Kinematics
Hero
From an extended attempt to rebuild the ranger class last year, we'd settled on three primary archetypes:
1) Hunter — Focuses on the tracking and hunting side of things. Most closely aligned with Fighter, which is where a lot of the thought of Ranger being a subclass of Fighter might come from. Knowledge of terrain and means of survival are a bit component.
2) Beastmaster — Focuses on animal companions. Much more closely tied to nature than the Hunter. Lives alongside nature rather than 'protecting' nature, because nature is pretty damn good at protecting itself.
3) Warden — The magic-using subclass. The Ranger's half-caster status was removed, and Warden became the 1/3 caster subclass. This subclass is much closer to the Druid, and probably closest to what I'd consider a 'shaman' (an idea which has a lot of similar characteristics to the knowledge aspects of Ranger). Would focus on using magic to draw out 'natural' magic effects, and is the one that is probably most likely to fall into the idea of protecting a region, and thus protecting nature.
Can't think of any good named examples right now.
The most notable change was making Ranger a pure martial class, opening up a lot of design space for the class itself, and the Hunter and Beastmaster subclasses. Ranger magic has always seemed to be one of the primary problems of the class, largely because it doesn't mesh with the majority of ranger concepts. I can't think of any major ranger-like concept characters that I'd think would use magic to any significant degree.
On the other hand, Ranger+magic fits well with a lot of 'shaman' concepts. As Shamans are more associated with spirits, it even fits in with Aragorn's calling of the spirit army.
Thinking it over, I actually quite like directions this could go. Going to go back to the rebuild thread and talk it over.
1) Hunter — Focuses on the tracking and hunting side of things. Most closely aligned with Fighter, which is where a lot of the thought of Ranger being a subclass of Fighter might come from. Knowledge of terrain and means of survival are a bit component.
- Aragorn
- Lone Ranger
- Batman
- various other examples people have mentioned already
2) Beastmaster — Focuses on animal companions. Much more closely tied to nature than the Hunter. Lives alongside nature rather than 'protecting' nature, because nature is pretty damn good at protecting itself.
- Grizzly Adams
- Tarzan
- The Beastmaster
3) Warden — The magic-using subclass. The Ranger's half-caster status was removed, and Warden became the 1/3 caster subclass. This subclass is much closer to the Druid, and probably closest to what I'd consider a 'shaman' (an idea which has a lot of similar characteristics to the knowledge aspects of Ranger). Would focus on using magic to draw out 'natural' magic effects, and is the one that is probably most likely to fall into the idea of protecting a region, and thus protecting nature.
Can't think of any good named examples right now.
The most notable change was making Ranger a pure martial class, opening up a lot of design space for the class itself, and the Hunter and Beastmaster subclasses. Ranger magic has always seemed to be one of the primary problems of the class, largely because it doesn't mesh with the majority of ranger concepts. I can't think of any major ranger-like concept characters that I'd think would use magic to any significant degree.
On the other hand, Ranger+magic fits well with a lot of 'shaman' concepts. As Shamans are more associated with spirits, it even fits in with Aragorn's calling of the spirit army.
Thinking it over, I actually quite like directions this could go. Going to go back to the rebuild thread and talk it over.