Non-Spellcasting Ranger Houserule

[Gene737]

As part of the 5th edition re-boot of my low-magic Iron Heroes campaign, I was in need of a non-spell casting variant for the Ranger. I had seen some discussions on the topic but nothing that tweaked my interest. So I ended up merging the Fighter & Ranger class abilities to fill in the Ranger's Spell casting void for my campaign.

Notes:

• I only went out to 16th level as the characters in the campaign are currently only 8th or 7th level, so it will be some time before they even near 16th.
• As magic in the campaign is rare, unpredictable, and often as dangerous to the user/wielder as to his foes, I have permitted both Ability Improvements AND Feats to be taken at levels 4, 8, 12, & 16 to give the PCs an edge. For all other class level abilities that permit them to take an Ability Improvement, the character must choose either an Ability Improvement OR a Feat.

Level - Ability

1. - Favored Enemy, Natural Explorer
2. - Fighting Style, 2nd Wind
3. - Ranger Archetype
4. - Ability Improvement (Feat)
5. - Extra Attack
6. - Favored Enemy & Natural Explorer Improvements -or- Feat (player's choice)
7. - Ranger Archetype Feature
8. - Ability Improvement, Land's Stride (Feat)
9. - Action Surge
10. - Natural Explorer Improvement, Hide in Plain Sight
11. - Ranger Archetype Feature
12. - Ability Improvement (Feat)
13. - Extra Attack
14. - Favored Enemy Improvements & Vanish -or- Feat (player's choice)
15. - Ranger Archetype Feature
16. - Ability Improvement (Feat)

Italicized Bold - Taken from the Fighter class

So far, this modification/tweak has been met with enthusiasm by my players (including the Iron Heroes - Hunter/4th Edition Warlord/Ranger).

 

[Paraxis]

Seems fine, I would just go with Fighter 5/ Rogue 3 for an 8th level non spellcasting Ranger. Background something custom that gives him outdoorsman skills like nature and survival. Expertise from rogue in survival and perception go along way to making them just as skilled in those areas as a ranger.

 

[Gene737]

We had looked at the Fighter/Rogue combos as well as only permitting taking 1 level in Ranger the rest in Fighter. As you mention, the Rogue's expertise provided a tempting build but it still did not quite replicate the feel of the previous build versions.

It is true that the Rogue can provide skill buffs via Expertise that the Ranger could not get on his own. However the previous incarnations had some class-specific benefits that can not be duplicated outside of the Ranger class abilities. For example, in the original Iron Heroes version of the campaign, the Hunter class was used as the class most able to function as guides as well as having the duty to travel to the outlying and remote farming/mining communes delivering messages, (and perform scouting and fighting threats from intruding/raiding goblinkin & giants in the region).

The 5th edition Ranger's Favored Enemy ability permits them to function quite well as protectors for the outlying areas, and the Natural Explorer grants them the perfect guide/wilderness traveler ability. The other Ranger abilities and Archetype features (currently limited to the Hunter archetype) only serve to amplify these benefits and abilities.

Plus with the Ranger class, the character as a "Guide" & "Wilds Protector" technically begins at level 1, whereas the other option we looked at took time to develop, and even the Ranger-1/Fighter-X was not a noticeably better build than a Rogue-X/Fighter-X after a couple of levels (due to the items you had mentioned).

 

[Khaalis]

Here is my take on doing a non-Caster ranger and keeping it focused as a ranger class still because in effect, the Ranger is really a subclass of Fighter that has grown into its own class. I would have much preferred to see the Spellcasting option added as a Ranger Subclass much in the way Eldritch Knight was done.

