The (Lone) Ranger

I was talking about the Ranger sub-class of Fighters in the other posting.  I want to go a little deeper though in this post.

It's not that I have anything to change about the brief bit I discussed of the Ranger. no.  I just think that there is more to this class than meets the eye.

I really do have to say that I completely disagree with the folks who think the Ranger class is completely based on Aragorn of "Lord of the Rings" fame.  To be sure, there is something of Aragorn that was included in the class, but he is not the sole sponsor.  Far from it in fact.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I see the Ranger as more of a Guerrilla fighter than anything else.  The Ranger specializes in outdoor combat and tactics.  Not to say their skills are unusable indoors, just that they are most effective outside.

In regards to spell usage however, there is a lot of confusion I hear about how it makes Rangers relate to other magic using classes.  They are able to use both Druid and MU spells at higher levels.  Though these never get to be more than 3rd level Druid spells and 2nd level MU spells.

Something that I do with my Rangers, because I see them as so compatible with Druids, is that while they are "Capable" of using Druid and MU spells at certain levels reached, that doesn't mean they will easily have access to those spells.

Because they are able to use more Druidic spells also indicates to me the similarity to Druids, it makes more sense to me that Rangers will want to freely associate with Druids more than any other magic using class.  That will make access to the Druid spells easier.  I make access to MU spells very difficult for Rangers.  Don't forget, Rangers cannot make use of scrolls, etc..., making access to MU spells even more difficult.