| Lirya |
In my opinion, these archetypes represent a major power creep compared to the core ranger. The goal is to allow the user to still feel he plays a classic pathfinder ranger, except he has Path of War goodness buffing him up to the same power level as the Warder, Warlord, Inquisitor, Bard, Magus, Alchemist and so on.
The first two archetypes are making trades that too my eyes are very close to what Dreamscarred Press deems acceptable for an archetype. I also tried to compare the full initiator version of the ranger with the Warlord, as that is the class from Path of War that is closest to a ranger (Medium Armor, full Base Atk Bonus, d10 HD).
This is in many ways a 1st outcast, written in a single evening of inspiration, so feedback about if I am on the right track or made a major oversight is very much welcome.
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Martial Ranger
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Instead of attuning to nature, gaining the ability to cast spells. The martial ranger hones his skills with blade and bow, becoming a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
Maneuvers: A martial ranger begins his career with knowledge of three martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to him are Primal Fury, Scarlet Throne, Solar Wind, and Thrashing Dragon. Once he knows a maneuver, he must ready it before he can use it (see Maneuvers Readied below). A maneuver usable by a martial ranger is considered an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in its description. His maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance and do not provoke attacks of opportunity when he initiates one. He learns additional maneuvers at higher levels, as shown on the table below. The martial ranger must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it.
Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even numbered martial ranger level after that, he can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one he already knows. In effect, the martial ranger loses the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. The martial ranger need not replace the old maneuver with a new maneuver of the same level. He can choose a new maneuver of any level he likes, as long as he observes his restriction on the highest-level maneuvers he knows. The martial ranger can swap only a single maneuver at any given level, and each martial ranger level is counted as a full initiator level.
This replaces the spellcasting class feature.
Maneuvers Readied: A martial ranger can ready all three of his starting maneuvers, but as he advances in level and learns more maneuvers, he must choose which maneuvers to ready. He readies maneuvers by performing weapon drills for 10 minutes. The maneuvers he chooses remain readied until he decides to repeat this again and change them. Martial rangers do not need to sleep or be well rested to ready their maneuvers; any time he spends 10 minutes performing weapon drills, he can change his readied maneuvers. He begins an encounter with all readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times he may have already used them since he chose them. When the martial ranger
initiates a maneuver, he expends it for the current encounter, so each of his readied maneuvers can be used once per encounter (unless they are recovered, see below).
Martial rangers may recover their maneuvers in one of two ways. The he may spend a standard action to recover a single maneuver of his choice. He can also spend a full-round action to adjust his fighting style slightly, recovering his Wisdom modifier in expended maneuvers (min of 2). When spending a full-round action to recover maneuvers, he can also select one target within line of sight that is not a favored enemy, and treat that target as a favored enemy until the end of his next turn.
Stances Known: Martial rangers begin play with knowledge of one 1st level stance from any discipline open to them. At the indicated levels (see table below), the martial ranger selects an additional new stance. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended and he does not have to ready them. All stances he knows are available to him at all times, and he can change the stance he is currently using as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unles otherwise stated in the stance
description. Unlike maneuvers, the martial ranger cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one he already knows.
Level---Known---Readied---Stance---Max Level
1---------3---------3-----------1----------1
2---------4---------3-----------1----------1
3---------5---------3-----------1----------1
4---------5---------4-----------2----------2
5---------6---------4-----------2----------2
6---------6---------4-----------2----------2
7---------7---------4-----------2----------3
8---------7---------4-----------2----------3
9---------8---------4-----------2----------4
10--------8---------5-----------3----------4
11--------9---------5-----------3----------5
12--------9---------5-----------3----------5
13--------10--------5-----------3----------6
14--------10--------5-----------3----------6
15--------11--------6-----------4----------6
16--------11--------6-----------4----------6
17--------12--------6-----------4----------6
18--------12--------6-----------4----------6
19--------13--------6-----------4----------6
20--------13--------7-----------4----------6
The intention of this archetype is to be the default way to add Path of War goodness to the Ranger.
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Path of the Ranger
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Path of the Ranger is a path rangers can take to improve upon their personal fighting prowess.
