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Ranger

Ranger is a base class in NWN2.

Ranger[]

Description: A ranger can use a variety of weapons and is quite capable in combat. His skills allow him to survive in the wilderness, to find his prey, and to avoid detection. He also has special knowledge about certain types of creatures, which makes it easier for him to find and defeat such foes. Finally, an experienced ranger has such a tie to nature that he can actually draw upon natural power to cast divine spells, much as a druid does.

Class Features[]

Hit die : d8
Base Attack Bonus progression : High
Saving Throws :
High = Fortitude & Reflex
low = Will
Proficiencies :
Weapons: Simple & Martial.
Armor: Light & Shields. (except tower shields)
Skill Points : ( 6 + Int modifier ) ×4 at 1st Character level.
Class Skills : Concentration, Craft (alchemy, armor, trap, weapon), Heal, Hide, Listen, Lore, Move Silently, Parry, Search, Set Trap, Spot, and Survival

Spellcasting: Divine (Wisdom based, armor-related chance of spell failure is ignored). Must have a Wisdom score of 10 + the spell’s level to cast a spell.

Additional progressions[]

Level  Features gained
 1 1st Favored Enemy, Track
 2 Combat Style (basic)
 3 Toughness
 4 Animal Companion, gains spell-casting
 5 2nd Favored Enemy
 6 Combat style (improved)
 7 Woodland Stride
 8 Swift Tracker
 9 Evasion
10 3rd Favored Enemy
11 Combat style (mastered)
13 Camouflage
15 4th Favored Enemy
17 Hide in Plain Sight (Outdoors)
20 5th Favored Enemy
21 Combat style (perfected)
23 Bonus feat
25 6th Favored Enemy
26 Bonus feat
29 Bonus feat
30 7th Favored Enemy

Feats and abilities gained[]

Track[]

A ranger has the ability to find and read tracks, but he moves slowly when doing so. This will be displayed on the mini-map. The feat also depends on ranks in the survival skill.

Favored enemy[]

At 1st level, a ranger may select a type of creature as his favored enemy. The ranger gains a +1 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Spot, and Taunt checks, and also a +1 bonus on weapon damage rolls against their favored enemy. At 5th level, and every five levels after that, the ranger can choose an additional favored enemy and gains +1 to all favored enemy bonuses.

Combat style[]

At 2nd level, a ranger must select one of two combat styles to pursue: archery or two-weapon combat. He loses all benefits of his combat style when wearing medium or heavy armor. Combat style feats count as prerequisites for gaining other feats. For example the Improved Rapid Shot feat requires the feat Manyshot; a 6th level Ranger using the Archery combat style gets this Manyshot for free, and will be able to select Improved Rapid Shot as a normal feat without having to obtain Manyshot by normal means.

Basic[]

  • At 2nd level, if the ranger selects archery, he is treated as having the Rapid Shot feat, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.
  • If the ranger selects two-weapon combat, he is treated as having the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.

Improved[]

At 6th level, a ranger’s aptitude in his chosen combat style (archery or two-weapon combat) improves.

  • If he selected archery at 2nd level, he is treated as having the Manyshot feat, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.
  • If the ranger selected two-weapon combat at 2nd level, he is treated as having the Improved Two-Weapon Fighting feat, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.

Mastered[]

At 11th level, a ranger’s aptitude in his chosen combat style (archery or two-weapon combat) improves again.

  • If he selected archery at 2nd level, he is treated as having the Improved Rapid Shot feat, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.
  • If the ranger selected two-weapon combat at 2nd level, he is treated as having the Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feat, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.

Perfected[]

At 21st level, a ranger's aptitude in his chosen combat style (archery or two-weapon combat) improves again.

  • If he selected archery at 2nd level, he is treated as having the One Shot feat, even if the normal prerequisites for that feat are not met.
  • If the ranger selected two-weapon combat at 2nd level, he is treated as having the Perfect Two-Weapon Fighting feat, even if the normal prerequisites for that feat are not met.

Toughness[]

At 3rd level the ranger gains toughness as a bonus feat.

Animal Companion[]

At 4th level, a ranger gains an animal companion.

Woodland Stride[]

Starting at 7th level, a ranger gains a +10% movement increase when in outdoor, natural environments.

Swift tracker[]

At 8th level, a ranger can use their tracking skill and move at normal speed.

Evasion[]

At 9th level, a ranger can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If he makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save (such as a red dragon's fiery breath or a fireball), he instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the ranger is wearing light armor or no armor.

Camouflage[]

At 13th level the ranger does not suffer a movement penalty for using stealth mode when in outdoor areas.

Hide in Plain Sight (Outdoors)[]

When outdoors, a 17th level ranger has the ability to use the Hide skill even when being watched and in combat. This ability is similar to that of the Shadowdancer, except that it functions only while outdoors.

Spellcasting[]

Key ability Type Prepared
Wisdom divine yes

Beginning at 4th level, a ranger gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells, which are drawn from the ranger spell list. A ranger must choose and prepare his spells in advance.
To prepare or cast a spell, a ranger must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a ranger’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the ranger’s Wisdom modifier.
A ranger's caster level is one-half his ranger level.
Spellcasting is unaffected by armor-related failure.

Gameplay Notes[]

Note[]

Feats granted by a ranger's combat style *do* qualify as pre-requisites for subsequent feats.

Ranger-Specific feats[]

There are a number of feats specifically designed to be used with the Ranger class. The following list covers these feats for convenience.

  • Improved Favored Enemy: Although stated as +3, this feat actually deals +5 damage to selected favored enemy. This benefit stacks with any existing bonus gained from another class.
  • Favored Power Attack: Power attack bonus is doubled with one-handed weapon or tripled with two-handed weapon against selected favored enemy.
  • Bane of Enemies: +2 attack bonus and +2d6 damage versus favored enemies.

NWN comparison[]

  • The discipline skill that was created for NWN was removed in NWN2 and combat feats relating to it now function closer to 3.5 rules.
  • NWN used a skill called animal empathy instead of the class feat wild empathy.
  • Ranger specific changes:
    • Reflex as a primary saving throw
    • d8 Hit die instead of d10
    • 6 skill points per level instead of 4
    • Optional archery path (NWN rangers were always given two-weapon fighting)
    • No longer gain medium armor proficiency for free.
    • Gain Hide in Plain Sight in outdoor areas and Evasion for free.
  • The Ranger's role has been strengthened as a more skilful wilderness Fighter, whereas the differences under 3.0 rules were relatively small
  • Rangers could choose certain bonus feats instead of favored enemies.

DnD 3.5 comparison[]

  • The wild empathy was implemented in Storm of Zehir as a way to avoid encounters with animals.
  • The parry skill was created by NWN and is not a feature of DnD 3.5. It has returned in NWN2 for the same reasons it was in NWN.
  • The skills climb, jump and swim are not implemented in NWN2.
  • Lore was used in NWN as a collective version of knowledge and other information skills. NWN2 includes it for the same reasons.
  • The 3rd level class feature, Endurance, is not implemented in NWN2 (as are penalties for sleeping in armor), and has been replaced with Toughness.

External resources[]

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