Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Another New Ranger Variant

*Deleted by user*

 

[Dausuul]

Initial thoughts:

1. Rangers with more hit points than barbarians just seems... weird. I dunno.
2. Love the Ambuscade feature. It's very ranger-y. I would like to see this built on.
3. Skirmisher's Stealth has potential, but it's built on a foundation of sand--namely, the stealth rules. I would want to see the stealth rules cleaned up and clarified before trying to use a feature like this.
4. The spirit companions are okay, but kind of meh. They feel too magical, more of a druid thing.

My suggestions would be:

1. Go back to d10 hit dice, but when you roll hit dice to recover hit points, you get double the hit points back. This fits better with the feel of the class. Rangers are not juggernauts, but they're very self-sufficient.
2. Keep Ambuscade.
3. Clarify how Skirmisher's Stealth and the stealth rules work.
4. Instead of a spirit animal, have the companion be a beast up to a specified CR (or specific animals). It prowls the wilderness in your general area but doesn't travel at your side 24/7. X times per day, you can call the companion to your side and request a service. This service might be scouting an enemy camp, standing watch while you rest, or fighting on your behalf.

 

[martinlochsen]

??? It's been around for at least 300 years, if not longer.



I get that that's your iconic ranger. But the mountain man is my iconic ranger. Point is, people have different ideas of what it should be and you're no more right than I am, so having a mix of abilities pulled from all three is OK. I mean, I could say that not everyone likes Aragorn representing all rangers, so let's pull all ranger abilities that were inspired by him. There are many options and ways one could play a ranger, but the fact is is that the class was pulled from many different inspirations, none more important than the others. No class is going to be tailored to my personal tastes or to your personal tastes exactly.

Yes. Like I said. Both those and other types of rangers should be among the options available.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Initial thoughts:

1. Rangers with more hit points than barbarians just seems... weird. I dunno.
2. Love the Ambuscade feature. It's very ranger-y. I would like to see this built on.
3. Skirmisher's Stealth has potential, but it's built on a foundation of sand--namely, the stealth rules. I would want to see the stealth rules cleaned up and clarified before trying to use a feature like this.
4. The spirit companions are okay, but kind of meh. They feel too magical, more of a druid thing.

My suggestions would be:

1. Go back to d10 hit dice, but when you roll hit dice to recover hit points, you get double the hit points back. This fits better with the feel of the class. Rangers are not juggernauts, but they're very self-sufficient.
2. Keep Ambuscade.
3. Clarify how Skirmisher's Stealth and the stealth rules work.
4. Junk the spirit companions. Instead, have the companion be a beast up to a specified CR. It prowls the wilderness in your general area but doesn't travel at your side 24/7. X times per day, you can call the companion to your side and request a service. This service might be scouting an enemy camp, standing watch while you rest, or fighting on your behalf.

Rangers are limited to light armor only, don't get the barbarian bonus of unarmored AC bonuses, and don't get damage resistance. I don't think they're nearly as tanky as you are thinking they are.

 

[Wrathamon]

??? It's been around for at least 300 years, if not longer.
There are many options and ways one could play a ranger, but the fact is is that the class was pulled from many different inspirations, none more important than the others. No class is going to be tailored to my personal tastes or to your personal tastes exactly.

that is the issue, that the Ranger has many various incarnations and iconic characters.

But, the 1st edition AD&D uses aragorn as a reference, and that one casts spells (magic missile included in the spell list)

* 1st edition AD&D Ranger
* 2nd Edition Monster Hunter Ranger
* 3rd Edition Dual Wield or Archer Ranger w Animal Companion
* 4th edition no magic martial ranger

