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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Iosue" data-source="post: 9505946" data-attributes="member: 6680772">Unlike the paladin, which made the jump to 2nd Ed. almost entirely unaltered, the Ranger was heavily reworked in the new edition. To make the changes clearer, first let's look at the 1st Ed. ranger.In 1st Ed., rangers were limited to good alignments, and could only be selected by humans and half-elves (half-elves were limited to 8th level if they had STR 18, 7th level with STR 17, and 6th level if less than that). Although they used d8 as their hit die, they rolled 2d8 for their hp at 1st level. They had the following special abilities:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A damage bonus equal to Ranger-level against "giant" class humanoids, which are essentially the standard D&D humanoid monsters (goblins, orcs, trolls, etc.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Surprise enemies on a 1-3 on a d6, but are themselves only surprised on a 1.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Tracking abilities, indicated by percentages for various kinds of terrain/environment. Outdoors, the base chance is 90% modified up +02% for each member of the party tracked, and modified down -10% for each day that has passed, and -25% for each hour of precipitation.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Druid spells at level 8.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Magic user spells at level 9.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ability to use all non-written magic items pertaining to ESP, telepathy, clairvoyance/-audience at 10th level.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">2-24 henchmen at 10th level (who cannot be replaced).</li> </ul>Restrictions are essentially:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Switching to a non-good alignment permanently strips the character of ranger abilities, and they become a d8 fighter.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cannot hire men-at-arms, servants, or henchmen until 8th level.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">No more than three rangers can operate together in a party at a time.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Can only own goods and treasure which they can carry on their person; all excess must be donated to some NPC institution or cause.</li> </ul>This is the quintessential Aragorn-as-PC ranger, down to the ability to use clairvoyant magic items (i.e., a palantir), because whoever originally designed the ranger did not read Lord of the Rings close enough to realize that Aragorn had power over the palantir because of his royal lineage, not because he was a ranger.This was all extensively overhauled for 2nd Edition. First of all, the class was opened up to elves, in addition to humans and half-elves (DMG-listed level limits are 15 for elves and 16 for half-elves). Ability requirements are STR 13, DEX 13, CON 14, WIS 14, which is not changed from 1st Edition. Rangers with STR, DEX, and WIS of 16 or more get 10% bonus to XP. Then the first big change: rangers can still wear any armor, but their special abilities work only when they are wearing studded leather or lighter armor. Their special abilities are:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Out of no where, rangers now get dual-wielding with no penalty to attack rolls when wearing studded leather or lighter armor.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The percentages for tracking (expanded and made more complicated in Unearthed Arcana) have been turned into the ranger automatically getting a free proficiency in Tracking, even if the proficiency rules are not otherwise used in the game, with a +1 for every 3 levels the ranger has earned.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The ranger's surprise ability has been changed being able to move silently and hide in shadows when wearing studded leather or lighter armor, though the chances for these are halved when not in a natural environment.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The "giant class" bonuses have been replaced with a "species enemy" (perhaps a typo for "special enemy?"). Before reaching 2nd level, the ranger selects a type of enemy (pending approval by the DM), and thereafter whenever encountering that type of enemy, the ranger gets a +4 to attack rolls against it, but their enmity is so great that they receive a -4 to any reaction rolls with that enemy. The ranger will also seek out that enemy before all others, unless one presents a greater danger.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Rangers are given affinity with trained and untamed creatures. For tamed creatures, the ranger automatically befriends them. For wild animals, the animal makes a save vs. rods. If they succeed, they resist the ranger's overtures, but if they fail, the ranger can shift their reaction one category. For every three ranger levels, the ranger imposes a -1 penalty to the save.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Instead of druid and magic-user spells, the 2nd Ed. ranger gets access to clerical spells of the plant and animal spheres when he reaches 8th level. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">At 10th level, the ranger attracts 2d6 followers. What each follower is is rolled on a table that includes human clerics, human and halfling thieves, human and half-elf rangers, fighters of every race, and both normal and fantastical animals. These appear over the course of several months, and it is recommended that the DM introduce in the course of an adventure.</li> </ul>The restrictions on alignment, henchmen, and wealth/possessions remain essentially the same from 1st Edition. 2nd Ed. expands a little on what happens if a ranger involuntarily commits an evil act, saying that he loses his ranger status and becomes a fighter until he completes a special quest of the DM's devising to set things right. But you know, I've heard a lot about the trope of paladins being put into moral quandries that put their paladinhood in jeopardy, but I've never heard about it being a ranger issue. In 3rd Edition, it would be wholesale jettisoned from the class, as rangers could be any alignment, and had no code to follow to maintain their abilities.I'm somewhat mystified that the 1st Ed. paladin was ported to 2nd Ed. essentially as is, while the ranger was hit with the nerfhammer. Particularly since the 1st Ed ranger abilities did not strike me as being especially overpowered, at least compared to the paladin. While we see the introduction of dual-wielding to the ranger's repertoire (inspired by Drizzt, IIRC), notably absent from the 2nd Ed. ranger are any kind of bow or long-range shenanigans, which is rather surprising, given that Robin Hood, Orion, and the huntresses of Diana are all name-dropped as examples from history and legend. This appears to have been something added in 4th Edition and carried over to 5th Edition.</blockquote>

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