Ranger - Final Draft

[ZER0]

So here it is. The final draft of the Ranger I've been working on for... about a day now. Yep. Lots of blood, sweat, and tears here.

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The Ranger
"..."
The Ranger excels at two things; combat on his own terms, and making combat happen on his own terms. Though lacking in social graces, they are champions of nature, and the wilderness itself follows them into combat whenever necessary.

Note: The Ranger featured here is a forest-themed Ranger. If your Ranger makes his home somewhere else, feel free to change forest/tree-themed abilities to represent some other kind of environment (I dunno, sand dunes for desert-themed Rangers, or big rocks for mountain-themed Rangers, or Richard Simmons for... nevermind).

Hit Die: d8

Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Athletics (Str), Awareness (Wis), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (dungeon), Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis).
Skills/Level: 6 + Intelligence modifier

BAB: Good
Saves: Fort: Poor; Ref: Good; Will: Good

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: A Ranger is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, the Greatbow and Composite Greatbow, light armour, and the buckler, but not other shields.

Alignment: Any, though the impartialness of most Rangers towards the concerns of ‘civilised’ creatures causes most to lean towards neutrality.

1. Hunter’s Knowledge, Terrain Mastery, Track
2. Rapid Shot, Two-Weapon Fighting
3. Hunter’s Knowledge +1d6, Nature’s Ally
4. Entangle
5. Evasion, Giant Slayer
6. Hunter’s Knowledge +2d6, Nature’s Fortitude
7. Improved Rapid Shot
8. Mother’s Embrace
9. Ghost Hunter, Hunter’s Knowledge +3d6, "Make Like A Tree"
10. Deep Strike
11. Planar Terrain Mastery, Tree Stride
12. Greater Rapid Shot, Hunter’s Knowledge +4d6
13. Improved Nature’s Fortitude
14. Improved Evasion
15. Evergreen Glade, Hunter’s Knowledge +5d6
16. Improved Deep Strike
17. Superior Rapid Shot
18. Hunter’s Knowledge +6d6, Paralysis Strike
19. Champion Of The Wild
20. -

The saving throw DC for any of a Ranger’s abilities is 10+ ½ class level + Wisdom modifier. If a Ranger gains a bonus feat that he already has, he may instead choose to gain any [Combat] or [Skill] feat for which he meets the prerequisites.

Hunter’s Knowledge (Ex): A Ranger can spend a swift action to attempt to identify a creature currently in combat with him. Make a monster identification check as normal. If successful, the Ranger gains a +2 insight bonus to hit and damage against the creature, as well as a bonus 1d6 damage per 3 levels (rounded down). If a Ranger is facing a creature of a kind (but not necessarily type) that he has previously identified (for example, if a Ranger encounters a Hill Giant and has previously identified a Hill Giant, but not if he encounters a Fire Giant), the DC of this roll is reduced by 10.
A Ranger may use Knowledge (geography) to identify humanoids and Knowledge (the planes) to identify undead with this ability, with a standard identification DC.
The bonuses from Hunter's Knowledge apply to all attacks made against a successfully identified creature.

Terrain Mastery (Ex): At each level up to 10th, a Ranger gains an ability from the following list.

Forest: You gain a +3 bonus to Stealth checks. In addition, as long as you are in a natural setting, you gain the Hide in Plain Sight ability.

Plains: You gain a +3 bonus to Awareness checks. In addition, your natural land speed is increased 50%.

Mountain: You gain a +3 bonus to Knowledge (arcana) checks. In addition, you gain a Climb speed equal to ½ your natural land speed (if you already have a Climb speed, you gain a +8 to Athletics checks to perform a special action or avoid a hazard while climbing; this is in addition to the normal +8 gained from having a Climb speed).

River: You gain a +3 bonus to Athletics checks. In addition, you gain a Swim speed equal to your natural land speed (if you already have a Swim speed, you gain a +8 to Athletics checks to perform a special action or avoid a hazard while swimming; this is in addition to the normal +8 gained from having a Swim speed).

Caverns: You gain a +3 bonus on Knowledge (dungeon) checks. In addition, you gain Darkvision out to 60ft, or increase your existing Darkvision by 60ft.

Jungle: You gain a +3 bonus to Knowledge (nature) checks. In addition, you may move at full normal speed without taking a penalty to Hide or Move Silently checks, may double-move at a penalty -5 instead of -10, and may run at a penalty of -10 instead of -20.

