[3.5 Base Class, the Land of Alvia] The Ranger

[PumpkinEater]

The Ranger

Hit Dice: d8
Weapon Proficiencies: Rangers are proficient with basic weapons and any three weapons groups of their choosing.
Armor Proficiencies: Rangers are proficient with light and medium armor, and all shields, excluding tower shields.
Skill Points: 5 + Intelligence Modifier (x 4 at first level)
Class Skills: Ten + Intelligence modifier + Climb, Craft, and Survival

Table: The Ranger
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+0|Track, Ambush I, Stalking +2

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+0|Evasion

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+1|Initiative Bonus +1

4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+1|Favored Terrain I

5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+1|Ambush II, Stalking +4

6th|
+6 / +1|
+5|
+5|
+2|
---

7th|
+7 / +2|
+5|
+5|
+2|Initiative Bonus +2

8th|
+8 / +3|
+6|
+6|
+2|Favored Terrain II

9th|
+9 / +4|
+6|
+6|
+3|Ambush III, Stalking +6

10th|
+10 / +5|
+7|
+7|
+3|Hide in Plain Sight

11th|
+11 / +6 / +1|
+7|
+7|
+3|Initiative Bonus +3

12th|
+12 / +7 / +2|
+8|
+8|
+4|Favored Terrain III

13th|
+13 / +8 / +3|
+8|
+8|
+4|Ambush IV, Stalking +8

14th|
+14 / +9 / +4|
+9|
+9|
+4|
---

15th|
+15 / +10 / +5|
+9|
+9|
+5|Initiative Bonus +4

16th|
+16 / +11 / +6 / +1|
+10|
+10|
+5|Favored Terrain IV

17th|
+17 / +12 / +7 / +2|
+10|
+10|
+5|Ambush V, Stalking +10

18th|
+18 / + 13 / +8 / +3|
+11|
+11|
+6|
---

19th|
+19 / +14 / +9 / +4|
+11|
+11|
+6|Initiative Bonus +5

20th|
+20 / +15 / +10 / +5|
+12|
+12|
+6|Favored Terrain V[/table]

Track A ranger receives Track as a bonus feat at 1st level.

Ambush (Ex) A ranger may take a standard action to make one attack at their highest base attack bonus against a target who’s initiative roll was lower than the ranger’s. If the ranger strikes the target with the Ambush ability, their initiative roll is lowered by 2 for that round. The first attack a creature makes against the victim deals an additional 1d4 damage until their turn starts. Every 4 levels, the initiative penalty is increased by 2, and the damage die increases by 1d4.

Stalking (Ex) A ranger receives a +2 bonus to all hide and move silently rolls he or she makes. This bonus improves by 2 every 4 levels.

Evasion (Ex) At second level or higher if a ranger makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if a ranger is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless ranger does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Initiative Bonus (Ex) The ranger receives a +1 bonus to initiative rolls. This bonus increases by 1 every 4 levels.

Favored Terrain (Ex) At 4th level, a ranger may select a natural environment from among those given on the table below. Due to the ranger's experience in that environment, she gains a +2 bonus on all hide, listen, move silently, spot and survival checks when using these skills in that environment. She also gains the same bonus on Knowledge (nature) checks made in association with that environment (or on Knowledge (dungeoneering) checks made in association with underground environments, if the ranger has selected underground as a favored environment, or on Knowledge (local) checks made in association with urban environments, if the ranger has selected urban as a favored environment). Every four levels thereafter, the ranger may select an additional favored environment from those given on the table and gains an identical bonus on the appropriate skill checks in that environment. In addition, at each such interval, the bonuses in any one favored environment (including the one just selected, if so desired) increase by 2.

{TABLE]Terrain|Examples
Aquatic|Sea, ocean (on or underwater)
Desert, cold|Tundra
Desert, temperate or warm|Badlands, sandy desert
Forest, cold or temperate|Forest
Forest, warm|Jungle
Hills|rugged terrain up to 2,000 feet elevation
Marsh |Bog, moor, swamp
Mountain|Rugged terrain above 2,000 feet elevation
Plains|Farmland, grassland, steppe, prairie
Underground|Dungeons, caverns
Urban|Towns, cities[/TABLE]

Hide in Plain Sight (Ex) In any environment in which the ranger has selected as a favored environment, a ranger can use the hide skill even while being observed.

[PumpkinEater]

Bumppp! Kinda want your guys' opinion on the Ambush ability. Is it balanced?

[Cieyrin]

You can't use Ambush during a surprise round, since it's a full round action and the Surprise round is standard action only, which would be the ideal point to Ambush anyone, if you're doing it right.

You probably want to put some [Ex] tags on your abilities, as this is through sheer skill, not Supernatural like HiPS is for a Shadowdancer. Speaking of HiPS, I don't think such a steep penalty is necessary, considering the original Ranger's ability, as it's more limited than it is.

The Initiative Bonus is straight on, though Stalking could conceivably be higher, at +2 per 4 levels since 1st, inclusive. As it is, it's not much better than having Stealthy and Skill Foci in Hide and Move Silently. You could conceivably call each of these abilities competence bonuses, as opposed to unnamed, though that's up to you on how you feel about stacking it with things such as Boots and Cloaks of Elvenkind and so on.

