JRRNeiklot
First Post
I don't have to ban the ranger. WOTC already has.
Fix the revised ranger in four easy steps
How I Fix The Rangers
My "requirements" for Rangers are posted under the poll on the General board, for anyone who cares. Here (in brief) is how I fix the Ranger:
First of all, I restored all of the old 1e Ranger restrictions. Only good alignment, no more stuff than the Ranger and/or his mount can carry, no aides until higher level, etc.
The Ranger gains an extra hit die (which must be rolled, not maxed out) at first level, with Constitution Bonus/Penalty applied to each. Note that, for purposes of hit dice (Sleep, etc.), a first level Ranger is therefore counted as having (Character Level + 1) hit dice. Additional D8s are received at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th Ranger levels (thus, a 7th level Ranger is treated as a nine hit die creature).
Class Skills: Animal Empathy (Cha, exclusive), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int, exclusive), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Innuendo (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (All skills taken individually) (Int, exclusive), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Read Lips (Int, exclusive), Ride (Dex), Scry (Int, exclusive), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (None), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Use Rope (Dex), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).
Skill Points at First Level: (6 + Int Modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier.
CLASS FEATURES
Rangers have the following class features.
Armor, Shield, and Weapon Proficiencies: Rangers are proficient with all Simple and Martial weapons, and with all types of armor, and shields.
Languages: In addition to any other languages learnable from their race, Rangers may also select from among the languages of their Humanoid enemies: Draconic, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Grimlock (do Grimlocks have their own language?), and Orc.
At first level, they get Track as a free Feat, their choice of one free Ranger-Only Feat from a specific list (which must be Favored Enemies, if they wish to remain totally backwards-compatible), Scouting (which gives slight bonuses to sneakiness and reduces chances of being surprised), Humanoid-Hunting (the 1e +1 HP/Level bonus vs. a specific list of humanoid types), and "Trapsetting", which is really a non-ability that clarifies their ability to use traps and snares to gain food with a DC 10 Wilderness Lore/Survival check).
At 2nd & 3rd levels they get their choice of a Bonus Feat from a specific class list (which includes Ambi & TWF, as well as Point Blank Shot, Mounted Combat, Weapon Focus, Alertness, Endurance, and a host of new Ranger-Only Feats, including Favored Enemies and its Sub-Feats). They also get movement abilities, some of which speed them only in the wild, others over all terrains.
At 4th, they get the last of their movement powers (no longer needing mounts for overland travel), and +2 on Will Saves (as well as one Orison/day and 0 1rst-level spells).
5th brings them a wilderness survival power, improved tracking ability, and their second D8.
6th gives them another Bonus Feat from the class list, and Guide ability, as well as their second Zero-level Orison.
7th yields Pathfinding ability and two more Orisons.
8th gives a Ranger-Only ability of choice (almost all of which are Non-Combat), and increased Ranging (Travel) ability. One more Orison, the first frist-level spell, and a bonus second-level, if WIS is high enough.
9th gives better night abilities, and the third D8. Two more Orisons and another first-level spell.
10th gives the followers, ability to use any magical items related to Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, ESP, Healing, Mind-reading, Perception, and/or Telepathy. Another Orison, two first-level, and a second-level spell are gained.
From 11th level on, only a few D8, two Bonus Feats from the class list, and Ranger-Only Feats are granted. Eventually, the Ranger will have 10 Orisons, five first- and second-level spells/day, and three third- and fourth-level. The increase is due to the return of Druidic/MU spells. These involve perception, travel, healing, plants, animals, paths, traps, and the like (not the entire Wiz selection).
In short, there's my Ranger. A Monk might outrun him, but in the wilderness, he will probably still get there first (if the Monk makes it alive).
That is how I fixed the Ranger.
[EDIT: Typos & Spell progression.]
My "requirements" for Rangers are posted under the poll on the General board, for anyone who cares. Here (in brief) is how I fix the Ranger:
First of all, I restored all of the old 1e Ranger restrictions. Only good alignment, no more stuff than the Ranger and/or his mount can carry, no aides until higher level, etc.
The Ranger gains an extra hit die (which must be rolled, not maxed out) at first level, with Constitution Bonus/Penalty applied to each. Note that, for purposes of hit dice (Sleep, etc.), a first level Ranger is therefore counted as having (Character Level + 1) hit dice. Additional D8s are received at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th Ranger levels (thus, a 7th level Ranger is treated as a nine hit die creature).
Class Skills: Animal Empathy (Cha, exclusive), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int, exclusive), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Innuendo (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (All skills taken individually) (Int, exclusive), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Read Lips (Int, exclusive), Ride (Dex), Scry (Int, exclusive), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (None), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Use Rope (Dex), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).
