Ranger

This page is specifically for the ranger class in.

For the version in, refer to Ranger (Baldur's Gate).

Introduction
Rangers are devoted to protecting nature and their own survival whilst doing their duty. Because of that, they must be strong, wise, tough and agile to survive.

In gameplay, they can use nearly every weapon and piece of armor, just like fighters and paladins, but unlike fighters, they can only invest a maximum of two points into weapon proficiency, with exception of Archer. Rangers have racial enemies, plus charm animal/mammal and stealth as special abilities.

Because they have Strength, Dexterity and Wisdom as their primary ability scores, and have a high minimum in each of them, rangers have the tendency to get 90 or more ability scores easily. The only valid dual-class route for rangers is to clerics.

If a ranger commits a murder, they will become a Fallen Ranger, which is a ranger without the special abilities and they will lose a lot experience points. Only in Shadows of Amn campaign at the end of Ranger - Protector of the Umar Hills, can they become normal rangers once more.

Humans, elves and half-elves may become rangers.

The only multi dual class option for rangers is with cleric.

Character abilities table
During character creation, rolls below the minimum value for the class will be increased to that value. This table uses the values for Humans, other Races have modified ability scores.

* Prime Requisites for Dual-classing.

^ Rangers have access to percentile Strength.

Racial enemy
Rangers tend to focus on a particular enemy race, gaining +4 bonus to hit and damage rolls versus the racial enemy. Some of these are not available in original Baldur's Gate or Tales of the Sword Coast and were added when Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal were released. Several low level groups are only available in the first Baldur's Gate games. When importing a character from BG1 into BG2, you can choose a new racial enemy when you start a new game. The player chooses one of the types of creatures listed below:
 * Beholders, Carrion Crawlers, Demonic/Fell creatures, Dragons, Elementals, Ettercaps, Faeries, Genies, Ghouls, Gibberling, Golems, Gnolls, Hobgoblins, Imps, Kobolds, Kuo-Toa, Lich, Lycanthropes, Mephits, Ogres, Otyugh, Rakshasa, Sahuagin, Shadows, Skeletons, Slimes, Spiders, Trolls, Umber Hulks, Vampires

Charm animal
Rangers can charm animals to prevent fights or to gain advantages, starting from level 3.

Stealth
Rangers can Move Silently & Hide In Shadows wearing studded leather armor or lighter, the stealth skills start at 25 & 20 respectively, which are further modified by race selection, dexterity score, and increase with level. Rangers may not Backstab like thieves, but they still receive the -4 THAC0 bonus when they strike from the hidden.

Druid spells
Rangers unlock druid spells at level 8 and may learn up to spell level 3.

Single class rangers do not gain wisdom based bonus spell slots; cleric & ranger combinations gain additional slots like single class clerics. In Classic Versions, rangers multi or dual with cleric may learn lv4+ druid spells when the higher spell level slots are unlocked by cleric. It’s no longer possible in Enhanced Editions.

Ranger
The ranger is a warrior and a woodsman who is skilled with weapons and is knowledgeable in the ways of the forest. The Ranger often protects and guides lost travelers and honest peasant-folk. A Ranger needs to be strong and wise to the ways of nature to live a full life.

Class features: Gameplay
 * May wear helmets
 * May wear any armor and use any weapon
 * May not exceed Specialization (two slots) in any weapon class
 * May achieve Specialized (two slots) in any fighting style
 * Begins Specialized (two slots) in Two-Weapon Style and may place a third slot into it
 * May select a racial enemy, which grants a -4 THAC0 bonus to and +4 damage rolls bonus against the selected enemy race
 * May use the Charm Animal ability once per day. Gains one use at level 1 and an additional use every 2 levels thereafter
 * May use the Hide In Shadows ability while wearing no armor, leather armor, or studded leather armor
 * May cast druidic spells starting at level 8, up to spell level 3
 * Alignment restricted to good
 * Hit Die: d10
 * Prime Requisites For Dual-Classing: Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom
 * Companion Kivan, Minsc are rangers

Archer
The Archer is the epitome of skill with the bow - the ultimate marksman, able to make almost any shot, no matter how difficult. To become so skilled with the bow, the Archer has had to sacrifice some of the proficiency with melee weapons and armor.

Advantages: Disadvantages: Gameplay
 * -1 bonus to hit and +1 bonus to damage with any missile weapon every 3 levels, including thrown arsenals
 * May achieve Grand Mastery (five slots) in longbows, shortbows, and crossbows, may Specialize (two slots) in slings and darts
 * May use Called Shot ability once per day. Gains one use at level 4 and an additional use every 4 levels thereafter. All successful ranged attacks within the next 2 rounds have the following cumulative effects besides normal damage, according to the level of the Archer: 4th level: +1 penalty to target's THAC0 for 2 rounds, no save 8th level: +1 penalty to target's Saving Throws vs. Spell for 2 rounds, no save 12th level: -1 penalty to the target's Strength score for 2 rounds, no save 16th level: +2 bonus to damage roll for 2 rounds
 * May only wear leather, studded leather, and hide armor
 * May only put one dot in melee weapon proficiencies, one dot in Two-Handed Weapon Style, Sword and Shield Style, Single-Weapon Style
 * May not use the Charm Animal ability
 * In addition to damage boost, Called Shot is also effective to debilitate enemies
 * Shortbow of Gesen is a good weapon choice for archer most of the time, but Erinne Sling dishes out more damage while in Whirlwind
 * Archers may use Vhailor's Helm to create a simulacrum whose combined powers are very destructing
 * Be ware that proficiency points must be spent before exiting the level-up screen, and because the only missile weapon available to dual-classed Archer > Cleric is slings, which they can only become specialized in, you may get stuck at the screen due to no slots to be invested in in certain situations
 * Companion Schael Corwin is an archer

Stalker
Stalkers serve as covert intelligence-gatherers, comfortable in both wilderness and urban settings. They are spies, informants, and interrogators, and their mastery of stealth makes them deadly opponents.

