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The Talented Ranger is available now!
With the popular and proven edge and talent system that has already been applied to many other classes in the Talented Class line of books from Rogue Genius Games, we’ve built a new talented ranger class that can take a wide range of specialties from favored enemies and terrain to bonding to a weapon, gaining a pack of animal companions, and even becoming an ally of magic itself. While these most certainly include a number of things that could be considered forms of woodsman, they also allow for rangers as prowlers of big cities, warriors with a touch of arcane magic, and supernatural hunters who expose the secrets of the demons they hunt.
Here's an excerpt, from the Wall of Text appendix:
Appendix Two: Save Vs. Wall of Text
Because it includes more than 20,000 words of edges, talents, advanced talents, grand talents, and traps, getting through the talented ranger's options can be daunting. Once a character has been written up it’s easy to look up any selected edges and talents if they are presented alphabetically, but when thinking about what talent to take next the abilities can form a nigh-impenetrable “wall of text.”
To help with this issue we’ve categorized all the edges and talents into the following themes and sub themes, based on common ranger character concepts: animals, plants, and vermin; favored allies; favored enemies; favored terrain; fighting prowess; spellcasting and supernatural powers; skills, knacks, and movement; stealth; tracks, traps, and tricks.
Each option gives its name and notes if it is an edge, advanced talent, or grand talent. This allows a GM or player looking for a new option to see which abilities are most likely to match his desired character concept without reading through the entire list of options.
Animals, Plants, and Vermin
Beast signals (talent)
Dual-Form Shifter
Expert trainer (talent)
Horse whisperer (talent)
Hunter's bond: animal companion (edge)
Improved empathic link (talent)
Improved shifter's blessing (talent)
Master shifter (grand talent)
Plant empathy (talent)
Second companion (grand talent)
Shifter's blessing (edge)
Sovereign beast companion (talent)
Strong bond (advanced talent)
Spiritual bond (advanced talent)
Summons (talent)
Vermin empathy (talent)
Wild empathy (talent)
Favored Allies
Advantageous terrain (talent)
Bodyguard (talent)
Hunter's bond: hunting companions (edge)
Hunter's bond: terrain bond (edge)
Hunter's bond: witchguard (edge)
Pack leader (talent)
Pallas companion (talent)
Superior tactics (advanced talent)
Trailblazer (talent)
Favored Enemies
Adaptation (edge)
Devil slayer (talent)
Disrupt control (talent)
Elemental resistance (advanced talent)
Essential foe (advanced talent)
Exterminator (talent)
Favored attack (edge)
Favored enemy (edge)
Fiendish quarry (advanced talent)
Focused fury (edge)
Hunter's bond: hunter's aim (edge)
Hunter's bond: hunting companions (edge)
Hunter's focus (edge)
Improved adaptation (talent)
Improved favored enemy (talent)
Improved focused fury (talent)
Improved hunter's focus (talent)
Manhunter (talent)
Resist magic (advanced talent)
Undaunted (advanced talent)
Yokai hunter (talent)
Favored Terrain
Able explorer (talent)
Advantageous terrain (talent)
Deep knowledge (talent)
Deep sentinel (talent)
Favored attack (edge)
Favored terrain (edge)
Hunter's bond: spirit bond (edge)
Hunter's bond: terrain bond (edge)
Improved favored terrain (talent)
Infiltration (advanced talent)
Live in comfort (edge)
Master of all terrains (grand talent)
Master of spirits (grand talent)
Mystic herbalism (talent)
Perfect advantage (grand talent)
Ranger sigils (talent)
Spearhead (talent)
Terrain dominance (advanced talent)
Terrain mastery (talent)
Urbanite (talent)
Wilderness whispers (advanced talent)
Fighting Prowess
Attach (talent)
Combat style (edge)
Evasion (edge)
Favored weapon (edge)
Harrying attack (advanced talent)
Hunter's bond: pack prowess (edge)
Improved combat style (talent)
Improved evasion (advanced talent)
Improved favored weapon (talent)
Improved quarry (advanced talent)
Inspired moment (advanced talent)
Master of terrain (advanced talent)
Master of weapons (grand talent)
Mystic weapon (talent)
Quarry (advanced talent)
Rage powers (edge)
Rage of the wild (edge)
Soul blade (advanced talent)
Sword sworn (talent)
Uncanny dodge (edge)
Wild talents (talent)
Spellcasting and Supernatural Powers
Dark sight (advanced talent)
Druid spells (edge)
Eldritch spells (edge)
Herbal extracts (edge)
Favored arcana (talent)
Hunter's bond: divine warden (edge)
Hunter's bond: shadow bond (edge)
Hunter's bond: spirit bond (edge)
Improved ranger's luck (advanced talent)
Master of the arcane (grand talent)
Master of the green (grand talent)
Master of the ward (grand talent)
Patron (edge)
Ranger's luck (edge)
Ranger spells (edge)
Warden orisons (talent)
Warden spells (edge)
Wild talents (talent)
Wisdom of the spirits (advanced talent)
Skills, Knacks, and Movement
Able explorer (talent)
Divine calling (talent)
Eldritch calling (talent)
Explorer's lore (talent)
Graveyard stride (talent)
Improved tracking (talent)
Master of bonds (grand talent)
Master swimmer (talent)
Push through (talent)
Rock hopper (talent)
Seaborn (talent)
Squeeze (talent)
Strong senses (edge)
Talent (edge)
Unfettered step (talent)
Well-traveled (talent)
Woodland stride (talent)
Stealth
Blend-in (advanced talent)
Camouflage (advanced talent)
Hide-in-plain-sight (advanced talent)
Improved camouflage (advanced talent)
Invisibility trick (advanced talent)
Tracks, Traps, and Tricks
Ear to the ground (talent)
Expert trapper (talent)
Explorer's lore (talent)
Extra hunter's tricks (talent)
Extra hunter's traps (talent)
Hunter's tricks (edge)
Launch trap (advanced talent)
Master hunter (grand talent)
Quick tracking (talent)
Read tracks (talent)
Track (talent)
Trapper (edge)
Modules Overlord
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A design note in response to a patron's inquiry on why ranger access to bonus feats through combat style is more limited than monk's access to bonus feats.
