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[Khorod]

The 100 mile range seems arbitrary. If it is supposed to represent where the ranger traveled until he began his adventuring career, what about those rangers that stayed in a small dense forest, never looking outside? What of those that through blind luck managed to cross the continent four times without getting into serious trouble?

If it is about wandering animals, well, a giant scorpion isn't likely to wander into a forest where its camouflage and hunting tactics won't work. But a bird might be blown off course. And a crazed wolf might roam really far.

Maybe it should be one terrain type per point of Wilderness Lore is known, any other, additional, terrain types built into character background is distantly known, and anything else is unknown.

 

[Steverooo]

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[Khorod]

Trying this from another angle- 100 miles is the kind of 'rule' which should go under 'advising the DM'. IMO rules should deal with game mechanics, not the setting, not metagaming. I was trying to propose a mechanical way of measuring where the ranger had previously traveled, what sorts of things he had experienced.

100 miles is vague enough that it would still require some discussion to work out- as well as DM and player negotiation on the map of his home area. I mean, how do you judge if a player is being at all reasonable when he comes up with some degree of the 'heart of nature, in which each pie slice of a great valley is a different terrain, and I was raised in the middle.' Of course no intelligent player would propose that, but its on the other end of the spectrum from 'I'm from the forest. I visited the seashore once...'

Negotation/discussion like that isn't bad, but its yet another thing a DM and player have to pin down to use this system. A harder rule would simplify that.