Value is generally derived from the impact an action has and how often you get to use it.
Depending on the game you could have 0 combat (Witchlight) or be in a constant state of fighting (Tomb of Annihilation)
Generally tho modules and games are designed around combat and social interaction as that is generally what people want to do. The game supports combat the most as most of the character sheet is information about combat.
So it is not crazy to think why people value combat prowess over other aspects they will likely find less value in their game.
Ranger has never been bad in the DPR department because they get features and spells that boost sustainable damage. Gloomstalker is the top teir in this generally because they get ADV pretty easily through their features.
Where ranger struggles is making you care about the exploration pillar of the game... And also having too high of a price for your subclass abilities for some of the PHB ones.
Having to spend a full 8 hours to get your subclass back for PHB beast master is atrocious design. Especially since the creature isn't super resilient.
I think they have come a long way with ranger since PHB and the subclass/alternative class features they offered did a lot to address the issues many found with rangers in their game.
I think people forget that travel and general adventuring is done in 8 hours before a forced march is turned on, a long rest is 8 hours, and that leaves 8 entire additional hours for adventures to sit on their hands.
Combat is a big part of the game for sure. D&D 5E is also a terrible combat game. And whenever I feel myself getting to drawn into combat optimizing I remind myself of two words: Hypnotic Pattern.
Having to spend a full 8 hours to get your subclass back for PHB beast master is atrocious design. Especially since the creature isn't super resilient.
This is severely mitigated by several possible factors.
Following RAW poision harvesting. You get to save your "pet boon" while you search for a similar one. this power alone is huge.
The bonding time is not specified as an action and as such the player is free to do it over a rest. Just have a spare animal ready for bonding. even a grasshopper becomes a powerhouse when bonded to a ranger.
the pet death loophole {complaint tirade incoming, But i can mechanically and narratively justify its existence}
Franks mentioned freetime boons. rangers get a lot and even a regular pc has some too.
actually take preventative measures. a Periapt of wound closure makes pet death almost impossible. spells and healing also work wonders. ever heard of the doge action?
investigate if your dm is cheating and killing your pet deliberately by removing death saves or unfair targeting. {This is rare and only a few bad i know dms actually do this.}
live with the consequences of death. this is not a bad thing for the game.
I will gladly discuss this in a new thread{if anyone desires} but this is a whirlwind strike thread.
Value is generally derived from the impact an action has and how often you get to use it.
Depending on the game you could have 0 combat (Witchlight) or be in a constant state of fighting (Tomb of Annihilation)
Generally tho modules and games are designed around combat and social interaction as that is generally what people want to do. The game supports combat the most as most of the character sheet is information about combat.
So it is not crazy to think why people value combat prowess over other aspects they will likely find less value in their game.
Ranger has never been bad in the DPR department because they get features and spells that boost sustainable damage. Gloomstalker is the top teir in this generally because they get ADV pretty easily through their features.
Where ranger struggles is making you care about the exploration pillar of the game... And also having too high of a price for your subclass abilities for some of the PHB ones.
Having to spend a full 8 hours to get your subclass back for PHB beast master is atrocious design. Especially since the creature isn't super resilient.
I think they have come a long way with ranger since PHB and the subclass/alternative class features they offered did a lot to address the issues many found with rangers in their game.
This guy largely gets it, but i wanted to emphasis some things of note.
First Nature's vail uses always surprise me. The bonus action to do it is always what throws me here. Like it isn't just AoO and disadvantage on attacks, but also you can't be targeted by spells or abilities that require someone to see their target. Combine this with a nice battlefield control spell like Spike growth as an action and it can be a lot harder for opponents to make you drop your concentration. There has been a lot of phrasing saying "I only care about damage" but that isn't true. We should not pretend like rangers are better battlefield controllers than Druids or Wizards. And yes Pass without trace is huge for stealth for the party. But you get that at level 5 and beyond that? It is they are worse battlefield control then druids, worse martials than fighters and kind of just stuck in between and can't do both at the exact same time, either they are using their action to do worse damage than the fighter, or they are using it to do worse control than the druid. And they do not get as much as I would like them to get after level 5 or so. Even the idea that they try to make you care about the exploration tier is really only for the PHB version. The reason why those features are undervalued, especially when talking about balance, is the same reason theives can't and Druidic language are undervalued. If you have the ranger than the GM MIGHT put something in to make it a cool relevant feature, if you don't then don't worry about it because it won't be relevant. It is flavor ability rather than one to build or consider around.
