The class of rangers is composed of those who have made the forest their home, learning and adapting the ways of nature to their own needs. Relying on their own considerable fighting prowess and their ability to survive in flourish in almost any sort of terrain, rangers often work to both protect their home as well as use it for their own ends.
Rangers are the most skilled of Avendar's archers, and dangerous hunters in their own right. Wielders of many weapons and effective with all of them, their methods trend toward the tried-and-true, favoring brutal efficiency over the rigorous training inherent to many other classes.
Skills
| Level | Skill |
|---|---|
| Level 1: | Axe, Dagger, Dodge, Hand to Hand, Mace, Spear, Sword |
| Level 2: | Dirt Kicking |
| Level 3: | Endurance, Night Vision |
| Level 4: | Forage, Find Water |
| Level 5: | Enhanced Damage, Fast Healing |
| Level 6: | Dual Wield |
| Level 7: | Swim, Trip |
| Level 8: | Parry |
| Level 9: | Camouflage, Sharp Vision |
| Level 10: | Farsight |
| Level 11: | Bash |
| Level 12: | Second Attack |
| Level 13: | Poultice |
| Level 14: | Lunge |
| Level 15: | Lore, Wildcraft |
| Level 16: | Drag, Terrain Lore |
| Level 17: | Wilderness Movement |
| Level 18: | Disarm, Third Attack |
| Level 19: | Cook |
| Level 20: | Archery |
| Level 21: | Tan |
| Level 22: | Apply Barbs |
| Level 23: | Encamp |
| Level 24: | Meditation |
| Level 25: | Ambush, Fletch |
| Level 26: | Huntersense |
| Level 27: | Stash |
| Level 28: | Predatory Attack |
| Level 29: | Scouting |
| Level 30: | Precision |
| Level 31: | Entangle |
| Level 32: | Ready |
| Level 33: | Pounce |
| Level 35: | Apply Poison |
| Level 36: | Trackless Step |
| Level 38: | Camouflage Blind |
| Level 40: | Trueshot |
Tips
A ranger is obviously most effective in the wild, and least effective in cities. When on the grasslands or within the forests, his defense is improved by terrain lore. However, when in the mountains, or swamps, or desert, this skill takes on a far more offensive focus, hampering foes rather than evading attacks. While on many terrains, a ranger can use wilderness movement and camouflage to conceal himself from all classes which do not have sharp vision, and this concealment makes for an easy staging point for melee ambushes or arrows. He may also make a camp which shields him from bad weather and improves his regeneration rate.
The skills a ranger learns allow him to get virtually everything he needs from the outdoors. He can find food with forage, and water with find water, or roast fallen foes with cook. The wildcraft skill is a companion to tan, which allows a ranger to create many simple weapons, bows, arrows, firekits, and nets. The weapons are of reasonable average at every almost every level, meaning a ranger is never at a loss for the sorts of weapons he will use. Further, tan allows him to craft almost all armor varieties from the bodies of fallen foes, the armor in question improving as his skill in tan improves and the power of the fallen opponent increases. Many races give tanning extra benefits over the usual modifiers, including resistances.
The melee skills a ranger receives are weapon-independent, allowing him to use anything, from his bare hands, to weapons he's made, to weapons obtained from shops or kills. Ambush deals impressive damage, assuming the person ambushed cannot see him; lunge is consistent, if unimpressive, in-round melee damage; pounce allows him to temporarily prevent an opponent from flying; and predatory attack allows him to circle weakened foes and hinder their attempts to escape. Rangers also receive entangle, which allow them to use self-made and otherwise-obtained nets to delay and hinder their foes in melee.
Archery is perhaps the flagship skill of rangers. His ability to craft his own bows and arrows, and then improve them with many other skills (such as apply barbs, fletch, and apply poison) means he will not be beholden to shopkeepers for his supplies. Precision means his arrows will strike for more damage than those of other archers, and ready can be used to prepare a shot against those who might enter his scouting range. Trueshot gives a ranger a chance for his arrows to survive the impact of a shot; assuming he kills his foe, it should give him an opportunity to recover the arrow from the corpse.
