D&D 5E (2014) Spell-less Ranger

[Paraxis]

I would just multiclass fighter/rogue. Fighter gets you archery style, go battlemaster for arrow tricks, and rogue gets you damage boost with sneak attack, cunning action for mobility, and expertise so you can excel in survival and perception checks.

 

[MrZeddaPiras]

I believe he's asking for a new ranger subclass specifically. Not character build suggestions in general. (Or being questioned why he wants this new subclass in the first place, for that matter)

I didn't mean to question the OP, I was merely suggesting what I think would be a pretty good rendition of the spell-less ranger.

Default ranger seems more magicky than Aragon to me. Part of the problem with the class is that it is essentially a Fighter with some different perks. Well, not a "problem", per say.

That's true, but then the subleties of Tolkien can't really be translated to D&D. All the skills and "powers" are there though, as steeldragons said.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The only thing 'spell-less Ranger' really gets you that a fighter or multiclass with the outlander background doesn't is the word "Ranger" on your character sheet.

Not saying that the fighter, rogue, and backgrounds couldn't do a much better job of handling the concept, or that the result would be on par with the spellcasting version. Just that 5e already handles the concept as well as it handles any non-casting concept.

 

[Gadget]

That's true, but then the subleties of Tolkien can't really be translated to D&D. All the skills and "powers" are there though, as steeldragons said.

Agreed. Yet we still keep on trying. Really, a fighter with the right background and skills, or mulit-class would fit the bill, though I'm unsure how satisfying it would be.

The Aragorn archetype, really, is a spell-less ranger until [in D&D terms] you would get into higher levels/moves into his role of "king" and things from the books like his "healing hands" [used on Eowyn and Faramir vs. the herb lore he uses on Frodo] and being able to use the palantir come into play [hence the original class' ability to use magic items that involved clairvoyance and/or ESP -normally restricted to mages only]. In many ways/D&D terms, Aragorn is a [spell-less] Ranger who becomes a [magical ability] Paladin in accepting his role/destiny of king by the end.

It is really hard to separate 'Aragorn the Ranger' from 'Aragorn the Heir of Elendil and last of the Numenoreans'. He could use the Palantir because he was the rightful master of the Stone, as they belonged to the House of Elendil. His powers of healing range from practical battle field dressing and herb lore with a bit of mystical ummph added in. I don't think that the ability was different when used on Frodo vs the others, Frodo's wound was merely beyond his ability; or he may have leveled up in the mean time. He did not need to 'accept his destiny as King', that is the movie talking. So it is hard to tell what abilities of mind and body he has from being a Dunedain, and what he has from being a Ranger, though I do recall him spending time with his ear literally to the ground when tracking the orcs that took Merry & Pippin, and that sounds very Ranger-like (kind of Primeval Awareness if you squint).

In the end, for D&D, I would take Li Shenron's advice above and give the Ranger certain spells as 'at will' abilities at various levels. This gives the Archetype enough uniqueness to be its own class and not a fighter with a different background or multi-class. I suspect that the reason why WOTC went with the spell version as the base class was to avoid some of the backlash over 4e's mundanes getting special abilities that are like spells but aren't while still giving the class enough mechanical bite to warrant its own archetype.

 

[CapnZapp]

Folks, this thread is called "Spell-less-Ranger".

Not "give me a good reason not to create a spell-less ranger subclass". Not "give me suggestions to create a character that looks and feels like a spell-less ranger".

Let me remind you what the threadstarter wanted:

Anyway I want a purely martial Ranger and would love to hear your thoughts about it.

If you need clarification, the threadstarter provides that too:

[Please help me come up with] substitute class features for a Ranger without spell casting ability.

 

[graypariah]

Let me try a whack at your request - try using an altered form of Monk's Ki class feature. I did something that was pretty much the ranger class with the hunter archetype and Ki as a replacement for magic in my "magic is outlawed campaign". Instead of calling it Ki you could call it something else like I did and come up with an explanation for it.

