Pathfinder 2's Ranger Is A Magic-Free Wilderness Hunter

Rangers in D&D and Pathfinder have a varied history, and range from mysterious wilderness travellers to dual-wielding magical beings; many have a preference on that spectrum, and mine falls towards the "Aragorn" end of the scale. It seems that Paizo feels similarly, because the ranger in Pathfinder 2nd Edition is magic-free (although still quite dual-wieldy).

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They describe the ranger as a hunter, first and foremost. Rangers have always had a favoured enemy; in this iteration, it's a bit more flexible. They have the Hunt Target feature, which allows them to designate a creature they can see and gain various benefits when attacking it. Other class features include:

• Hunt Target (1st level) -- smaller penalties when multi-attacking a designated target, plus bonuses to seek and track it.
• Trackless Step (5th level).
• Evasion (7th level).
• Nature's Edge (9th level) -- enemies in difficult terrain or a snare are flat-footed.
• Wild Stride (11th level) -- ignore or minimise difficult terrain.
• Weapon Mastery (13th level) -- weapon mastery for a group of weapons.
• Masterful Hunter (17th level) -- augments Hunt Target, reducing the penalties further.
• Swift Target (19th level) -- use Hunt Target as a free action.

As always, there is a range of class feats, including Monster Hunter (if you crit when IDing a target you and your allies get +1 to hit it), and Scout's Warning (you grant your allies a +1 initiative bonus).

Finally, rangers get an ability called Snares. These are small traps which take about a minute to set up, such as a Slowing Snare or a Freezing Snare. They are objects with a price attached, and your Crafting rank determines how many you can learn.

I'm quite a fan of this ranger. They do note that you could create a spellcasting ranger build, but the default is this wilderness strider approach. I'm still not super-keen on small +1 bonuses, but I can live with them!

Read more about Pathfinder 2's ranger here!

 

[mellored]

Evolución of a product is not biology, it’s marketing and customer service

Products evolve as well. No one rides a horse to work or studies by candlelight anymore.

 

[Kurviak]

Products evolve as well. No one rides a horse to work or studies by candlelight anymore.

You do if you live in some parts of the world (I now firsthand about studding by candlelight).

But those are not examples of evolution of products at all

 

[Stacie GmrGrl]

Yes. Finally. A ranger I can get behind.

Pathfinder 2 is getting better with every update. I don't think I'm sticking with 5e now.

 

[Caliburn101]

Wrong person quoted - so removed.

 

[Caliburn101]

It’s pretty much Aragorn.

And all the more interesting for that.

I would say 'Cue the argument about what class and level the Fellowship members were' but it seems someone beat me to it with the evergreen debate on Gandalf.

 

[Kobold Boots]

To those that find rangers with magic "classic" - I say "Yes, classically 8th level"
To those that find rangers with dual-wield weird - I say "Aragorn template".
To those that find rangers without magic "classic" - I say "Yes, classically before 8th level".

In any event, having spells is never a problem. Just tweak them for your game. If you want low magic rangers just make the effects taste right and be more ritual than cast..

 

[Jer]

PF2 has a 4E designer on staff. It certainly seems to be showing.

Who's the 4e designer on the staff?

 

[Marandahir]

I never really saw any Warlord or Paladin-like abilities in Aragorn. Certainly never saw him standing at the back telling other people to attack.

Bravura, not Tactical. See Martial Power, not PH1. Bravuras lead from the front lines, inspiring their allies to fight better as they strike their foes.

Aragorn would have been a Multiclass character, and PH3 has the better multiclass system, Hybrid Classing. He probably needs both systems though, since he's a Ranger/Warlord/Paladin. Needs lay on hands (get from Paladin Multiclassing Feat), and then is a Hybrid Bravura Warlord (MP1) and Ranger (Hunter Fighting Style from MP2; not to be confused with Hunter (Ranger subclass). Hunter Fighting Style lets him switch between his bow and his greatsword freely, and he's the target demographic for that build of the original PH1 Ranger as portrayed in the splatbook.

In any case I think with the right tinkering you could probably make Aragorn from these parts, but he'd need some significant work. His ability to inspire and raise the spirits of his allies through his leadership is just as important part of his profession as his Rangerdom. He walks a dual-life, and thus is a classic example of Multiclass characters.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I still think it is a missed opportunity to not give them abilities linked to tracking. Ideally I’d see class abilities which allow them become increasingly able to track foes, determine things about them (health, happiness) and to read the recent past by interpreting tracks. That kind of information gathering skill would be both fun and useful.

 

[qstor]

Who's the 4e designer on the staff?

I'm pretty sure there's two - Stephen Radney-MacFarland and Logan Bonner.