Post by blakeryan on Jul 26, 2016 2:59:54 GMT
Great ep on Rangers.
I would caution two things -
1: I never encourage lone wolf attitudes/character concepts, this is a reaction to having many campaigns fail due to players making no effort to cooperate and actively building characters around screwing over other players.
2: I'm hesitant to have a Ranger tell them off for blundering around the wilderness, I don't want to introduce a NPC/PC via proven superiority over the others. It's implied people have their special talents but you don't need to rub peoples inadequacies in their faces.
For recent Ranger counterparts - The Rangers north of the Wall in Game of Thrones, Van Helsing-undead hunter Ranger, Deathstroke/Green Arrow from DC Comics are modern Rangers, Boba Fett from Starwars. All have melee and missile fighting, tracking and survival ability.
Was kinda thinking Hagrid from Harry Potter as a retired Ranger. Travels alot, knows heaps about different creatures, friends with many creatures...
If you've ever seen The 13th Warrior, half the party are Rangers, the other half Fighters. If you have not seen this film, it's great!
Last but certainly not least. Rambo. First Blood Part 1 and 2. Melee, Missle, Survival, Ambushing, Hunting, Outnumbered. All there.
Agreed animal companions and Favoured enemy are great tie ins to the plot, the world and opportunities to roleplay.
In my games I ally rangers to the regional druid circle, acting as scouts and enforcers against powerful groups/creatures to maintain the balance of the region.
Groups - Rangers can compliment the Druids outlook, can assist Rogue with scouting ahead, and provide cover-fire to protect casters.
Regarding Hide in Plain Sight - I always figured this is triggered by a distraction element, such as glancing over the enemies shoulder, flicking a rock with your foot to make them turn away briefly, a wink that flickers the surrounding daylight, maybe a scent that makes gives enemies a microsleep?
One of the Rangers in my game loved the forest, so I made his animal companion a vegepygmy, which would infect enemies with its spores, so in the groups trail was a growing plague of vegepygmies. So yeah I don't limit their companions to animals, I allow other creatures that 'fit' the characters background and story, eg baby wemic, small elementals, a flumph.
One problem i've had with Rangers is they have many similar traits as Barbarians. Both warriors that prefer outdoors, hunt down prey and avoid heavy armour. If Barbarians are so fierce that they don't use stealth how do they hunt for food?
For a Rangers with a difference -
1-Tiefling Ranger-Hunter, hunts down planar trespassers such as Githyanki, Fiends and their agents.
2-Dwarven Ranger, enjoys caverns and cities, avoid open sky or water, so familiar with land/underdark creatures, knows nothing of air/water critters. If he camps he normally digs an alcove in the side of a hill to sleep in.
3-Dragonborn-Horde Breaker, rival Dragonborn clan recruited humanoids to take over a region, your Dragonborn has been tasked as removing the humanoids and bringing the rival clan leader to justice.
4-Halfling/Goblin/Kobolds - uses animal companion to kite foes into traps/ambushes/caltrops, by the time they melee the foes are prone/bleeding/blinded.
Ways to tie in Rangers -
1-they know of some ruins with arcane sigils, they will guide the pcs around but need help getting into the ruins, they need a caster
2-animal companion knew another pc in a past life, have unfinished goal they need taken care of
3-rangers parents were slain, rangers sibling wants the ranger to find a strong/suitable mate/future partner for their sibling, travels with different groups to interview/test people they meet
4-Ranger is a lycanthrope, struggling to deal with it, needs to befriend people who can help without killing them/getting self killed
I would caution two things -
1: I never encourage lone wolf attitudes/character concepts, this is a reaction to having many campaigns fail due to players making no effort to cooperate and actively building characters around screwing over other players.
2: I'm hesitant to have a Ranger tell them off for blundering around the wilderness, I don't want to introduce a NPC/PC via proven superiority over the others. It's implied people have their special talents but you don't need to rub peoples inadequacies in their faces.
For recent Ranger counterparts - The Rangers north of the Wall in Game of Thrones, Van Helsing-undead hunter Ranger, Deathstroke/Green Arrow from DC Comics are modern Rangers, Boba Fett from Starwars. All have melee and missile fighting, tracking and survival ability.
Was kinda thinking Hagrid from Harry Potter as a retired Ranger. Travels alot, knows heaps about different creatures, friends with many creatures...
If you've ever seen The 13th Warrior, half the party are Rangers, the other half Fighters. If you have not seen this film, it's great!
Last but certainly not least. Rambo. First Blood Part 1 and 2. Melee, Missle, Survival, Ambushing, Hunting, Outnumbered. All there.
Agreed animal companions and Favoured enemy are great tie ins to the plot, the world and opportunities to roleplay.
In my games I ally rangers to the regional druid circle, acting as scouts and enforcers against powerful groups/creatures to maintain the balance of the region.
Groups - Rangers can compliment the Druids outlook, can assist Rogue with scouting ahead, and provide cover-fire to protect casters.
Regarding Hide in Plain Sight - I always figured this is triggered by a distraction element, such as glancing over the enemies shoulder, flicking a rock with your foot to make them turn away briefly, a wink that flickers the surrounding daylight, maybe a scent that makes gives enemies a microsleep?
One of the Rangers in my game loved the forest, so I made his animal companion a vegepygmy, which would infect enemies with its spores, so in the groups trail was a growing plague of vegepygmies. So yeah I don't limit their companions to animals, I allow other creatures that 'fit' the characters background and story, eg baby wemic, small elementals, a flumph.
One problem i've had with Rangers is they have many similar traits as Barbarians. Both warriors that prefer outdoors, hunt down prey and avoid heavy armour. If Barbarians are so fierce that they don't use stealth how do they hunt for food?
For a Rangers with a difference -
1-Tiefling Ranger-Hunter, hunts down planar trespassers such as Githyanki, Fiends and their agents.
2-Dwarven Ranger, enjoys caverns and cities, avoid open sky or water, so familiar with land/underdark creatures, knows nothing of air/water critters. If he camps he normally digs an alcove in the side of a hill to sleep in.
3-Dragonborn-Horde Breaker, rival Dragonborn clan recruited humanoids to take over a region, your Dragonborn has been tasked as removing the humanoids and bringing the rival clan leader to justice.
4-Halfling/Goblin/Kobolds - uses animal companion to kite foes into traps/ambushes/caltrops, by the time they melee the foes are prone/bleeding/blinded.
Ways to tie in Rangers -
1-they know of some ruins with arcane sigils, they will guide the pcs around but need help getting into the ruins, they need a caster
2-animal companion knew another pc in a past life, have unfinished goal they need taken care of
3-rangers parents were slain, rangers sibling wants the ranger to find a strong/suitable mate/future partner for their sibling, travels with different groups to interview/test people they meet
4-Ranger is a lycanthrope, struggling to deal with it, needs to befriend people who can help without killing them/getting self killed