So lets see what do you get past 5. at 6 you get swim and climb speed, 7 subclass feature which is usually defensive in nature, 8 ASI same as everyone else, 9 3rd level spells, 10 nature's veil and 11 usually a subclass feature that increases the damage you have had since 5 by 1. Can you get this by multi-classing out.... Yes, in fact you can do better. A fun thematic Ranger/Druid build. 5 levels Swarm keeper, the rest spores druid. Very swampy thematic you get 3rd level spells 1 level later, but 4th level spells 1 level earlier and have slots you can upcast with. You have more spell casting than you would as a ranger, and with the Druid + Ranger you can have both the dueling fighting style and Shillelagh allowing you to be more SAD and get a nice little +7 to damage and have better spell saves. If you can be slightly prepared for a fight spores give you a d6 on all your hits + you can still use a bonus action spell like zephyr, or hunters mark, or something to bump this further.
If spores isn't to your liking, land druid gives you more spellcasting and the shillelagh and you still get landstride. As far as climb and swim speed.... that is what wildshape is for.
But either way you can fit polearm master into your build now The insects do 1d6 points on one of your attacks or provide forced movement. The first round Shillelagh and attack or spell since that is a cantrip and your attacks are now more effective than a pure swarm build would have been. You have better spell casting, and other options to use outside of combat. This is what I am kind of referring to here. Taking ranger to 11 is a little disappointing unless Beast Master really, beast master gets a nice little boon at 11.
Also I kind of chuckle at the "this game is bad for combat anyway" like a simple pass/fail system makes for great exploration or social games and there aren't better systems for that too. Most abilities and items on a character sheet are for combat, and the stat blocks are largely "MONSTERS" as shown by the fact that they are in the "Monster Manuel" rather than NPC's or Adversaries, or opponents where some are clearly not meant to be fought and killed and don't have combat stats. They clearly all have combat stats.
Value is generally derived from the impact an action has and how often you get to use it.
Depending on the game you could have 0 combat (Witchlight) or be in a constant state of fighting (Tomb of Annihilation)
Generally tho modules and games are designed around combat and social interaction as that is generally what people want to do. The game supports combat the most as most of the character sheet is information about combat.
So it is not crazy to think why people value combat prowess over other aspects they will likely find less value in their game.
Ranger has never been bad in the DPR department because they get features and spells that boost sustainable damage. Gloomstalker is the top teir in this generally because they get ADV pretty easily through their features.
Where ranger struggles is making you care about the exploration pillar of the game... And also having too high of a price for your subclass abilities for some of the PHB ones.
Having to spend a full 8 hours to get your subclass back for PHB beast master is atrocious design. Especially since the creature isn't super resilient.
I think they have come a long way with ranger since PHB and the subclass/alternative class features they offered did a lot to address the issues many found with rangers in their game.
This guy largely gets it, but i wanted to emphasis some things of note.
First Nature's vail uses always surprise me. The bonus action to do it is always what throws me here. Like it isn't just AoO and disadvantage on attacks, but also you can't be targeted by spells or abilities that require someone to see their target. Combine this with a nice battlefield control spell like Spike growth as an action and it can be a lot harder for opponents to make you drop your concentration. There has been a lot of phrasing saying "I only care about damage" but that isn't true. We should not pretend like rangers are better battlefield controllers than Druids or Wizards. And yes Pass without trace is huge for stealth for the party. But you get that at level 5 and beyond that? It is they are worse battlefield control then druids, worse martials than fighters and kind of just stuck in between and can't do both at the exact same time, either they are using their action to do worse damage than the fighter, or they are using it to do worse control than the druid. And they do not get as much as I would like them to get after level 5 or so. Even the idea that they try to make you care about the exploration tier is really only for the PHB version. The reason why those features are undervalued, especially when talking about balance, is the same reason theives can't and Druidic language are undervalued. If you have the ranger than the GM MIGHT put something in to make it a cool relevant feature, if you don't then don't worry about it because it won't be relevant. It is flavor ability rather than one to build or consider around.
So lets see what do you get past 5. at 6 you get swim and climb speed, 7 subclass feature which is usually defensive in nature, 8 ASI same as everyone else, 9 3rd level spells, 10 nature's veil and 11 usually a subclass feature that increases the damage you have had since 5 by 1. Can you get this by multi-classing out.... Yes, in fact you can do better. A fun thematic Ranger/Druid build. 5 levels Swarm keeper, the rest spores druid. Very swampy thematic you get 3rd level spells 1 level later, but 4th level spells 1 level earlier and have slots you can upcast with. You have more spell casting than you would as a ranger, and with the Druid + Ranger you can have both the dueling fighting style and Shillelagh allowing you to be more SAD and get a nice little +7 to damage and have better spell saves. If you can be slightly prepared for a fight spores give you a d6 on all your hits + you can still use a bonus action spell like zephyr, or hunters mark, or something to bump this further.
