Rangers As Arcane Spellcasters

[Yair]

I am sure it has been discussed, but I wasn't here to hear it. So if you can point me in the right direction, I'll appreciate it.
I am thinking of making rangers arcane casters, to emphasise their connection with nature (read: source). Have the ramifications of this and the way to do this been discussed by the community?

[kgauck]

----- Original Message -----

From: "Yair" <brnetboard@BIRTHRIGHT.NET>

Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 7:10 PM





> I am sure it has been discussed, but I wasn&#39;t here to hear it.

> So if you can point me in the right direction, I&#39;ll appreciate it.

> I am thinking of making rangers arcane casters, to emphasise their

> connection with nature (read: source). Have the ramifications of this

> and the way to do this been discussed by the community?



I don`t associate sorces with arcane magic. I allow druids to make use of

sources as much as wizards. Since rangers would presumably draw on the same

magical energies as druids, I would have both use sources or not.



Kenneth Gauck

kgauck@mchsi.com

[Raesene Andu]

Rangers using arcane magic instead of divine is mentioned (in a roundabout way) in the BRCS. There has also been some discussion on changing druids to arcane spellcasters as well or even introducing an elven school of magic.

This was the version of the elven school discussed by the developers. (Note: This wasn&#39;t really properly discussed, just introduced as an idea and left at that for now, but if you&#39;d like to see something like this then let us know.)

Elven racial abilities:
Variant: Elven nature magic familiarity - Due to their strong ties to the land of Cerilia elves add the following spells to any arcane spellcaster list they may have at the equivalent spell level listed. Elves follow the rules for learning and casting these spells for the spellcasting class that they apply. These spells would be cast as arcane spells.

0-Level
Create Water

1st-Level
Calm Animals -
Charm Animal -
Detect Snares and Pits -
Entangle -
Goodberry -
Hide from Animals -
Longstrider – I’d add it even though it doesn’t really have a nature theme, it does fit in with the elven descriptions
Magic Fang -
Magic Stone -
Pass without Trace -
Shillelagh -

2nd-Level
Animal Messenger -
Barkskin -
Hold Animal -
Reduce Animal -
Soften Earth and Stone -
Tree Shape -
Warp Wood -
Wood Shape -

3rd-Level
Diminish Plants -
Dominate Animal -
Magic Fang, Greater -
Meld into Stone -
Plant Growth -
Quench -
Snare -
Spike Growth –
Wind Walk -

4th-Level
Air Walk
Antiplant Shell -
Command Plants -
Giant Vermin -
Spike Stones -

5th-Level
Awaken -
Commune with Nature -
Control Winds -
Tree Stride -
Wall of Thorns -

6th-Level
Ironwood -
Liveoak -
Repel Wood
Spellstaff -
Stone Tell -
Transport via Plants -

7th-Level
Animate Plants -
Changestaff -
Transmute Metal to Wood -
Wind Walk -

8th-Level
Animal Shapes -
Control Plants -
Repel Metal or Stone -

9th-Level
Shambler -

[Yair]

Not a bad idea, and now that I read the thread I see the discussion is comprehensive. Personally, I think any true mage should have a connection to the land, not just elves so I&#39;ll probably simply add those spells to the sor/wiz spell list. But I&#39;ll have to mull it over; its a good idea.

kgauck: what do you see source as, then? I ain&#39;t looking at the books, but the impression I got was that of source, being wild nature, competing with civilization, being domain level.

[kgauck]

----- Original Message -----

From: "Yair" <brnetboard@BIRTHRIGHT.NET>

Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2003 4:18 PM





> kgauck: what do see source as, then? I ain`t looking at the books,

> but the impression I got was that of source, being wild nature,

> competing with civilization, being domain level.



The druids, especially the Emerald Spire are likewise hostile to

civilization and the evils it brings (consumption of substantial natural

resources). Even the less radical druids are ambivilant towards higher

province levels. It certainly seems more natural the druidical power should

be higher in the wild areas than in the civilized areas, no?



Kenneth Gauck

kgauck@mchsi.com

[Yair]

Indeed.
It&#39;s just that I associate nature/source with true arcane magic, so I am loath to let druids, or divine magic, be better at controlling it. But I see that you don&#39;t.

Thanks.

[Osprey]

I don&#39;t think druids are better or worse at controlling sources in Kenneth&#39;s description. They are simply capable of competing at the same level. For comparison, the current BRCS has druids capable of tapping unclaimed sources for realm spells.

My own preference is on the same page with Ken&#39;s: I allow druids full access to sources, putting them in direct competition with mages. Their methods are definitely different (harmony vs. control respectively), but the results are similar. To that end, the mechanic I use is that wizards use Kn: Arcana for their key skill in creating/ruling/contesting sources, while druids use Kn: Nature. Also, I don&#39;t let druids use ley lines, as that is overt manipulation of mebhaighal. Check out the "Source Regents and Arcane Courts" thread for more details.

That being said, I consider rangers to use a similar "harmonistic" approach to their magic, but on a lesser path, similar to bards/magicians vs. true mages. Hence, no realm magic for rangers.

-Osprey

[irdeggman]

Honestly I think that I&#39;d rather have a no spell casting ranger (like Monte Cook&#39;s variant one) but this generally causes too many problems with using the "core rules" and most people tend to prefer the core rules version better.

In Birthright a non-spell casting ranger would eliminate the deity inspired aspect of the divine spells in Birthright and reduce the inherent conflict with the basic Birthright premise that all druids gain their spells from Erik (i.e., not nature itself). Since arcane sources generally come under the aspect of Rournil and not Erik this tends to cause an issue at least in the way I see things.

[Eosin the Red]

I use the Woodsman from Wheel of Time for human rangers but let the elven Rangers play core if they like...The magic then comes from their "elvenness" and I don`t have to address it.



Randy~Eosin

>

> From: irdeggman <brnetboard@BIRTHRIGHT.NET>

> Date: 2003/10/10 Fri PM 07:44:02 EDT

> To: BIRTHRIGHT-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM

> Subject: Re: Rangers As Arcane Spellcasters [36#1999]

>

> This post was generated by the Birthright.net message forum.

> You can view the entire thread at:

> http://www.birthright.net/forums/ind...ST&f=36&t=1999

>

> irdeggman wrote:

> Honestly I think that I`d rather have a no spell casting ranger (like Monte Cook`s variant one) but this generally causes too many problems with using the "core rules" and most people tend to prefer the core rules version better.

>

> In Birthright a non-spell casting ranger would eliminate the deity inspired aspect of the divine spells in Birthright and reduce the inherent conflict with the basic Birthright premise that all druids gain their spells from Erik (i.e., not nature itself).

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Osprey]

I created a variant ranger class, the Huntsman, which I thought would be neat for Rjurik and Vos rangers. The Huntsman ditches the spells, and instead gains power from devotion to a totem animal. At first this grants increased empathy with the totem animal type. Eventually, the ranger can Wild Shape into his totem animal&#39;s form. At higher levels, he can take larger and more powerful forms (superior, dire, then giant forms). He still gains all of the other ranger abilities, but trades the spells for shapeshifting.

If anyone&#39;s interested in seeing a writeup, I&#39;d be happy to post it.