D&D 5E The Dual Wielding Ranger: How Aragorn, Drizzt, and Dual-Wielding Led to the Ranger's Loss of Identity

[Minigiant]

I see it differently. Aragorn fought in wars for years and years. He has hung out with elves, spent time with dwarves, and fought alongside men. He fought off a group of Nazgul! And he is of different blood - literally, born different from others, being a Dunedain. In my view, LotR is a low level world, and he is at the top. Whether that means 17 out of 20, or 8 out of 10.

I'd go with the original D&D Ranger Lord and make Aragorn level 13 and the highest level human on the planet.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I see it differently. Aragorn fought in wars for years and years. He has hung out with elves, spent time with dwarves, and fought alongside men. He fought off a group of Nazgul! And he is of different blood - literally, born different from others, being a Dunedain. In my view, LotR is a low level world, and he is at the top. Whether that means 17 out of 20, or 8 out of 10.

I'm not going to argue that he isn't top of the heap in LoTR, but translating that to DnD is the issue.

He drove of the Nazgul with a torch. Boromir, Legolas or Gimli all could have done the same thing and in DnD terms, it might be his most impressive feat, driving off a group of Wraiths, CR 5. Hanging out elves, dwarves and men isn't that impressive in DnD, that just takes going down to the local bar.

Other things he directly fought? The Cave Troll smacked the entire fellowship around. It is an ogre or hill giant equivalent if you want to be generous. CR 5 again.

So, to claim that Aaragorn is level 17 out or 20, would require us figuring out how four warriors of levels 12+ were nearly killed by a creature that in DnD is MAX CR 5. And, that isn't to say that Aaragorn isn't impressive for the world he lives in, he is, absolutely, but DnD scales past Cave Trolls very very quickly

 

[Chaosmancer]

Well D&D is an anomaly. So you only see "Ranger defending borders" in MMOs.

So you are looking are looking at Rexxar Champion of the Horde and Alleria Windrunner.

One is an Orc/ogre hybrid hero of a faction who TWF axes in melee and ranged with a zoo of animal companions.
The other is special snowflake elf former ranger-captian who shoots magic arrows and has a alternate form to guard the world.

Those do sound closer to the types of concepts a level 15+ ranger should embody. The people who can take on the enemies of the Gods and world destroying forces with some regularity.

 

[Scott Christian]

I'm not going to argue that he isn't top of the heap in LoTR, but translating that to DnD is the issue.

He drove of the Nazgul with a torch. Boromir, Legolas or Gimli all could have done the same thing and in DnD terms, it might be his most impressive feat, driving off a group of Wraiths, CR 5. Hanging out elves, dwarves and men isn't that impressive in DnD, that just takes going down to the local bar.

Other things he directly fought? The Cave Troll smacked the entire fellowship around. It is an ogre or hill giant equivalent if you want to be generous. CR 5 again.

So, to claim that Aaragorn is level 17 out or 20, would require us figuring out how four warriors of levels 12+ were nearly killed by a creature that in DnD is MAX CR 5. And, that isn't to say that Aaragorn isn't impressive for the world he lives in, he is, absolutely, but DnD scales past Cave Trolls very very quickly

More than fair. Maybe, specifically, how I discussed rituals, it how this was accomplished?