Hills: You gain a +3 bonus to Knowledge (geography) checks. In addition, you become immune to fatigue, and any effect that would cause you to become exhausted instead causes you to become fatigued. If you are already immune to fatigue or exhaustion, you instead gain 1 hit point per character level per effect you are immune to.

Swamp: You gain a +3 bonus to Acrobatics checks. In addition, you take no penalty for moving over rough terrain.

Ocean: You gain a +3 bonus to Knowledge (the planes) checks. In addition, you gain water-breathing and become immune to fear effects. If you are already immune to fear effects (or mind-affecting effects), you instead gain a +3 bonus to Will saves.

Desert: You gain a +3 bonus to Survival checks. In addition, you gain a Burrow speed equal to half your natural land speed. A Ranger may burrow through any natural terrain except for solid rock, and doing so leaves a usable tunnel based on the Ranger's size (5 feet wide for Small or Medium Rangers, 10 feet wide for Large, etc; Rangers that are Tiny or smaller do not leave a tunnel).

Terrain Mastery abilities are always active, not just when the Ranger is in that particular environment. If a Ranger is in an unfamiliar area (hard to define, I leave it to various DM’s and players to discuss), he loses access to his Terrain Mastery abilities unless he succeeds on a Knowledge (geography) check, with a DC equal to 10 + his class level. This check may be repeated once each day if necessary.

Track (Ex): A Ranger gains Track as a bonus feat.

Rapid Shot (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, a Ranger using a full-attack action with a bow may make an additional ranged attack. All attacks made by the Ranger that round suffer a -2 penalty.

Two-Weapon Fighting: A 2nd level Ranger gains Two-Weapon Fighting as a bonus feat.

Nature’s Ally (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, a Ranger gains a cohort. This cohort may be any animal, dragon, elemental, fey, magical beast, ooze, plant, or vermin with a CR equal to the Ranger’s level -2. Creatures with an Intelligence score of 2 or lower (including mindless creatures) have their Intelligence score changed to 3 and are considered to be able to understand one language the Ranger can speak; otherwise, the creature remains the same. A cohort gained through Nature’s Ally may be dismissed at any time, and a Ranger can gain a new cohort by spending 24 hours in meditation. A Ranger may only have one cohort from Nature's Ally at any time.
In addition, a Ranger may use his Wisdom modifier in place of his Charisma modifier for Handle Animal checks. A Ranger may use a Handle Animal check as a Diplomacy check against any creature with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2.

Entangle (Sp): Starting at 4th level, a Ranger can use Entangle as a spell-like ability once every 5 rounds, with a caster level equal to his character level.

Evasion (Ex): A Ranger gains Evasion at 5th level.

Giant Slayer: A 5th level Ranger gains Giant Slayer as a bonus feat.

Nature’s Fortitude (Ex): Starting at 6th level, a Ranger may use his Will save in place of his Fortitude save against poisons and diseases (natural or otherwise).

Improved Rapid Shot (Ex): Starting at 7th level, a Ranger using a full-attack action with a bow may make two additional ranged attacks instead of one, all at his highest BAB. All attacks made by the Ranger that round suffer a -2 penalty.

Mother’s Embrace (Ex): Starting at 8th level, a Ranger who sleeps in a natural setting automatically recovers all damage upon waking, so long as he has slept for at least four hours (Elven trance counts towards this, as well as any other form of rest). This means he wakes with full hit points, any lost limbs restored, any negative levels removed, and any ability damage or drain also removed.

Ghost Hunter: A 9th level Ranger gains Ghost Hunter as a bonus feat.

"Make Like A Tree" (Ex): Starting a 9th level, a Ranger has the ability to grow a tree anywhere he wishes in an instant. To do this, he must have a piece of wood (it can be any piece of wood, such as a twig or a staff, so long as it is all wood) and spend a move action to place it into the ground. The tree created through this ability remains so long as the Ranger that created it is within line-of-sight; afterwards, it returns to being the former piece of wood.

Deep Strike (Ex): Starting at 10th level, the range increment of a Ranger's ranged attacks is increased by 50%, and a Ranger's melee reach is increased by 5 feet.

Planar Terrain Mastery (Ex): At 11th level and each level thereafter, a Ranger gains one of the following abilities.

Fire: The Ranger gains ER: Fire equal to twice his character level, and may choose to have any attack deal half its damage as Fire damage.