Them's my 2 coppers. Take as you will.

[PumpkinEater]

You can't use Ambush during a surprise round, since it's a full round action and the Surprise round is standard action only, which would be the ideal point to Ambush anyone, if you're doing it right.

You probably want to put some [Ex] tags on your abilities, as this is through sheer skill, not Supernatural like HiPS is for a Shadowdancer. Speaking of HiPS, I don't think such a steep penalty is necessary, considering the original Ranger's ability, as it's more limited than it is.

The Initiative Bonus is straight on, though Stalking could conceivably be higher, at +2 per 4 levels since 1st, inclusive. As it is, it's not much better than having Stealthy and Skill Foci in Hide and Move Silently. You could conceivably call each of these abilities competence bonuses, as opposed to unnamed, though that's up to you on how you feel about stacking it with things such as Boots and Cloaks of Elvenkind and so on.

Them's my 2 coppers. Take as you will.

Ahh... So I guess I'll change Ambush to a standard action.

Hmm... I never actually noticed the (Ex) and (Su) stuff before. Haha, I only noticed now that I skimmed through the PhB's class chapter. I'll take some time to add all the tags on later.

I'll remove the hide penalty.

+2 at every Stalking level? Hmm. I'm not quite sure what you're talking about for the stacking part, but I'll figure it out.

[Cieyrin]

The bonus stacking rules, in which, for the most part, you can't have bonuses of the same type stack with one another, you only get the higher bonus. For example, if you had equipped 2 items that provided competence bonuses to Hide, one that provided a +5 and one that provided a +15, you'd get a +15 competence bonus to Hide, not +20. This is to prevent bonus abuse or to at least limit it to those that are different from one another, like if from the previous example the +5 competence was instead +5 insight, in which it would stack with the +15 competence from the other item, so you would get +20 total.

Furthermore, unnamed bonuses, like from stalking and your initiative bonus, are one of the few that stack with each other, as long as their not from the same source, which isn't a factor in this case, since they're class features and it's impossible to get the same class feature from the same class twice like that so they wouldn't stack. My comment in my last post was referring to this specific characteristic, as it would mean that your Stalking and Initiative bonuses would conceivably stack w/ any and all other bonuses, which may or may not be desirable, depending on how prevalent items and effects that provide such bonuses are. Given this is for a low magic campaign, I don't think it'll probably be much of a concern, as the Boots and Cloak of Elvenkind probably aren't common at all in such a world.

[PumpkinEater]

The bonus stacking rules, in which, for the most part, you can't have bonuses of the same type stack with one another, you only get the higher bonus. For example, if you had equipped 2 items that provided competence bonuses to Hide, one that provided a +5 and one that provided a +15, you'd get a +15 competence bonus to Hide, not +20. This is to prevent bonus abuse or to at least limit it to those that are different from one another, like if from the previous example the +5 competence was instead +5 insight, in which it would stack with the +15 competence from the other item, so you would get +20 total.

Furthermore, unnamed bonuses, like from stalking and your initiative bonus, are one of the few that stack with each other, as long as their not from the same source, which isn't a factor in this case, since they're class features and it's impossible to get the same class feature from the same class twice like that so they wouldn't stack. My comment in my last post was referring to this specific characteristic, as it would mean that your Stalking and Initiative bonuses would conceivably stack w/ any and all other bonuses, which may or may not be desirable, depending on how prevalent items and effects that provide such bonuses are. Given this is for a low magic campaign, I don't think it'll probably be much of a concern, as the Boots and Cloak of Elvenkind probably aren't common at all in such a world.

Oooh, I see what you mean. Like deflection AC bonuses not stacking with each other? Gotcha.

[PinkysBrain]

Ambush (Ex) A ranger may take a standard action to make one attack at their highest base attack bonus against a target who’s initiative roll was lower than the ranger’s. If the ranger strikes the target with the Ambush ability, their initiative roll is lowered by 2 for that round. The first attack a creature makes against the victim deals an additional 1d4 damage until their turn starts. Every 4 levels, the initiative penalty is increased by 2, and the damage die increases by 1d4.

Unless you roll for initiative each round this just feels wrong to me. With single roll at the start of combat initiative simply feels like a rotation for the most part ... the whole "fast acting" thing is entirely lost in the later rounds. Going against that only for this single ability I find hard to swallow.

Also consider the metagaming aspect in a long fight ... "oh he acted last a minute ago, so I guess he has this magical property of low initiative for the rest of the encounter even though there has been no sign of it since ... lets use this ability on him".

As for it being overpowered, no it isn't.

[PumpkinEater]

Unless you roll for initiative each round this just feels wrong to me. With single roll at the start of combat initiative simply feels like a rotation for the most part ... the whole "fast acting" thing is entirely lost in the later rounds. Going against that only for this single ability I find hard to swallow.

Also consider the metagaming aspect in a long fight ... "oh he acted last a minute ago, so I guess he has this magical property of low initiative for the rest of the encounter even though there has been no sign of it since ... lets use this ability on him".

As for it being overpowered, no it isn't.

We roll for initiative each round. It's how we've always done it until someone pointed it out that we were doing it wrong after skimming over the DMG. We still do it anyway.