Rangers: How to RP in 5e Dungeons & Dragons - Web DM

his name rain not Randy Quaid no Dennis Quaid Dennis Quaid yeah he like he's a total ranger monster yeah I don't know that I would bring up Boeing come on Greg you you can if you want anything to be able to say I am the last one hello explorers I'm Pruitt this is Jim Davis and our RP class series strides right along with the Rangers as we're gonna help you push the front tiers forward and make sure your concept makes its mark let's get to it on web DM is your Ranger where do they fit in our PS ik where do they fit in the world right right a lot of us are a lot of the RP stuff for for the classes is really about making sure that the character class you've chosen from yourself has a place in the world and right that you and the dungeon master have thought through the implications of what it means to be a part of this class the Rangers are one of those that suggest something about the campaign world just by their very inclusion yeah so that the Ranger is is has a theme and a story of this unending watch beyond the boundaries of civilization they whether they were were born there or whether they sought that region out they exist beyond the border beyond the frontier and and they are in in some sense is like the first line of defense for monsters and rampaging humanoids and threats that originated in the frontier region you get the impression from Rangers that they that they would be doing this regardless like there doesn't need to be a big organization that's sending them out there that they are very independent minded they're very focused on on keeping civilization safe from threats that originate in the wild right and while those towns people might think them uncouth and might not want them in the bar they definitely want them on the border sure because that's that's where they belong right that's where they belong and and right and they might develop a sinister reputation because they are seen as mysterious figures who you never really know where they are or what it is that they're doing the work of Rangers is unseen perhaps unappreciated or unaccredited to them it might be a case of where the greatest victories of the Rangers are unsung unheard of because they happened out on the lonely trackless wilderness that that you know exists in these worlds right and the in the continuity of that civilization that they're protecting and the normalcy of it yeah is the evidence of their victory the fact that they aren't dealing with these marauding bands of goblins or orcs or whatever it is and they just live their mundane lives and when the Ranger comes to town every time somebody kind of says a snide remark it's like well you wouldn't be able to make that unless I did my job so you're welcome yeah so you're welcome and then there's probably a reason why they avoid civilization and towns and things like that because well I have a bad reputation but I don't want to develop sort of a disdain for the people and the places that I just wanted to protect so I'm just going to stay out in the wild okay remain there let's go to kind of go through the subclasses and and talk about how each of these kind of would interact with the world starting with the beasts master the beasts master is a type of Ranger where you can imagine that they're probably a loner of some type maybe they you know feel a strong connection to the natural world maybe they have connections with or associations with a group of druids or or barbarian tribe that has a strong connection to a certain animal or something like that the earth guard however they're pronounced and Forgotten Realms have that kind of each tribe has a animal that they that they associate with maybe your art or whatever yeah maybe the Beast Master Ranger is connected through that maybe they did receive formal training somewhere and there is a an organization or at least a place where people go to learn how to bond with animals and to to form a special bond with a certain kind of animal so that to the point where where you gain the the the connection that abby's Master Ranger has and I guess it's it's worthwhile to mention at this point we're not specifically about either the PHP Ranger or the revised Ranger just sort of Rangers in general yeah Rangers that get along with beasts but thinking about like how did the beasts master and the the beasts meet what are the circumstances of it how do they communicate is another one is is the does the Ranger have some sort of supernatural ability to communicate with just this animal or is it that the animal is really in tune with the beasts master and and and picks up on it is that developed over years of training or is it some kind of ritual that they underwent there's the mechanics of it all the mechanics work the way the mechanics work but the story that you're building and the backstory that you're creating for your character is another matter entirely and whether you reef Laver reskin those abilities when you're thinking about your backstory or come up with something completely different that's you know that's one of those things that's largely up to the player in that respect so moving on to the the gloom stalker right my gloom start like how do you see like really are peeing a gloom stalker like properly and this is somebody who resides in the under door yeah well that's that's my first question there so the the frontier regions in a D&D world extends not just across the horizons but underneath the earth yet that z-axis Tiberium right you do because there are threats that originate from under the earth and in the typical D&D world and whether it's say a group of dwarves or deep gnomes or something that have taken it upon themselves to guard the pathways that lead down into the veins of the earth and and you can keep the monsters down there or it's one of those things where maybe the glooms stalker is