Ultimately there are three reasons.
First, the monk doesn't as large a pool of bonus feats to select from. A 1st to 5th level monk has 25 feats to choose from with the bonus feat edge. Between all the different combat styles, a ranger has 40 to choose from in the same level range.
Secondly, the monk and ranger have different core concepts. The monk is a master of specialist fighting styles. The ranger is a master of adaptation, becoming part of something outside himself. Thus monks get open selection on their feats, which represent that fighting specialization. Rangers pick a combat style, which represents their adaptation to the forces around them, and can more gradually grow into it.
Third is playtest feedback on play balance. The monk's open access was extensively tested and showed no sign of creating an overpowered end result. The ranger's playtest showed their access to their feat list could be abused if not kept in check. I suspect that has more to do with the ranger's potential selections, which are broader (and include things like firearms), though some playtesters felt it was because a ranger had a full base attack and potential access to spells. But regardless, a talented ranger who could take any feat any time turned out to dominate games that used it, so I tweaked the options until it didn't.
In case this is a more appropriate place to discuss this instead of the product discussion, here is my response/explanation for why I questioned the limits on combat style feats for the Talented Ranger:
That's understandable. Thank you for sharing. But I thought that the Combat Style edge was already plenty of a limiter. You could only take one combat style at levels 1-3, a second at 4th, third at 9th, and fourth at 13th. With that considered, I don't agree with your pools of 25 vs. 40 feats between 1st and 5th level. For the monk, in addition to the 25 regular bonus feats, they also have access to all of the style feats in the game with the Style Master talent. That increases his pool higher than I would like to count, especially if you have access to a lot of 3PP works that support style feats. And if you take the restrictions of the Combat Style edge into account, a ranger only has access to a small subset of the feats he has available depending on what Combat Style edges are taken. Not counting firearms, a single talented ranger can only have at most 9 feats to choose (taking a style edge that includes a "talent tax") at levels 1-3, and a max of 14 at 4-5. Also, I counted and I also found 40 individual feats listed between the styles, but there are some duplicates between the combat styles. If you remove all of the duplicates, you only have 33 plus access to all grit feats and gunslinger deeds (kind of a wash with the monk access to style feats)....
So rangers kind of still have a larger pool of options since most concepts can get all of the feats they need from a few styles, but I do think the edge restriction is plenty without restricting the Improved Combat Style talent. I'd at least like to be able to take Improved Combat Style "not more than once for every four ranger levels for each combat style edge," or something along those lines so I can make something like the Dual-Style Ranger archetype for the Spell-Less Ranger by Kobold Press.
Sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining a lot. I am definitely liking the PDF as a whole. Thank you again for all the work you do with the Talented Class and I can't wait to see the next one!
Many thanks to Megan Robertson for her 5-Star Review!
Sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining a lot. I am definitely liking the PDF as a whole. Thank you again for all the work you do with the Talented Class and I can't wait to see the next one!
No worries!
Part of the art of class/feat/spell/archetype design is carving out differences in design spaces to make sure everything isn't exactly the same. In this case, concept and playtesting gave me a heavy lead, but not everyone will always agree with the direction you take such ideas. One of the things I like about the Talented line is it's easy for a group to implement house rules to alter the shape of that design space. So if a group decided to remove that limitation because that works better for them, it's clean and easy to see what happens when the ranger gets more feats (they end up with fewer edges and talents for other things).I'm really glad you like the product overall.
oh god i need more ranger talents to be out now!
oh god i need more ranger talents to be out now!
Yes, please!
The "More [Class] Talents" pdf classically comes out 2 weeks after the core "Talented [Class]" book.
I'd expect that to be the case this time, too.
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I figured as much, but as tom petty once said, "the waiting is the hardest part."
Many thanks to Lord Sqonk for his 5 Star review!
Quote from the review: "I have enjoyed the whole RGG talented line. It allows for more flexibility to create the character you really want. It is the next step up from archetypes. Talented Ranger did not disappoint.
Want to play a ranger with no spells and no animal buddy? No problem. Want to play a ranger who bonds with his sword rather than a wolf? Bond away."
The follow-up product The Genius Guide to More Ranger Talents is available now!