Water: The Ranger gains ER: Cold equal to twice his character level, and may choose to have any attack deal half its damage as Cold damage.

Earth: The Ranger gains DR/- equal to ½ his character level, and may choose to have any attack he makes treated as the material of his choice (adamantine, iron, silver, stone, or wood).

Air: The Ranger gains ER: Electricity equal to twice his character level, and may choose to have any attack deal half its damage as Electricity damage.

Shadow: The Ranger can see perfectly in any darkness, including magical darkness, as far as he could see normally. In addition, the Ranger gains the Darkstalker ability (creatures attempting to locate you must make a Spot check; extrasensory detection abilities such as blindsight or tremorsense fail to automatically locate you).

Ethereal: All attacks that specifically target you have a 25% miss chance, and there is a 25% chance any critical hit/precision damage will fail to deal extra damage.

Astral: You gain a fly speed equal to your base land speed, with perfect manoeuverability.

Chaotic: The Ranger can use Dimension Door as a swift action once per round, with a caster level equal to his character level. In addition, the Ranger can choose to have any attack he makes be treated as chaotic-aligned.

Lawful: The Ranger can spend an immediate action to cause any extradimensional movement methods (including teleport and plane-shift) being used within line-of-sight to fail automatically (this can counter a creature attempting to enter the Ranger's line-of-sight through such a method). In addition, the Ranger can choose to have any attack he makes be treated as lawful aligned.

Evil: The Ranger can spend a standard action to create a terrifying scream. This scream is a burst-effect emitting from the Ranger, and has a radius of 5 feet per character level. All creatures within the affected area must make a Will wave or become panicked for one hour; creatures that succeed on their save become shaken instead. This is a sound-dependent, mind-affecting, fear effect that may be used once every 5 rounds. In addition, the Ranger can choose to have any attack he makes be treated as evil aligned.

Good: The Ranger can spend a standard action to create a blinding flash of light. This flash is a burst-effect emitting from the Ranger, and has a radius of 5 feet per character level. All creatures within the affected area (except the Ranger) must make a Reflex save or be blinded; creatures that succeed on their save are dazed for one round. This is a sight-dependent effect that may be used once every five rounds. In addition, the Ranger can choose to have any attack he makes be treated as good-aligned.

A Ranger with a Planar Terrain Mastery ability that grants alignment damage is treated as being that alignment at any time it would be beneficial for him (For example, a Lawful-aligned Ranger with the Limbo Planar Terrain Mastery ability would be treated as Chaotic-aligned for the purposes of interacting with a Chaotic-aligned plane or item, and an Evil-aligned Ranger with the Celestial Planar Terrain Mastery ability would be treated as Good-aligned if subject to a Detect Evil or Holy Word spell).
Planar Terrain Mastery abilities are always active unless the Ranger chooses not to have them so (lowering or raising a Planar Terrain Mastery ability is a non-action).
Other Planar Terrain Mastery abilities may be available; talk to your DM about the other planes they may be using in their campaign to find something suitable.

Tree Stride (Ex): Starting at 11th level, a Ranger may move instantly to anywhere he wishes, so long as the place he is going and the place he is departing from both have a tree and he is at least vaguely familiar with the destination (has been there once, has seen a map, etc). The tree can be of any size, but it can’t be a flower or a bush. It has to be a tree. The Ranger can take a number of people with him equal to ½ his class level (rounded up).

Greater Rapid Shot (Ex): Starting at 12th level, a Ranger using a full-attack action with a bow may make three additional shots rather than two, all at his highest BAB. All attacks made by the Ranger that round suffer a -2 penalty.

Improved Nature’s Fortitude (Ex): Starting at 13th level, a Ranger is immune to all poisons and diseases. In addition, a Ranger may use his Will save in place of his Fortitude save against the extraordinary, spell-like, and supernatural abilities of any creature he has successfully identified using Hunter’s Knowledge.

Improved Evasion (Ex): A Ranger gains Improved Evasion at 14th level.

Evergreen Glade: A 15th level Ranger is given a sanctuary where he may rest from the trials of his lifestyle. The Evergreen Glade is a demi-plane that may only be accessed by the Ranger's Tree Stride ability; only the Ranger belonging to the glade may reach it, unless he chooses to bring others with him. The Evergreen Glade is considered natural terrain for any Ranger abilities that rely on such, but only for the Ranger it was made for. A Ranger can choose to banish (as the Banishment spell) any creature from his glade as a non-action, with no save. A Ranger who dies in his glade is brought back to life one day later, as per True Resurrection.

