Ranger (character class)

A ranger is a type of warrior appearing in fantasy fiction and role-playing games.

Rangers are usually associated with the wisdom of nature. Rangers tend to be wise, cunning, and perceptive in addition to being skilled woodsmen. Many are skilled in stealth, wilderness survival, and tracking. Archery and swordplay are common to rangers, though there are many instances where rangers use a variety of weapons, skills, and sometimes magic or have a resistance to magic.

Ranger archetype

Rangers skills in books and games can include and are not limited to:

Skilled with the bow, usually because they use them so often for the hunting of wild animals.
They tend to be well versed in other forms of combat however, most notably dual-wielding short swords or long knives, although rangers prefer using ranged weapons, and their melee combat abilities often pale in comparison to other character classes such as a warrior or rogue/thief.
Stealth
Detecting or laying traps
Taming, calming or charming animals
Tracking and leaving no trail to be tracked
Knowledge of herbs for medical and poisonous uses
The art of healing (magical or medical) due to their self reliance
Land and nature related magic and enchantments or the ability to recognize them or resistance to them
Ability to move quickly through the forests due to them living amongst them

Ranger in Dungeons and Dragons

In Dungeons & Dragons, rangers typically worship a nature god or goddess, and they take a role similar to druids by protecting nature and slaying foul creatures. Rangers gain attack bonuses against certain creatures through the choosing of a "Favored Enemy" such as giants, dragons or undead. In addition, rangers have access to divine magic and an animal companion to aid them in battle.

Typically, rangers are inclined to solitude, particularly from commoners, as in the The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. Rangers tend to prefer the company of fellow rangers, and they are extensively trained. However, good rangers will often act as the guardians of others - whether appreciated or not - by repelling "evil" forces and protecting the weak.

Besides Aragorn, some noteworthy fictional rangers are Drizzt Do'Urden and Hank in the Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon.

Ranger in Final Fantasy

Rangers have appeared as in various Final Fantasy games, including the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI. Rangers have also appeared in one form or another in other Final Fantasy games often called Archer or Hunter. In Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Hunter is an upgraded class of the basic class, Archer.

Rangers in Guild Wars

Rangers in Guild Wars are sleek looking individuals who primarily use bows, but are allowed to use any of the game's other weapon classes such as swords, war hammers, axes, spears, staves, scythes, and daggers. The head gear of rangers is a mask shielding the face (similar to the appearance of "Old West" robbers). Rangers can summon nature spirits, set traps, command beasts, use a variety of combat "stances" to evade attacks or run faster, and use powerful marksmanship skills. The ranger class worships Melandru, the Goddess of Earth and Nature. Rangers have armor that has basic midlevel armor (higher than spellcaster classes, lower than warriors) and the highest elemental defense in the game.

In the Guild Battle portion of Guild Wars Player versus player rangers are known for their survivability and effectiveness as solo characters, often acting separately from the rest of the team, reflecting the hardy and cunning nature of a ranger.

Rangers in Phantasy Star Online

Rangers in Phantasy Star Online are "range" characters, and thus deviate from the standard by sporting poor mental abilities in favor of speed and accuracy. In addition to handguns and machine guns, rangers make up the only class in the game that's able to use rifles and shotguns. They are meant as backup for melee characters, stunning enemies from a distance so that teammates may move in. Rangers were able to use all the abilities of the other classes.

Rangers in Dark Age of Camelot

Rangers in Dark Age of Camelot are an archer class in the realm of Hibernia. The races of Elves, Lurikeen, Celt, and Shar may become rangers. The differ from the archer class of the other realms in that they wield two weapons instead of a sword and shield, or a large spear. The weapon of choice for a Dark Age of Camelot Ranger is the Recurve Bow. Like all archers, they employ spells to augment their abilities as bowmen, and are adept at stealth.

Rangers in Fire Emblem

The first Rangers in the Fire Emblem series began as mounted riders in Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, derived from the former Nomadic Trooper class. They wielded swords and bows. In Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, the main character Ike was a "Ranger". He is the only character with the class "Ranger" and wields swords.

Rangers in Heroes of Might and Magic

The rangers in "Heroes of Might and Magic, as usual, were a ranged class (their special class ability was a slight bonus to their ranged skills.) However, they were notable for not having any connection to nature, only to pathfinding, and for being an advanced class of either the barbarian or the thief (neither of which normally become rangers.)

Rangers in RuneScape

Rangers in RuneScape are characters who have focused in the Ranged skill, increasing their ability with bows, crossbows, throwing knives, and all of the games ranged weapons. They show none of the regular attunement to nature and animals, being primarily a distance attacker, though certain items allow the traditional usage of poisons. Like many other Rangers, RuneScape Rangers use lighter, leather armour, placing their defensive ability somewhere between the low-armour magical classes and the high-armour melee classes, Though during PVP they are known to wear Heavy armour helmets and legs if their defence level allows it. Some notable rangers in RuneScape include: R0fl Str Own (who started training range today), Reece Time (the owner has reported it stolen) and of course Shiva798 (the ranging legend).

Rangers in Maplestory

There is a third job class in Maplestory which begins as archer->hunter->ranger->bowmaster; or an alternate choice would be archer->crossbowman->sniper->marksman. Hunters specialize in rapid fire attacks, while Crossbowmen emphasize more on power. This is one of the more reliable classes in Maplestory because of the high amounts of HP and MP, while Warriors have low MP and Magicians have low HP. Unlike these classes though archers must use arrows which are used with each attack, so attacks cannot be made without arrows. However, when the 2nd job advancement is made Hunters or Crossbowmen can use Soul Arrow which temporarily allows them to fire without arrows.

Rangers in NetHack

"Ranger" is a character class in NetHack. Rangers can become skilled or expert with many thrown or fired weapons such as spears, arrows and bows and daggers. Rangers enjoy the ability to be able to skillfully cast "Divination" spells that help them discover monsters, identify objects, map areas, etc. Orcs, Elves, Gnomes and Humans can play ranger, the alignments available to this class are neutral and chaotic.

Ranger in Dragonfable

"Ranger" is a Class in the role-playing game Dragonfable. Zhoom, the master Ranger, is the main NPC in the town the Sandsea. You must complete Zhoom's Quest, The Hard Way, to unlock the armor. The Rangers of DragonFable are described by Zhoom as moving from place to place and calling no one place home. All Rangers have different codes of honor, but they live and die by that code. Zhoom also states that, "Rangers serve no king." Rangers have an affinity for nature as well, and each have an animal that they consider a partner and seen to share a spiritual connection with. Zhoom has a PrideLord named Zixcy, but he teaches the player character Falconry after the player completes the Hudson's Hawk Quest.

In order to Level Up this Class, the player needs to give Zhoom three Ancient Treasures, which can be obtained by completing various Quests throughout the Sandsea. The Class armor consists of leather armor, leather boots, and leather gloves with cloth pants. It carries a bow and arrows, a knife, and the player's equipped weapon, which is displayed hanging from the waist of the armor. While the Ranger's default attack is Melee, most of its attacking Skills involve Ranged damage. Its Skills involve enchanting arrows to cause flashbang and poison effects, using multiple arrows to attack, and using multi-hit attacks that can involve both Melee and Ranged attacks.

Ranger in Scions of Fate

The Ranger is a slow attacking warrior that uses arrows to attack from far distances. He has relatively low health and defense ability. However he has a very high dodging ability and attack power. The class is not actually called "Ranger". The cycle goes Novice Bowman-Bowman-Silent Strider-Swift ranger. This class can only be accesses if the right faction is chosen. In this case, It is the Order Faction.