Rangers

Rangers gain the ability to cast priest spells at 8th level. They have access to the spheres of plant and animal. Like paladins, rangers don’t gain bonus spells for high Wisdom scores and may not use clerical magical items. At 8th level, the ranger casts spells with the effectiveness of a 1st-level priest; for each level past 8th, the ranger’s casting level increases by one, to a maximum of 9th level for a 16th-level ranger. (See
Table 18 : Ranger Abilities in the PHB.)

Like paladins, rangers may use armor with no restrictions while casting spells. However, the ranger should have at least one hand free to present his holy symbol or other material components, so a character might have to put down or drop a shield or second weapon in order to cast a spell.

Optional Spell Abilities for Rangers

The ranger’s spell powers can be customized, just like those of any other class. Some of the options available include the following:

Alternate sphere access (5+): Normally, rangers have minor access to the spheres of plant and animal, totalling 10 CPs. A ranger may choose to have minor access to any combination of alternate spheres totalling 10 CPs or less. For example, a ranger might choose travelers, elemental air, and healing. If spheres are exchanged on a point-for-point basis, this optional ability has a base cost of only 5 CPs, but a ranger may choose extra spheres of access and add the costs listed in Table 6 : Access Costs.

Increased spell power (7): A ranger with this power casts spells with an effective casting level only four levels less than his true level and has no maximum casting level. Normally, an 8th-level ranger casts spells as a 1st-level priest, but with this ability the ranger has a casting level of 4 instead of 1. Spell progression is unaffected; only level-based characteristics of a spell are affected by this ability.

Increased spell progression (7/12): A ranger with this power gains his spell ability earlier than 8th level. For 7 points, he begins to gain spells at 6th level; for 12 points, he begins to gain spells at 4th level. In all other respects, his spell powers are unchanged, and he simply enters the Table 18 at the level indicated. Each level he gains from that point on advances him one level on the chart.

Optional Restrictions for Rangers

Ranger class-design options are discussed in detail in the Player’s Option: Skills & Powers book. The abilities above are simply added to the slate of available powers for ranger characters.

If you wish to use these abilities without the Skills & Powers rules, you can assign the ranger an experience point penalty of 30% plus 1% per point spent. If a ranger chooses access to two additional spheres totalling 8 points, his total penalty would be 30% + 13%, or 43%. If the DM awards 2,000 experience points for an adventure, the ranger would gain 860 less than normal, only collecting 1,140 experience points. This experience penalty will counter some of the character’s unusual advantages.

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