Winterthorn
Monster Manager
Regarding Rangers and their tracking speed...
I am really unimpressed with Swift Tracker for the 3.5 Ranger. It's not refined enough for me, so I'm working with my house rules, and I will probably incorporate the new homebrew feats cited below in my game too.
To start, this is what I did to modify the 3.0 Ranger, which I will carry over to the 3.5 game: I've introduced incremental speed augmentations to the Ranger's tracking as his experience improves...
Given this for the Ranger:
Track: at 1st level, as in the PH.
Add the following (ranger level included for clarity):
Stalk (at 5th level): as Track, except the 5th level ranger can Track at a normal speed (or at a hustle with a -5 penalty on the associated Survival check). This improvement to the Track feat is a ranger’s special ability.
Pursue (Ex, at 9th level): as Track, except the 9th level ranger can Track at a hustle (or at a run (x3) with a -5 penalty on the associated Survival check). This improvement to the Track feat is a ranger’s extraordinary ability.
Chase (Ex, at 13th level): as Track, except the 13th level ranger can Track at a speed of a run (x3) (or at a run (x4) with a -5 penalty on the associated Survival check) This improvement to the Track feat is a ranger’s extraordinary ability.
Wild Hunt (Su, at 17th level): as Track, except the 17th level ranger can Track at any speed without penalty on the associated Survival check. This improvement to the Track feat is a ranger’s supernatural ability.
Or, the above abilities can be written up as feats for mechanical completeness (with respect to the 3.5 Ranger) so other classes wishing to explore enhanced tracking ability have this as an option for character development:
Track [General]
As per PH.
Stalk [General]
You can track down others at normal your foot speed.
Prerequistes: Endurance, Track
Benefit: You can Track at a normal foot speed (or at a hustle with a -5 penalty on the associated Survival check).
Normal: To avoid a -5 penalty to your tracking check with Survival skill, you must move at 1/2 speed or slower.
Special: Rangers gain this feat at 5th level as a special ability.
Pursue [General]
You can track down others at a hustle.
Prerequistes: Wis 13+, Endurance, Stalk, Track
Benefit: You can Track at a hustle (or at a run (x3) with a -5 penalty on the associated Survival check).
Special: Rangers gain this feat at 9th level as an extraodinary ability.
Chase [General]
You can track down others at a modest running speed.
Prerequistes: Wis 13+, Endurance, Pursue, Stalk, Track
Benefit: You can Track at a foot speed of a run (x3) (or at a run (x4) with a -5 penalty on the associated Survival check).
Special: Rangers gain this feat at 13th level as an extraordinary ability.
Wild Hunt [General]
You can track down others at any foot speed.
Prerequistes: Wis 15+, Chase, Endurance, Pursue, Stalk, Track
Benefit: You can Track at any foot speed without penalty on the associated Survival check.
Special: Rangers gain this feat at 17th level as a supernatural ability.
Note: Since the 3.5 Ranger already receives the Endurance feat as a bonus feat at 3rd level, and Rangers need a decent Wisdom score, the Ranger class sets the feat requirements. Other classes interested in Tracking can try to emulate the Ranger's abilities, but it is more difficult for them and they can never be as good as the Ranger as a consequence, unless they make highly compromising sacrifices--as it should be! (Other classes can burn character feats--but the Ranger won't need to since the above feats are all class features for him. A human Druid, for example, could have Stalk by 3rd level, and even get Wild Hunt by 12th, technically speaking, but she has many other charcater feats to consider in order to be an effective druid...)
Enjoy!
Oh... an addtional thought though, while the Ranger IMC gets the benefits of the above feats for free as part of his class progression, I'll wager the feats themselves may be too weak for non-Rangers for the investment. But cited in feat format they will at least give my non-Ranger players options...
-W.
I am really unimpressed with Swift Tracker for the 3.5 Ranger. It's not refined enough for me, so I'm working with my house rules, and I will probably incorporate the new homebrew feats cited below in my game too.
To start, this is what I did to modify the 3.0 Ranger, which I will carry over to the 3.5 game: I've introduced incremental speed augmentations to the Ranger's tracking as his experience improves...
Given this for the Ranger:
Track: at 1st level, as in the PH.
Add the following (ranger level included for clarity):
Stalk (at 5th level): as Track, except the 5th level ranger can Track at a normal speed (or at a hustle with a -5 penalty on the associated Survival check). This improvement to the Track feat is a ranger’s special ability.
Pursue (Ex, at 9th level): as Track, except the 9th level ranger can Track at a hustle (or at a run (x3) with a -5 penalty on the associated Survival check). This improvement to the Track feat is a ranger’s extraordinary ability.
Chase (Ex, at 13th level): as Track, except the 13th level ranger can Track at a speed of a run (x3) (or at a run (x4) with a -5 penalty on the associated Survival check) This improvement to the Track feat is a ranger’s extraordinary ability.
Wild Hunt (Su, at 17th level): as Track, except the 17th level ranger can Track at any speed without penalty on the associated Survival check. This improvement to the Track feat is a ranger’s supernatural ability.
Or, the above abilities can be written up as feats for mechanical completeness (with respect to the 3.5 Ranger) so other classes wishing to explore enhanced tracking ability have this as an option for character development:
Track [General]
As per PH.
Stalk [General]
You can track down others at normal your foot speed.
Prerequistes: Endurance, Track
Benefit: You can Track at a normal foot speed (or at a hustle with a -5 penalty on the associated Survival check).
Normal: To avoid a -5 penalty to your tracking check with Survival skill, you must move at 1/2 speed or slower.
Special: Rangers gain this feat at 5th level as a special ability.
Pursue [General]
You can track down others at a hustle.
Prerequistes: Wis 13+, Endurance, Stalk, Track
Benefit: You can Track at a hustle (or at a run (x3) with a -5 penalty on the associated Survival check).
Special: Rangers gain this feat at 9th level as an extraodinary ability.
Chase [General]
You can track down others at a modest running speed.
Prerequistes: Wis 13+, Endurance, Pursue, Stalk, Track
Benefit: You can Track at a foot speed of a run (x3) (or at a run (x4) with a -5 penalty on the associated Survival check).
Special: Rangers gain this feat at 13th level as an extraordinary ability.
Wild Hunt [General]
You can track down others at any foot speed.
Prerequistes: Wis 15+, Chase, Endurance, Pursue, Stalk, Track
Benefit: You can Track at any foot speed without penalty on the associated Survival check.
Special: Rangers gain this feat at 17th level as a supernatural ability.
Note: Since the 3.5 Ranger already receives the Endurance feat as a bonus feat at 3rd level, and Rangers need a decent Wisdom score, the Ranger class sets the feat requirements. Other classes interested in Tracking can try to emulate the Ranger's abilities, but it is more difficult for them and they can never be as good as the Ranger as a consequence, unless they make highly compromising sacrifices--as it should be!
(Other classes can burn character feats--but the Ranger won't need to since the above feats are all class features for him. A human Druid, for example, could have Stalk by 3rd level, and even get Wild Hunt by 12th, technically speaking, but she has many other charcater feats to consider in order to be an effective druid...)Enjoy!
Oh... an addtional thought though, while the Ranger IMC gets the benefits of the above feats for free as part of his class progression, I'll wager the feats themselves may be too weak for non-Rangers for the investment. But cited in feat format they will at least give my non-Ranger players options...
-W.
