D&D General Ranger, Why Do You Guard the Frontier?

Rangers are warriors who roam the wilds defending civilization against monsters. Determining why your ranger lives such a rough life may open up new roleplaying opportunities for you to explore and offer new ideas for your GM to incorporate into her world.

Image courtesy of Deviant Art Creative Commons​

Rangers hail from a variety of backgrounds. They share in a common a willingness to both survive in the wilds away from civilization and to fight the enemies that prowl the frontier. Here are d12 reasons your ranger might prowl the wilderness.

1. Angry all the time. You have a temper. And you are skilled in killing people. It hasn’t been a safe combination in crowded settlements. So you roam the wilds and kill the enemies who threaten the settlements and the people you’ve chosen to avoid.
2. Falsely accused. They say you killed a man in cold blood. You were going to hang, no question. So you fled into the wilds. Whether you dream of trying to clear your name or not, you help greenhorns who stumble into your home and need help while you avoid the noose.
3. Forgotten nobility. You believe you are descended from an ancient line of nobility whose realm has fallen and whose people have been scattered. You guard the kingdoms of other people since yours has fallen.
4. Good at killing. You have a knack for killing people. You may not like it or you might actually enjoy it. Either way, you’ve decided working in the wilds makes it easier to find enemies that need to be killed and in larger numbers. You’ve never been happier.
5. Just a job. Guarding the frontier means you are in charge most of the time. Your success and survival are tied to just you and your decisions and that suits you just fine. Anything to avoid haughty nobles, corrupt watch, and drunken louts.
6. Loner. You don’t like many people or you don’t like crowds of people. There are less people in the wilds and your enemies are usually easier to spot and kill. You avoid going into settlements whenever possible.
7. Lost it all. Whatever you once had is now gone. Plague may have taken your family, a fire your home, or war your homeland. When in settlements you tend to get angry while off in the wilds you are simply quiet and melancholy so you try to avoid civilization.
8. Loves the wilds. You love the sound of the wind through trees, the crashing noise of waterfalls, the moon and stars on a dark night, and fresh air to breathe. You’re willing to fight for your small piece of the wilderness.
9. Running from the past. Something haunts you. Maybe you left behind your family, deserted from an army, refused a noble’s order, or risked a forbidden romance. Now you run and you cannot go back. If the bounty hunters close in it is time to move on.
10. Thrill of adventure. You love canoeing through rapids, scaling cliffs, traversing overgrown forests, swimming in oceans, exploring underground caves, and treading where no civilized person has walked before. You likely enjoy a good scrap too.
11. Trying to forget. Maybe you fought in wars and have memories you want to forget. You might have been an assassin for the realm and you tired of killing. You might have served on the watch and burned out while carting off knifed drunks from taverns and slain prostitutes killed by violent men. The wilderness is much quieter and the monsters here make more sense to you and are easier to deal with.
12. Wanderlust. You must see what is over the next hill, around the next river bend, and over the next mountain. If you stay in one place too long you become agitated and unsettled until you set out for somewhere new.

Some of these ideas will work better if you work with your GM to incorporate them into adventures. Your ranger will need at times to accompany his adventuring companions into settlements, but he will always be eager to leave civilization behind and return to the wilderness he calls home.

 

[Weiley31]

You could be a Forester: raised by elves, so you feel more towards the natural aspect of the race.

 

[Dioltach]

I love the idea of a Ranger who is roving mountains looking for gold. He aims to strike it rich!

And because he's antisocial, he'll use his wealth to live in total isolation from other people.

 

[Minigiant]

anti-social does not necessarily equal evil, mean, angry, grim, apathetic, crazy. It means you don't want to be around people too much, and the wilderness is more suited for that than the city.

just because you don't like people too much / don't like to be around people too much doesn't mean that you don't help them. but there has to be something behind that anti-social behavior, and that is usually some negative experience.

I know where the misunderstanding comes from: anti-social can mean someone who is "actively bad" and is also used for people who are "not social" without being evil. I use both versions.

My point is that Rangers don't have to be anti-social.

Rangers can be in ranger organizations. They can be social with the tribal, natural, outdoorsy, and animal inhabitants of the wild. They can be a in-between between a wild group and a civilized group. They could be a commander of a nature branch of a government or army and interact with many groups. Ranging could just be a job and have no impact to personality at all.

Rangers being anti-social is just a stereotype. It has no need to be common.

 

[stadi]

My point is that Rangers don't have to be anti-social.

Rangers can be in ranger organizations. They can be social with the tribal, natural, outdoorsy, and animal inhabitants of the wild. They can be a in-between between a wild group and a civilized group. They could be a commander of a nature branch of a government or army and interact with many groups. Ranging could just be a job and have no impact to personality at all.

Rangers being anti-social is just a stereotype. It has no need to be common.

yeah, but why choose to be in the wilderness in the first place if you can be in the city that is more civilized, and where life's easier (but where you meet a lot of people)? because you are anti-social

it just depends where you are looking it from

 

[Superchunk77]

Don't forget the ranger who's just practicing "social distancing", and merely forgot to stop after the pandemic ended.

 

[Weiley31]

Rangers can also be a more Martial aspect of a Druid Grove. Hence they patrol the borders of their Groves and stuff. If anything is off, they report in before engaging unless the situation requires them to directly intervene.

 

[Minigiant]

yeah, but why choose to be in the wilderness in the first place if you can be in the city that is more civilized, and where life's easier (but where you meet a lot of people)? because you are anti-social

it just depends where you are looking it from

Maybe they don't like to socialize with city folk or rural country folk.

Maybe maybe rangers are just a little bit backwoods or deep in the desert. They like talking with trappers and hunters about shootin' and skinnin' and drinkin' mountain juice. They go to worship at druid circles. They go to faerie dance parties. They are the vets for the mountain dwarves logging camp and the halfling truffle pickers.

Again. You can be social outside of a city. And this is coming from a cityslicker.

 

[stadi]

Maybe they don't like to socialize with city folk or rural country folk.

Maybe maybe rangers are just a little bit backwoods or deep in the desert. They like talking with trappers and hunters about shootin' and skinnin' and drinkin' mountain juice. They go to worship at druid circles. They go to faerie dance parties. They are the vets for the mountain dwarves logging camp and the halfling truffle pickers.

Again. You can be social outside of a city. And this is coming from a cityslicker.

I think we are talking about the same thing just calling it differently.

What is the difference between city life vs wilderness? are those people really different or are there simply less of them and that's why the whole thing becomes different?

 

[Minigiant]

I think we are talking about the same thing just calling it differently.

What is the difference between city life vs wilderness? are those people really different or are there simply less of them and that's why the whole thing becomes different?

Both
There are less people in the wilderness.
But those people in the wilderness in D&D are very very different. Some arent even really people.

 

[LordEntrails]

21. Sauron