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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jeremy Ackerman-Yost" data-source="post: 262629" data-attributes="member: 4720">You run off to the mountains for a weekend, and you totally lose track of a conversation... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  But it was a great place to think about Rangers...At any rate, you all seem to be on the same page, but if you don't mind, I'd really like to hear more specifics about how Rangers were handled early.  I didn't come on the scene until late 2e, and I've never been happy with the Ranger.Among other things, how important is spell-casting to people's view of the Ranger?  I'm waffling, but increasingly against the whole concept of them casting spells.  Of course, I use Aragorn and Robin Hood as my models of the Ranger, and neither of them was a spell-caster.  Are there any archetypal Rangers who actually cast spells?  It seems to me that only the post D&D, derived Rangers do that, but that might reflect a hole in my education.At any rate, here's the short, quick, and dirty version of my Ranger concept, as developed in the green mountains of Vermont:Rangers are, first and foremost, survivors.  They live off the land, and have developed their hunting, tracking, and wilderness survival skills to the fullest.  Like druids, they respect the balance of nature, and seek to maintain it.  Partially, this is out of respect for the creatures who share their home, but it is also more pragmatic.  If you kill all the deer this month, what will you eat next month? Rangers are warriors, but while fighters derive their combat skills from training and barbarians from their rage and sheer strength, Rangers fighting skills come from uncanny focus and determination.  They attack their foes with the same concentration and resolve they use to survive in the harshest of environments.  Often relying on speed and agility rather than brute force, smart Rangers know that the best way to survive an attack is to get out of its way.Often, Rangers are exiles, disgraced or disenfranchized men and women who do not have a place in society and have built a place for themselves outside it.  But in societies with a strong tie to the land, they are natural leaders.It needs some fleshing out and expansion, and I invite commentary in that regard.</blockquote>

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