Improved Deep Strike (Ex): Starting at 16th level, all range increments for a Ranger's ranged weapons are doubled, and his melee reach increased by 10 feet. This ability supersedes Deep Strike.

Superior Rapid Shot (Ex): Starting at 17th level, a Ranger using a full-attack action with a bow may make four additional ranged attacks instead of three, all at his highest BAB. All attacks made by the Ranger that round suffer a -2 penalty.

Paralysis Strike (Ex): Starting at 18th level, a Ranger can choose to have a foe damaged by his Hunter’s Knowledge ability be forced to make a Fortitude save or become paralysed for 5 rounds. A Ranger may use this ability only once per round.

Champion Of The Wild (Ex): A 19th level Ranger is nature's greatest warrior, and his form changes to reflect this. His skin grows tough like bark, and his body becomes inhuman. A Ranger with this ability gains immunity to mind-effects, immunity to sleep, paralysis, polymorph, stunning, ability damage or drain, and energy drain, and is no longer subject to critical hits or precision damage. The Ranger gets a natural armour bonus equal to 1/2 his character level (rounded down), and immunity to bludgeoning damage.

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For those who prefer to use 'traditional' skills, here is the traditional skill list for this Ranger, and the relevant Terrain Mastery abilities.

Class Skills: Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (dungeoneering), Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex).
Skills/Level: 6 + Intelligence Bonus

Terrain Mastery (Ex): At each level up to 10th, a Ranger gains an ability from the following list.

Forest: You gain a +3 to Hide checks. In addition, as long as you are in a natural setting (a place that’s not a city, town, or dungeon, usually), you gain the Hide in Plain Sight ability.

Plains: You gain a +3 to Spot checks. In addition, your natural land speed is increased by 50%.

Mountain: You gain a +3 bonus to Climb checks. In addition, you gain a Climb speed equal to ½ your natural land speed (if you already have a Climb speed, you gain a +8 to Climb checks to perform a special action or avoid a hazard; this is in addition to the normal +8 gained from having a Climb speed).

River: You gain a +3 to Swim checks. In addition, you gain a Swim speed equal to your natural land speed (if you already have a Swim speed, you gain a +8 to Swim checks to perform a special action or avoid a hazard; this is in addition to the normal +8 gained from having a Swim speed).

Caverns: You gain a +3 bonus on Tumble checks. In addition, you gain Darkvision out to 60ft, or increase your existing Darkvision by 60ft.

Jungle: You gain a +3 bonus to Move Silently checks. In addition, you may move at full normal speed without taking a penalty to Hide or Move Silently checks, may double-move at a penalty -5 instead of -10, and may run at a penalty of -10 instead of -20.

Hills: You gain a +3 bonus to Listen checks. In addition, you become immune to fatigue, and any effect that would cause you to become exhausted instead causes you to become fatigued. If you are already immune to fatigue or exhaustion, you instead gain 1 hit point per character level per effect you are immune to.

Swamp: You gain a +3 bonus to Escape Artist checks. In addition, you take no penalty for moving over rough terrain.

Ocean: You gain a +3 to Balance checks. In addition, you gain water-breathing and become immune to fear effects. If you are already immune to fear effects (or mind-affecting effects), you instead gain a +3 bonus to Will saves.

Desert: You gain a +3 to Survival checks. In addition, you gain a Burrow speed equal to half your natural land speed.

Terrain Mastery abilities are always active, not just when the Ranger is in that particular environment. If a Ranger is in an unfamiliar area (hard to define, I leave it to various DM’s and players to discuss), he loses access to his Terrain Mastery abilities unless he succeeds on a Knowledge (geography) check, with a DC equal to 10 + his class level. This check may be repeated once each day if necessary.

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So there's the final draft. I especially like the 'Make Like A Tree' ability. Funny, considering how much I usually hate puns.

Questions, comments, and criticism all welcome, as always.

[SunTzuWarmaster]

Love it. I wish Make Like a Tree came earlier, however. Any reason that you thought that it was a level 13 ability? I kind of see the "Instant tree, just add water and wait 1 hour" as a low level ability (the ability to grow apple trees for dinner).

I am totally playing one of these in my next campaign in... a year ...

Move for pdf inclusion!