responsible for patrolling Borderlands that that that have a that share a border with like the shadow fell or something like that they're there per turn actually gloomy or they're supernaturally dark and it's something that like the gloom stalkers they're not because they want to be not because they like it there but they realize that there's some benefit from having someone in the dark places yeah keeping an eye on things making sure that the threats that originate there don't get out of hand yeah but it does imply there they're going beyond they're not just in the forests and the fields and things like that they are in magical fantastic locations fighting the fight to sort of the first line of Civilizations defense yeah yeah there's always those people that have to do the the dark and dirty work yeah that's who that is where did they get your training and maybe you can answer ask this question for just about any of the Rangers or even really any other classes but gloom stalker is one of those where because of the changes that it makes to the character and the things that you can do you know it's like where did you get that training where you forced whether you're if you're a surface dweller to go down into the Underdark and spend a lot of time down there until you become attuned with the place if you're dealing with a place that's that's sort of known for its darkness and shadowing us like in a plane of shadow are you do you live there or some kind or you attach to maybe a monastery of shadow monks or a cabal of shadow sorcerers and you sort of are a protector and a guide as well as a defender for the region like thinking about those things how you connect and where you received your training from particularly for classes that rely on either the marshal weapon and armor proficiencies that make them and the détente hit die that make them warriors and then their individual class abilities differentiate those and give them further power or you're talking about a class that features a lot of skills Rangers is both of those yeah they've got the fighting capacity of a warrior type class but they've also got the skills of those specialist classes that that use of their skills to overcome obstacles and so it's really worthwhile thinking about the Ranger like where did they learn all this for the gloom stalker it's like how did they learn to move about the dark like that how did they learn to navigate those environments how did they learn to conceal themselves from creatures that can otherwise see in the dark thinking about those questions will let you learn something about your character that way yeah you go you go down to the the deep Nome Ranger Academy where the head or the head teacher is like a blind old Ranger that the drought like blinded yeah except he just walks around no stick no no signal of it does not just people under five you know I mean he teaches you how to walk in darkness psyched as a weakness yes he will grant you sight beyond sight yeah you don't need a sword of omens yeah no screw that so take it back a little bit more you know the stereotypical Ranger like the hunter the hunter I mean this this is someone who goes a classic classic Ranger they know how to track they know they know where to hit hit their targets you know so like how do you how do you kind of spice that up this is one we're digging into the background of your character what was their organization of Rangers and other affiliated persons that they were a part of is this a mentor and apprenticeship style relationship are they a trapper or a frontiersman or or some kind of stalker of some kind that that that already was on the frontier region already out in those border lands perhaps it's like a wood elf way watcher and she keeps guard over the different pathways that lead into the the elven Kingdom there or a halfling bounder or sheriff who just with a stout stick and a sturdy sling you know keeps the Wolves out of the sheepfold and and make sure that the goblins don't get in the the barn at night you know and they just they walk the borders of the community and and as such have this kind of stigma of perhaps a stigma of being rough being a little wild themselves and yet at the same time fulfilling a very important purpose which is defense and protection because the night is dark and full of terrors and the world is filled with monsters yeah and someone needs to be there to keep an eye on things to make sure that that they don't attack maybe there were a poacher who you know who was you know flaunting the the king's edicts and doing whatever it is they wanted and they just saw too much out there but where they decided to take those skills at stalking and poaching and turn them towards like well we're we're gonna hunt the threats that that matter and not so much like making a quick buck selling poached meat or yeah yeah do that criminal gold that criminal background Ranger right yes exactly maybe got caught by the the local game warden and he taught him like you know there's a better way right who is the hunter Ranger themselves and yeah for me that's the hunter very classic but they're also have all of those combat abilities that you'll want to account for where did they learn those things is it practice is it passed down by generation to generation what what sort of techniques are they using to say be able to fight creatures that are much larger than them or you know develop the the speed necessary to take out multiple enemies at a time those kinds of things you'll want to give some thought to and where did they learn these things and you know was it formal or was it more self-taught I think the Ranger really lends themselves to being like a self-taught warrior and a self-taught survivalist almost yeah especially like the hunter they're talking about taking you know Giants down watching like animals and how they take prey down yes kind of