Much like Avengers (Dragon 381) and Warlocks (Dragon 384) have received supplemental options to address some of their underlying issues, these 'patch' articles are something important that should not be abandoned, because the game as a whole is improved by their existence. This brings me to the crux of my argument: the decreased mechanical content that is being proposed for Dragon Magazine would mean that necessary mechanical adjustments such as this would receive less attention in favor of more thematically attractive pieces that perhaps introduce less necessary content. Other characters, such as the Barbarian, have received supplemental features such as Barbarian Agility to deal with this problem The Ranger has received nothing of the sort. To boot, a lot of the iconic feats for the Ranger (such as Two-Weapon Fighting and Rending Tempest) require Dexterity as well, making it yet another direction the Ranger is pulled in. Despite the fact that the ability score that shows up for the secondary effects on Ranger powers (such as Invigorating Stride, Yield Ground, Weave Through the Fray, Lashing Leaves, Serpentine Dodge, Frantic Assault, Master of the Hunt, Safe Stride, and others) is Wisdom, a Melee Ranger is faced with a conundrum when it comes to character building: he must either forsake these effects in order to focus on Dexterity (or watch his AC fall behind and be unfit to fulfill the function of a Melee combatant), or spend feats otherwise destined to character customization in order to shore up the character's AC by proficiency in heavy armor (this also saddles the Melee Ranger with additional ability score requirements in order to afford these feats).

Dragon magazine 381