[koz]

Love it. I wish Make Like a Tree came earlier, however. Any reason that you thought that it was a level 13 ability? I kind of see the "Instant tree, just add water and wait 1 hour" as a low level ability (the ability to grow apple trees for dinner).

I am totally playing one of these in my next campaign in... a year ...

Move for pdf inclusion!

Seconded. I'll link this in the PDF thread, too.

[Aktariel]

Ah, but I watch over my children, and already have pulled it down.

Seriously. I watch IMOI like a hawk for cool new stuff to put in.

[koz]

This is why we love you, Aktariel.

[ZER0]

The reason it's a 13th level ability is because the idea behind it is for the Ranger to create an escape route to use through Tree Stride (I was originally going to call it either 'Escape Plant' or 'Leave Tree' - credit to a friend of mine for the current name). I get nervous about clumping too many abilities on the same level, and it's really the only place I could find to put it in without crowding something else.

If you feel it needs to be moved, though, I don't see why your own version can't do so. There's no real reason it needs to be at 13th level, that's just where I felt most comfortable putting it.

[Aktariel]

Except that it's a fourteenth level ability, not a thirteenth.

[SunTzuWarmaster]

It is just a 'meh' ability (free tree token!) until you can move between trees, and has good flavor. I'm all for moving almost-complete-flavor abilities early. Over level 10 seems like a long time to wait for the "I can plant trees" ability.

[Cynic]

As a high-level ability it's really not gamebreaking.

But if you put it low enough, you have farming of darkwood/ironwood/bronzewood/whatever.

Ranger grows tree and has minions harvest it for supplies.

It's not really that gamebreaking but it can possibly allow for some gamebreakage if you aren't playing book of gears style of items & money.

[ZER0]

Alright, so... move it to level 5 then?

[ZER0]

Update, because I forgot something I wanted to put in:

Moved "Make Like A Tree" to level 9, added Evasion at level 5, and Improved Evasion at level 14.

Too much?

[CatharzGodfoot]

I would remove weapon finesse at first level. A dexterous ranger should be taking it anyway, and I think it puts the first level over the top.

Compare to any other 1st level RoW class: I think the Knight is closest because it gets a feat at first level. So, a feat, a situational 1d6 damage with a swift action, and a code of combat. In contrast, the ranger gets a feat, a situational +2 to hit and damage, a skill boost (minor), and possibly HiPS, a big speed boost, or burrow.

Without Weapon finesse, the ranger falls more into line with the fighter or barbarian.

[Bigode]

Why does the ranger identify undead especially well? I'm not positive yet, but I'm with some impression that it might be better at stealth and even blending ability than rogues or thief-acrobats, which might be bad. Track became a skill feat if you take Iaimeki's material already in the .pdf into consideration. You might rephrase the rapid shots as improvements without needing to restate the penalty. I'd make mother's embrace heal ability damage and drain (but not burn). I find it extremely hilarious that the earth ability omits ... stone. I'd say ethereal's bit off. Aligned isn't a damage type (just fix the wording). In comparison with the other abilities, I'd put an use limit on the infernal scream (also, "infernal" is technically about LE specifically, IIRC). D&D rules don't prohibit being treated as of 2 opposing alignments at once, so you might wanna say the artificial overrides the normal. What's the difference between arrow storm and Point Blank Shot +16 (not even the level)? As per my comment on it lacking non-damage-related abilties, one thing I's suggest'd be to make paralysis strike be on the end of a status infliction progression - and I don't mean necessarily dazing/stunning, other stuff might be interesting. This list isn't intended to be exhaustive, though.

[ZER0]

Hm. Good point. Weapon Finesse will be removed.

It identifies undead 'particularly well' (that is to say, with the exact same DC, but with a different skill check) for three reasons. First, because I never understood what religion had to do with undead anyway, since they exist at all due to a connection with the negative energy plane and not any particular deity (or gods in general). Second, because there's simply no reason I can find where a class that intentionally shuns society would know things about religion. And third, to save on skill points.

I don't see why Rogues need to be the most stealthy class. I mean, yes, they should probably be stealthier than the RoW Barbarian, but the Rogue has other things going for it; this Ranger is stealth and kill. I don't see anything wrong with it being slightly better at stealthing than a Rogue.

No, I did not know about the Track feat in the .pdf. I'll just give him that as a bonus feat then.

I should probably re-word Mother's Embrace, since I meant it to heal all damage.

