Classic "Rangers"
by paladinnStill working on my OSR hybrid game. There has been no official “Ranger” class in Basic/Classic D&D, although there was one in OD&D (in the Strategic Review) that made its way into AD&D. BECMI did have two ranger “analogs”: the Forester, basically a human with elf abilities, and the Druidic Knight (from VotPA), a paladin-like fighter who got Druid spells and couldn’t wear metal armor.
Having gone a different direction with the paladin, I feel I need to do the same for the ranger. I want to keep spellcasting for actual spellcasters. The ranger (unlike the paladin) has always been a spellcasting class since the SR article. Originally the class got both limited magic-user spells And limited cleric spells (since there was no druid class at the time). In AD&D it was changed (logically) to MU and druid spells, and eventually to druid-ish spells in 2e.
The question is, if spellcasting is removed, is there really justification for a ranger subclass? The ranger has always seemed to me to be in need of a purpose.. a “thing”. If using a skill system, there is nothing that a ranger could do that an ordinary fighter or thief couldn’t do (for some things, the thief does them better!) IMO, there are 3 abilities that are at least somewhat unique to a ranger: tracking, animal handling and fighting “giant class”/humanoids. Of these, the last seems to be the most “useful” at least in combat.
So here is my $.02 on the matter. A ranger is a fighter subclass first and foremost; and like the paladin, it branches off the “core” fighter class at level 3. A ranger receives a number of abilities:
1. Detect Danger
2. Animal handling/ Friendship (maybe even charm-like)
3. Neutralize Poison
In addition, a ranger gains Basic skill in a number of abilities usually had by rogues: climbing, stealth, etc. S/he gains Expert skill in tracking and survival.
Rangers choose one “favored enemy.” Typically this is humanoids, giants and the like (anything with a humanoid shape); but a DM can allow a different category if the campaign requires (i.e. dragons). Against his/her favored enemy, a ranger receives a bonus to hit and armor class equal to his/her Wis modifier plus his/her Basic ability bonus (i.e. +1 at 3rd level, +2 at 5th, etc.) . So a 5th level ranger with 18 Wis would get +5 to hit, plus any Str mods, and +5 AC. S/he also gets an improved critical, scoring a critical hit at 18 or above. This is all to reflect his/her knowledge of the favored foe.
My one concern about this is that it’s somewhat situational. Granted, most campaigns will feature humanoid foes at some point; and as defined, even humanoid fiends and undead would be susceptible. Pathfinder has a ranger spell called “Instant Enemy” that allows the favored enemy benefit to be applied to whatever enemy a ranger is facing. But I’m not giving rangers spells, so not sure how this might be applied.
Any thoughts on all this? Is there even a need for a ranger sub/class? I think this would make the ranger distinct from fighters, paladins and rogues as well.
For a "ranger".. I'm thinking detect danger, neutralize poison, some outdoor skills (tracking, stealth, animal handling, etc.). But for the ranger's "thing", how about a Very limited form of the druid's wildshape? I'm looking to give it to druids anyway. If the ranger subclass branches off from the fighter at 3rd level, s/he can wildshape 1/day at 3rd level, 2/day at 5th level, 3 at 10th level, 4 at 15th level.
Rangers choose one “favored enemy.” Typically this is humanoids, giants and the like (anything with a humanoid shape); but a DM can allow a different category if the campaign requires (i.e. dragons). Against his/her favored enemy, a ranger receives a bonus to hit and armor class equal to his/her Wis modifier plus his/her Basic ability bonus (i.e. +1 at 3rd level, +2 at 5th, etc.) . So a 5th level ranger with 18 Wis would get +5 to hit, plus any Str mods, and +5 AC. S/he also gets an improved critical, scoring a critical hit at 18 or above. This is all to reflect his/her knowledge of the favored foe.
In addition, once/day/Basic bonus (1 at 3rd level, 2 at 5th, etc.) a ranger can "hunter's mark" a specific creature. If the creature is one of his/her favored foes, s/he gets the bonus to hit And can apply the same bonus to damage. If the creature is Not a favored foe, the ranger only adds to damage.
I think that gives the ranger that little extra uumph, but is still distinct from the core fighter, paladin and rogue.