Maneuvers: A ranger with this path may select a single discipline and gain its associated skill as a class skill (if he does not have it already). He gains limited initiating with that discipline as shown on the table below.
Once he knows a maneuver, the ranger must ready it before he can use it (see Maneuvers Readied, below). A maneuver usable by an initiator is considered an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in its description. His maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and he does not provoke attacks of opportunity when he initiates one. He learns additional maneuvers at higher levels, as shown below. The initiator must meet a maneuver's prerequisite to learn it.
Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even numbered ranger level after that, he can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one he already knows. In effect, the initiator loses the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. The initiator need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. He can choose a new maneuver of any level he likes, as long as he observes his restriction on the highest-level maneuvers he knows. The initiator can swap only a single maneuver at any given level. An initiator's primary initiator attribute is Wisdom, and each ranger level is counted as a full initiator level.
This ability replaces Wild Empathy and Hunter's Bond.
Maneuvers Readied: The ranger can ready 1 of his 2 starting maneuvers. He readies his maneuvers by performing weapon drills for 10 minutes. The maneuvers he chooses remain readied until he decides to repeat this again and change them. The ranger do not need to sleep or be well rested to ready his maneuvers; any time he spends 10 minutes in meditation, he can change his readied maneuvers. He begins an encounter
with all readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times he may have already used them since he chose them. When the disciple initiates a maneuver, he expends it for the current encounter, so each of his readied maneuvers can be used once per encounter (until they are recovered, see below).
The ranger may only recover his maneuvers in one way, by spending a standard action to recover one expended maneuver.
Stances Known: The ranger begins play with knowledge of one 1st level stance from the discipline open to him. At the indicated levels (see table), the discipline selects an additional new stance. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended and he does not have to ready them. All stances he knows are available to him at all times, and he can change the stance he is currently using as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description. Unlike with maneuvers, the ranger cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one he already knows.
Level---Known---Readied---Stance---Max Level
1---------2---------1-----------1----------1
2---------3---------1-----------1----------1
3---------3---------2-----------1----------1
4---------4---------2-----------1----------2
5---------4---------2-----------1----------2
6---------4---------3-----------1----------2
7---------5---------3-----------2----------3
8---------5---------3-----------2----------3
9---------6---------4-----------2----------4
10--------6---------4-----------2----------4
11--------7---------4-----------3----------5
12--------7---------5-----------3----------5
13--------8---------5-----------3----------6
14--------8---------5-----------4----------6
15--------9---------5-----------4----------6
16--------9---------6-----------4----------6
17--------10--------6-----------4----------6
18--------10--------6-----------4----------6
19--------11--------6-----------4----------6
20--------11--------7-----------4----------6
wishes to give Inquisitors, and Slightly better than the one they intend to give Clerics.
The intention of this archetype is to give Rangers a taste of Path of War that technically stacks with the archetype above. The result of what you get if you combine them is called Seeker and written below.
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Seeker
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Seeker is short for seeker of the lost arts, they are rangers specialized in gathering and developing obscure fighting techniques from all over the world as well as from the worlds beyond.
Maneuvers: A seeker begins his career with knowledge of six martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to him are Primal Fury, Scarlet Throne, Solar Wind, Thrashing Dragon and one additional discipline of his choice. The seeker gains the associated skill of the additional discipline he chooses (if he does not already have it). Once he knows a maneuver, he must ready it before he can use it (see Maneuvers Readied, below). A maneuver usable by seekers is considered
an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in its description. His maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and he does not provoke attacks of opportunity when he initiates one. He learns additional maneuveres at higher levels, as shown on the table below. The seeker must meet a maneuver's prerequisites to learn it.
Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even numbered seeker level after that, he can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one he already knows. In effect, the seeker loses the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. He can choose a new maneuver of any level he likes, as long as he observes his restriction on the highest-level maneuvers he knows. The seeker need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level. The seeker can swap only a single maneuver at any given level. A seeker's initiation modifier is Wisdom.
This ability replaces Wild Empathy, Hunter's Bond, and Spellcasting.