Skill Points at First Level: (6 + Int Modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier.
CLASS FEATURES
Rangers have the following class features.
Armor, Shield, and Weapon Proficiencies: Rangers are proficient with all Simple and Martial weapons, and with all types of armor, and shields.
Languages: In addition to any other languages learnable from their race, Rangers may also select from among the languages of their Humanoid enemies: Draconic, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Grimlock (do Grimlocks have their own language?), and Orc.
At first level, they get Track as a free Feat, their choice of one free Ranger-Only Feat from a specific list (which must be Favored Enemies, if they wish to remain totally backwards-compatible), Scouting (which gives slight bonuses to sneakiness and reduces chances of being surprised), Humanoid-Hunting (the 1e +1 HP/Level bonus vs. a specific list of humanoid types), and "Trapsetting", which is really a non-ability that clarifies their ability to use traps and snares to gain food with a DC 10 Wilderness Lore/Survival check).
At 2nd & 3rd levels they get their choice of a Bonus Feat from a specific class list (which includes Ambi & TWF, as well as Point Blank Shot, Mounted Combat, Weapon Focus, Alertness, Endurance, and a host of new Ranger-Only Feats, including Favored Enemies and its Sub-Feats). They also get movement abilities, some of which speed them only in the wild, others over all terrains.
At 4th, they get the last of their movement powers (no longer needing mounts for overland travel), and +2 on Will Saves (as well as one Orison/day and 0 1rst-level spells).
5th brings them a wilderness survival power, improved tracking ability, and their second D8.
6th gives them another Bonus Feat from the class list, and Guide ability, as well as their second Zero-level Orison.
7th yields Pathfinding ability and two more Orisons.
8th gives a Ranger-Only ability of choice (almost all of which are Non-Combat), and increased Ranging (Travel) ability. One more Orison, the first frist-level spell, and a bonus second-level, if WIS is high enough.
9th gives better night abilities, and the third D8. Two more Orisons and another first-level spell.
10th gives the followers, ability to use any magical items related to Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, ESP, Healing, Mind-reading, Perception, and/or Telepathy. Another Orison, two first-level, and a second-level spell are gained.
From 11th level on, only a few D8, two Bonus Feats from the class list, and Ranger-Only Feats are granted. Eventually, the Ranger will have 10 Orisons, five first- and second-level spells/day, and three third- and fourth-level. The increase is due to the return of Druidic/MU spells. These involve perception, travel, healing, plants, animals, paths, traps, and the like (not the entire Wiz selection).
In short, there's my Ranger. A Monk might outrun him, but in the wilderness, he will probably still get there first (if the Monk makes it alive).
That is how I fixed the Ranger.
[EDIT: Typos & Spell progression.]
Last edited:
Jack Daniel
dice-universe.blogspot.com
My Ranger
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=50815
It's all about showmanship, you understand.
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=50815
It's all about showmanship, you understand.
Ravellion
serves Gnome Master
My ranger is totally customisable, with special abilities pertaining to favoured enemies, tracking, guiding, survival, use of terrain and movement. These are selectable, hence not all rangers need to use them all (in fact there are more abilties than a 20th level ranger could pick up)
I then gave him a couple of bonus feats as well, but very few (1 every 5th level). It has heavy Aragorn style flavour.
And it can be found here
Pimpin' my ranger, salesman style.
Rav
I then gave him a couple of bonus feats as well, but very few (1 every 5th level). It has heavy Aragorn style flavour.
And it can be found here
Pimpin' my ranger, salesman style.
Rav
Re: Re: Fix the revised ranger in four easy steps
Uh, no? Aragorn, Faramir, Mablung, Damrod . . . just because most of them only get a few pages doesn't mean that they don't exist.
Anyway, Faramir and his band would probably all be around Rogue 3 / Fighter 4 or something.
Gez said:
Uh, no? Aragorn, Faramir, Mablung, Damrod . . . just because most of them only get a few pages doesn't mean that they don't exist.
Anyway, Faramir and his band would probably all be around Rogue 3 / Fighter 4 or something.Rangers:
OD&D: see 1e, below.
1e was a pre-industrial commando--more green beret than anything else. Their relationship to the land was that of a hunter: it is either environment or obstacle, not home. In fact, they didn't really get wilderness survival skills except in a Dragon magazine article. I'm trying to remember for certain, but i believe that TWF was one of the options introduced with UA (which added a bunch of weapon restrictions to rangers).
