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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Teataine" data-source="post: 5825574" data-attributes="member: 6678036">Hm, no, I wouldn't say so.When I say "mercenary" I mean someone who puts his life on the line in exchange for some payment or reward. It's what I mean when I say the fighter "lives to fight, or fights for a living". They joust, fight with swords, maces, spears, shields...That's how medieval knights operated. They risked their lives and fought in return for feudal rights, lands, titles, women.The questing knight is just a knight who has been sent (or called) out on a specific mission. In literature they still mostly fight other (evil) knights (and sometimes wizards). If they go out to kill a dragon, it's usually just that one dragon, they're not really skilled in monster killing, and they survive the wilderness through virtue of being tough as nails, not by knowing bushcraft and other survival skills.The Ranger can hold his own in combat, but he's a scout, pathfinder, hunter, tracker first and warrior second. The Ranger doesn't seek out violent conflict, or initiate it as his primary way of solving problems. He doesn't seek employment as a fighting-(wo)man. If we're taking the 4E paradigm of evaluating each class (only) in terms of their combat role and functionality, I'd say the Ranger is primarily a sort of controller. He manages the terms of engagement, allowing the party to surprise the enemy and avoid being surprised. He sets traps, and takes advantage of the (natural) environment. He knows stuff about the lay of the land and the things that live there. He allows the party to waste less resources while exploring, allowing them to enter combat with more gunpowder. He prevents the party from being poisoned and bandages the wounds afterwards, allowing for faster recovery. He's the one that warns the party about the deadly slime mold. The Ranger should also function as a striker against beasts and monsters through virtue of his knowledge. He's the guy that knows the mating call of the owlbears that drives them crazy. He has fought against worgs and cave bears and bigger things and can draw on that experience.I think the two classes are pretty much orthogonal, and thus it's hard to compare them side to side.</blockquote>

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