My Alt Ranger, back from the blender!!!

Stalker0

Legend
Hi guys, I posted an alt. ranger a couple of weeks ago, got some feedback, now I've rehashed it a bit, and I'm posting it again to see what everyone thinks. If I got even pos. feedback, I'm going to allow it to my players.

Here we go.
Skills: 4 + int
Spells: None. Note: By taking out spells, wisdom is now longer one of the prime abilities of the ranger, although it still helps his perception and will saves.
Hit Dice: d8
BAB: +1 per level
Saves: As before

Favored Terrain: At 1st level, the ranger attunes himself to a specific terrain. He studies this terrain so much that he gains special bonuses while on it. Choose a terrain from the following: Forest, Plains, Desert, Mountains, Jungle, Swamp, Tundra. The ranger gains a +1 bonus to spot, search, listen, and wilderness lore when on this terrain. He also gains the woodland stride ability when travnsversing it.


Favored Enemies: At 1st level, the ranger can choose to study a specific group of enemies, and becomes more deadly against them. Against this type of enemy, the ranger recieves a +2 bonus to spot, listen, sense motive, wilderness lore, attack and damage rolls. At 5th level, and every 5 levels after, the ranger can choose an additional favored enemy, and all previous favored enemies bonuses increase by 1.


Track: Rangers get track as a bonus feat at 2nd level.


Special Technique: At 2nd level the ranger can learn one special technique.. The possible ones are as follows.

Blade Adept: The ranger has spent great time studying the sword and how to use a pair of them with great accuracy and power. You gain two-weapon fighting and ambidexterity as bonus feats.

Melee Bow Adept: You have learned how to fire a bow effectively at foes admist the chaos of combat. You gain point blank shot and precise shot as bonus feats.

Long Bow Adept: You have trained yourself to fire the maximum distances your bow will allow as well as the eyes to see such distances. You gain a +2 bonus to spot as well as far shot as a bonus feat.

Mounted Adept: You have created a bond between you and the horse that few can match. You get mounted combat and either ride-by attack, mounted archery, or trample as bonus feats.

Exotic Adept: You have spent your time learning the mysteries of the uncommon weapon. You gain exotic weapon proficiency with 3 weapons as bonus feats.



Perception:
Your time spent in the wilderness has made your senses sharp. At 3rd level, and every 3 levels after, you get a bonus to spot and listen as listed below.


Stealth: You have learned to move through the wilderness in silence. At 4th level and every 3 levels afterward, you gain a bonus to hide and move silently as shown below whenever in your favored terrain.


Sentinel: The ranger is constantly aware of what goes on in his home environment. Whenever in his favored terrain, the ranger is under the effects of an alarm spell cast by a level 1 sorcerer. The ability also works during sleep.


Special Ability: At 11th, 14th, 17th, and 20th levels, the ranger may choose a special ability from the list below.

Strider: The ranger is under a permanent freedom of movement spell.

Immunity: The rangers time in the wild has hardened his immune system. The ranger can become immune to all organic poisons or natural diseases. This ability can be taken multiple times.

Enemy Mastery: The ranger has studied his enemies to the point where he can predict their movements. Against attacks from his favored enemies, the ranger has a 10% miss chance which stacks with other miss chances.

Enemy Vulnerability: The ranger has learned to make critcal blows fatal. Whenever making a critical hit on a favored enemy, the ranger’s crit mod increases by 1.

Terrain Mastery: The ranger has learned to make expert use of his surroundings in combat. Whenever the ranger is in his favored terrain and has surroundings that would allow for a hide check, the ranger has one-quarter concealment.

Awareness: The ranger is now always completely aware of his surroundings. The ranger is considered to always be taking 10 on spot and listen checks unless taking actions that require concentration.

Extra Terrain: The ranger may gain mastery in a new terrain, gaining all the appropriate bonuses.

Special Technique: You can choose a special technique in place of an ability.


