What's a Monte Ranger?

[mmadsen]

mmadsen, that's a great take on it too. And it's simple and fairly elegant to boot!

Thanks, JD. I aim for simple and elegant. Most of those alt.rangers don't.

Some of the suggested Special Abilities might work as Bonus Feats though, e.g. Trailblazing: Wilderness Lore check to treat trackless terrain as a trail for overland travel.

I'd prefer to replace all the complex Favored Enemy schemes with a simple Foe Hunter Feat (+1 to-hit, +1 damage, Improved Crit vs. one type of enemy), as in Forgotten Realms. And frankly, it wouldn't even have to be one of the Scout's Bonus Feats -- anymore than Ambidexterity would have to be.

 

[mmadsen]

Thats a pretty good idea, mmadsen...

Thanks, Tsyr.

I'd probably give him access to the druids Animal Companion ability, but other than that...

Would or wouldn't? Because Animal Companion was on the list.

 

[Tsyr]

lol, skipped right over it.

 

[Chun-tzu]

Just to chime in here, there is not anything in the Monte Ranger Doc to suggest that the ranger does not get the virtual feats of 2 weapon fighting and ambidexterity. But there is also nothing saying they get it either. DM's call I would say.

Aaron.

How about the fact that, oh, Ambidexterity and Two-Weapon Fighting are listed as bonus feats for Monte's Ranger?

Sure, if you want to get nitpicky, you could still take those feats so that you'd be able to use those abilities in medium or heavy armor (assuming you're proficient in heavy armor). But come on, who would? And it certainly strongly suggests that his Ranger does not get any virtual feats.

 

[John Crichton]

point

Originally posted by jester47
Just to chime in here, there is not anything in the Monte Ranger Doc to suggest that the ranger does not get the virtual feats of 2 weapon fighting and ambidexterity. But there is also nothing saying they get it either. DM's call I would say.

Well... Generaly, I guess, it's assumed if a class doesn't list a feature, it doesn't have it. I mean, it doesn't specificly state that Rangers don't get sneek attack, but...

Tsyr is right. The extra feats are there if you want your ranger to have 2WF & Ambidexterity from the start. Basically, when using Monte's Ranger, just act as if everything in the PHB is replaced by the 4-page thing that he wrote.

 

[mmadsen]

For those who like Favored Terrain, how would you do it up as a Feat (analogous to Foe Hunter)?

 

[hong]

For a very different take on the Ranger, one I still recommend for the Scout archetype, I suggest an alt.Rogue with the Ranger's skill list.

In which case you're not playing a ranger, you're playing a rogue with a different list of class skills. This is important when it comes to, say, multiclassing.

With the Rogue's skill points, these Scouts can max out (more of) the skills you expect them to have: Spot, Listen; Hide, Move Silently; Wilderness Lore, Intuit Direction; Climb, Jump, Swim; etc. And the Sneak Attack fits Elven sentries, Goblin scouts, Faramir's men, Indian savages, etc.

European savages too!

Why, those football hoodlums are urban rangers if ever there were any. (Favoured enemy: rival fans; Spot and Listen to find your enemies; Hide and Move Silently to get away from riot police; animal companion to represent fellow hoods; etc.)

If you want to go a step further, you can replace the Rogue's Special Abilities with Bonus Feats (some taken from other classes' Special Abilities' lists): 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.

Perhaps you could play this a bit in your campaign and give some anecdotes on how it performed.

 

[Hakkenshi]

For those who like Favored Terrain, how would you do it up as a Feat (analogous to Foe Hunter)?

One of two ways (I really like Favoured Terrain much better, but I'm uncertain as to how it should be done):

1) the way it's done in WoT: you add half your Dex bonus to all attack rolls while in your favoured terrain.

2) a defensive bonus: whenever you fight in your chosen terrain, you count as having 1/4 cover (+2 AC, +1 Reflex saves).

And for both versions of the ability, I'd also give a +2 competence bonus to Track while in the chosen terrain(s).

 

[Tsyr]

One of two ways (I really like Favoured Terrain much better, but I'm uncertain as to how it should be done):

1) the way it's done in WoT: you add half your Dex bonus to all attack rolls while in your favoured terrain.

2) a defensive bonus: whenever you fight in your chosen terrain, you count as having 1/4 cover (+2 AC, +1 Reflex saves).

And for both versions of the ability, I'd also give a +2 competence bonus to Track while in the chosen terrain(s).

I'd actualy make that +2 bonus apply to Wilderness Lore, Hide, and Move Silently too, myself.

 

[Hakkenshi]

I'm not disagreeing with you, Tsyr, but wouldn't that be a bit much, even though it's a very circumstantial bonus?