So, one of our players is wanting a more perception based Ranger, based more on the fantasy stories they are based off of, such as Aragorn. His problem is all the spell-casting, and not enough of the awareness. After a bit of discussion, here's something I proposed to him, and he seems to like the idea. Thought I'd share again. :)
Sense of Nature (Su): A warden is able to, at will, detect magic and read magic, as the spells. A 3rd level warden is more attuned to hidden passageways. Coming within 30' of a secret door allows her a perception roll to notice. The warden also gains a +2 to all perception checks, which increases by +2 at 8th level and every 5 levels thereafter. This replaces the favored enemy and favored terrain class feature.
Scryer of Nature (Sp): Beginning at 4th level a warden gains a number of spell points equal to 1/2 her level plus her Wis Modifier. Using these, she can spend a point to use See Invisibility. At 7th level, she can use these points to access Clairaudience/Clairvoyance at a cost of 2 spell points. At 10th level she gains access to Arcane Eye at a cost of 3 spell points. Finally, at level 13 she can use 4 spell points to access Prying Eyes. These are spell-like abilities, not actual spell casting, so no somantic, verbal nor material components are required to use this feature. The duration for these effects is equal to 1 minute per level. This replaces the spells class feature.
Oops, posted the mechanics without the theme behind them. :P
The idea behind the Scryer of Nature is that he basically has his own version of "Summon Nature's Ally" which he uses to perceive. Clair spell is summoning something into where he wants to look/listen and seeing/hearing through its eyes/ears. The Eye/Eyes are him summoning things that fly, and which he can visually connect with. It's suppose to be quite a bit less arcane than the spells themselves, and more nature based.
My personal suggestion would be to use the Skirmisher Archetype from Advanced Player's Guide, and then give him Combat Stamina from Pathfinder Unchained if you feel it's too weak of a replacement for spells.
Skirmisher can be extremely good for Perception - check out Skill Sage and Uncanny Senses. It also has some extremely good combat abilities, like Tangling Strike to debuff with an attack and Vengeance Strike to make a free attack against a foe who hits the Ranger or his allies.
The Guide Ranger archetype can be crossed with Skirmisher, and provides a more generally combat-ready Ranger with some built-in heroics.
The Urban Ranger gets Rogue Trapfinding if that matters, and I think it's compatible with the other two as well.
My major complain with this is that it fails to achieve your thematic goal. Detect magic, read magic, finding secret doors? Is this Aragorn? See invisiility and scrying? Still not Aragorn. IMHO, although Strider is called a ranger he does not quite match D&D's ranger. Maybe he is multiclass.
On the flip-side - thematic elements not playing a part - you have traded very good class features for mechanically inferior ones. Favored enemy is great, and so is spellcasting. You trade them for some minor abilities, a skill bonus, and the smallest spell list in the game. From 4th to 6th level, you have exactly 1 spell.
I approve of your intent, but the execution is not there. If you are interested, I will suggestions on what to do next. Can you elaborate on your goal?
I'm glad for help, so please, any suggestion at all is awesome. These were just ideas I threw at him, better ideas would go over even better I'm sure. :)
What I've attempted to do is integrate a near mystical perception to the character, because that's how he sees Rangers. In the movie, you may recall that Strider just always seem to "know" something was amiss, while everyone else was just continueing on their day as if the world was a benevolent place. He was aware, far quicker than Gandalf, that Frodo had a magical ring. He just 'knew' things at a supernatural level. In the books, he could close his eyes and 'see' things, almost clairvoyantly.
This player always tries to play the most aware character possible. Wisdom is always his primary in these fantasy games, and he switches between Cleric, Ranger, and anything else that gives him a perception boost (Cleric for domains like Exploration, and we tend to just let him spend a trait to have Perception and/or Sense Motive as class skills). When we were talking, he was trying to Hybrid a Sorcerer/Ranger concept. He wants the offense of a full BAB, but only cares about Divination (scrying) type spells... he thinks a perception based character would use a very long range weapon, wants eyes like a hawk, supernatural awareness, and preferably, shoot at extreme range with minimal penalty (not necessarily with high damage). Of course, the Ranger doesn't get the cool spells that a Sorcerer gets, especially his favorite, Clairvoyance.
When we play Wild Talents (superhero genre), clairvoyant type powers are guaranteed to be in his character, regardless if he's playing a sciency-geek, or power-thug character. That's just his shtick. (like mine is telekinetics). But... obviously in such a fantasy game as pathfinder, there's no combat advantage to such a character, so no class focuses on it.
He's the -last- player of the group that doesn't have a way of generating his dream character in this game. We have the holy dudley do-right paladin, "Kill'em all, let God sort them out" Paladin who hates spells, so took Warrior of the Holy Light (though since he is so much weaker without the spells, we let him have both Divine Bonds). We have the Unchained Monk, who always played the Ki monk before unchained came out, who always has to be the best fighter and always unarmed. We have the packmaster druid catfolk girl who is animal crazy (though we had to adjust it so the animals had a total XP value equal to the the xp value of her CR meaning that at like 6th level, she has 3 level-3 companions), we have the Bard Prankster who focuses purely on illusions, and of course my sylph telekineticist. Each ideal to the player.