the same thing I'm kind of you're a hunter you watch your prey more of a monk style really like that's like a monk it's a monk they're there's bits of totem water I mean and this is one of the things about DNE classes is that particularly the way fifth edition is laid out there's a lot of conceptual overlap oh yeah between these classes yeah certain types of hunter Ranger might share a lot in common with certain types of barbarians yeah and and may be very different than say a scout rogue or a boy or a fighter with the Outlander background or something like all of those have they're in the same vicinity they're their warriors at home in the wilderness yeah yeah it's the specific iteration of the Ranger with their favorite enemy the natural explore the ability to navigate the terrain and and of course the magic that they have as part of their you know as part of their spell casting that that makes them different than Scouts and Outlanders and things like that so moving on with the horizon Walker this person that the planes and knows the way all the ways through right right where do you learn that that's really one where you you want to delve deep and and ask yourself as you're making your Ranger character it you know is there perhaps an organization of Rangers and like-minded individuals that watch the hidden pathways to other worlds right it's one thing to plane shift somewhere and use magic and and the force of spell casting to traverse the plains but there are natural crossing points oh yeah you know a fairy ring on an on Midsummer's Night will take you into the FEI wild some places like that or being caught in the wild hunts path as if as it rides through the night it is one of those ways that you can find yourself in the Earl King's lair and and you know being a part of the the Wild Hunt pack or or play or you know similar to like say the gloom stalker maybe there areas where the shadow fell bleeds over into the world and undead are something that really are a problem these are the kinds of Rangers that those natural spaces in the world where the other worlds and dimensions and planes that make up Dungeons & Dragons multiverse crossover those Rangers guard those areas and in a typical D&D world there's probably a lot of places like that where strange magical effects abound and planar magic is present and the the horizon Walker doesn't like have an academic like deep understanding of them but they're able to understand enough and threats that originate from there that they guard those places and that's really that's how I see the horizon Walker fitting into a larger world now it's time for the player to ask themselves they go this route where do they learn this is it an organization is it a mentor apprenticeship relationship or are they self-taught and answering those questions will tell you a lot about what kind of world that you live in yeah what kind of world they inhabit and then closing out I mean monster slayer monsters lair might be my favorite of the Ranger archetypes because it reminds me of the most of my one of my favorite video games of The Witcher yeah right Geralt is really and which was in general really Tammy I think Ranger is a better fit for them than just about anything I know it doesn't match up there's the signs are different than DD spells yeah but speaking for the matically not trying to translate the abilities of Witcher into D&D but just like the purpose of The Witcher is that it's a professional Monster Hunter and that there are monsters that exist in the world and you don't want just anybody going out and fighting them because some of those monsters are not really monsters they just look like monsters yeah they're thinking reasoning sentient beings that need to be negotiated with some of those monsters have tricks or traps or things like that associated with them that a headlong charge and rooting them out is not going to cut it and then there are monsters that are just too dangerous no matter what kind of Knight or warrior you warrior you are you need that extra edge that being a Witcher gives you I see monster hunter fitting firmly and solidly within that theme right they've got a bit of magic to back them up they are able to fight and deal with these spell casting monsters that are all over the D&D world and not and they're better equipped for that and say a hunter is yeah witch hunter is more equipped for dealing with like big beasts Giants you know you can see a hunter tracking down a Manticore or a rampaging he'll giant or something like that where it's the monster slayer where if you have you've got a hag on your hands or if there's a particularly vicious day or something like that that you need to need to have routed out the monster hunters more appropriate sorry the monster slayer is more appropriate than the monster hunter good grief the regular hunter and the monster slayer monster slayer hunter yes the hunter of monsters to slay the hunter of slaying monsters uh so let's talk about some RP hooks here some the RP oaks from Zant are from XANA thar say yo you got your view of the world which is I love that for Rangers it's perfect so like you said they do kind of reside on that border between civilization and nature ah you also have your homeland so where they're going to be happy at home yeah and then their sworn enemy right right right so let's let's start with that with the view of the world like how should a ranger see the world it's a big question to ask right because if we're if we accept that the core story of the Ranger is that on you know a warrior who has an a never-ending watch in the wilds to protect civilization then their view of that civilization and civilizations place in the larger world informs a lot it could be that civilization is a place that they long for in a theoretical sense and and want to protect in in a you know in a very concrete sense but when it comes