Advantages: Disadvantages: Gameplay
 * +20 to Move Silently and Hide In Shadows
 * May use Backstab ability, although for a lower damage multiplier than Thieves: Level 1-8: x2, Level 9-16: x3, Level 17+: x4, melee weapon restrictions still apply for their backstabbing, which are long swords, short swords, katanas, scimitar/wakizashi/ninjato, daggers, clubs, or quarterstaffs. Dual-classed Stalker > Cleric may only use clubs or quarterstaffs to backstab.
 * 12th level: May memorize 3 Mage spells: Haste, Protection from Normal Missiles, and Minor Spell Deflection, which are selectable from the Stalker's level 3 spellbook
 * May not wear armor heavier than studded leather
 * Companion Valygar Corthala is a stalker

Beast Master
Beast Masters are wanderers and are not comfortable in civilized lands. Therefore, they maintain a natural affinity for animals; who are the Beast Masters' friends and comrades-in-arms, and the Beast Masters have a limited form of telepathic communication with the animals.

Advantages: Disadvantages: Gameplay
 * +15 to Move Silently and Hide In Shadows.
 * May use Find Familiar as a special ability to summon a pseudo dragon (if lawful or neutral good) or fairy dragon (if chaotic good) companion
 * 8th level: May cast Animal Summoning I (level 4 spell treated as a level 1 spell)
 * 10th level: May cast Animal Summoning II (level 5 spell treated as a level 2 spell)
 * 12th level: May cast Animal Summoning III (level 6 spell treated as a level 3 spell)
 * May not use any metal weapons (for example: swords, halberds, war hammers, or morning stars)
 * May only put proficiency points in clubs, quarterstaffs, crossbows, longbows, shortbows, darts and slings
 * May not wear armor heavier than studded leather
 * Be ware that proficiency points must be spent before exiting the level-up screen, and because dual-classed Beast Master > Clerics may only use clubs, quarterstaffs and slings, you may get stuck at the screen due to no slots to be invested in if you haven't wasted proficiency points gained beyond level 3 while a stalker into crossbows, longbows, shortbows, darts, else level 36 as a cleric will not be achievable

High-level class abilities
High level class abilities are added in expansion. For all warrior classes and Monks, the pool of abilities consist of abilities which can be accesses from the special abilities menu. These HLAs are available once they reach levels beyond 3,000,000 xp, exact level varies by class.


 * Whirlwind Attack, can be selected as many times you like
 * Greater Whirlwind Attack, requires Whirlwind Attack, can be selected as many times you like
 * Deathblow, can be selected as many times you like
 * Greater Deathblow, requires Deathblow, can be selected as many times you like
 * Resist Magic, can be selected as many times you like
 * Power Attack, can be selected as many times you like
 * Critical Strike, requires Power Attack, can be selected as many times you like
 * Smite, requires Power Attack and Critical Strike, can be selected only once
 * Hardiness, can be selected as many times you like
 * War Cry, can be selected as many times you like
 * Tracking, can be selected only once

Stronghold
Protagonist rangers serve as protectors of the Umar Hills once the Investigate the deaths in the Umar Hills side quest is completed.

Creative origins

 * This section uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Ranger (Dungeons & Dragons)

The ranger was primarily based on the exiled king Aragorn, and the Rangers of the North of J. R. R. Tolkien's (WP) Middle-earth mythos, as warriors who use tracking and other wilderness skills to hunt down their enemies. The AD&D second edition handbook mentions several other inspirations from myth and legend, such as Robin Hood, Jack the Giant Killer, the huntresses of Diana, and the Greek hero Orion.

Although it is commonly thought that the ranger character Drizzt Do'Urden may also have influenced the development of the class, particularly with regard to the second edition inclusion of the ability to fight with two weapons, this notion has been rejected by the lead designer of that rule set, David "Zeb" Cook, and the lack of provision for players to be able to emulate Drizzt using the ranger class as it appears in the PHB seems to support his assertion. More likely, the Drizzt character was influenced by Unearthed Arcana, which introduced the drow as a player character race and contained somewhat ambiguous wording that allowed them to use a secondary weapon not normally permitted in AD&D. Drizzt appeared as a first edition character in the 1988 release FR5 The Savage Frontier. Interestingly, few AD&D computer games based on the second edition rule set included provision for fighting with two weapons, and those that did seem to have not have included the ranger class ability (most notably, Baldur's Gate (WP) and Icewind Dale (WP), which provided rangers with an extra attack when not using a shield.)

Other notable rangers in the literature of Dungeons & Dragons include Hank from the cartoon series, King Tristan Kendrick from Forgotten Realms, and Ren from Pool of Radiance.

Gameplay (community)
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