Shevarash wrote:Sarvis wrote:Can you tell us anything about rangers in the new system?
Sure, I can tell you a little. Rangers in 2.0 are similar to those in D&D v3.5, with some added improvements. First things first - Rangers are a hybrid fighter and divine spellcaster class.
One of their class abilities is the choice to pick a combat style at low level, being either Ranged or Two-Weapon. That choice will then dictate the bonus feats that the ranger receives as they level up. For instance, if you take the Ranged style, you instantly receive Point Blank Shot as a free bonus feat, and will receive Rapid Shot, Manyshot, and more feats as you progress in levels. Alternately, if you picked the Two-Weapon combat style you would receive Two-Weapon Fighting, Two-Weapon Defense, etc as you level up. This class feature allows the ranger to receive feats in their chosen specialty without using a precious feat slot, and in some cases offers the feat earlier than it would otherwise be available.
Rangers are also very skilled characters in relation to most other melee classes, but as I haven't really gotten into the new skill system I'll save that for later. Suffice it to say that a ranger would be a good bet if you need to be stealthy outdoors, among other things.
The spell list for Rangers has been completely revamped, starting with selections from the D&D v3.5 ranger spell list, and building on that by adding several unique ranger spells. I believe that a ranger's spellcasting is an integral part of the class, and should not be overlooked or left to play second fiddle to their combat abilities.
So there's a very high level overview. There are a ton of details and some other class features to go into later.
One last thing - Rangers are no longer alignment dependant. That is, a ranger can be any alignment...
Cool, except for the evil ranger thing. It's one of the things I dislike about 3.0, actually.
More questions:
What role do you see a ranger filling in groups?
What spells can rangers look forward to?