I forgot stone was a damage type; I'll put it in there.

I don't really know what else to do with Ethereal, except take it out entirely and put... I have no idea.

For the aligned damage, I meant it for the sake of overcoming damage reduction, so I'll specify that.

Should I also put a use limit on celestial flash? Also, no naked angels.

As for the treatment of alignments, there are times when it would be detrimental to be treated as a given alignment, which is why there's a statement that says they're only treated as the artificial alignment when it's a good thing for them.

There is no difference between Arrow Storm and the 16th level Point Blank Shot ability. Hm. Hmm... Hm. Okay. I'll make it so that it affects any enemy within range. PBS lets you attack any amount so long as they are within the first range increment, and Arrow Storm would allow you to attack only a number up to your character level, but as far as your bow will shoot. Thanks for pointing that out.

Other stuff with status-infliction could very well be done; it could be incorporated into Hunter's Knowledge to save space. Any ideas?

[Bigode]

It identifies undead better because the original DC's based off HD. Not saying that wasn't retarded. Rogue: just checking, this argument's based solely upon UMD, or not? Do you intend mother's embrace to cover ability drain as well? Also, perhaps negative levels too? Celestial flash: maybe, but not as harsh as on the scream. Arrow storm: I was inclined to say "forget it", in part because it doesn't stack with Point Blank Shot itself, which you really oughta expect from this ranger. Statuses: dunno, ranged special attack actions? As for organization, I'd list them in the ability that culminated in paralysis strike, if anything, not knowledge.

Included at 0's request:

ZER0 diz (05:08):
Any ideas on what to do with the Ranger's Ethereal Planar Terrain Mastery?
Sérgio diz (05:10):
Use limit? Continuous damage?
ZER0 diz (05:10):
Eh and what?
ZER0 diz (05:11):
I get what you mean by use limit. What are you talking about with continuous damage?
Sérgio diz (05:12):
MAYBE make the ranger consume bits of themselves to maintain it. Not saying it's preferrable to a simple use limit.
ZER0 diz (05:13):
I dunno. I don't think it needs to be more limited than it is. I mean, taking a full-round action to do anything is a big limitation in itself.
ZER0 diz (05:14):
Personally, I'd rather have some kind of scaling ability, since it can be picked up anywhere from 11-20.
Sérgio diz (05:15):
Problem is: don't you activate it and ... go around forever until you need to hit the hay?
ZER0 diz (05:15):
Anyway, I gotta go. We'll pick this up later. Post it up on the Den, eh?
Sérgio diz (05:15):
Uh, OK. Cya!

[ZER0]

Oh. And here I thought we were using the non-retarded rules of always identifying creatures by CR.

Not soley upon UMD. Rogues also get Skill Mastery, and a few other special abilities that are very nice. Also, Rogues can face. The Ranger here is not just useless in a social setting, he could actually be a liability if the party isn't smart enough to keep him quiet.

Yes, Mother's Embrace covers ability drain. It's in there along with negative levels already.

I don't know why the Celestial ability should have less of a restriction than the Infernal; blinded enemies may as well be dead, and it has a wider range of creatures it could possibly effect.

So... maybe make Arrow Storm the same as PBS +16, but involve a swift action?

I'm not really good at dealing with status effects except for the most basic/debilitating of them, which is why the three in there all involve save-or-suck. So... if anyone's got ideas for a status-infliction tree, I'm open to suggestions.

[Bigode]

We're using retarded rules unless we have a source saying otherwise. And since both CR and planes are houserules I guess you feel should apply to everyone, neither has a place here, so I'd omit knowledge's second paragraph. Social danger: don't come with "RP" BS. Alignments: blindness doesn't take actions away entirely, fear stacks (in case of failure, pull out another source), and I'm not sure that reliance on vision's more common than susceptibility to fear - might be the case that celestial was better than the others, but I think it's worse than infernal. I'd just drop arrow storm due to overlap.

[ZER0]

Modified Hunter's Knowledge to specify identification DC to CR-based.

It's not "RP" stuff; in fact, quite the opposite. If someone could RP well, they might actually be able to aid the party in a social encounter. As it stands, when using a functional social rule set, someone who doesn't have the necessary skills to function in a social setting trying to talk would be a problem. If you need more for Rogues or Thief Acrobats... well, Trapfinding.

Mindless creatures can be blinded.

Arrow Storm dropped; replaced it with Improved Deep Strike.

