17 Ranger Spells
Authors: Tony DiGerolamo (spells) and The Le (Baubles and Urus)
Layout: The Le
Editor: Wayne Tonjes
“17 Ranger Spells” is a 22-26 page pdf that comes in a portrait, landscape and rich text format. It retails for $2.75 at Rpgnow.
An Overview:
This is a tightly focus product that seeks to correct the injustice of Rangers being treated like a poor man’s druid by introducing us to 17 new spells to broaden their spell list. It also contains a number of new baubles (4) and urus (3) as well as a reprinting of the Ranger class from the SRD.
Section One: 17 Ranger Spells (10 pages)
This section offers up a magical book/artifact followed by 17 spells designed specifically for the ranger. The book is a bit of rules enigma because it’s not definite in its definition. It has a series of properties that are inherent to it (resistant to natural elements, will be hidden by woodland creatures) and a series of option powers that if all are used makes it sort of like a lesser Book of Exalted Deeds for specifically rangers. I’m dwelling on this book instead of looking at the spells (I’ll come back to this).
The 17 spells cover a wide range of levels: 1st — ambidexterity, eyes of the eagle, heal the land, natural shelter; 2nd — detect poacher, enemy shield, favoured strike, free animals; 3rd — borrow animal trait, nature’s armory, resume decay, summon wave; 4th — animal assistant, earth’s armory, enemy slayer, nature’s roar, quicksand.
I have to admit that many of these spells are seem unorthodox in their design to me. For instance, the spell Ambidexterity grants access to an element of the Two-Weapon Fighting chain as well as a number of skill bonuses. I can’t think of many spells that grant access to feat (though I suppose readers of this review will quickly chime in with a list of examples). The other thing is that it has built in scaling so effectively it is useful at all levels unlike some other 1st level spells that become obsolete at later levels.
Of the spells I’m most interested in healing lands (think cure minor circle of healing for plants and animal companions), natural shelter (which, come on figure it out), detect poacher (aids to the tracking and hunting of poachers), borrow animal trait (adopt a trait and speak with that type of animal), summon wave (provokes water spirits to attack, but results vary with size of water), animal assistant (gains help for an animal who can complete complex tasks), enemy slayer (1 hit kill against chosen favoured enemy, allows a Will save and spell resistance), and quicksand (creates an area of quicksand). I could see taking the time to review these spells and make them available to my players that play rangers.
Spells that I think have power issues (either too low or too high) are ambidexterity (high), favoured strike (low), nature’s armory (doesn’t seem to be advantageous compared to barkskin and creating heavier armors restrict the ranger’s combat style and skills), resume decay (produces really inconsistent results), earth’s armory (suffers from many of the same weaknesses as nature’s armory; essential extend nature’s armory), and nature’s roar (too high, much like shout without damage limits).
Section Two: Baubles and Urus of Ancient Power (5 pages)
Definitely not a section on spells, the baubles and urus are a selection of minor artifacts that enhance existing items. They almost act as magical templates that are added to an item granting it certain powers. They do not detect as magical. The baubles and urus also bond with the owner of the object and only provide benefit to them. I’ve like these since I first read about them in Unorthodox Knights.
This set provides:
Bauble of Blood Strike – a variant of the vicious weapon property 1/day
Bauble of Favoritism – gain favoured enemy extraordinary ability
Bauble of Rapid Fire – multiple ranged attacks (ranger only)
Bauble of Speech – extra language
Uru of Beatdown – acts energy boost (+1 to most combat)
Uru of Scent - enhanced senses
Uru Targeting – enhances critical threat range of ranged weapons
I will probably adopt baubles and urus into my upcoming campaign. They are indefinable mechanically and as such present a mystery to players.
Appendix A: The Ranger (4 pages)
This section reprints the Ranger from the SRD for ease of reference.
Open Game License (3 pages)
The open game license and copyright notice finish this product.
How was the editing?
For the most part the editing of the general text seemed fine. In reading it I never stumbled over any sections. I’m going to rule that there are no glaring errors that bugged me, although there were some formatting issues in the spell statblocks like inconsistent bracketing but those sort of errors do not make the product difficult to use, just inconsistent.
What version is this product written for?
It’s hard to say. The product is listed on Rpgnow as for the d20 system. The product was released on the 7th of August 2005, so you would expect that it is 3.5. This assumption is buoyed by the fact that the spell ambidexterity grants feats on the Two-weapon fighting chain instead of granting the 3rd edition feat of Ambidexterity. However, looking closer at the text many of the spells look like they are written for a 3rd edition game (inconsistent or variable effect) and the section 15 references the 3rd edition SRD instead of the 3.5 edition SRD [though this might be do to The Le Games working from an only OGL template].
What about open game content?
Taken directly from the product: The following is a listing of Open Game Content: All game mechanics and text, not including the introduction page.
Where do I stand?
I’m really troubled by this product. Some of the ideas are interesting but ultimately they are poorly executed. Mechanics seem to be the biggest issue, even the spells I listed as liking earlier I would rework the mechanics on so that they conform to a 3.5 edition game. It is almost like this was written for 3rd edition and then not published, quickly updated and released. Some errors include:
Book of the Woodsman – missing creation notes/magical aura (magic item statblock)
Spells with Range: Personal having saving throw and spell resistance lines.
Some spell durations that provide combat benefits lasting 1 hour/level
Some very non-standard durations (10 rounds + 2/level)
Heal the land should have a burst area of effect not every living thing in medium range (like the similar circle of death)
Spells that have permanent duration in the stat block, but last 24 hours in the description.
Spells that have instantaneous durations in the stat block, but provide spell benefits for 1 day/level in the description.
Spells like Favoured Strike inconsistent with similar SRD spell leads to an underpowered spell.
Many spells mechanically vague that may lead to “interpretation” such as Borrow Animal Trait that allows, “During the duration of the spell, the Ranger acquires one of the animal’s abilities”, and provides some examples but doesn’t itemize things, I can borrow a horse’s movement, a mole’s burrowing, a fish’s water breathing…can I borrow a mole’s blindsense? a fish’s swim speed?
Other spells leaving much to interpretation like, “The damage to undead creatures is 1d6 per level of the Ranger. Particularly ancient creatures such as vampires take double damage. Mummies get +4 to their Will check and take only half damage due to their initial preservation techniques when buried.” What if the vampire was just turned? How come mummy gain a bonus to this save and no one else does?
None of the damaging spells seem to have a damage cap.
Quicksand create quicksand that you can wade to safety through when normal quicksand, which this creates, usually has people sink faster the more they move. Do you need a swim check to wade through quicksand, what is the DC?
[This just goes on and on]
Unfortunately, I think most of the spells need to be completely reworked to be consistent with the rules and design practices.
If you have found this review helpful and are interested in picking up this product it can be found at the following location:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5249&ENWorld
