Infamous 1e Class Guide: Rangers

 Introduction

Rangers are the other subclass of Fighter, being often compared to Paladin in the ways of it's function. This is an interesting comparison, as the Ranger is a near-perfect antithesis to what a Paladin is meant for. Paladins are natural born leaders, and are often seen leading the party, and commanding armies. Rangers are the opposite of this, in fact requiring no sort of charisma in the slightest. Rangers are sort of a cross between Fighters and Druids, where Paladins are meant as a cross between Fighters and Clerics. The purpose of a Ranger is to perform excellently in reconnaissance, and especially well in outdoor situations, similar to Druids. Their primary purpose is tracking, and using tactics to control the natural battlefield, as well as provide an immediate source of information on what the party may soon be facing. They also perform as giant slayers, which will be further detailed hereafter. To play a Ranger, one must have no less than 13 in both strength and intelligence, as well as a minimum of 14 in wisdom and constitution. If 15 or greater is achieved in intelligence, wisdom, and constitution, a Ranger is awarded an additional 10% experience. Already, it seems their stats are far less oriented around leadership and more around getting their hands dirty, performing as a more wilderness focused Fighter. Rangers are also some form of good by requirement, though they have no specification when it comes to law and chaos.

Ranger vs. Paladin

Rangers are not in any way similar to Paladins except for the traits from Fighter which they both share. For instance, a Ranger will begin the game with eight-sided hit dice, while Paladins and Fighters have always started with a ten-sided die. While their hit dice are technically smaller, Rangers actually end out with more Hit Points than the other classes, until very high levels. This is because at 1st level, they begin the game with 2 of their hit dice, whereas the other two classes start with only one. This means that Rangers will start with between 2 and 16 hit points, where Paladins and Fighters will begin with between 1 and 10. In addition to this, Rangers will not stop gaining hit dice until later than the other classes do, ending out with 11 Hit Dice when the other two end out with only 9. This gives them a more strong wilderness focus, as while Paladins thrive on being able to recuperate quicker, Rangers can function much longer than Paladins do, without the need for support. In fact, the whole "without the need for support" trait of this class comes up rather frequently, and should be used to the fullest extent. In addition to this, Rangers function far better in situations where their, perhaps less versatile abilities can be used to a much greater extent. Paladins abilities are likely to come up wherever the party goes, save situations without many people. Rangers are quite the opposite, having little purpose outside of the wilderness and in dungeons. They excel at surprise combat, and function best when they rely on tactics and strategizing, usually with the information gained through their tracking expertise. This contrasts Paladins, who function best at maintaining an army's morale, and keeping their parties in a victorious condition and mindset.

The Ranger's Code

Rangers, much like Paladins, follow a set of strictures that separate them from normal Fighters. A Ranger may never change from a non-good alignment, and in the event that this does happen, a Ranger will be stripped of all Ranger abilities, leaving him or her with being a Fighter in all respects, except for their smaller hit dice. In addition to this, Rangers often prefer to work in less crowded circumstances, and may not attract a body of men-at-arms or a like force until 8th Level, when they start to form a band of boy scouts trackers. As a further extent of their introversion, no more than 3 Rangers will ever operate together, as their differences in tactics and strategy, as well as their greater numbers (and thus, lack of stealth) will clash with each Ranger's abilities. Lastly, Rangers will only seek to own goods and items they can store on their own person, and on their mounts. Anything the Ranger is incapable of taking with him/herself will either be left behind, or given to another party member. Any other personal possessions the Ranger may have, that cannot be transported, will be given to a satisfactory commune or other like organization by the Ranger himself. Note that, like Paladins, Rangers may never treat another player character as such an organization.

Under the Shadows of Giants

Rangers are capable of tracking and identifying any creature they wish, as long as the tracks may be seen outdoors, or in a dungeon. The following table will detail how tracking is accomplished, and the likelihood of successful tracking.

The base chance for a Ranger to succeed in tracking in the outdoors is 90%.

For each creature above 1 in the party being tracked:	+ 2% chance of success.
For every 24 hours which have elapsed between leaving the tracks and following the tracks:	- 10% chance of success.
For each hour of precipitation (rain or snow):	- 25% chance of success.

