Matt's Ranger

The Ranger is a master hunter of the wilderness. His lore is the lore of beasts and monsters, no creature that travels in the forest can keep their presence from him, and where he walks, none can follow.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d10

Skill Points Per Level: 4 + Int Mod

Class Skills: The ranger's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Animal Empathy (Cha, exclusive skill), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Use Rope (Dex), and Wilderness Lore (Wis).

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A ranger is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, light armor, medium armor, and shields.

Table: Matt's Bad-Ass Ranger

Level Base Attack Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special 1 +1 +0 +2 +0 Creature Lore (1st Group), Live Off The Land, Track 2 +2 +0 +3 +0 Studied Hunter 3 +3 +1 +3 +1 Wilderness Awareness, Creature Lore (2nd Group) 4 +4 +1 +4 +1 Free Climber 5 +5 +1 +4 +1 Creature Lore (3rd Group) 6 +6/+1 +2 +5 +2 Studied Combatant 7 +7/+2 +2 +5 +2 Creature Lore (4th group) 8 +8/+3 +2 +6 +2 Unhindered Movement 9 +9/+4 +3 +6 +3 Creature Lore (5th Group) 10 +10/+5 +3 +7 +3 Camouflage 11 +11/+6/+1 +3 +7 +3 Creature Lore (6th Group) 12 +12/+7/+2 +4 +8 +4 Master Hunter 13 +13/+8/+3 +4 +8 +4 Creature Lore (7th Group) 14 +14/+9/+4 +4 +9 +4 Master Combatant 15 +15/+10/+5 +5 +9 +5 Creature Lore (8th Group) 16 +16/+11/+6/+1 +5 +10 +5 Find The Weakness 17 +17/+12/+7/+2 +5 +10 +5 Creature Lore (9th group) 18 +18/+13/+8/+3 +6 +11 +6 19 +19/+14/+9/+4 +6 +11 +6 Creature Lore (10th Group) 20 +20/+15/+10/+5 +6 +12 +6

Creature Lore: At first level and every other level after that, a Ranger must pick a creature group from the following list:

Creature Type Wilderness Lore DC Animals 10 Beasts 10 Dragons 25 Fey 20 Giants 15 Humanoids (goblin & reptilian only) 10 Magical Beasts 20 Mosnterous Humanoids 15 Plants 10 Vermin 10

Any time a Ranger comes across tracks made by that creature, or encounters that creature in the wild, he may make a Wilderness Lore check against the listed DC. If successful, the Ranger's player may examine the creature's Monster Manual entry, though he may not share its stats with the other players. He must communicate its qualities 'in character.' For instance, a Bugbear with only a few more HP than Dargon, the party's toughest fighter might be described as "a little tougher than Dargon." A creature with the incorporeal ability might be described as "immune to any of our weapons" or "a creature susceptible to magic weapons only." Furthermore, the ranger instinctively knows if a specimen he encounters is unusual in some way, though he does not know in what manner the creature is unusual. A successful check lasts for the current encounter only, though a GM may rule that a series of encounters, each involving the same type of creature, would not require separate checks.

Live Off The Land: The Ranger never wants for food. By spending one hour hunting, he can provide a day's food for a number of people equal to his ranger levels. If he is accompanied by anyone other than another ranger, this ability will not function.

Studied Hunter: Whereas track allows a ranger to follow a set of tracks, Studied Hunter allows a ranger, after a successful Creature Lore check, to examine an area in which a group or individual he is tracking have passed and know what they did while there. A successful Search check tells the ranger how many creatures passed this way, what type of creatures they were, and what they did. He would recognize that two groups met and talked, met and fought, that one group ambushed the other, or that one group subdued the other without a fight. If there was a battle, the ranger knows what weapons were employed and how the battle progressed, including who was victorious. The search check for this ability is opposed by the hide result and modified by terrain and time as follows. (chart I haven't done yet.)

New Use For Hide: A character or group can use Hide to thwart a ranger's Studied Hunter ability. By declaring their intent to 'cover their tracks,' an individual or group can make a Hide test. The result acts as the DC for Studied Hunter.

Wilderness Awareness: The others talk, ride, make jokes, pass the time. But a Ranger is always acutely conscious of his surroundings. He can detect the presence of any predatory creature or fellow humanoid at a maximum range equal to 50' plus 10' for every ranger level. This is automatic. By concentrating for one round, he knows how many there are. By concentrating for two rounds, he knows what size creatures they are. After three rounds of concentration, he may make a Creature Lore check as though he had encountered the creature, and determine exactly what they are. After four rounds of concentration he knows if they're closing in, maintaining their distance, or fleeing and he knows if they are aware of the group's presence or not.

Free Climber: At 4th level, the ranger gains +10 to any attempt to climb a tree or any natural rock.

Studied Combatant: At 6th level, creatures affected by his Creature Lore ability cannot flank a ranger. His weapons are considered keen against these creatures if they are not keen already, and he is not subject to critical hits by these creature types.

Unhindered Movement: At 8th level, the ranger ignores terrain penalties to movement.

Camouflage: at 10th level, a ranger moves as though wearing boots of elvenkind and a cloak of elvenkind. This is a supernatural ability.

Master Hunter: At 12th level, the ranger's Hunter ability can be used against those who hide their traces using magical or supernatural means such as pass without trace.

Master Combatant: at 14th level, the ranger gains an extra attack per round against any of the creatures affected by his Creature Lore ability.

Find The Weakness: at 16th level, a Ranger can, once per day, make a Coup De Grace attack against any creature affected by his Creature Lore ability. The creature need not be stunned or helpless, the attack must be armed, but can be a melee or ranged attack. The Ranger must first succeed at a Search check against the creature's Wilderness Lore DC +5. Finding Weakness on a Dragon, for instance, would require a Search check agianst DC 30.