Ranger Change - Need Opinions!

[Godric]

Do you guys think that exchanging a Ranger's spellcasting ability to druid animal companion progression is balanced?

[its_all_ogre]

um. suppose. i always give full druid animal advancement to rangers anyway.
i also make their level equal their casting level(rather than half).
your choice!!

[Emperor Demonking]

It probably would be. It would probably be better than a normal ranger especialy if it starts at level 1.

[Kagan]

By all means, go for it. I rarely see a ranger use its spells during an encounter, so not much will be missed. The class isn't broken, and this change won't be tipping the scales.

[Person_Man]

Assuming you have access to a few widely used supplements (especially the Spell Compendium, but there are many others) Ranger casting is a lot more powerful then full animal companion progression for a mid to low level build.

Also, its worth mentioning that spellcasting doesn't kick in for a Ranger until level 4, and then it scales upwards. Whereas a Druid's animal companion is most powerful at level 1, and then proceeds to scale very poorly, being very squishy and pretty much useless by level 20. So giving a Ranger this variant clearly gives them a nice power boost at levels 1-5ish, and robs the Ranger of some very potent spells at levels 14+ish.

If you're interested in having a great animal companion, your best bet is probably to use Beastmaster or Beast Heart Adept (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20070209a&page=4).

You can also just invest in the Natural Bond feat (Comp Adventurer) which gives you +3 to your effective Druid level when determining your animal companion.