to living in a city being around all those people and having to deal with urban life and civilization a character like the Ranger is just like you know what I'm a loner at heart I prefer the wild places in the world and the peace that comes through nature and I can do good for you this thing that I love or that raised me or that gave me a purpose at one point in my life I will protect you now but I've got to leave you like I just can't be around you yeah you can do something like that or you could you could have one that has never known civilization and your Ranger is just out there in an electoral sense they're aware that these urban places exist that great civilizations that are centered around cities and and and urbanization and things like that they exist but at the same time you've never experienced it personally you just know that out here in the wild is where you belong and there are things out here in the wild that you are sworn to defeat and other things that you are sworn to protect it sounds kind of like Tarzan I get Oh Tarzan and see feels like a bit of a ranger to me I could be a barbarian could be any number of things but I think like we see an archetype like Tarzan was just like the king of the jungle and affinity with all these animals and very physical character you can sort of see the parallels between a character like that and danger and draw some inspiration from it are they disdainful of civilisation do they see civilization is making people weak and and unable to protect themselves and someone has to be out here defeating the threats but it would really be better if everyone weren't so useless and and we're instead you know joining them in a fight for to reclaim the wilds from from all these monsters the arrangers relationship to two civilizations going to inform so much about them and chances are the campaign's not gonna take place entirely in the wilderness and you're gonna have to deal with urban environments and urban settings and civilization and knowing how your character abused it from the beginning is just prepares you for those moments where you can add more depth to your character and show off a bit well yeah like you said you know when you got to go into civilization you have to you have to think about how that's gonna be with with reverse your homeland I mean like if you're used to being in the open Tundra right you know up north and you come down a little south and there's the trading village well are you gonna do that how you do that and so the homeland is one where it's that type of terrain that you're most at home in and that type of environment that when you look at it you look around and you say this this is where I belong this is what you know this is what I want to protect and this is where I want to live maybe it is the area where they grew up and as a strong connection to their past maybe there are communities there or people in that region that the Ranger cares deeply about and and their fight in the wilderness is a personal one and not a civilizational one it's not I'm gonna protect the civilization or cities or the Kingdom it's my family is out there if I don't work to stop these monsters my family will be hurt my friends the people I care about your homelands a part of your past or maybe your homeland is like a place that you adopted you found it later in life and you never realized how beautiful the forest was until you visited one and ever since then it's been a it's been a part of you and you there's no way you could leave that for us behind that raises the question of like how does that interact with your natural Explorer ability yeah and and you know obviously depending on what Ranger you have the details of that natural Explorer ability are gonna be different but there's nothing stopping you from from picking a certain type of environment and saying like yeah this really is my characters favorite place they know the most about it they're the most whole at home here they've spent the most time there and and really fleshing that out and thinking like what's my Rangers relationship to the environments that they find themselves in how did they learn to navigate those places was this based purely on practical experience or was there some sort of formal education that went on in it and I think like being able to answer that again tells you a lot about your ranger are they an intuitive loner who just like understands these things and is a patient observer of the natural world around them which is how much how they know so much about it or are they someone who has read the ancient scrolls and and and codices that the Ranger order has passed down from generation to generation preserving the wisdom of the order and passing it on to a new generation those are all different ways and and mixed and matched it was a you ran across a hermit who took you in and taught you the ways of the wild as they knew it and now you you know you've taken up that mantle all of those are connected to a natural environment and and given the the primacy of the natural world in the Rangers theme it's worthwhile thinking about how you connect to the environment around you and how comfortable you are in it invariably there will always be someone who wants to tear down either the civilization you're protecting or the homeland that you call home yes and that obviously becomes your sworn enemy maybe not your favorite enemy right right right but yeah it's more an enemy I take the sworn enemy Rp cook to be like we're talking about like say an individual here or at the very least a specific group of people as opposed to like oh my favorite enemy is like all orcs but my sworn enemy is like this orc tribe and this one orc warlord who I personal vendetta against something like that so that's assuming that you're that the enemy that you choose for yourself based on these xanthus guides is even connected to your