Removing Rangers

The word "Ranger" obviously conjures up an image of a woodsman, particularly a soldier or law enforcement agent out in the wilderness. To any Tolkien fan, "Ranger" conjures up an image of Strider and his men, dusty, dressed in green and brown, or of Faramir and his men, in green cloaks, faces covered, waiting in ambush with bows and arrows. The elves guarding Lothlorien fit the same description. So do Robin Hood and his merry men. It's a strong archetype -- and one that's not specific to one fictional source.

How is it then that the D&D Ranger, the class that purports to be just such a woodsman class, has roughly zero to do with this famous archetype? Yeah, it has Tracking, and, yeah, the skill list looks good, but what the heck do Favored Enemies, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting and spellcasting(!) have to do with this archetype? The D&D Ranger simply isn't the archetypal hunter, scout, tracker, whatever. It's an odd agglomeration of "neat" abilities.

Do I hate Favored Enemies? No, I think that Favored Enemies are a great idea, but I don't see how they're Ranger-specific. Realistically, we'd see a bunch of Rangers with Favored Enemy: Deer -- and lots of Fighters with Favored Enemy: Knights of the Next Kingdom Over.

Do I hate Improved Two-Weapon Fighting? Not particularly. It can fit in a fantasy setting, and there are a few historical examples (main gauche & rapier, double sticks or blades in Filipino martial arts, Musashi using two swords in feudal Japan), but it's certainly not a hunter's fighting style; hunter's use a bow and arrow or perhaps a spear.

Do I hate spellcasting? No, but it's hardly typical of all woodsmen, and it's much easier to just let Rangers multiclass into Druid at no penalty.

I don't object too terribly to having a "neat" class that combines Tracking, Favored Enemies, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, and spellcasting -- you can even write up a cool backstory to explain it -- but I do object to the fact that there's no good class for all those generic scouts, hunters, and outlaws in the woods.

After all, something's wrong with your class-based game when Robin Hood isn't enough of an archetype to deserve a class. You can call this "Ranger" class something else if you'd like. "Scout" works fine. (That's what they use in the Star Wars game.)

I tend to think of these woodsmen, particularly outlaws like Robin Hood, as Rogues, and it seems simple enough to open up the Rogue class a bit, following the pattern of the 3rd-edition Fighter, i.e. give the Rogue a list of bonus feats (available every other level like the fighter's) rather than a carved-in-stone ability progression: Alertness, Endurance, Improved Critical, Point Blank Shot (Far Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Shot on the Run), Quickdraw, Run, Skill Focus (Class Skill), Track, Weapon Focus; Nature Sense, Animal Companion, Woodland Stride, Trackless Step; Sneak Attack, Evasion, Uncanny Dodge. With a few Ranger skills (esp. Wilderness Lore) added to the Rogue's skill list, a Rogue would have the option of being a Robin Hood type of outlaw. This would also be the perfect class for elven "warriors" or goblin scouts.
 

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Hey mmadsen, I hadn't heard from you in a while! :D
mmadsen said:
The word "Ranger" obviously conjures up an image of ..
Agreed! I'm also a Texan, so it also conjures up images of "One riot, one Ranger" :).
How is it then that the D&D Ranger, the class that purports to be just such a woodsman class, has roughly zero to do with this famous archetype?
Well, the problem is that it tries to be that archetype AND Grizzly Adams AND Drizzt Do'urden AND Hunter of Men/Goblins/Whatever.

It's a sad, sad day when another class (expert, druid, rogue) can do your job better than you can :).
I tend to think of these woodsmen, particularly outlaws like Robin Hood, as Rogues, and it seems simple enough to open up the Rogue class a bit, following the pattern of the 3rd-edition Fighter, i.e. give the Rogue a list of bonus feats (available every other level like the fighter's) rather than a carved-in-stone ability progression:
Hm... some expanded Rogue options might not be a bad idea.
 

I'm tired of all this talk about a woodsy TWF guy. Rangers aren't necessarily woodsy, they might very well function in desert, mountain, or plain areas. The forest-obsessed ranger is just a stereotype that is no more accurate than the Lawful Stupid Paladin. The TWF is easily fixed. Just use the Monte Cook d8 ranger, and you get bonus feats instead, fighter-style. What you end up with is a wilderness-smart fighter with higher skills who likes to fight certain creatures, and is a little less godly in combat. WORKS FOR ME!! :cool:
 

Or use one of a bazillion alt.rangers or other classes. IMC I'm using the AEG Guerrilla class...

But, anyhow, if you don't think the ranger needs to be a core class, drop it. I dropped clerics, druids, and paladins... :D
 

Well, yeah, I could build my own alt.ranger, but the system can handle what I want without it. At 3rd level (my setting's "professional" level), an expert with the right feats makes a kickbutt ranger - no rules changes needed.

I'm still playing with adding a ranger package of special abilities to the rogue, but I think instead I will be putting together a few ranger PrCs that requires the Track feat and decent Wilderness Lore skill; one might be a favored enemy PrC, another might be some kind of King's Guerilla Rangers (ambush abilities, swift movement overland), and another might be a druid/woodsman mix (with a prereq of a level of spell-casting ability).