Maneuvers Readied: A seeker can ready four of his six starting maneuvers, but as he advances in level and learns more maneuvers, he must choose which maneuvers to ready. He readies his maneuvers by going through weapon drills for 10 minutes. The maneuvers he chooses remain readied until he decides to repeat this again and change them. Seekers do not need to sleep or rest for any long period of time to ready their maneuvers, any time he spends 10 minutes in practice, he can change
his readied maneuvers. He may not ready any individual maneuver more than once. He begins an encounter with all readied maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times he may have used them since he chose them. When the seeker initiates a maneuver, he expends it for the current encounter so each of his readied maneuvers can be used once per encounter (until they are recovered, see below).
Seekers may recover their maneuvers in one of two ways. The seeker may either spend a standard action to recover a single maneuver of his choice. He can also spend a full-round action to adjust his fighting style slightly, recovering his Wisdom modifier in expended maneuvers (min of 2). When spending a full-round action to recover maneuvers, he can also select one target within line of sight that is not a favored enemy, and treat that target as a favored enemy until the end of his next turn.
Stances: Seekers begin play with knowledge of one stance from any discipline open to him. At the indicated levels (see table below), the seeker selects an additional new stance. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended and he does not have to ready them. All stances he knows are available to him at all times, and he can change the stance he is currently using as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description. Unlike with maneuvers, the seeker cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one he already knows.
Level---Known---Readied---Stance---Max Level
1---------6---------4-----------1----------1
2---------7---------5-----------2----------1
3---------8---------5-----------2----------2
4---------8---------5-----------2----------2
5---------9---------6-----------3----------3
6---------9---------6-----------3----------3
7---------10--------6-----------3----------4
8---------10--------7-----------4----------4
9---------11--------7-----------4----------5
10--------11--------7-----------4----------5
11--------12--------8-----------5----------6
12--------12--------8-----------5----------6
13--------13--------8-----------5----------7
14--------13--------9-----------5----------7
15--------14--------9-----------6----------8
16--------14--------9-----------6----------8
17--------15--------10----------6----------9
18--------16--------10----------6----------9
19--------17--------10----------7----------9
20--------18--------11----------7----------9
Seeker
+ Skills: The ranger has a 2 more skill points per level than the Warlord.
+ Maneuvers: This is completely identical except the seeker gains access to one disciple of his choice, instead of Golden Lion.
+ Favored Enemy: This is a potentially large boost to hit and damage, but only if you fight the correct enemy.
+ Favored Terrain: This is a solid boost to initiative and skills, but only if you are in the correct environment.
+ Combat Feats: 5 bonus combat feats that ignore prereqs, but they are limited to a single fighting style.
+ Evasion: This is a nice boost.
+ Camouflage: Easy hiding in your favored terrains is nice.
Warlord
+ Gambits: This is a superior way of regaining maneuvers, with solid built in boosts.
+ Bonus Feats: 5 bonus combat feats or teamwork feats. The warlord must meet the prerequisites, but there are no other restrictions on what feats he may take.
+ Charisma to Will: This helps the warlord slightly with his MAD problem, and the fact that he only has 1 good save.
+ Warleader: A bonus teamwork feat and the ability to share teamwork feats with his allies. Most (of the better) teamwork feats are nice but not great.
+ Battle Prowess: +1 to +3 to all attack rolls, damage rolls, CMB checks and CMD is very good. There is a slight limitation, but it is unlikely to actually show up.
+ Dual Boost: The Warlord is very limited in how often he may use this, but it is a powerful feature that can be used to create killer combos.
This seems equal enough to me. Someone who wants to play a leader of men will likely choose the Warlord, while someone who wants to play a scout, hunter, or elite soldier is likely to choose the Seeker. I did not choose to compare this to a Stalker, as I dislike the rogue chassis it is built upon. I consider it a bad class, except it has maneuvers and an easy time stacking Broken Blade and Thrashing Dragon for impressive numbers (using TWF with unarmed strikes and dex to hit/dmg).
This archetype turns the ranger into a full initiator. I believe this to be a big power-up, so do not expect it to be balanced for use alongside the weaker martials such as the Fighter or the Rogue unless those classes are heavily optimized.
Lirya