favorite enemy because you could have a situation where your favorite enemy is your favorite enemy because the group of Rangers that you studied with or a part of they fight Giants . that's why they exist but your favorite enemy or your sworn enemy that is a Hobgoblin who was part of one of these giant raids who's particularly nasty or vicious or something so determining whether or not if you first off even have a sworn enemy right like these are just suggestions yeah and and whether or not it's connected to your favorite enemy is something that you want to think about but even switching gears to like just the favorite enemy it you want to think about what what connection does it have to your past is there a personal connection here yeah did the favorite enemy that you have did they do something they've wronged you somehow did they attack you personally do you have a traumatic experience involving this favorite enemy that you now that led you to swear you know sort of a I'm going to defeat them wherever they exist kind of kind of thing or is it more of a yeah i'm i don't have a particular personal hatred or vendetta against this type of enemy but this you know fiends and undead are unnatural creatures that needs to leave the natural world they corrupt it and they are threats to civilization and society and we have to defeat them even if you've never been personally injured or or you know you had something bad happen to you at the hands of a fiend we're not dead or something like that right or maybe you're just an a-hole that wants to kill every dragon there's only one left right it could be like very sick like very driven very like i've got to destroy these creatures because they're they're you know the destructive power they have is too great and that's why you're out there in the middle of nowhere tracking down dragons and giants yeah then Sean and Sean Connery's beseeching it or not it's a shitty movie but so so yeah so kind of moving moving on with this like thinking about the the class abilities cuz they do have the Ranger doesn't have a few class abilities that that really reach into a lot of aspects of the game with like a favorite enemy and but also like natural explore touched on earlier but that affects a lot a lot of travel it affects a lot affects a lot of travel and because they're they're sort of the defining class features of the class it's worthwhile to think about how your characters background and backstory and how you're gonna portray your character interacts with those things the thing goes for all of the class mechanics and the classes but like that natural Explorer well again what does it look like when you're traveling through the wilderness describe the way your character moves through it through their environment describe how they impart the benefit that the party members receive because there's a ranger in the party how does that work is it is the Ranger giving everyone a pep talk before they go out are they constantly minding the group to make sure is it is it sort of is it a magical presence it's something that just sort of happens automatically when the Rangers in the party that the rest of the group just sort of instinctively copies their movements and takes cues from the ranger and and you know and that's where those benefits in part it's worthwhile thinking about those things because it like said it it's one thing to just feel like oh guys all right you guys have a week of trekking across the wilderness and then you're gonna get to your destination alright what is it you guys do and then it's like a couple of dials later alright you're get there and that's like so much time you could just because there's not a fight or a chasm to cross or something like that doesn't mean you should just rush past it and there's information and and role-playing opportunities that can come out of those moments when you give characters a moment to say like or we get players a moment to say like what are your which a character doing on the trip how are they interacting with each other give me an idea of what their day-to-day life is like it doesn't have to take up a lot of time yeah just say and spend more than like 30 seconds on yeah I'm just thinking now of like either like a camp counselor or like a tour like a natural tour guide right like making sure okay is everybody with their accountabilibuddy you know like keeping everyone together hand got your bag of gore yeah make sure you keep a lookout for any kind of game I'll go get it keep a lookout for these colored berries and pick them when we go along right right right but not the chartreuse anyway so I don't know I I kind of like that and and and also moving on like like Rangers to have access to magic but like what does that look like what does the Rangers is it just is it just something that they know how to do a particular way that's more effective or is it is it magic I you know the the way they kind of explain it in the The Player's Handbook is that you know Rangers spend all this time in the wild and the natural places of the world that they can't help but learn something from it in a magical sense which is again speaks to the inherent back ground magic that's in Dungeons and Dragons the fact that these places are fantastically magical even if they're not always spells that you can point to in the players handbook at work and so perhaps it is that the Ranger just picks up some little their dabblers they pick up a trick or two they learn a spell maybe they spent some time with some druids for a while who taught them that magic or they met it for a nature spirit of some kind of Dryad or an treant or something that that imparted some of that on them but you can also kind of reef laver their magic to just be necks or tricks or things there's a difficulty there right like does that mean that you're you're swift quiver can't be counter spelled you know if