Tracking underground is not quite as simple. The Ranger must have seen the creature to be tracked within 30 minutes of the attempted tracking, and the Ranger must begin the tracking attempt at the location where the creature was witnessed.

Creature's Action	Chance to Track
Going along a standard passage or room:	= 65% chance of success.
Passes through a standard door, or traverses stairs:	= 55% chance of success.
Enters or exits a trapdoor:	= 45% chance of success.
Goes up or down a chimney, or through a concealed door, or a like circumstance:	= 35% chance of success.
Passes through a secret door:	= 25% chance of success.

Rangers are not just good at tracking, as they have many other useful abilities and features as well. Rangers will surprise their opponent encounters in the wilderness around half the time, (1-3 on a d6,) and will only be surprised by another, non-tracking opponent around 1/6th of the time. (1 on a d6.) This provides ample opportunity for you to give your Thieves the ambush opportunity they desire, allowing your Magic-User to end the fight immediately with a Fireball, and allows for many other applications.

The more notable ability they receive early on, is their capability of fighting against giants. Any giant or monstrous class humanoid, as explained hereafter, or any monster with a "megabeast" title, will suffer greatly at the hands of a skilled Ranger. Rangers, when striking with a melee weapon against such a creature, will deal an additional Hit Point of damage to their targets, for every level of the Ranger. Thus, a 7th level Ranger will be dealing a massive +7 damage to giants and megabeasts! The list of such creatures is as follows: Bugbears, Ettins, Giants, Gnolls, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, Ogres, Ogre-Magi, Orcs, and Trolls. Any of these such creatures will take significant damage from a Ranger's onslaught. This also applies to any known megabeasts. This damage bonus is applied in addition to the Ranger's strength and proficiency modifiers, allowing the Ranger to deal much greater damage than what would otherwise be possible, even by a talented Fighter.

On top of all this, Rangers will gain a limited Druid spell ability at 8th level, and this will continue to develop all the way up until 17th level. They also gain access to limited ability as a Magic-User beginning as soon as 9th level, which will also increase with further levels. However, Rangers may never cast spells from scrolls used or inscribed by these classes. 10th level Rangers are capable of using a wider array of magical items, being anything pertaining to Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, ESP, and Telepathy, save written items. In addition to this, 10th level Rangers (also called Ranger Lords) will attract a natural body of men-at-arms who will serve the Ranger, and will eventually learn to track. These men will number between 2 and 24, though once lost, may never replace themselves naturally. The Ranger will have to do his or her own recruiting hereafter.

Constitution Proficiencies?

There are many proficiencies which are highly useful to the Ranger, but perhaps some of the most interesting ones are found under constitution. Ranger is one of the only classes where taking constitution proficiencies is actually advised, due to skills like Survival, in whatever climate is most common in your adventures, as well as skills like Swimming and Disease Resistance that make surviving in the wild even easier. Forester and Foraging are also highly useful to the Ranger, allowing for thriving in normally hostile environments. Of course, there are many other proficiencies which are highly valuable. Direction Sense and Alertness, found under wisdom are quite useful skills in their own rights. Navigator and Hunting are also strongly advised.

Higher Levels: Master of the Wilds

High level Rangers are capable, just as Fighters are, of researching their own fighting styles, Ranger subclasses, and even their own Ranger spells later on.* As always, the monetary and temporal cost for all of these is rather high, however for spellcasting class creation, an artifact will be just as necessary, though perhaps not as difficult to acquire. In Farvion, many of these artifacts can be found in the wilderness, where the Ranger is most comfortable. It is more than likely that by this time, the Ranger will already have discovered and gained access to an artifact, making Ranger class and spell creation much easier.

* - Obviously, a normal Fighter is not capable of this, making this form of spell research exclusive to Rangers.

Conclusion

Rangers are the antithesis of Paladins. Their immense ability to thrive in the wilds makes them a very unique class, functioning almost outside the roles of every other character, save Druid. You don't need charisma to do, well, anything, and you are more than capable of sustaining yourself as long as you like. Rangers are masters of ambushing, tracking, and many other skills that become fully developed out in the wilderness. Use the wilds to your advantage, and use every skill at your disposal to truly master the wild.