So, in the 4th Edition of D&D, there are two classes dedicated to shooting people with bows - the Ranger and the Seeker. I still have no clue who's bad idea this was. The Ranger is a more Martial class, so the entire concept is "ya shoodda guy wi' da bow," and aside from a few more Primal-y things, that is it. You do very little besides firing arrows at people, and in the case of the Hunter build severely breaking the laws of physics while doing so.
With the Seeker, you get all the cool Primal archery stuff, like your arrow turning into a snake in mid-air and biting it's venomous fangs into the poor victim. Unfortunately, the Seeker has very little support, since it offers few things that another class can't do better. So if you're a Ranger, you have very little fun stuff you can do. If you're a Seeker, there's very little you can do, at least not much that another class can do waaaaay better.
The answer, to me, seems simple - make the Seeker a goddamn Ranger build, maybe even combine it with the Hunter. While we're at it, let's make the normal Ranger a martial controller so we at least get something out of it's existence besides a headache.
So, the Ranger is as follows:
- Archer Ranger - You can shoot arrows at people. You have ranged weapons, you can shoot at multiple targets at once eventually, and you can at some point fire off an explosion of arrows that creates a bristling field of pointy things, which count as dangerous terrain. Thus, we have a martial controller at loooong last.
- Seeking Ranger - All the cool Primal things. When you shoot arrows at people, stuff happens. For instance, your arrow may explode into a hail of ice shards, or upon lodging in your enemy's flesh, the shaft breaks, unleashing a swarm of deadly fire ants that burns like all Nine Hells (except the ice one).
- Scout Ranger - The idea of a tracker sounds cool, so I say keep it. Besides, a good martial striker is always fun.
Okay, we're done. The moral of this story - 4e sucks, and I ramble too much.
