Roleplaying a Ranger

[The Souljourner]

I'm playing in a new campaign, and the DM roleplays better than any I've had before. That's a great thing, but it means I'm a little out of my element. Most of my experience in D&D has been, if not hack and slash, at least "hack, talk to the bartender, and slash".

So I have this cool ranger concept - he's a half lycanthrope (basically the same as a lycanthrope except he doesn't get the stat bonuses, hybrid form, nor the hitdice, just can turn into a panther and gets scent and low light vision). He's a really sneaky guy, he took skill foci: hide and move silently, and stealthy as his first 3 feats, with the bow combat path. I want him to be all around good in combat, but not specialized in any one thing (besides being insanely sneaky).

He's the son of a Paladin and Cleric (the cleric was a Were-panther... paladins are immune.. thus half lycanthrope) and rebelled somewhat, since they were a leeetle uptight. Hung out with wild elves for a lot of his youth, then went off on his own for about 10 years. He most recently was the leader of a wilderness patrol for a small city.

Problem is... this is all great background, but not much for personality. This guy needs a personality. Any help would be much appreciated.

-The Souljourner

 

[Steverooo]

Grrr!

Double post!

 

[Steverooo]

The Grey Man

Someone that stealthy probably has an active aversion to being noticed... He is probably quiet, and non-descript; your typical "grey man". He may take a rank in Disguise just to avoid being noticed when he doesn't want to, and would probably multiclas Rogue or Shadowdancer, if at all.

Cats tend to be a bit chaotic, independent, quiet, and claw the snot out of you, when riled.

"Sounds" to me like your character is generally staying in the background, trying to avoid notice, a bit secretive (do the other PCs know he can shapechange?), independent, definitely stealthy, a touch chaotic, more than a bit rebellious, and more the type to just ignore you than to tell you to shut up.

He probably won't work so well with a group, will go off on his own a lot (and get swatted for it), won't respond well to authority (like Dad, the Paladin), and won't take orders, at all.

And, he'll claw the snot out ofya, if you get him riled!

 

[Voadam]

He's the son of a Paladin and Cleric (the cleric was a Were-panther... paladins are immune.. thus half lycanthrope) and rebelled somewhat, since they were a leeetle uptight. Hung out with wild elves for a lot of his youth, then went off on his own for about 10 years. He most recently was the leader of a wilderness patrol for a small city.

Problem is... this is all great background, but not much for personality. This guy needs a personality. Any help would be much appreciated.

-The Souljourner

Rebelled a bit from controlling uptight parents. Likes elves, loner but took a leadership position for a small city.

Probably does not like to be told what to do, prefers to be given broad goals and figure out the path himself.

Perhaps you could know elven and try using elven phrases and viewpoints as another character hook (since you grew up with them and they were your peers as a teenager).

Figure out what the wild elven culture is in your world and play a stereotypical one of them for your personality.

 

[Shadeus]

Hmm, this is an unusual background to be sure.

He probably is CG in alignment with an adversion to following the rules. He probably has no love of religion because it rings too close to what his parents would have wanted him to do. He's good at heart, but cannot tolerate being pinned down to one location. It's better to be free and wander the world to the walk the path someone else has set you to follow.

He may hate prophesies because that makes him feel trapped in a "cosmic" set of rules.

Being focused on stealth, he probably likes to blend in with the rest of the crowd as best as possible. It also allows him to move into and out of different societies easily. He might know several languages to be able to get along with different cultures. But he should have a genuine fear of having his shapeshifting nature known because it makes him stand out...which is probably something he hates the most.

I'm surprised you would have him as a leader of a wilderness patrol. I would think he would not want such attention. It also gives him some responsibility which is what he shirked when leaving his parents.

Do you have his stats? That would help as well, particularly Int, Wis, and Cha.

 

[Korgan26]

To build on what the others have said I would add acouple things.
1. He would probably have a "Well its not getting done while we stand and talk" attitude. Like if the had to cross a mountian to get something done. When everyone wants to talk about the trip and the what if's, to him it would be as simple as grabbing the pack and putting one foot in front of the other. If they need to talk they can do it while walking.

2. The other I would add would be a slight but noticible personality change in the city. Its not his thing and he would rather be in the woods.

I love playing rangers and this has great potential to be an awsome and memorable character.

Have Fun
Z

 

[reapersaurus]

Q: Shouldn't roleplaying threads be in General Discussion?

Here's a thought:
You say he was recently on a "wilderness patrol" for a small city.
What was the city doing having a wilderness patrol?
Sounds like an excuse to go out and kill helpless animals to me.
I don't know if a ranger would be all keen on going out and killing critters for a city's greedy desires.
He ended up getting into a conflict with the greedy leader of the city, who profits from the "wilderness patrol" after he found out abiout the patrol's greedy motivations (the patrol is a major effort to keep up for the small city - it is only perpetuated because of the lies spread by this greedy leader, who gets the city to expend their resources to kill monsters and animals, and he profits from them.

BTW: he even stages attacks by these "monsters" on innocent cityfolk, just to keep the city afraid of the animals, and wanting to spend resources in hunting them down and 'cleaning out" the wilderness outside their city.

 

[The Souljourner]

Awesome replies so far, guys!

Some more about the character - Int 14 Wis 14, Cha 11 (yes, I rolled really well, plus the template gives me +2 wisdom).

Yes, he keeps his shapechanging nature a secret. One of the party members is an old Wild Elf acquaintance from his early days who knows his secret, but isn't likely to tell anyone else.

I see his stint as patrol leader as something of a reflection of his parents in him, as much as he may not like it. He's generally the "I am the leader, heed me" type of guy, but the type of people who are on these patrols aren't exactly follow the leader types either. He was more of just an experienced patrolman that the others respected would listen to.

He desires to do good... just because his parents are tightly wound doesn't mean they didn't do a good job of instilling in him the importance of helping others.... he just likes doing it in his own way.

I'm not sure he cares about standing out... I saw the hiding and moving silently more as just something he was naturally really good at (and it helped that he would have to develop it to sneak out of the house and into the elven woods, avoiding those very watchful elven patrols).

More thoughts are welcome!

-The Souljourner

 

[Zaruthustran]

I'd play up the Panther aspect. Make him very intense, very precise. His default instinct is to remain unseen, so I'd apply that to social interactions as well. I'd have him speak softly and in as short sentences as possible. Maybe have him avoid letters like S, T, K, Z, and others that carry sound (read up on a few websites on how commandos speak during operations).

Such a sneaky guy begs for feats and powers that take advantage of hiding, so if I were you I'd pick up Expert Tactician and levels in something that gives sneak attack as soon possible. Maybe try to convince your DM to allow you to take Assassin (the "evil only" restriction is nonsensical, after all).

-z

 

[Antoine]

More thoughts are welcome!

How does he see his shapechanging ability ? Curse ? Gift ? Strangeness ?

Does he controls it perfectly ? Or will he have some difficult full moon nights to roleplay with other party members.

Also, if you chose the bow combat path, it probably means a personnality conflict between the perfectly invisible elf-trained archer and the stealthy close combat predator : two very different killer styles.

And don't forget to let his animal hunter instinct show when close to his favored enemy.

Character will most probably tend towards efficiency, economy of means and quickness in action.

Feat choice means he's really focused. Alongside good Int and Wis, you're definitely the cautious type.

Cha 11 won't help very much assuming the leader type, but you can have a lot of fun playing the guy who tries to be the leader type.

Eats raw meat.