Literature
* Aragorn - steward of the land fights with two handed sword or bastard sword, wears any armor to fit the situation, tracks, can use nature to create healing poultices, keen senses (but not elf like), etc. But, are these his ranger traits or his dunedain traits?
* Tanis Half-Elven - the Wilderness Archer fighter (in 2nd edition he was a fighter because rangers cast spells and he didnt use magic but he is the prototypical Martial Archer Ranger.
* Drizzt - Dual Wielding Ranger w. Animal Companion. Ok so the animal companion is a magic weapon, but we still associate it with animal or spirit companions. He is adept at survival in the wilderness and is often alone and on his own.
* Beast master - the icon of animal companions that fight. More magical and maybe more of a fighter druid but some looked to him as a ranger.
* Minsc - the two-handed berserker ranger w. animal companion was a ranger.
* Legolas - was not a "ranger" but like Tanis seems to be the prototypical dual wielding archer elf warrior (rangers seem to be non-elves(man & dunedain) that learned how to fight like elves? but I could be wrong in this middle-earth lore).
* Lone Rangers - a lawmen that protects the borderlands (society vs the wilderness) from badguys (monsters) rides a horse, tracker, excellent fighter, survival, bounty hunter type.
* Boba Fett - I would say he is a space ranger.
* Army Rangers - special forces

any other famous real or fictional rangers?

 

[Minigiant]

To me the Ranger class is one of three things, or a combination of any....

Protector of the Wild
Hunter and Tracker
Animal and Nature lover

To combine those into something that has a generic base (which is what all the classes pre-path are) and then have specialties in the forms of the path is the key to a class that has a baseline feel and then more specific options that the player can use as they progress.

Part of the problem with the base Ranger is it didn't delve or make the nature components unique enough to diverge it greatly from the Fighter, which when used with an outlander background had almost all the utility of the base Ranger bar spells.

Compare that to Paladin who definitely borrowed heavily from cleric but mixed with Fighter in a way that gave it unique flare and you can see the problem with Ranger.

I feel that the baseline existing hunter needed a little work with primeval awareness, favored enemy and natural explorer. Then add in more unique and balanced flair with both hunter (which needed the least changes) and beastmaster (whom few are fond of) then add another path which perhaps has more tracking and/or spell use.

The UA article 'Ranger' to me feels like a combination of fighter and some as-yet-unnamed Shaman type class.

Agree. It looks a lot like they are jousting the baseline ranger and just made a new concept ranger.

A "spirit shaman" ranger is an okay concept just like one could make a"wild shape" ranger or "plants based" ranger. One could make a MMPR/Henshin style ranger as well.. Its what all these rangers have in common. What do Aragorn, Drzzt, Rexxar, Jon Snow,and all the other popular rangerlike beings of media have in common.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

any other famous real or fictional rangers?

Geralt of Rivia
But he has something different going for him based on the fact he has Burning Hands, Thunderwave, Shield, and other wizard like spells on the list. But a Witcher is pretty much a Ranger.

I'd probably add the Diablo III Demon Hunter to that list.

 

[Roger]

...what all these rangers have in common... Aragorn, ... , Jon Snow, ...

Hmmm, interesting line of thought.

It seems to me that the way in which Aragorn and Jon Snow are 'connected to the land' is not really mystical at all: it's essentially political.

We've seen a bit of that in this edition, mostly in backgrounds and such, but maybe that's a useful direction to consider.

As for small details like implementation, hrm, I dunno. It might be tricky.


Cheers,
Roger

 

[GX.Sigma]

Huh. I was kinda hoping they'd try to fix the PHB ranger first before completely jumping off the deep end.

 

[Minigiant]

that is the issue, that the Ranger has many various incarnations and iconic characters.

But, the 1st edition AD&D uses aragorn as a reference, and that one casts spells (magic missile included in the spell list)

* 1st edition AD&D Ranger
* 2nd Edition Monster Hunter Ranger
* 3rd Edition Dual Wield or Archer Ranger w Animal Companion
* 4th edition no magic martial ranger