SPELL-LESS RANGER
Lv 1 = Favored Enemy 1, Natural Explorer 1
Lv 2 = Fighting Style, Second Wind
Lv 3 = Archetype Feature 1, Primeval Awareness
Lv 4 = Ability Score Improvement
Lv 5 = Extra Attack (2)
Lv 6 = Ability Score Improvement
Lv 7 = Archetype Feature 2
Lv 8 = Ability Score Improvement, Land's Stride
Lv 9 = Favored Enemy 2, Natural Explorer 2
Lv 10 = Hide in Plain Sight
Lv 11 = Archetype Feature 3
Lv 12 = Ability Score Improvement
Lv 13 = Extra Attack (3)
Lv 14 = Ability Score Improvement, Vanish
Lv 15 = Archetype Feature 4
Lv 16 = Ability Score Improvement
Lv 17 = Favored Enemy 3, Natural Explorer 3
Lv 18 = Feral Senses
Lv 19 = Ability Score Improvement
Lv 20 = Foe Slayer

This spreads out Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer over a wider spread of the progression like other classes do and fills in power gaps from spells by making it Slightly more Fighter by bringing Ability Score Improvements to 7 (vs the normal Ranger's 5) and giving rangers 3 Attacks (vs their normal 2) but keeping fighter king with 4.

 

[RhaezDaevan]

Here is my take on doing a non-Caster ranger and keeping it focused as a ranger class still because in effect, the Ranger is really a subclass of Fighter that has grown into its own class. I would have much preferred to see the Spellcasting option added as a Ranger Subclass much in the way Eldritch Knight was done.

SPELL-LESS RANGER
Lv 1 = Favored Enemy 1, Natural Explorer 1
Lv 2 = Fighting Style, Second Wind
Lv 3 = Archetype Feature 1, Primeval Awareness
Lv 4 = Ability Score Improvement
Lv 5 = Extra Attack (2)
Lv 6 = Ability Score Improvement
Lv 7 = Archetype Feature 2
Lv 8 = Ability Score Improvement, Land's Stride
Lv 9 = Favored Enemy 2, Natural Explorer 2
Lv 10 = Hide in Plain Sight
Lv 11 = Archetype Feature 3
Lv 12 = Ability Score Improvement
Lv 13 = Extra Attack (3)
Lv 14 = Ability Score Improvement, Vanish
Lv 15 = Archetype Feature 4
Lv 16 = Ability Score Improvement
Lv 17 = Favored Enemy 3, Natural Explorer 3
Lv 18 = Feral Senses
Lv 19 = Ability Score Improvement
Lv 20 = Foe Slayer

This spreads out Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer over a wider spread of the progression like other classes do and fills in power gaps from spells by making it Slightly more Fighter by bringing Ability Score Improvements to 7 (vs the normal Ranger's 5) and giving rangers 3 Attacks (vs their normal 2) but keeping fighter king with 4.

Good stuff. I like your version the best.

 

[Sadrik]

What about doing a conversion of the Iron Heroes classes? I think that would be pretty bad ass. 5e is easily mutable and not difficult to do that with. It would be especially easy because you almost throw out the whole spell system.

Archer
Armiger
Berserker
Executioner
Harrier
Hunter
Man-at-arms
Thief
Weapon Master
Arcanist

The token pool stuff was very cool. I think you could convert these over very well. Convert all of the class features and the feat system and you have something. Give everyone a standard ability boost rate and separate it from the feat system. Give feats as Iron heroes. I think everything could easily be converted like that. Some of the rules would have to change of course. Things like 3e concealment rules would have to be figured out, advantage and disadvantage could be thrown out in favor of modifiers like in 3e (doing that would really not change the game much). Wow, this would be pretty awesome.

 

[Gene737]

While our group enjoyed the Iron Heroes alternative d20 rules, we have found that transitioning to 5th to be a more manageable system (both for the players & DM).

As for the Iron Heroes' class & 5th edition, it is easier to replicate than it was in 4th (actually 4th was only close with the Hunter/Warlord-Ranger). The current Rogue can replicate the Thief (Skilled feat, Expertise, Thief Archetype, etc.). The Armiger - Fighter with Protection fighting style, Heavy Armor Mastery, Sentinel, + Battle Master with appropriate traits (Goading Attack, Parry, etc). Archer - Fighter with Archery fighting Style, Battle Master (for trick/skilled shots) & Sharpshooter.