1st Favored Terrain, Favored Enemy
2nd Special Technique, Track
3rd Perception +2
4th Stealth +2
5th 2nd Favored Enemy, Sentinel
6th Perception +3
7th Stealth +3
8th
9th Perception +5
10th Stealth +5, 3rd Favored Enemy
11th Special Ability
12th Perception +6
13th Stealth +6
14th Special Ability
15th 4th Favored Enemy, Perception +8
16th Stealth +8
17th Special Ability
18th Perception +9
19th Stealth +9
20th 5th Favored Enemy, Special Ability


My main goals: To make the ranger able to shine in three specific areas: 1) Against favored enemies. 2) In certain wilderness areas. 3) For perception skills. At the same time his spells are taken out so his versatility goes down somewhat. Finally, the ranger now gets something preety much every level, and gets some nice things every 3 or so levels, which is similar to the progression most of the other classes have.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

This version is better than your previous one, just a few critiques...

Sentinal and Awareness should be combined or replaced with Uncanny Dodge. Perhaps you didn't want to use an ability that Rogues and Barbarians have, but I think it better represents a constant awareness of ones surroundings.

Special Techniques: are these virtual feats only useable in certain armor or did you eliminate this restriction for some or all of the Special Techniques?

The Ranger should get the track feat at first level. You likely did not want to give too many bonuses at first level, but niether the Favored Terrain nor the Favored Enmy is so signifigant a benefit that granting Track as a feat at 1st level would unbalance the class.
 

Thanks for the response witness.

I think I had the special techniques require light armor, I will probably require most of teh special abilities to have light armor as well, although there are a few which could be used with heavier armor for obvious reasons.

My thing with sentinel was to have an ability similar to uncanny dodge, but in a different way. While barbs and rogues have this "2nd reflex" that allows them to avoid things they didn't even know was there, the ranger relies on his constant attention to every detail, to put out danger before it strikes. So I think I'll keep sentinel the way it is, although I may do like you suggested and combine it with awareness, since they are similar in a way.
 

Skills: 4 + int

Is the list of class skills unchanged? As you haven't said, I imagine it is, but it's best to check :). Personally, I add a couple of knowledge types as ranger class skills - geography, for instance.

Favored Terrain The ranger gains a +1 bonus to spot, search, listen, and wilderness lore when on this terrain.

What kind of bonus is this? It needs a descriptor (such as "competence") so that we know what other bonuses it will stack with.

Favored Enemies: Against this type of enemy, the ranger recieves a +2 bonus to spot, listen, sense motive, wilderness lore, attack and damage rolls.

Same comment as for terrain: we particularly need to know whether favoured enemy and favoured terrain stack with each other, for instance :)

Track: Rangers get track as a bonus feat at 2nd level.

As Witness has already suggested, I would move this to 1st level.

Special Technique: At 2nd level the ranger can learn one special technique.. The possible ones are as follows.

Given the "oomph" of these techniques, I wonder if all they will end up doing is making people take 2 levels of ranger instead of 1?

Long Bow Adept: You have trained yourself to fire the maximum distances your bow will allow as well as the eyes to see such distances. You gain a +2 bonus to spot as well as far shot as a bonus feat.

Far Shot normally has Point Blank shot as a pre-requisite. You should specify is this requirement is waived when taking this ability. (I'm sure that it's intended to be waived, but I like my i's dotted and my t's crossed :) )

Perception & Stealth

I like the idea of these abilities.

Sentinel: The ranger is constantly aware of what goes on in his home environment. Whenever in his favored terrain, the ranger is under the effects of an alarm spell cast by a level 1 sorcerer. The ability also works during sleep.

I would probably have phrased this a little differently than likening it to a spell effect, but the basic concept is a fair one. Was it inspired by the 2E Savage Fighter kit?

Strider: The ranger is under a permanent freedom of movement spell.

I'd take Ranger just for this ability :). I hate being held/webbed etc.

Immunity: The rangers time in the wild has hardened his immune system. The ranger can become immune to all organic poisons or natural diseases. This ability can be taken multiple times.

What does taking it multiple times do? It's not clear. I think what you are saying is that you have to take it once for poisons and once for diseases, but I could be wrong?

Enemy Mastery: The ranger has studied his enemies to the point where he can predict their movements. Against attacks from his favored enemies, the ranger has a 10% miss chance which stacks with other miss chances.

This is quite a powerful ability, particularly combined with Improved Invsibility or similar. It will also slow down combat by adding a bunch of extra rolls. I'd suggest changing it to a +2 competence bonus to AC: same effect, since 2 in 20 is 10%, but much less hassle to use.