2e saw the introduction of the treehuggingbunnyf---ers (to quote my friend). It's here that the whole "friend of nature" thing was introduced. MU spells were dropped, and the animal friend abilities added. If it wasn't in UA, 2nd ed gave us the TWF thing. The reason this change disappointed me wasn't because i didn't think it was a cool archetype--i do--it's that the 2e ranger was roughly equivalent to the 1e druid/ranger. 'cept in 2e there wasn't any equivalent of the 1e ranger. So we had a net loss of one cool archetype. Not to mention the loss of what was formerly expressed via the ranger/thief.
3E is pretty much the same beast as 2e in concept, just maybe cleaned up a little in execution.
No opinion on 3.5E--i'll wait 'til i've actually read it.
My preference? Go for the wilderness/stealth skills. If you want more fighting prowess, multiclass with fighter. If you want one-with-nature abilities, multiclass with druid. If you want spellslinging, multiclass with sorcerer or wizard (or bard). If i had to pick a specific implementation, i'd go with the version of ranger the Dark Sun folks have come up with, over at <athas.org>--best version of ranger i've seen.
-----
Bards:
OD&D: don't remember. i think they appeared in the Companion rules, but i'm not sure.
1e: i'll come back to this one
Dragon mag: turned them into their own class, based around musical & knowledge abilities with a smattering of fighting, stealth, and spellcasting. Still my favorite.
2e: Pretty much took the alternate found in Dragon and tweaked it a bit. The addition of the NWP system really made the jack-of-all-trades element shine for bards. Broadened from music to performance in general, but downplayed the loremaster element.
3E: Not so much jack-of-all-trades or dabblers as backup spellcasters. First time an arcane spellcaster got healing spells--not sure if i like it.
3.5E: again, i'll wait 'til i actually see it. Sounds like it's an improvement, but still not my thing.
Now, for the smartaleks who want 1e bards in 3E:
The key thing to remember about 1e bards is that they were almost impossible to make, and way overpowered once you got there. So, with that in mind, we'll make them a prestige class.
Requirements: BAB +10, Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, Sneak Attack +3d6, Perform total bonus +16, alignment part-neutral, has permission of druids to join bardic college.
They had a combination of moderate fighter and thief abilities with pretty decent druidic abilities, plus all the bard music stuff, so:
Stats:
--medium BAB
--good Fort/Ref/Will.
--6 skillpoints/level, (standard) bard skilllist
--d6 HD
Spellcasting:
--spells/day as a druid of same level
--caster level equals bard level
--combined druid and (standard) bard spelllists
--No preparation (like sorcerers), but with no extra time required, or metamagic penalties.
--all relevant checks Wis or Cha based, whichever is higher
--all spells require musical performance, but no material components, and somatic components only as appropriate for the performance style (all spells become V or V,S for components); cannot take Silent or Still caster feats
Other:
--add bard level to all Perform checks as competency bonus
--1st: Nature sense, animal companion, woodland stride, bardic music, bardic knowledge, bonus language, bonus hit die
2nd: Trackless step, resist nature’s lure, bonus language, bonus hit die
3rd: Wild shape (2/day), bonus language, bonus hit die
4th: Wild shape (Large, 3/day), bonus language, bonus hit die
5th: Venom immunity, Wild shape (4/day), bonus language, bonus hit die
6th: Wild shape (Tiny/dire), bonus language, bonus hit die
7th: A thousand faces, Wild shape (5/day), bonus language, bonus hit die
8th: Wild shape (Huge, elemental 1/day), timeless body, bonus language, bonus hit die
9th: Wild shape (6/day, elemental 3/day), bonus language
10th: Bonus language, Bonus hit die
Bonus hit die means an extra d6, adjusted normally for Con. The bard's total hit dice are used when calculating such things as resisting spells and healing rate, but not for calculating experience awards via CR. [IOW, use either the bard's level or HD, which ever is more favorable.]
--If a bard takes a level in a new class, or progresses further in a class other than bard, she may no longer gain bard levels.
--If a bard changes alignment so that there is no longer a neutral component, she immediately gains negative levels equal to her bard level. If her alignment has not been restored within 24hrs, it is as if the save for restoring energy-drained negative levels has been failed. Restoring her alignment within the 24hr period is equivalent to succeeding at the save.
There, i think that captures the spirit of the original bard pretty well, within the framework of the 3E PH. Is that suitably broken?
edit: hope that cleans it up--didn't mean to step across any lines
OD&D: see 1e, below.
1e was a pre-industrial commando--more green beret than anything else. Their relationship to the land was that of a hunter: it is either environment or obstacle, not home. In fact, they didn't really get wilderness survival skills except in a Dragon magazine article. I'm trying to remember for certain, but i believe that TWF was one of the options introduced with UA (which added a bunch of weapon restrictions to rangers).