As for the other changes, I would just go back to the Iron Heroes d20 rules system rather than try to bash it together with 5th only because I am not sure how smoothly the amalgam would function. Which is why my group has built Iron Heroes-style characters using 5th edition rules. The only magic-using permitted class is the Sorcerer with the Wild Magic origin (and no divine character classes). Everyone is quite happy with how close the 5th edition re-skins are to their Iron Heroes originals.

 

[Sadrik]

Yup, I see where you are going with it. A good direction. So for your game your classes available are:

Archer (Fighter)
Armiger (Fighter)
Berserker (Barbarian)
Executioner (Rogue/assassin?)
Harrier (Rogue)
Hunter (Fighter or Rogue or the Ranger in this thread)
Man-at-arms (Fighter)
Thief (Rogue/thief)
Weapon Master (Fighter)
Arcanist (Sorcerer/wild mage)

I think this could fit nicely and give the feel of Iron Heroes. The only thing I would miss is the fun token pools.

For some of the other rules add-ons that gave the game a certain feel... You could do reserve HP as they do but convert them to Hit Dice. You would use a healing kit to restore Hit Dice and then use your Hit Dice to heal. HP are defined as resilience toughness and willpower and actual injury occurs at 0 HP. You could ramp up the HD to allow healing much more than often than standard 5e.

Stunts and combat challenges are an easy inclusion.

Looks to be a fun game. Good luck with it!

 

[scruffygrognard]

I like Khaalis's variant BUT it needs to ditch Primeval Awareness since it relies on spell slots (and those have been eliminated).

SPELL-LESS RANGER


Level Features
1st Favored Enemy, Natural Explorer
2nd Fighting Style, Second Wind, Spellcasting
3rd Ranger Archetype, Danger Sense, Primeval Awareness
4th Ability Score Improvement
5th Extra Attack
6th Ability Score Improvement, Feral Instinct, Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer improvements
7th Ranger Archetype feature
8th Ability Score Improvement, Land’s Stride
9th Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer improvements
10th Hide in Plain Sight, Natural Explorer improvements
11th Ranger Archetype feature
12th Ability Score Improvement
13th Extra Attack
14th Ability Score Improvement, Vanish, Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer improvements
15th Ranger Archetype feature
16th Ability Score Improvement
17th Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer improvements
18th Feral Senses
19th Ability Score Improvement
20th Foe Slayer


Added abilities
Deleted abilities

This spreads out the progression of the Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer abilities out over a wider spread of levels, as is the case with similar abilities for other classes, and fills in the power gap from spell loss by more instances of Ability Score Improvements, from 5 occurrences to 7, and by giving rangers and additional Extra Attack as they progress in level.

 

[Gene737]

Basically what I had in mind. I am also looking at trying to work in the Stunts mechanics from Iron Heroes and possibly the Challenges as well (though they will need to be tweaked given the bounded accuracy of 5th edition). The campaign also includes a fairly dynamic Action Point system that will be mostly carried over from the Iron Heroes campaign (which will now incorporate Inspiration as "Inspiration Points" - though in keeping with 5th edition, any given PC may only have one of these points).

As for the Hit Points & Healing, everyone will have access to a 1/day Second Wind (the fighter still gets their class ability in addition to this), and Action Points can be used to generate some healing options as well (minor healing, regaining spend HD, etc.). However given the generally usefulness of Action Points and the limited and mostly non-renewable amount of points available, Action Points are not really a reliable source of healing. One of the PCs (the Hunter - now Ranger) has already opted to take the Healer feat in order to provide supplemental healing for the group. The campaign has always been dangerous - no TPKs, but not uncommon for nearly all of the PCs to be in single digits at the end of tough battles. I will mentioned the healing kit and increased HD suggestions (to replicate reserve points - I may simply increase their available HD by 50% or even 100%) and get a group consensus (thanks for the ideas!).

The official re-start should be in a couple of weeks after all of the players have re-built their Iron Heroes characters and I have had a chance to review them. Both the group and myself are very much looking forward to the re-start. 4th edition was ok, but did not have the same feel as the d20 Iron Heroes. IMHO, 5th looks like we will have a leaner, cleaner system that should provide a very similar feel and playstyle. I can't wait.