Ranger

Ability Requirements:
Strength 13

Dexterity 13

Constitution 14

Wisdom 14
Prime Requisite:
Strength, Dexterity,

Wisdom
Allowed Races:
Human, elf, half-elf

The ranger is a hunter and a woodsman who lives in the wilderness. Robin Hood, Orion, and Jack the Giant Killer all are examples of rangers. Rangers must be of one of these alignments: lawful good, neutral good, or chaotic good. They must abide by the following restrictions:

· · Must retain his good alignment. If he intentionally commits an evil act, he loses all his ranger abilities and becomes a fighter of the same level. His ranger status never can be regained. If a ranger commits evil under duress or because he has no choice, he cannot gain experience points until he has cleansed himself. This may entail correcting the wrongs done by his evil act, avenging himself on those who forced him to the act, etc. The DM should determine the appropriate actions.

· · Can retain only what treasure he and his mount can carry. All other treasure must be donated to a worthy cause.

Ranger characters receive 60 character points to purchase class abilities. Each of the abilities below costs 5 to 10 character points. Any unspent points can be used to acquire nonweapon proficiencies or saved for use during the game. A standard ranger spends his character points to acquire the abilities of empathy with animals, followers, hide in shadows, move silently, priest spells, special enemy, two-weapon style, and tracking proficiency.

Bow bonus (5): A ranger with this ability gains a +1 attack bonus when using any type of bow.

Climbing (10): A ranger can climb trees, cliffs, and other natural formations. The ranger’s climbing score is equal to his Dexterity/Balance score plus the hide in shadows percentage (see Table 22) for a character of his level. Note that a ranger does not have to have the hide in shadows ability to have a climbing ability, the two skill simply use similar numbers.

Detect noise (10): As the thief ability. Use the ranger’s Intuition score plus his move silently percentage to determine his chance for success.

Empathy with animals (10): When dealing with a domestic or non-hostile animal, the ranger can approach and befriend it automatically. The ranger also can discern the health and nature of such animals. When approaching wild animals or those trained to attack, the animal must make a saving throw vs. rods to resist the ranger’s friendly overtures. There is a –1 penalty to the roll for every three experience levels of the ranger. For example, if the approaching ranger is 7th level, the animal’s saving throw penalty is –2. If the animal fails the save, the ranger can adjust the animal’s reaction by one category.

Find and remove wilderness traps (10): These traps include pits, snares, etc. A ranger’s chance for success is equal to his move silently percentage. See the table farther below.

Followers (10): At 10th level, the ranger attracts 2d6 followers. Use Table 19 in the Player’s Handbook to determine what kind of creatures the ranger attracts. The ranger does not need to build a stronghold or fort.

Hide in Shadows (5): A ranger can hide in shadows, as the thief ability, in natural surroundings if he is wearing studded leather or lighter armor. See Table 22 for the ranger’s chance of success. The ranger also can attempt to use this ability in other settings, but his chance of success is halved

Move silently (5): A ranger can move silently, as the thief ability, in natural surroundings if he is wearing studded leather or lighter armor. See Table 22 for the ranger’s chance of success. The ranger also can attempt to use this ability in other settings, but his chance of success is halved.

Pass Without Trace (10): By selecting this ability at character creation, a ranger gains the druid ability to pass without trace once a day.

Priest spells (10): Starting at level eight, a ranger can learn priest spells of the plant and animal spheres. He follows the normal rules for priest spells, though he does not gain extra spells for a high Wisdom/Intuition score. A ranger cannot use clerical scrolls. The ranger’s spell progression is presented on Table 21.

Sneak attack (10): If a ranger successfully moves silently and hides in shadows, he can sneak-attack in natural settings, as the thief’s backstab ability. The ranger strikes and does backstab damage as a thief of the same level.

Speak with animals (5): Once a day a ranger can speak with animals, as the spell.

Special enemy (10): Rangers focus their efforts on one exceedingly bothersome type of creature. A ranger must choose his special enemy before reaching 2nd level. Sample enemies include orcs, trolls, bugbears, and lizard men. The DM must approve the player’s choice. From that point on, the ranger gains a +4 bonus to his attack rolls when encountering that type of creature. The ranger can attempt to hide the enmity he feels for these creatures, but he suffers a –4 penalty on reaction rolls vs. that type of creature. Further, the ranger should seek out such creatures over other foes in combat, unless there is some greater danger.

Tracking proficiency (5): The ranger gains the tracking proficiency, and the character’s tracking skill automatically improves by +1 for every three levels. For example, a 10th level ranger improves his tracking score by +3.

Two-weapon style (5): A ranger can fight with two weapons and suffer no penalties to his attacks rolls. No shield can be used when a ranger fights in this manner. If the ranger wears armor heavier than studded leather, the standard penalties fro two-weapon fighting apply.

Weapon specialization (10): This ranger can specialize in a particular weapon. The character point cost must be met in addition.

Optional Restrictions

A ranger can gain bonus character points to spend on the above abilities by accepting voluntary restrictions on his warrior abilities. The restrictions are the same as those for Fighters.

Table 21: Rangers’ Spell-Casting Abilities


Ranger
Casting
Spell level

Level
Level
1
2
3

8
1
1
—
—

9
2
2
—
—

10
3
2
1
—

11
4
2
2
—

12
5
2
2
1

13
6
3
2
1

14
7
3
2
2

15
8
3
3
2

16
9*
3
3
3

* Maximum spell ability

Table 22: Ranger Abilities By level


Ranger’s
Hide in
Move

Level
Shadows**
Silently

1
10%
15%

2
15%
21%

3
20%
27%

4
25%
33%

5
31%
40%

6
37%
47%

7
43%
55%

8
49%
62%

9
56%
70%

10
63%
78%

11
70%
86%

12
77%
94%

13
85%
99%*

14
93%
99%*

15
99%*
99%*

* Maximum percentile score

** Also used to determine the character’s climbing score.

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