Prestige Ranger 3.5

[Warrnan]

So I've looked around for some practical optimization regarding Prestige Ranger and it seems no one uses it.

Any ideas of how to best use it?

I'm trying to think of it as an upgrade to Ranger instead of a nerf to Druids or Clerics.

I was thinking scout 3/ druid3/ PRc ranger 14 to get a swift Hunter build but Druid 6 with the deadly Hunter acf would get full progression on an animal companion level 7 Druid spells but only Druid weapons.

From a flavor stand point dual wielding or archery ought to be the focus.

It did occur to me that a cleric might be better from a weapon based combat standpoint but that would lose out on several levels of animal companion.

Ideas?

[ZamielVanWeber]

Some quick problems:
1) it does not exist if ranger exists, so you definitely cannot do it without DM fiat.
2) it is not ranger, so ACFs and some feats are out
3) the pre-requisites are not fun

[LastOblivion]

the biggest advantage that all the three prestige base classes give is the augmented spell list.

"In general, any character who enters one of these prestige classes should gain access to spells unique to that class's spell list, at the same levels indicated for the standard class."

Meaning a dip into any of them can heavily buff your spell list/

[ZamielVanWeber]

Thing is generally the ones who can access those PrCs easily are pretty well off spell-list wise and what you pay for that list tends to be steep.

[Warrnan]

Yea. I was thinking having the Druid list on a ranger themed character would be nice. But I see what y'all mean. Having to take track and endurance as actual feat slots is very painful.

Funny how a 1 or 3 level dip in prestige paladin can be nice but the same is not true of prestige ranger. Alas.

[Darrin]

Prestige Ranger has the unfortunate circumstance of the easiest way to get into it is to take levels of... ranger, which is illegal. So there's that.

The Simple Barbarian makes for a decent ranger substitute... gets everything ranger-ish except Track.

Prestige Ranger pairs up well with the Simple Druid variant (the one that gets track), but in most druid builds, any levels that aren't druid tend to be a weak choice. However, there are a few Ranger-only spells that would be pretty nifty on a druid spell list: swift haste, hunter's eye, arrow storm, and blade storm.

There are some substitution levels in Champions of Valor that swap in Track... a useless monk something-or-other, Noble Heart Paladin 3, and Golden Hands of Vergadin (Rogue 3). Huh, I thought there were more than that.

[Warrnan]

Ok so here goes. Desert Orc for endurance, simple Druid 4 for track, a level of barbarian or fighter for the 4th point of bab makes entry easy enough.

The question is is this any better than a stock ranger.

Well it gets 6th level Druid spells after 14 levels of prc ranger. Loses skill points in the first 5 levels and a point of bab vs standard ranger. Could work?

[ZamielVanWeber]

Ok so here goes. Desert Orc for endurance, simple Druid 4 for track, a level of barbarian or fighter for the 4th point of bab makes entry easy enough.

The question is is this any better than a stock ranger.

Well it gets 6th level Druid spells after 14 levels of prc ranger. Loses skill points in the first 5 levels and a point of bab vs standard ranger. Could work?

Thing is that standard ranger could grab Lesser Zenythri and enjoy better stat mods, more relevant racial abilities, and then I get back a feat (since you need to spend a 3rd) and pickup combat style (which I could trade away for fast movement and wildshape to gain some utility forms).

[Rebel7284]

Three bad feats is too much. It simply isn't a good class. Maybe if you were allowed to use Sword of the Arcane order, it becomes OK for some builds as 4 feats to get access to wizard spellcasting is acceptable, but then you lose 2 caster levels....