(212, 201, 125);"> style="font-weight: bold;">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 style="vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(212, 201, 125);"> style="font-weight: bold;">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 style="vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(212, 201, 125);"> style="font-weight: bold;">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 style="vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(212, 201, 125);"> style="font-weight: bold;">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 href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album20&id=Ranger_Enhancements&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php"> alt="enhancements"
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album20/Ranger_Enhancements.sized.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 250px; height: 188px;" align="right"> style="font-weight: bold;">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
style="vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(212, 201, 125);"> style="font-weight: bold;">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 style="vertical-align: top; background-color: rgb(212, 201, 125);"> style="font-weight: bold;">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