[Judging__Eagle]

You need to look up the Darkstalker feat, it doesn't do exactly what you're describing.

Universal Feats list

Also, the alignment-based planar masteries should be changed to chaotic, axiomatic, evil and good.

Mostly because there are multiple of each of the aligned types of outer planes, and I doubt that you can properly describe an ability for each of the 16 outer planes.

Limbo has nothing to do with teleporting, it has more to do with an effect like chaos hammer going off all the time, or randomly creating effects or creatures. "Fast Movement" of any type is more within the lines of what the Plane of Shadows is all about.

Earth should give Energy Resistance to Acid, not a flat DR. Every Elemental get's Flat DR/- even air and water elementals, so either all types of elemetnal planar masteries should grant DR, or none should.

The Energy resistances should be equal to character level, right now they're more like near-immunities. ER Fire 20 at level 10 would stop anything except a powered up fire spell.

Also, every ranger is going to pick up Air planar master immediately, then perhaps Ethereal, and then pick up a Ghost Touch weapon. You need to change that by toning it down, or change every other ability to be equally competetive. Either making the flight average or poor would help with that. Hovering archers is ok, but if every archer is a hovering archer that stays out of reach all the time, then it gets old.

You also have masteries handed out every level. It should be noted that every Ranger, of sufficiently high level, will be a master of every planar terrain, and all but 2 normal terrains. Meaning that there's no difference between any two rangers in terms of what sort of plane they're able to master, while all Rangers will have two normal regions that they aren't masters of. Which is a bit odd.

Finally, it should be noted that the Tome feats specifically didn't include anything related to granting more attacks with bows since it was considered unneccessary and broken. Having a class that gives out the same probably isn't a good idea. A PC using this class can pick up PBS, Sniper and Blitz and deal double their character levels as damage at range, and will be able to add other damage from the class, while getting extra attacks.

The -2 penalty to attack rolls is pretty easy to get around, since it's just a number and not a miss-chance that is applied to your attack rolls. Also, something like Combat School would make it a non-penalty that gives extra attacks.

[Bigode]

Modified Hunter's Knowledge to specify identification DC to CR-based.

I think that should be a universal houserule, not a ranger feature.

It's not "RP" stuff; in fact, quite the opposite. If someone could RP well, they might actually be able to aid the party in a social encounter. As it stands, when using a functional social rule set, someone who doesn't have the necessary skills to function in a social setting trying to talk would be a problem. If you need more for Rogues or Thief Acrobats... well, Trapfinding.

Sorry, I'd thought it was in the sense of "I hate you all, [EDITED]!" - and you might wanna know trapfinding's available as a skill feat by Iaimeki (which's sorta good because the segregation's retarded - though of course one wonders why have it exist at all). But anyway, UMD's awesome.

Mindless creatures can be blinded.

OK, that might make it true that blindness affects more targets, but nobody cares what most mindless creatures do, and there's still the other issues, so I still think evil > good (with the current limitation on both, so perhaps good's weak, but I'm not 100% sure).

Arrow Storm dropped; replaced it with Improved Deep Strike.

I'll admit I find it a bit too overlapping with the fighter, but I guess foil action says a lot anyway. Though I find it amusing that the perfect ranger uses a crossbow and a chain of suitable size - guess crossbows being good for anything's good news.

[shau]

Sorry, I'd thought it was in the sense of "I hate you all, [EDITED]!" - and you might wanna know trapfinding's available as a skill feat by Iaimeki (which's sorta good because the segregation's retarded - though of course one wonders why have it exist at all).

I think trapfinding exists so that rogues will be the best trap finders instead of wizards. Of course, rogue 1/wizard X is still probably better than rogue.

[CatharzGodfoot]

Sorry, I'd thought it was in the sense of "I hate you all, [EDITED]!" - and you might wanna know trapfinding's available as a skill feat by Iaimeki (which's sorta good because the segregation's retarded - though of course one wonders why have it exist at all).

I think trapfinding exists so that rogues will be the best trap finders instead of wizards. Of course, rogue 1/wizard X is still probably better than rogue.

Beguiler > all.

[ZER0]

You need to look up the Darkstalker feat, it doesn't do exactly what you're describing.

I thinks it's pretty close.

Also, the alignment-based planar masteries should be changed to chaotic, axiomatic, evil and good.

Yes. Yes they should.