you're if you're describing your spells purely by the effect that they produce and not the source of them then you can run into those kind of those moments where there's a dissonance between what your player thinks of as their abilities where they come from how they manifest and what the game rules allow right whether something can be dispelled or counterspell or whether it works in an anti-magic field those details to work out with your with your dungeon master beforehand I'm kind of the opinion that because Ranger is not a full caster and their spell selections rather limit but there's nothing I'm really unbalancing about saying this isn't necessarily magic yeah this is your cure wounds is a result of you mixing a poultice together from the various herbs that you found or you sewer you you know that you've steeped in a tea or something like that that the player drinks it the effect of it is a1 d8 plus was the mod spell yeah yeah but the manifestation of it is maybe not as magical as say a druid commanding the spirits of nature to you know to do its bidding kind of thing yeah no I totally get what you're saying although I can detect neckbeards aquiver with rage right now there might be yeah you know there's it's it's a big ask yeah of a ranger player to come to a dungeon match and say hey I don't want my spells to be spells yeah because the fact that their spells means something for the game rules it means there are certain things that interact with them in certain ways but there's a lot of interest in a spell this ranger and not everyone wants to go rogue scout for that some people want to stick with the Ranger they're interested in all of the abilities that the Ranger gets and I think it's a nice compromise to just be like yeah you're only gonna know like a handful of these spells compared to the other spell casting classes yeah and none of them are just like game breakingly powerful they're very useful their situational etc there's nothing that says that this isn't a result of special training or something obviously it's a case-by-case basis some some magic is clearly magic and other magic can be more explained by skills and equipment things like that right right it's up to the individual in case by case basis so oh so so to close that let's let's let's move on to away from from manners natural yeah and bring it back to the city gotcha jus and let's talk about an urban Ranger what would that look like like like how would you do that yeah everybody loves the urban Ranger in the urban druid I this is one of those things about Dungeons and Dragons that I don't quite understand and why it starts to feel like there's a grid that every that people want to fill in with me we've got to make sure we've got a an archetype for every potential it's like D&D character bingo yeah yeah okay alright we've got our band Cantor's but we don't have a natural urban character over here that said there is conceptual space for urban druids and urban Rangers and things like that that catcher a rat catcher is a good one right first off an urban environment is not devoid of a natural component right these are not sterile lifeless environments there are there's life there's life that is there it might not be as abundant and and unrestrained as it is out in the trackless wilderness but there are there's wildlife to be gather there are animals that to be found there there's vegetation and the like there's all sorts of things that give some kind of natural connection to a city that a ranger can can latch on to it's like you're saying a rat catcher a hound master yeah a stable master something like particularly for the Beastmaster types there's plenty of animals inside a city that the Beastmaster Ranger can share a connection with and sort of be connected connected to yeah I mean you know there's certainly there's some version of Petsmart in D&D you got a town there's got a bunch of rich people they want a bird or this exotic thing you got a guy who's like oh I know how to get that I know the people to talk to and he asila Tate's bringing in animals from different places and it may teach them like bought a zoo he bought it and maybe fantastic beasts as well maybe the skills I use and where to find and it and and you know I Scott he's got skills with mundane normal animals but this is also the guy to go to when you bring back your Griffon egg yeah you're like well this thing is gonna hatch at some point how do I make sure that this thing doesn't eat me when it's big enough to write you know that that's the sort of the urban beasts master plays yeah I go - yeah players love raising animals just love getting eggs and raising things I know baby so domestic yeah no right wrong with these players right there but you're gonna go out on an adventure y'all want to take it I want to take it with me right like what is it can be powerful you're carrying it can I can I carry this egg put it in a backpack you got some food you got an egg Papoose you probably want to do like a bag of holding so it's harder to break it I was in like a nut yeah I slide it like a peanut so there say that's one way right there yeah I can also see a bounty hunter as another concept for an urban Ranger that works right you've got the tracking you've got the the ability to to stalk a prey they need to be good fighters they need to be good with skills they probably have less like survived but maybe take survival because survival is mixed up with tracking and things like that but maybe like not nature or something and more like say insight or persuasion or something like yeah your favorite enemy is probably gonna be humanoid probably gonna be huge well for one humanoids a not a bad pick for a lot of things you find indeed that are human oh yeah right and so I mean like that's that that's one but you can kind of go a different route what if the rent urban Ranger it takes that concept of a