 

[Sunseeker]

Honestly it's easier to build a spell-less ranger with the Fighter, pick the Outlander or Hermit background and you'll have more or less a rangery, no-companion, no spells ranger.

 

[Dargrimm]

Thank you all for the responses.
Giving them some spells as abilities looks like a nice idea.

I already thought about going with fighter and making it more like a range through skills and feats but then, things like the beast companion or natural explorer are not easily replicated.

All this if for a campaign world I'm brewing now that is low on magic. The most commonly used classes are martial (barbarian, fighter, ranger, rogue) and magic is mainly used by the bad guys, and only full spell caster characters (cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard, not sure how to handle the bard yet...) which are very rare.

Edit: I've always been a huge fan of pulp sword and sorcery and I want to make a world based on that. Conan and Red Sonja comics and art by Ken Kelly, Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo and others is what inspired me.

Edit 2: Really looking forward for the new Conan RPG coming this summer!

I'm listening to the original soundtrack of Conan the Barbarian while writing this so you can get the idea...

 

[Tony Vargas]

All this if for a campaign world I'm brewing now that is low on magic. The most commonly used classes are martial (barbarian, fighter, ranger, rogue) and magic is mainly used by the bad guys, and only full spell caster characters (cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard, not sure how to handle the bard yet...) which are very rare.

Edit: I've always been a huge fan of pulp sword and sorcery and I want to make a world based on that. Conan and Red Sonja comics and art by Ken Kelly, Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo and others is what inspired me.

Edit 2: Really looking forward for the new Conan RPG coming this summer!

I'm listening to the original soundtrack of Conan the Barbarian while writing this so you can get the idea...

Honestly, 5e may not be the way to go. Think about it: The PH has 38 sub-class options. About 30 of them cast spells. The Champion, Battlemaster, Berserker, Thief and Assassin are the only ones that are fairly unambiguously non-magical. No class lacks a magic-using archetype. Non-magical 'healing' (HD) is inadequate, and inaccessible in combat.
It's a very high-magic and magic-dependent game.

3.5 has numerous fighter builds, barbarian, rogue, knight, scout, numerous PrCs, the Marshal f/Battlesystem - and, heck, the first 3 levels of ranger. It's obscure, but there's an 'inherent bonuses' option to reduce the need for magic-items to maintain balance as you level. The only downside is the need for potions or UMD+WoCLW for healing. Pathfinder adds more non-caster classes, including it's own take on the Marshal.

4e offers you something like 6 builds each of Fighter, Ranger, Rogue and Warlord. Essentials adds the Knight, Slayer, and Thief and post-Essentials the Berserker (you have to be pretty careful to avoid primal powers, but you can do it) and, I guess, Executioner (it might have a magical 'shadow' power or two, I forget). If you ignore the Essentials classes, they're all reasonably balanced. You can use inherent bonuses to remove magic items from the expected advancement. And, non-magical healing, especially with a Warlord, is quite sufficient.

13th Age has a Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, and (in 13TW) Commander, with modest variety among them, and, like 4e, has adequate non-magical healing, including an in-combat 'Rally' option.

Finally, if you can dig up the d20 Iron Heroes, it's prettymuch exactly what you're looking for - mighty-thewed barbarians, big weapons, manly combat, and not too much magic. It has 10 PC classes - /one/ of them is a caster, and it's optional. Oh, and, 'reserves' - a form of non-magical 'healing' used in a few d20 games to take up some of the slack from the loss of magical healing.

 

[Paraxis]

Edit: I've always been a huge fan of pulp sword and sorcery and I want to make a world based on that. Conan and Red Sonja comics and art by Ken Kelly, Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo and others is what inspired me.

Edit 2: Really looking forward for the new Conan RPG coming this summer!

I'm listening to the original soundtrack of Conan the Barbarian while writing this so you can get the idea...

If you are open to using other game systems like the upcoming Conan one, I suggest you check out Barbarians of Lemuria they recently came out with a new edition and the book has great art and the system is pretty cool.

http://barbariansoflemuria.webs.com/