If spores isn't to your liking, land druid gives you more spellcasting and the shillelagh and you still get landstride. As far as climb and swim speed.... that is what wildshape is for.
But either way you can fit polearm master into your build now The insects do 1d6 points on one of your attacks or provide forced movement. The first round Shillelagh and attack or spell since that is a cantrip and your attacks are now more effective than a pure swarm build would have been. You have better spell casting, and other options to use outside of combat. This is what I am kind of referring to here. Taking ranger to 11 is a little disappointing unless Beast Master really, beast master gets a nice little boon at 11.
Also I kind of chuckle at the "this game is bad for combat anyway" like a simple pass/fail system makes for great exploration or social games and there aren't better systems for that too. Most abilities and items on a character sheet are for combat, and the stat blocks are largely "MONSTERS" as shown by the fact that they are in the "Monster Manuel" rather than NPC's or Adversaries, or opponents where some are clearly not meant to be fought and killed and don't have combat stats. They clearly all have combat stats.
Too bad. I had hoped for an interesting counter perspective. But unfortunately That "guy who gets the game" has documented posts with the exact opposite opinion of what he says in that post. How can you argue frequency of use has value and then downplay unlimited use features? this is just one example. We clearly play different games and I like to stick to Raw 5e rules. and as we know dM Fiat says that if I choose to follow RAW all My players need to abide by it. I also have raw rules about understanding your own character sheet. Team work and understanding are necessary to play 5e affectively. I suppose someone could control multiple characters to play as a team fighting Ghost s and Spirit Troll s but where is the fun in that without Whirlwind strike.
But a class that is an A or B rank in every adventuring scenario will still average out to an A- or a B+ .
Whirlwind attack is like martial fireball. At level 11 a fighter attacking with a sword is doing that damage always. But that is it. Maxed. Tops. Same with rogues, barbarians, and paladins. Yes, some have resources to burn to do some spike damage. A hunter at 11 “does less damage” with whirlwind, because it’s not 100% player facing guaranteed, but, there is almost no cap. When applicable, whirlwind does the same, a little more, or twice, or more damage than a fighter or paladin…resource free. Tactically, if you use fireball on a single enemy you are a fool. Yet, fireball is potent because it’s understood. Players know when it’s the right tool for the job. Same with whirlwind attack. Tactics aren’t having something that works all of the time. Make it work. Quit complaining and use tactics, as a ranger you have a plethora of tools for this, and create circumstances for it to be the right tool.
Whirlwind attack is like martial fireball. At level 11 a fighter attacking with a sword is doing that damage always. But that is it. Maxed. Tops. Same with rogues, barbarians, and paladins. Yes, some have resources to burn to do some spike damage. A hunter at 11 “does less damage” with whirlwind, because it’s not 100% player facing guaranteed, but, there is almost no cap. When applicable, whirlwind does the same, a little more, or twice, or more damage than a fighter or paladin…resource free. Tactically, if you use fireball on a single enemy you are a fool. Yet, fireball is potent because it’s understood. Players know when it’s the right tool for the job. Same with whirlwind attack. Tactics aren’t having something that works all of the time. Make it work. Quit complaining and use tactics, as a ranger you have a plethora of tools for this, and create circumstances for it to be the right tool.
As DMs, “shoot the monk” is an important part of our role.
But either way you can fit polearm master into your build now The insects do 1d6 points on one of your attacks or provide forced movement. The first round Shillelagh and attack or spell since that is a cantrip and your attacks are now more effective than a pure swarm build would have been. You have better spell casting, and other options to use outside of combat. This is what I am kind of referring to here. Taking ranger to 11 is a little disappointing unless Beast Master really, beast master gets a nice little boon at 11.
Level 11 Fey Reenforcements combined with beguiling twist which comes earlier at level 7 is awesome. It will is good at turn 1 and will ramp up both damage and control. This comes primarily from action economy that continues to increase round after round. This is because the Ranger can trade his action one turn and get one more ally on the battlefield who has a mediocre action and a great bonus action every turn thereafter and the ally additionally creates opportunities for the Ranger to use his reaction.