lone warrior fighting on the frontlines of defense against civilization that sounds an awful lot like a vigilante superhero to me and an urban Ranger might be one of those weirdo loners who just Dawn's a cape and a mask at night yeah he goes out and beats up you know that's pretty great that's kind of but that's sort of what they're doing out in the wild right they're taking it upon themselves unless you've got like a king with an official organization of Rangers that officially goes out there and listen there's nothing wrong with that the Roman Empire used to pay agents and Rangers and all sorts of things that were a part of the Legion that lived with the barbarians beyond the borders of the Empire to report back on what was going on to make sure that in case they needed to invade that there were sympathetic people there that they can rely upon and these sort of citizens of the Empire who lived beyond the borders for years at a time uncovering threats and they're kind of like part rogue part Ranger so there's conceptual space for that for like this is the Royal Order of Rangers and you go up through the ranks there and you study with one of their conclaves and when you're ready you're sent beyond the borders of the Empire maybe you're recruited from the frontier Regents to begin with yeah that's one thing I got off on a weird tangent but there is a suit absolutely shocked that the the Rangers a loner and the Ranger is independently minded and that suggests someone who's not gonna wait for the militia to solve all these damned crimes they're not gonna wait for the inquisitive Zand the the the agents of the crown and all those kinds of things to to come in and solve this problem somebody's got to do something yeah and this Ranger is gonna come along and and mix it up in the back alleys and sewers of the town that they're part of again thinking about how they learned their skills where they learned their trade the nature of their natural magic to an urban environment this might be one where I allow a lot of leeway and I might even come up with like a custom like here is the custom bonus spell list for the urban ranger and it features a lot more say social interaction type magic then normally on the on the the Ranger list but again those are things that you want to work out with your dungeon master ahead of time and and you know just talk to each other and see if there's not a way to make this concept work yeah the mechanic says they exist that way you can have your hunter make his mark as it were absolutely [Music] [Applause] expectations Oh oh yeah that is there is a book coming out kindness was it more times friends and foes home of toes foam of toes I love cosmic level D&D in the same way that I love cosmic level Marvel I liked the big picture I like the big conflicts I like expanses of space filled with glittering nebulas and and the astral sea with its tiny little portals to other places and dead gods floating through it I want that kind of stuff I'm hoping for more planar focused information and higher CR monsters but I'll be perfectly honest the higher CR monsters they make are not going to satisfy me and they're just not I find that whatever design team that that that makes them and and whatever audience that they're making the monsters for it doesn't feel like they're being made for the kinds of games that I'm used to running so I will have to change them things will have to be altered but I'm interested in the lore of it most I think particularly like the various conflicts that that there are present in Dungeons and Dragons words like elves versus elves elves versus dwarves gift Yahnke versus lipids gift young keepers get this awry you know all of those conflicts that are present I'm curious to see about and I think Morgan kind is a good from a reference for that because as you know the leader of the circle of eight he tries to keep the balance on earth which i think is how you're supposed to pronounce earth it's always which should tell you everything you need to know about how seriously the people in early Dungeons & Dragons took their game and how seriously you should probably take yours yeah you should take your silliness very seriously exactly yeah always revel in the silliness always rollin yeah I hope that there's some hope we get some random like random folk arts like to create foes i don't know i don't i don't know exactly sure there's gonna be you know we're gonna get stats on all the people that's all we're gonna get stats on tristan v yeah yeah my are stats were dressed in addition already to see our ten whenever they used them in acquisitions incorporated game and Perkins posted the stats he use so that's about the closest is come see our ten levels right sorry my bad yes see our Tim uh I think it could have been more but I you know it's one kind Toma foes is you know I I'm excited like I said I'm excited about the lore less so about the monster stats than I am about the monster lore and I I want I'm ready for them I'm ready for the fifth edition team to show us something genuinely new and not just like hey guys you remember that thing that you liked or your the people who are older than you said they liked when they were young it's remakes abound remakes abound and I'm I was sick of them the first time around yeah and but they nothing but that leads you to a whole conversation about I mean we've been telling the same stories for Humanity is started right and it's and it's it's kind of like the starter set something is new for someone you know all the time all the time and my jaded callused gamer soul is is perhaps not the audience that the largest role-playing game out there the flagship game should be approaching they should be giving you the tools you need to create your own cosmic stories to find the conflicts in your own setting and and use the stuff that they present you as inspiration for it