Earth should give Energy Resistance to Acid, not a flat DR. Every Elemental get's Flat DR/- even air and water elementals, so either all types of elemetnal planar masteries should grant DR, or none should.

Yes, but Rangers don't become Elementals. The nature of the type of Plane itself becomes ingrained in them, and somehow I see Earth being more DR and less acid resistance.

The Energy resistances should be equal to character level, right now they're more like near-immunities. ER Fire 20 at level 10 would stop anything except a powered up fire spell.

Okay. Will do.

Also, every ranger is going to pick up Air planar master immediately, then perhaps Ethereal, and then pick up a Ghost Touch weapon. You need to change that by toning it down, or change every other ability to be equally competetive. Either making the flight average or poor would help with that. Hovering archers is ok, but if every archer is a hovering archer that stays out of reach all the time, then it gets old.

Flying should be changed to average, I agree.

As for Ethereal, I think I'll just give it a 25% miss chance and call it a day. That seems more reasonable than plane-hopping, given the nature of the class is to absorb the terrain/plane into itself rather than become a native of that plane.

You also have masteries handed out every level. It should be noted that every Ranger, of sufficiently high level, will be a master of every planar terrain, and all but 2 normal terrains. Meaning that there's no difference between any two rangers in terms of what sort of plane they're able to master, while all Rangers will have two normal regions that they aren't masters of. Which is a bit odd.

Technically, they could 'make-up' a Planar Terrain Mastery, but that's not the point. As for the regular Terrain Masteries... last time I checked, at 1/level, 10 levels, and 10 masteries, that means they have all of them.

Finally, it should be noted that the Tome feats specifically didn't include anything related to granting more attacks with bows since it was considered unneccessary and broken. Having a class that gives out the same probably isn't a good idea. A PC using this class can pick up PBS, Sniper and Blitz and deal double their character levels as damage at range, and will be able to add other damage from the class, while getting extra attacks.

The -2 penalty to attack rolls is pretty easy to get around, since it's just a number and not a miss-chance that is applied to your attack rolls. Also, something like Combat School would make it a non-penalty that gives extra attacks.

There's a difference between a class and a feat. The latter requires something you get every 3 levels, possibly more. The former is an entire build created around a specific goal. I'm fine with there being no bow-master feats, because a feat like that could well be broken. But a class built around bow-mastery is a different thing altogether.

Also, Combat School is only for melee attacks.

Next contestant.

Modified Hunter's Knowledge to specify identification DC to CR-based.

I think that should be a universal houserule, not a ranger feature.

I agree.

Arrow Storm dropped; replaced it with Improved Deep Strike.

I'll admit I find it a bit too overlapping with the fighter, but I guess foil action says a lot anyway.

I thought about that as well, and briefly considered changing it so the extra reach only occurs at 16th level. But yeah, foil action says a lot. So do the (new and improved) bonus feats, and Combat Focus, and... well, you get the point, I'm sure.

And finally.

Beguiler > all.

Bad. Very, very bad. No desert for you.

[Judging__Eagle]

Actually, I made a mistake on the ER.

Earth is Electricity, Fire is Fire, Air is Acid, Water is Cold. Based on the immunities that Genies of the different planes get (Dao, Earth; Efreet, Fire; Djinn, Air; Marid, water).

Flying should be from the Astral Plane, since that's a place where everyone does fly, irrespective of innate ability to do so or not.

You should probably clean up the formatting, right now the abilities per level looks like a really cluttered wall of text. You could just say "you get a new terrain mastery every level" at level 1.

Also, the skill bonuses that the terrains give are... wierd. Ocean, Hills, Mountain and Jungle all give bonuses to skills that I don't think anyone would expect.

Swamps making someone more acrobatic is, odd. Maybe removing the skill bonuses entirely might be better.

Actually, basically Rangers look more like travellers than anything else. They seem to get every type of terrain moving ability in the game. Plus their class abilities.

Burrowing doesn't state what limits it (metal, worked stone, unworked stone, clay, dirt), meaning that a Ranger can in theory touch-attack and auto-kill anything that's not organic (like undead or constructs) by 'burrowing' through them. Nor does the ability state if it leaves a tunnel or not.

Also, that ability should be switched with Deserts. Hills are for digging in, Desert is for not being fatigued. At least, that's if you're using the Horizon Walker's list of terrain masteries.

[Bigode]

Energy resistance equal to twice level ... halves spells - only stops those saved against. And I meant "take the houserule off the class description".