Consider an 11th level Ranger on the first turn of combat can cast summon Fey and that is an attack for 13 damage, charm one enemy and if that enemy succeeds try to charm or frighten another all before the next guy in initiative even goes (that is essentially an action plus a half an action on the 1st turn of combat in exchange for the Ranger's action). From here forward you have an extra ally on the battlefield, and that ally has superior mobility due to Fey Step and gets AOOs that can be used against someone who usually can't attack him. Right here on turn 1 this is significant battlefield control with a minor damage rider and it gets exponentially better every round.
By turn 4 he is effectively doing 52 damage and throwing 4 charms down every single turn of combat (plus one fear or charm if someone saves) and after turn 4 the Ranger gets an action of his own. There is no disadvantage on the charm save for being in combat, no concentration required for any of this and dealing damage to the charmed enemy does not cancel the charm.
The closest comparison in terms of spell is Charm Monster which affects one enemy, the enemy usually gets advantage on the save and the spell is canceled if you or allies harm it. There is also no damage you can do in addition to the charm and does not put another ally on the battlefied.
This is all just using his action (and his reaction when someone makes a save), he can still use something like Nature's veil as a bonus action. With a number of charmed and frightened enemies on the battlefield and a number of Fey also on the battlefield he can control a lot through positioning (can't approach source of your fear and positioning Fey to get AOOs on charmed enemies when they move to attack someone else).
If spores isn't to your liking, land druid gives you more spellcasting and the shillelagh and you still get landstride. As far as climb and swim speed.... that is what wildshape is for.
But either way you can fit polearm master into your build now The insects do 1d6 points on one of your attacks or provide forced movement. The first round Shillelagh and attack or spell since that is a cantrip and your attacks are now more effective than a pure swarm build would have been. You have better spell casting, and other options to use outside of combat. This is what I am kind of referring to here. Taking ranger to 11 is a little disappointing unless Beast Master really, beast master gets a nice little boon at 11.
Rangers can get shillelagh too, it is not like they need to multiclass for that and assuming you are not giving up extra attack the pure Ranger build will hit the ASI earlier to get PAM to go with it.
The exploration pillar exists for a reason. Those of you that ignore it or know nothing about it are loosing out.
Talk all day about damage if you like. You’re going to end up playing the same 3 or 4 “builds” because of it.
And I can play the exploration pillar just as well if not better without playing a ranger. The ranger doesnt really add anything that you couldn't get from a feat or a background or through interesting dialog and rolls and play.
The exploration pillar exists for a reason. Those of you that ignore it or know nothing about it are loosing out.
Talk all day about damage if you like. You’re going to end up playing the same 3 or 4 “builds” because of it.
And I can play the exploration pillar just as well if not better without playing a ranger.
Mechanically, that is not possible.
A scout can generally outdo a Ranger in the exploration pillar unless the Ranger took natural explorer and you are in his favored terrain. In favored terrain I would agree with you.
I will specify that it is natural explorer and a spell it two that make ranger king. A scout only has expertise in to skills. And anyone that has read, understands, and uses the RAW of travel and wilderness exploration knows that expertise in two skills isn’t enough.
I will specify that it is natural explorer and a spell it two that make ranger king. A scout only has expertise in to skills. And anyone that has read, understands, and uses the RAW of travel and wilderness exploration knows that expertise in two skills isn’t enough.
A scout has expertise in 4 skills at level 3, in 6 skills at level 6 and 6 class/subclass proficiencies plus 2-4 more through background and race. At level 11 he has reliable talent and is rolling a minimum of 10 on rolls with any of those 8-10 skills. This will be a minimum of an 18+ intelligence/wisdom on survival and nature rolls.
The Ranger's advantage in natural terrain comes from his ability to do multiple things and to autmatically suceed at things. These override any skill scores, but from a skill point of view a scout is better positioned than a Ranger.
Value is generally derived from the impact an action has and how often you get to use it.
Depending on the game you could have 0 combat (Witchlight) or be in a constant state of fighting (Tomb of Annihilation)
Generally tho modules and games are designed around combat and social interaction as that is generally what people want to do. The game supports combat the most as most of the character sheet is information about combat.
So it is not crazy to think why people value combat prowess over other aspects they will likely find less value in their game.
Ranger has never been bad in the DPR department because they get features and spells that boost sustainable damage. Gloomstalker is the top teir in this generally because they get ADV pretty easily through their features.
Where ranger struggles is making you care about the exploration pillar of the game... And also having too high of a price for your subclass abilities for some of the PHB ones.