Channel: Web DM

Views: 167,967

Rating: 4.9418507 out of 5

Keywords: Dungeons, Dragons, Role, Playing, Tabletop, Game, 5th, Edition, 5e, Web, DM, WebDM, D&D, DND, dungeons and dragons, dungeons & dragons, ranger, rangers, dnd ranger, 5e ranger, ranger 5e, elf, drizzt, role playing games, 5e character creation ranger, 5e character creation, dungeons and dragons ranger, beastmaster, class, classes, dnd classes, how to play dnd, gm tips, dm tips, geek and sundry, geek & sundry, critical role, advice, tips and tricks, rpg, web dm, player character, inspiration, rp, funny

Id: C3PYbfBFnZw

Length: 43min 15sec (2595 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 07 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

If you're a fan of WebDM, I'd like to invite you to subscribe to the newly created Subreddit; /r/WebDmShow.

[u/69001001011]

I am not part of WebDM, I just love their content.

[u/MisanthropeX]

Nexkbeards "a-quiver?" I see what you did there

[u/Ianoren]

I know they aren't going into depth with mechanics but often it feels like they don't really help the make the class fun even though the story is incredible. But if you want to roleplay Rangers without the clunky, niche class mechanics, the Scout Rogue fits perfectly.

[u/[deleted]]

Ranger is the most lackluster class ever in 5th ed.

Still, I like the flavor of it so I often go for it anyway. I like half elf ranger for their plethora of skills.

I think my favorite way to play ranger is just to start level 1 then go fighter instead. Fighter with a favorite enemy/terrain. But, I will only play that when DM offers a background/story in advance so that I know that my favorer terrain and ennemies will matter.