Sommerlund Border Ranger, feel free to criticize. :)

[Geron Raveneye]

Hi all, I've been a lurker ever since I got my hands on the Lone Wolf RPG book, but I've decided to post now in order to collect some feedback on a class I cobbled together for the game. I've been doing this for one of my players who has never in his life played the Lone Wolf books, but wants to play either something "ranger-like" or something "bard-like".

For the second, I have the Sage of Lyris, which is tailor-made for that, but the first request left me a bit behind. I've checked out the Eruan Pathfinder, but since I wanted to start them with "Blood Moon Rising" in Sommerlund (Holmgard, if possible), I'd prefer something native. Since I can't get hold of the Toranese Archer (Issue is out of stock here in Germany, and I'm not going to pay twice its cost in shipping for a few pages, sorry), I looked at the Border Ranger here. But that one uses too much of D&D's additional combat rules, so I decided to make my own class. Got time right now after all.

Since you folks here are pretty much the knowledge pool for Lone Wolf D20, I would love to get some feedback from you about what you think about the class. I cribbed the illustrations from the Eruan Pathfinder article in Signs & Portents, and let myself be inspired by various ranger variants throughout the D20verse. I hope using the "official" borders isn't wrong, I'm simply aiming to use this in my private game and want to make the document look fitting in a houserules folder.

For download, follow this link. http://www.mediafire.com/?4nutxcs15em

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[Xex]

It looks bloody fantastic. Did you make all the artwork, especially the background picture of the ranger?

Anyhow, I'm still reading the abilities, so I will hold off comments on those until later. I'm also not sure if spear fighting was taught to the rangers, but let me get back to you on that.

Great stuff all in all though.

 

[Geron Raveneye]

Thanks for the comment. No, the illustrations were copied from the article on the Eruan Pathfinder in Signs & Portents Roleplayer #34, likewise the background silhouette on page 1. I simply worked them into the text like that. The page borders were scanned in from my book (which is why they look a bit foggy, my old scanner and a slightly awkward scanning position :? ).

I'm not sure if spear fighting is a "canon" ability myself, but I wanted to have at least three combat styles, and I found a nice spear fighting style in FFG "Wildscapes" from Mearls (one of his better books, in my opinion). I thought a spear is a good weapon to use in the wilderness (piercing, straight line of attack goes well with forests and narrow mountain passes), and the image of a lightly armoured rider with a spear is one I'd associate with mounted skirmishers.

Glad you like it, though.

More feedback is much appreciated, especially if the abilities mingle with the image of a Border Ranger, and measure up to other classes of the Lone Wolf game.

 

[Geron Raveneye]

Heh, somehow I get the impression this wasn't the best place to post this...or people simply don't like to comment on it for some reason. :lol: No other feedback? Or is the holiday season already starting?

 

[beowuuf]

You might find that the need to log on to the site to download it could put some people off. I got aroudn to logging in and downloaded it, not done more than open it up and scan it I'm afraid! The different fighting styles and progression is interesting. Not sure about the wolf metaphor for the border rangers, but the skills seem good. I will look at it properly later on!

I put a link up to here at the tower of the sun, I can happily host it too if it might help get more people looking at it?

 

[Geron Raveneye]

Hmm, as far as I have seen when I tried the download link, there is no need to log in (or even type in some annoying "security code") to download the file. Ony wait for the site to process your request, and then hit the Download button. And from my account statistics, the file has been downloaded at least 55 times. So I kinda hope that works okay...and yes, I appreciate you linking it on the ToS site, I wasn't quite sure how to upload the file there.

About the wolf metaphors, I was searching for a flavourful replacement for "Run", "Endurance", and other physical toughness feats. I'm definitely open to alternative suggestions.

 

[Koreth]

I was not required to enter a password or log in.

I'm not good at d2O or that stuff, but this looks good for reference material for border rangers !

 

[beowuuf]

I guess I just got shoved in a queue and impatiently registered and got streight through then

 

[eviltb]

Hmmm, quite similar to the current 3.5 DnD Ranger, but with some more tracking options. Not sure what to make of this as a class. The d10 for HP suggests a more combat-oriented ranger, as does the tier progression for combat styles, and the addition of the spear focus (which is very good, btw). There is certainly some great RP aspects to this, like Favoured Terrain, however you'd have to pick bonuses for the location your chara will be in (eg picking arctic for Favoured Terrain would be pointless if you were on a mission to Vassagonia!). Still, unlikely I would play this as a class myself but a big thumbs up for the work thats gone into producing this class

 

[Geron Raveneye]

Yeah, the Favoured Terrain list might seem a bit extensive at first. I guess most Border Rangers will have Forest, Hills, and Mountains as Favoured Terrains after a while, since that's the most prevalent kind along the Sommlending border.

On the other hand, it definitely can add some flavour when your Border Ranger has been trekking through the Kalte Wastes for a few levels, hunting Shamans and Ice Demons together with his Kai companion and the weird Dessi-but-not-quite mage, or old right-handed bloodmages in the deserts of Vassagonia.

And thanks for the kind words.

 

[Bewildered Badger]

Hey Wuufy, did you try the 'Click here to start download' on the left side of the page, or the 'Save to my files' on the right?
The former doesn't need registration, the latter does.