Angcuru: My prior posts apply just as well regardless of the terrain you insert. Or you could just replace "woodsy" with "wilderness-y". And I don't really care for the Monte Cook d8 ranger :).
 

Hey mmadsen, I hadn't heard from you in a while! :D
Hey, seasong! I've had my nose to the grindstone lately. I only had time to post my Ranger diatribe because it was a quick cut-and-paste job. The Ranger issue comes up often enough that I keep my thoughts on file for rapid deployment.
 

At 3rd level (my setting's "professional" level), an expert with the right feats makes a kickbutt ranger - no rules changes needed.
Which implies that the Expert class is a bit too combat-effective for scribes and craftsmen...
I'm still playing with adding a ranger package of special abilities to the rogue...
Obviously that's my take. A Rogue with Wilderness Lore and Tracking fits the scout/guerrilla archetype quite nicely.
 
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Expert: They are a bit buff :). Light armor, simple weapons, 10 class skills of their choice... and while the hit die/BAB isn't great, it's good enough for local hunting and scouting. Note that the expert doesn't make a good ranger in the "guerilla warrior" sense, however; for that you would want a warrior with cross-class skills, or a rogue, druid or fighter.
 

seasong> The only problem with using Expert as is the lack of class abilities. While access to one or two exclusive class skills is OK, if you want a scout or wilderness survivalist, those ten skills will need to be carefully chosen, and those exclusive class skills (save Animal Empathy) are not likely to make the cut.

However, I have created a Ranger variant that is more like the Rogue, and this may or may not fit into your campaign, depending on what you want from the class. I made it to replace the PHB Ranger because I found that the things I wanted from a Rogue variant would be too different to really call it that. Here is what I have so far:

Ranger

BAB: as Rogue

HD: d8

Saves: as Rogue

Armor and weapon proficiencies: All simple and martial weapons, plus net. (Why net? Good for trapping all kinds of animals.) Light and hide armor, no shields. Armor Check penalty rules still apply.

Class skills: Animal Empathy, Climb, Craft, Handle Animal, Intuit Direction, Jump, Knowledge (nature), Observe (Listen and Spot combined), Profession, Ride, Search, Stealth (Hide and Move Silently combined), Swim, Wilderness Lore.

Skills at 1st level: (6 + INT modifier) x 4. If using Observe and Stealth instead of Listen, Spot, Hide, and Move Silently, the Ranger only gets (4 + INT modifier) x 4 skill ranks.

Skills at each additional level: 6 + INT modifier. If using Observe and Stealth instead of Listen, Spot, Hide, and Move Silently, the Ranger only gets 4 + INT modifier ranks.

Class abilities progress as a Rogue's.

Sneak Attack, Evasion, and Uncanny Dodge work as the PHB. In addition, the Ranger gets the Track feat for free at first level. For the purpose of determining Sneak Attack damage with a multiclass RGR/ROG, apply the total Ranger and Rogue levels to determine Sneak Attack Damage. Thus, a RGR 1/ROG 1 only gets Sneak Attack +1d6. However, a RGR 2/ROG 3 gets Sneak Attack +3d6, just like a 5th level Ranger or Rogue. A RGR 1/ROG 4/FTR 3 also gets Sneak Attack +3d6 because the sum of Ranger and Rogue levels is still 5.

Special abilities:

Favored Terrain. In your chosen environment, your knowledge and skill are unmatched. Choose a type of terrain (Forest, Jungle, Mountains, Plains, Arctic, Desert, Marsh, Aquatic, etc). Within that terrain, you have the Nature Sense and Woodland Stride abilities, which work just as they do for the Druid. In addition, you can track up to your normal speed before incurring penalties. Each time you take this ability, it applies to a new terrain.

Favored Enemy. You are adept at exploiting the weaknesses and neutralizing the strengths of a certain type of creature. When fighting this type of creature, you gain a +5 competence bonus to distribute amongst attacks and damage. If you have the Weapon focus feat, the weapon of choice acts as a bane against your favored enemy (+2 enhancement bonus to attacks, +2d6 damage). This does not stack with weapons that have similar abilities (such as already being a bane weapon). Each time you take this, it applies to a new enemy.

Awareness. Through training and experience, you become preternaturally alert and aware of your surroundings, and are thus able to resopnd to a threat even before your reflexes have a chance to respond. You can apply your Wisdom bonus to your Armor Class.

Crippling Strike, Improved Evasion, Skill Mastery, and Feat work as described for the PHB Rogue.

Multiclassing: A desirable option for Rangers who want to combine the abilities of more than one class. Druids give spells that are ideal for wilderness adventuring, but they have restrictions which must be adhered to in order to gain the benefits. Rogues give more skills and skill ranks, but you sacrifice gaining special abilities due to the overlap between the two classes (which usually don't stack). Fighters give fewer skills (most of which overlap with the Ranger's) but grant more feats. The arcane abilities of Wizards and Sorcerers can augment the abilities of the Ranger and grant a boose to Will saves, but the trade-off is in HD, BAB, and Fortitude and Reflex saves.
 

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