2e saw the introduction of the treehuggingbunnyf---ers (to quote my friend). It's here that the whole "friend of nature" thing was introduced. MU spells were dropped, and the animal friend abilities added. If it wasn't in UA, 2nd ed gave us the TWF thing. The reason this change disappointed me wasn't because i didn't think it was a cool archetype--i do--it's that the 2e ranger was roughly equivalent to the 1e druid/ranger. 'cept in 2e there wasn't any equivalent of the 1e ranger. So we had a net loss of one cool archetype. Not to mention the loss of what was formerly expressed via the ranger/thief.
3E is pretty much the same beast as 2e in concept, just maybe cleaned up a little in execution.
No opinion on 3.5E--i'll wait 'til i've actually read it.
My preference? Go for the wilderness/stealth skills. If you want more fighting prowess, multiclass with fighter. If you want one-with-nature abilities, multiclass with druid. If you want spellslinging, multiclass with sorcerer or wizard (or bard). If i had to pick a specific implementation, i'd go with the version of ranger the Dark Sun folks have come up with, over at <athas.org>--best version of ranger i've seen.
-----
Bards:
OD&D: don't remember. i think they appeared in the Companion rules, but i'm not sure.
1e: i'll come back to this one
Dragon mag: turned them into their own class, based around musical & knowledge abilities with a smattering of fighting, stealth, and spellcasting. Still my favorite.
2e: Pretty much took the alternate found in Dragon and tweaked it a bit. The addition of the NWP system really made the jack-of-all-trades element shine for bards. Broadened from music to performance in general, but downplayed the loremaster element.
3E: Not so much jack-of-all-trades or dabblers as backup spellcasters. First time an arcane spellcaster got healing spells--not sure if i like it.
3.5E: again, i'll wait 'til i actually see it. Sounds like it's an improvement, but still not my thing.
Now, for the smartaleks who want 1e bards in 3E:
The key thing to remember about 1e bards is that they were almost impossible to make, and way overpowered once you got there. So, with that in mind, we'll make them a prestige class.
Requirements: BAB +10, Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, Sneak Attack +3d6, Perform total bonus +16, alignment part-neutral, has permission of druids to join bardic college.
They had a combination of moderate fighter and thief abilities with pretty decent druidic abilities, plus all the bard music stuff, so:
Stats:
--medium BAB
--good Fort/Ref/Will.
--6 skillpoints/level, (standard) bard skilllist
--d6 HD
Spellcasting:
--spells/day as a druid of same level
--caster level equals bard level
--combined druid and (standard) bard spelllists
--No preparation (like sorcerers), but with no extra time required, or metamagic penalties.
--all relevant checks Wis or Cha based, whichever is higher
--all spells require musical performance, but no material components, and somatic components only as appropriate for the performance style (all spells become V or V,S for components); cannot take Silent or Still caster feats
Other:
--add bard level to all Perform checks as competency bonus
--1st: Nature sense, animal companion, woodland stride, bardic music, bardic knowledge, bonus language, bonus hit die
2nd: Trackless step, resist nature’s lure, bonus language, bonus hit die
3rd: Wild shape (2/day), bonus language, bonus hit die
4th: Wild shape (Large, 3/day), bonus language, bonus hit die
5th: Venom immunity, Wild shape (4/day), bonus language, bonus hit die
6th: Wild shape (Tiny/dire), bonus language, bonus hit die
7th: A thousand faces, Wild shape (5/day), bonus language, bonus hit die
8th: Wild shape (Huge, elemental 1/day), timeless body, bonus language, bonus hit die
9th: Wild shape (6/day, elemental 3/day), bonus language
10th: Bonus language, Bonus hit die
Bonus hit die means an extra d6, adjusted normally for Con. The bard's total hit dice are used when calculating such things as resisting spells and healing rate, but not for calculating experience awards via CR. [IOW, use either the bard's level or HD, which ever is more favorable.]
--If a bard takes a level in a new class, or progresses further in a class other than bard, she may no longer gain bard levels.
--If a bard changes alignment so that there is no longer a neutral component, she immediately gains negative levels equal to her bard level. If her alignment has not been restored within 24hrs, it is as if the save for restoring energy-drained negative levels has been failed. Restoring her alignment within the 24hr period is equivalent to succeeding at the save.
There, i think that captures the spirit of the original bard pretty well, within the framework of the 3E PH. Is that suitably broken?
edit: hope that cleans it up--didn't mean to step across any lines
Last edited:
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