Everything else looks good individually, but it is hard to judge how well it will balance. I'd suggest that you consider giving it a go in a campaign and see how it plays. Playtesting feedback is the best feedback there is. I'm definitely leaning toward doing that with my own Alt-Ranger.

Edit: replaced 'Wilderness Warrior' with 'Savage Fighter'
 
Last edited:

Re: Re: My Alt Ranger, back from the blender!!!

Capellan said:
Skills: 4 + int

Is the list of class skills unchanged? As you haven't said, I imagine it is, but it's best to check :). Personally, I add a couple of knowledge types as ranger class skills - geography, for instance.

Favored Terrain The ranger gains a +1 bonus to spot, search, listen, and wilderness lore when on this terrain.

The bonuses are just that, bonuses that stack with everything else.

Track: Rangers get track as a bonus feat at 2nd level.

Yeah, I think I'll do that.

Special Technique: At 2nd level the ranger can learn one special technique.. The possible ones are as follows.

Given the "oomph" of these techniques, I wonder if all they will end up doing is making people take 2 levels of ranger instead of 1?

The ommph of these techniques is no better than what the ranger gets now, he just gets to have more choice. There's no stopping people from ever taking one level or so of a class for its benefits, but I think the extra stuff later on will at least make people consider going the distance with the ranger.

Long Bow Adept: You have trained yourself to fire the maximum distances your bow will allow as well as the eyes to see such distances. You gain a +2 bonus to spot as well as far shot as a bonus feat.

Far Shot normally has Point Blank shot as a pre-requisite. You should specify is this requirement is waived when taking this ability. (I'm sure that it's intended to be waived, but I like my i's dotted and my t's crossed :) )

Damn, I overlooked this one. I thought I had checked it. Hmmm, I'll probably just leave it as is.


Sentinel: The ranger is constantly aware of what goes on in his home environment. Whenever in his favored terrain, the ranger is under the effects of an alarm spell cast by a level 1 sorcerer. The ability also works during sleep.

I would probably have phrased this a little differently than likening it to a spell effect, but the basic concept is a fair one. Was it inspired by the 2E Savage Fighter kit?

Never heard of the savage fighter, my idea of a ranger is one who is constantly alert, and notices things others don't even know to look for.

Immunity: The rangers time in the wild has hardened his immune system. The ranger can become immune to all organic poisons or natural diseases. This ability can be taken multiple times.

What does taking it multiple times do? It's not clear. I think what you are saying is that you have to take it once for poisons and once for diseases, but I could be wrong?

Right, you get either poison OR disease immunity when taking it. You can take it again to get the other immunity.

Enemy Mastery: The ranger has studied his enemies to the point where he can predict their movements. Against attacks from his favored enemies, the ranger has a 10% miss chance which stacks with other miss chances.

This is quite a powerful ability, particularly combined with Improved Invsibility or similar. It will also slow down combat by adding a bunch of extra rolls. I'd suggest changing it to a +2 competence bonus to AC: same effect, since 2 in 20 is 10%, but much less hassle to use.

2 is normally 10% I agree, however, when you have a REALLY high armor class or versus your enemy or more commonly your opponent has a MUCH higher attack bonus than your AC, the 2 is 10% no longer holds. I agree though it is more dice rolling, but forutnately only against favored enemies.

Everything else looks good individually, but it is hard to judge how well it will balance. I'd suggest that you consider giving it a go in a campaign and see how it plays. Playtesting feedback is the best feedback there is. I'm definitely leaning toward doing that with my own Alt-Ranger.

Yep, I think I'm going to let my players take a look at it in the next adventure I'm about to run. We'll see what they think, but that still doesn't mean you all can't comment:)
 


The Favored Enemy progression has always seemed reversed to me. While it may make sense that you get better at fighting what you fought at first level, the mechanic often makes the Favored Enemy bonuses obsolete. Reversing the the bonus progression would solve this problem. Instead of having to take powerful opponents (which you hopefully wont face) like dragons or demons at low levels, you could take orcs or goblins, and save the more powerful enemy bonuses for later.
 

Remove ads

Top