Dragon #308 previews new ranger and barbarian!

[Ricochet]

More classes now has Evasion.. I wonder if the Wizards spells will be tweaked somewhat to make up for the fact that they are now universally weaker (lightning bolt, fireball) ?

 

[randomninja]

I love the Ranger and barbarian changes. The are really distinguished between each other and the fighter now. It makes me really curious to see what they plan to do with the other classes.

 

[Stalker0]

More classes now has Evasion.. I wonder if the Wizards spells will be tweaked somewhat to make up for the fact that they are now universally weaker (lightning bolt, fireball) ?

I agree, I don't like the evasion addition. Rangers have low reflex saves anyway, and as most have pointed out UD makes a lot more sense.

But with more classes that have evasion, the reflex save spells do seem a bit weaker.

 

[Astalanya]

First: thanks for posting this! Dragon 308 won't be out here for at least another week or two, but this definitely will encourage me to pick it up.

If you don't mind, could anyone with the article in question post a few clarifications for me? I've read through the posts here and I don't think these were answered, so...

1) Do barbarians retain the same rage progression? That is, they get it 1/day at 1st level, 2/day at 4th level, and +1/day every four levels thereafter? Eventually reaching 6/day at 20th?

2) Are ranger favored enemy choices likely to be the same, minus the loss of 'beasts' and 'shapechangers'? So the list might include: Aberrations, Animals, Constructs, Dragons, Elementals, Fey, Giants, Humanoid type, Magical beasts, Oozes, Outsider type, Plants, Undead, and Vermin?

3) If the Wild Empathy ability replaces Animal Empathy, does that mean the skill has been utterly removed? Was there any clarification on what Wild Empathy actually does, in system terms? How you make the check, if at all?

4) Were the bonus feats granted to the ranger identified as actual or virtual feats?

That's all I've got for the time being. I went ahead and constructed two tables along the lines of those in the class sections of the PHB, but I'm not sure if it's acceptable to post them or not yet, so I'll refrain unless I'm given a go ahead.

 

[Mercule]

Considering that nobody can agree what what a freakin' Ranger even *is*, I think this new approach is better than most I've seen.

You have a point.

What the word "Ranger" evokes to me is Aragorn, Davy Crocket, or a Navy Seal. I really don't see much correlation between a commando and a Rogue.

Apparently, most people disagree. Oh, well.

Like I said, though, the class looks nice. I just wouldn't call it a Ranger.

 

[Felon]

1) Do barbarians retain the same rage progression? That is, they get it 1/day at 1st level, 2/day at 4th level, and +1/day every four levels thereafter? Eventually reaching 6/day at 20th?

The article doesn't say, and according to the article, the rule of thumb is that when the table doesn't note a change you can usually assume there was no change worth noting.

2) Are ranger favored enemy choices likely to be the same, minus the loss of 'beasts' and 'shapechangers'? So the list might include: Aberrations, Animals, Constructs, Dragons, Elementals, Fey, Giants, Humanoid type, Magical beasts, Oozes, Outsider type, Plants, Undead, and Vermin?

Doesn't say. Same rule of thumb as above.

3) If the Wild Empathy ability replaces Animal Empathy, does that mean the skill has been utterly removed? Was there any clarification on what Wild Empathy actually does, in system terms? How you make the check, if at all?

Doesn't say, BUT Urban Arcanna does have a "Wildlord" Advanced Class which has an ability called "Animal Empathy" which allows them to improve the attitude of an animal or magical beast by making a Handle Animal check. What are the odds they'll be similar?

4) Were the bonus feats granted to the ranger identified as actual or virtual feats?

It's not clear, but the impression given is that they're not "virtual" but rather just like fighter bonus feats, but drawn from a more restricted pool. In fact, the impression I got is that the ranger DOESN'T choose between a 2WF or archery path, which he is then locked into for the rest of his career, but rather just chooses from a single list which contains 2WF and Archery feats. Then again, others who have read the article have inferred something completely different.

 

[CrusaderX]

I'm happy with these changes. The 3.5 Ranger seems quite cool.

 

[coyote6]

I really don't see much correlation between a commando and a Rogue.

I do. Lots of skills, lots of sneaking around to avoid people, and when that fails, killing people as quickly as possible.

 

[Valiantheart]

Karmic strike RULES!
Hold the line RULES!

Yeah, too bad they're not core though.

 

[Felon]

[Fighters will be the RULING CLASS (after cleric) in 3.5
- Untouchable AC (TAnk armor + improved expertise!

As has been already pointed out, "tank armor" is a fallacy in D&D 3e (and probably 3.5e too).

- Best *to hit chances*

What are you talking about? If you mean Base Attack Bonus, they have the same "to-hit" chances as the ranger and barbarian. If you mean overall bonuses, a barbarian's rage will give Strength bonuses that the fighter will be hard-pressed to match.

- Tower Shield

That's one that I definitely want to check out.

- No need for a spell list

That's not a class feature.

- And will get countless of bonus attacks thanks to the new AoO rules.

The rules are a little repackaged for the most part. Everyone here understands that the way defensive casting works, a mage will never actually suffer an AoO from casting a spell if he doesn't want to, right?]