Of course, he doesn't want to lose his effectiveness, he "feels" Ranger, but not the sort that's in the book, he wants the (Su) instead of (Sp) for these scrying spells. And honestly, I don't think I've ever even seen him cast a spell in past ranger incarnations... so that's no loss to him. The Favored stuff is a loss, but it was to justify him getting things beginning at 1st level... :/
My personal suggestion would be to use the Skirmisher Archetype from Advanced Player's Guide, and then give him Combat Stamina from Pathfinder Unchained if you feel it's too weak of a replacement for spells.
He's actually just finished a Skirmisher, we're rebooting because half of us have more attuned classes that have come out since our last reboot. He's trying to get a bit more than Uncanny Senses provides. It's a good idea of course, it's just not quite enough. :)
Homebrew is always an option, but are there any other existing abilites that fit the idea? Scent, blindsense, blindsight, tremorsense, low-light vision, darkvision, greensight, mistsight. Could you work in any of those, or use them as inspiration?
Of course we could, he wants all those abilities... Though I have never heard of greensight or mistsight... We were already talking about including them into the 2nd power even, While the clair* stuff is cool, he would likely forego that to gain a full spectrum of the basic sensory powers. He even talked of making this one a catfolk so he could start with the lowlight and scent abilities...
Gandalph knew that Bilbo had a magic ring before Aragorn, and he told Aragorn about it before Aragorn met Frodo.
Also, Aragorn deferred to Legolas's vastly superior eyes in both the book and the film. Aragorn's strength lay in leadership and wisdom - not his physical senses.
Back on topic though, Aragorn's awareness in the films is greater than just Perception. It would encompass Sense Motice too. Perhaps swapping out Endurance for Alertness would accommodate you. I would keep favored enemy though. If you really want some of the abilities I mentioned in my last post, you could throw out spells and grant one of them at each level he would normally get a new spell level.
Well, after talking to the GM, we'll likely just add some Tricks to the Skirmisher Archetype, and use that system with some houserule mods. First houserule would be that he can not take any combat tricks. While, unlike feats, there are no (Combat) tags on the tricks, it should be relatively easy to identify which ones are lost. Pretty much all the ones that make it almost worth being a Skirmisher for... (the ones he never took as a Skirmisher anyhows)
Having diminished the combat effectiveness of the Skirmisher, we're going to add more tricks... and modify the archetype a bit... First, the changes.
Preternatural Awareness (Ex): The ranger's levels of perception seem almost supernatural, as she easily detect things that oft require supernatural abilities. This begins at 3rd level with her ability to detect hidden cache's, compartments and doors. Anytime she is within 60' of one of these objects, she receives a chance to make a perception roll to detect it. At 5th level, she's learned how to detect the presence of magic within 60' of her due to the ways the hairs on her neck rise. Although she does not see magical auras, she can tell when she's getting closer to an object or area of magic.
Heightened Senses (Su) At 5th level the ranger gains the scent ability if she does not have it, as well as the next level of vision according to the following chart, which she does not currently have. So, if she has low light vision, she gains darkvision 60', or if she has standard vision, she gains low light vision. At 7th level, and every 2 levels thereafter, her vision improves by one category on the chart.
- Low Light Vision
- Darkvision 60'
- Darkvision 120'
- Blindsense
- Blindsight
Real-time Tracking (Ex): The ranger can use this trick to be aware of objects or beings that are invisible within her range of vision, but not ethereal. This awareness comes from both a preternatural perception which identifies applied weight on the ground, the sound of wind being off, or sometimes, just a feeling. If the target is a being, it is not a precise visual awareness of the target. This would work in much the same way a ranger would track a target, except that she's tracking the target as it's making tracks, and using perception instead of survival. To be aware of the object or being, the ranger must make a perception roll against the DC of the spell or spell-like ability that was, or is being, used. This may be re-rolled once for each round, within the duration of the effect, that the object or being remains in range of her vision. If the target is a being, you are treated as having the blind-fighting feat in regards to the target. The effects of this trick lasts for 1 minute per ranger level
Eyes of Nature (Su): This is a supernatural ability which allows the ranger to see through the eyes of any creature within long range of her (400ft + 40 ft/level). If there are no creatures within range, the closest natural creature will be drawn to come within range. Usually a ranger with this ability will have a creature for such purposes, such as a mouse or small bird. As long as that animal stays within range of this ability, the ranger can see through its eyes as a swift action. The ranger has a moderate level of influence on the animal, allowing him to focus the senses of the animal where he wills. If the ranger goes a single turn without spending a swift action to do this, or the animal either dies or leaves the range of the ability, the effect ends. Otherwise the effect lasts for 1 minute per ranger level.
The blindsense/sight were suppose to have a 60' added to them. The eyes of nature should have greater control of the animal to have it also travel in a desired direction.
Wild Stalker archetype gives lowlight vision and perception stuff. Maybe look into nature oracle dip? Or a feral shifter or nature fang druid? Hunter maybe? And then into the nature warden prestige class!
Aragorn is a multiclass character probably. And he does have some healing and poison detection/slow poison ability, so low level spells might still fit.