Dragon #308 previews new ranger and barbarian!

[Christian]

Woodland stride: I've never seen this used. Ever. Which is not to say that it hasen't come up in other games, but I doubt it's that often. Mostly flavor. Very Weak.

FTR, I am picking on this item because everything else on your list seems pretty much on target.

Our group's druid's WS ability has come into play not infrequently. Maybe it's just our DM, or our party's tendency to pursue pretty much any fleeing beastie into any kind of terrain. But when we're all stumbling through the underbrush running after and/or away from something, her unimpeded mobility is always tactically very useful; and I'd venture to say that it would be even more useful if she were stronger in melee combat, as she would be as a ranger ...

I'd definitely prefer Woodland Stride to Endurance or Wild Empathy.

 

[Lela]

As I said, it could come up on other campaigns. I just haven't seen it myself.

With your use of it, would you still consider it weak or do you think it should be average?

 

[Sejs]

Ranger = Fighter/Rogue

Ranger = Fighter(50%) / Rogue(25%) / Druid (25%), least by my estimation.


As for folks moaning about Evasion ~ personally, I don't see it as that bad, they don't get it until level 9. They never get Improved Evasion, which monks and rogues will be getting soon by that level. And if they don't have good Fort and Refl saves, it won't be nearly as effective as the other classes' versions. Heh, personally I'd prefer if they kept rangers with just good Fort saves, but we'll see when the books are released.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

I'm not sure why d10 hit dice are considered integral to the Ranger. When the class was first put together decades ago, it had d8 hit dice.

Yeah, but then, so did the fighter.

 

[Quixon]

Yeah, but then, so did the fighter.

Huh? When did Fighters get d8 HD in AD&D, not in 1st, 2nd or 3rd Editions thats for sure. Maybe in DnD Basic/Expert rules they did or in the 0 edition(the old set with little white books), but never in Ad&d 1st thru 3rd editions.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Here's a thought:

If rangers are great woodland hunters, why don't they get some kind of snare-setting ability? They could set a snare that affects a certain area and captures/entangles or damagesa creature that enters it. Could be a x/day ability that scales with level, or something -- though it would require some better trapmaking/setting mechanics.

Trap setting could be a rogue skill; snaring would be a watered-down hunter's version of it.

Just a thought. Accusations of turning the ranger into a wilderninja will be summarily ignored.

 

[Nightfall]

Ogler...too bad I'm under NDA or I could say that I kind of did something about trapsetting in a book I written...but I can't so there.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Nightfall:

Other ranger-related info, from Andy Collins' boards:

A poster asked:

I presume that every 5 levels the ranger gets an extra enemy, with bonuses of 2,4,6,8, and 10 (according to level). He may arrange them as he wishes, as long as no favored enemy ever loses bonus points.

For example, would such a progression be possible?

1: +2 animals

5: +2 goblinoids, +4 animals

10: +2 goblinoids, +4 animals, +6 dragons

15: +2 goblinoids, +4 animals, +6 giants, +8 dragons

20: +2 goblinoids, +4 animals, +6 magical beasts, +8 giants, +10 dragons

Also, why does the ranger get evasion, even though he doesn't have a good reflex save? Now he has good enough reflexes to never take full damage, but rarely escape all of it.

Andy's response:

Every time the ranger gets a new favored enemy, he increases any existing bonus (even his brand-new one) by +2. For instance, at level 5 he can go from +2 to +4 vs. his first enemy, or jump immediately to +4 vs. his new enemy.

It means the ranger doesn't have to pick his most important enemy first--he can safely pick "animals" at 1st level and know that by 10th level "dragons" or "giants" could be at +6.

As for evasion...well, maybe you haven't seen the whole ranger yet?

and later ...

I'll put it this way:

If evasion weren't a ranger ability, there'd be a whole lot of rangers picking up 2 levels of rogue in order to get it.

By making it a ranger ability--but only available to those rangers dedicated enough to take at least 9 levels--we take away some of the temptation for that "no-brainer" multiclass.

Is ranger/rogue still a great combo? Of course.

Is it as "automatic" as it was or would have been? No.


We were aware of the potential watering down the uniqueness of a class ability. But it seemed a logical and reasonable addition to the ranger, and going from 2 classes having evasion to 3 didn't seem like it was hurting the system too much (particularly since it doesn't really take away from either the rogue or the monk, as both will/can pick up improved evasion at about the same time).

... [asked about Uncanny Dodge] ...

UD would have been a reasonable addition to the ranger class, but it wouldn't have accomplished the goal of removing the overwhelming incentive to multiclass between ranger and rogue (because UD isn't generally as attractive as evasion).

And if both evasion and UD had been added, then players could very fairly complain that the ranger was swiping too much of the rogue's shtick.

As it stands, the barbarian is the "wilderness warrior who's hard to surprise," not the ranger (though the ranger's Spot and Listen class skills go a long way toward that as well).

Most interesting, that evasion is in part to avoid dipping into rogue. Clever solution, that, though I still like the UD idea.

 

[Felon]

Dwarves in Urban Arcana are allowed to move at their base speed (20) even when wearing medium or heavy armor or even when carrying a medium and heavy load...

Hmm. So they do.

Well, that cinches it. Dwarves are to third edition what elves were to second edition. Guess every edition has to have a fair-haired son.

 

[Simplicity]

Hmm. So they do.

Well, that cinches it. Dwarves are to third edition what elves were to second edition. Guess every edition has to have a fair-haired son.

Well, considering that the stereotypical dwarf image is the stout tank with thick full plate... It would be nice to allow them to move
some in their common armor.

Imagine a war between elven and dwarven kingdoms with the old rules... The dwarven army charges in their full plate (30 feet move... 15 feet x2 for charge)... Meanwhile, the elves walk backwards at the same speed (30 ft) and fire arrows. Very, very sad.