Literature
* Aragorn - steward of the land fights with two handed sword or bastard sword, wears any armor to fit the situation, tracks, can use nature to create healing poultices, keen senses (but not elf like), etc. But, are these his ranger traits or his dunedain traits?
* Tanis Half-Elven - the Wilderness Archer fighter (in 2nd edition he was a fighter because rangers cast spells and he didnt use magic but he is the prototypical Martial Archer Ranger.
* Drizzt - Dual Wielding Ranger w. Animal Companion. Ok so the animal companion is a magic weapon, but we still associate it with animal or spirit companions. He is adept at survival in the wilderness and is often alone and on his own.
* Beast master - the icon of animal companions that fight. More magical and maybe more of a fighter druid but some looked to him as a ranger.
* Minsc - the two-handed berserker ranger w. animal companion was a ranger.
* Legolas - was not a "ranger" but like Tanis seems to be the prototypical dual wielding archer elf warrior (rangers seem to be non-elves(man & dunedain) that learned how to fight like elves? but I could be wrong in this middle-earth lore).
* Lone Rangers - a lawmen that protects the borderlands (society vs the wilderness) from badguys (monsters) rides a horse, tracker, excellent fighter, survival, bounty hunter type.
* Boba Fett - I would say he is a space ranger.
* Army Rangers - special forces

any other famous real or fictional rangers?

Well World of Warcraft has "hunters" which are rangers of another name.

• Rexxar, the games beastmaster and dual wielding axe orge/orc
• Alleria and Slyvannas Windrunner. Each a sneaky archer, one an elf and the other once an elf

elf

Then there's
Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger. A warrior who knew the universe and no above stealth to battle cyber vampires, cyborgs, and a gravity monster..He flies. Flying is magic.

Vixen and B'wana Beast from DC Comins arent too much of a stretch.

Same with Animal Man.

Saying the Stark children and the Targaryens of A Song of Ice and Fire are ranagers aren't too much a stretch. Who says in some settings rangerdom isn't genetic?

Hmmm, interesting line of thought.

It seems to me that the way in which Aragorn and Jon Snow are 'connected to the land' is not really mystical at all: it's essentially political.

We've seen a bit of that in this edition, mostly in backgrounds and such, but maybe that's a useful direction to consider.

As for small details like implementation, hrm, I dunno. It might be tricky.


Cheers,
Roger

Its less political and more inherited.

Aragorn and Jon have their magic power from their bloodline. Makes sense in some settings for rangers to have a sort of magic in their blood which allows them to survive all the crazy in the wilderness.

 

[Sacrosanct]

that is the issue, that the Ranger has many various incarnations and iconic characters.

But, the 1st edition AD&D uses aragorn as a reference, and that one casts spells (magic missile included in the spell list)

* 1st edition AD&D Ranger
* 2nd Edition Monster Hunter Ranger
* 3rd Edition Dual Wield or Archer Ranger w Animal Companion
* 4th edition no magic martial ranger

Literature
* Aragorn - steward of the land fights with two handed sword or bastard sword, wears any armor to fit the situation, tracks, can use nature to create healing poultices, keen senses (but not elf like), etc. But, are these his ranger traits or his dunedain traits?
* Tanis Half-Elven - the Wilderness Archer fighter (in 2nd edition he was a fighter because rangers cast spells and he didnt use magic but he is the prototypical Martial Archer Ranger.
* Drizzt - Dual Wielding Ranger w. Animal Companion. Ok so the animal companion is a magic weapon, but we still associate it with animal or spirit companions. He is adept at survival in the wilderness and is often alone and on his own.
* Beast master - the icon of animal companions that fight. More magical and maybe more of a fighter druid but some looked to him as a ranger.
* Minsc - the two-handed berserker ranger w. animal companion was a ranger.
* Legolas - was not a "ranger" but like Tanis seems to be the prototypical dual wielding archer elf warrior (rangers seem to be non-elves(man & dunedain) that learned how to fight like elves? but I could be wrong in this middle-earth lore).
* Lone Rangers - a lawmen that protects the borderlands (society vs the wilderness) from badguys (monsters) rides a horse, tracker, excellent fighter, survival, bounty hunter type.
* Boba Fett - I would say he is a space ranger.
* Army Rangers - special forces

any other famous real or fictional rangers?

AD&D uses a lot more than just Aragorn. Seriously, go look up appendix N some time. The AD&D ranger was also based off of Daniel Boone, Texas Rangers, mountain men, and dozens of other points of inspiration.