Having to spend a full 8 hours to get your subclass back for PHB beast master is atrocious design. Especially since the creature isn't super resilient.
I think they have come a long way with ranger since PHB and the subclass/alternative class features they offered did a lot to address the issues many found with rangers in their game.
I think people forget that travel and general adventuring is done in 8 hours before a forced march is turned on, a long rest is 8 hours, and that leaves 8 entire additional hours for adventures to sit on their hands.
Combat is a big part of the game for sure. D&D 5E is also a terrible combat game. And whenever I feel myself getting to drawn into combat optimizing I remind myself of two words: Hypnotic Pattern.
It also means they can leave without causing AOOs.
This is severely mitigated by several possible factors.
I will gladly discuss this in a new thread{if anyone desires} but this is a whirlwind strike thread.
As someone with several cats and dogs, over the years and currently, I can tell you that bonding with an animal does in fact happen while sleeping.
So any way as a current summary Some of the best things for taking advantage of wirlwind strike are
This guy largely gets it, but i wanted to emphasis some things of note.
First Nature's vail uses always surprise me. The bonus action to do it is always what throws me here. Like it isn't just AoO and disadvantage on attacks, but also you can't be targeted by spells or abilities that require someone to see their target. Combine this with a nice battlefield control spell like Spike growth as an action and it can be a lot harder for opponents to make you drop your concentration. There has been a lot of phrasing saying "I only care about damage" but that isn't true. We should not pretend like rangers are better battlefield controllers than Druids or Wizards. And yes Pass without trace is huge for stealth for the party. But you get that at level 5 and beyond that? It is they are worse battlefield control then druids, worse martials than fighters and kind of just stuck in between and can't do both at the exact same time, either they are using their action to do worse damage than the fighter, or they are using it to do worse control than the druid. And they do not get as much as I would like them to get after level 5 or so. Even the idea that they try to make you care about the exploration tier is really only for the PHB version. The reason why those features are undervalued, especially when talking about balance, is the same reason theives can't and Druidic language are undervalued. If you have the ranger than the GM MIGHT put something in to make it a cool relevant feature, if you don't then don't worry about it because it won't be relevant. It is flavor ability rather than one to build or consider around.
So lets see what do you get past 5. at 6 you get swim and climb speed, 7 subclass feature which is usually defensive in nature, 8 ASI same as everyone else, 9 3rd level spells, 10 nature's veil and 11 usually a subclass feature that increases the damage you have had since 5 by 1. Can you get this by multi-classing out.... Yes, in fact you can do better. A fun thematic Ranger/Druid build. 5 levels Swarm keeper, the rest spores druid. Very swampy thematic you get 3rd level spells 1 level later, but 4th level spells 1 level earlier and have slots you can upcast with. You have more spell casting than you would as a ranger, and with the Druid + Ranger you can have both the dueling fighting style and Shillelagh allowing you to be more SAD and get a nice little +7 to damage and have better spell saves. If you can be slightly prepared for a fight spores give you a d6 on all your hits + you can still use a bonus action spell like zephyr, or hunters mark, or something to bump this further.
If spores isn't to your liking, land druid gives you more spellcasting and the shillelagh and you still get landstride. As far as climb and swim speed.... that is what wildshape is for.
But either way you can fit polearm master into your build now The insects do 1d6 points on one of your attacks or provide forced movement. The first round Shillelagh and attack or spell since that is a cantrip and your attacks are now more effective than a pure swarm build would have been. You have better spell casting, and other options to use outside of combat. This is what I am kind of referring to here. Taking ranger to 11 is a little disappointing unless Beast Master really, beast master gets a nice little boon at 11.
Also I kind of chuckle at the "this game is bad for combat anyway" like a simple pass/fail system makes for great exploration or social games and there aren't better systems for that too. Most abilities and items on a character sheet are for combat, and the stat blocks are largely "MONSTERS" as shown by the fact that they are in the "Monster Manuel" rather than NPC's or Adversaries, or opponents where some are clearly not meant to be fought and killed and don't have combat stats. They clearly all have combat stats.
“That guy” and you could talk all day, I’m sure.
The exploration pillar exists for a reason. Those of you that ignore it or know nothing about it are loosing out.
Talk all day about damage if you like. You’re going to end up playing the same 3 or 4 “builds” because of it.
Too bad. I had hoped for an interesting counter perspective. But unfortunately That "guy who gets the game" has documented posts with the exact opposite opinion of what he says in that post. How can you argue frequency of use has value and then downplay unlimited use features? this is just one example. We clearly play different games and I like to stick to Raw 5e rules. and as we know dM Fiat says that if I choose to follow RAW all My players need to abide by it. I also have raw rules about understanding your own character sheet. Team work and understanding are necessary to play 5e affectively. I suppose someone could control multiple characters to play as a team fighting Ghost s and Spirit Troll s but where is the fun in that without Whirlwind strike.
But a class that is an A or B rank in every adventuring scenario will still average out to an A- or a B+ .
Whirlwind attack is like martial fireball. At level 11 a fighter attacking with a sword is doing that damage always. But that is it. Maxed. Tops. Same with rogues, barbarians, and paladins. Yes, some have resources to burn to do some spike damage. A hunter at 11 “does less damage” with whirlwind, because it’s not 100% player facing guaranteed, but, there is almost no cap. When applicable, whirlwind does the same, a little more, or twice, or more damage than a fighter or paladin…resource free. Tactically, if you use fireball on a single enemy you are a fool. Yet, fireball is potent because it’s understood. Players know when it’s the right tool for the job. Same with whirlwind attack. Tactics aren’t having something that works all of the time. Make it work. Quit complaining and use tactics, as a ranger you have a plethora of tools for this, and create circumstances for it to be the right tool.
As DMs, “shoot the monk” is an important part of our role.
Level 11 Fey Reenforcements combined with beguiling twist which comes earlier at level 7 is awesome. It will is good at turn 1 and will ramp up both damage and control. This comes primarily from action economy that continues to increase round after round. This is because the Ranger can trade his action one turn and get one more ally on the battlefield who has a mediocre action and a great bonus action every turn thereafter and the ally additionally creates opportunities for the Ranger to use his reaction.
Consider an 11th level Ranger on the first turn of combat can cast summon Fey and that is an attack for 13 damage, charm one enemy and if that enemy succeeds try to charm or frighten another all before the next guy in initiative even goes (that is essentially an action plus a half an action on the 1st turn of combat in exchange for the Ranger's action). From here forward you have an extra ally on the battlefield, and that ally has superior mobility due to Fey Step and gets AOOs that can be used against someone who usually can't attack him. Right here on turn 1 this is significant battlefield control with a minor damage rider and it gets exponentially better every round.
By turn 4 he is effectively doing 52 damage and throwing 4 charms down every single turn of combat (plus one fear or charm if someone saves) and after turn 4 the Ranger gets an action of his own. There is no disadvantage on the charm save for being in combat, no concentration required for any of this and dealing damage to the charmed enemy does not cancel the charm.
The closest comparison in terms of spell is Charm Monster which affects one enemy, the enemy usually gets advantage on the save and the spell is canceled if you or allies harm it. There is also no damage you can do in addition to the charm and does not put another ally on the battlefied.
This is all just using his action (and his reaction when someone makes a save), he can still use something like Nature's veil as a bonus action. With a number of charmed and frightened enemies on the battlefield and a number of Fey also on the battlefield he can control a lot through positioning (can't approach source of your fear and positioning Fey to get AOOs on charmed enemies when they move to attack someone else).
Rangers can get shillelagh too, it is not like they need to multiclass for that and assuming you are not giving up extra attack the pure Ranger build will hit the ASI earlier to get PAM to go with it.
And I can play the exploration pillar just as well if not better without playing a ranger. The ranger doesnt really add anything that you couldn't get from a feat or a background or through interesting dialog and rolls and play.
Mechanically, that is not possible.
Yes it is. Have you ever done exploration without a ranger? Do you just auto fail without them or do you do just fine?
A scout can generally outdo a Ranger in the exploration pillar unless the Ranger took natural explorer and you are in his favored terrain. In favored terrain I would agree with you.
I will specify that it is natural explorer and a spell it two that make ranger king. A scout only has expertise in to skills. And anyone that has read, understands, and uses the RAW of travel and wilderness exploration knows that expertise in two skills isn’t enough.
You could argue this for many things, including dealing 35 damage instead of 40 damage.
A scout has expertise in 4 skills at level 3, in 6 skills at level 6 and 6 class/subclass proficiencies plus 2-4 more through background and race. At level 11 he has reliable talent and is rolling a minimum of 10 on rolls with any of those 8-10 skills. This will be a minimum of an 18+ intelligence/wisdom on survival and nature rolls.
The Ranger's advantage in natural terrain comes from his ability to do multiple things and to autmatically suceed at things. These override any skill scores, but from a skill point of view a scout is better positioned than a Ranger.