Rangers & Paladins

Basic Fantasy Website: basicfantasy.org

INTRODUCTION

This supplement provides rules for playing Rangers and Paladins under the Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game rules. If you do not already have a copy of the Basic Fantasy RPG rules, please visit the website and download a copy.

NEW CHARACTER CLASSES

The new classes described in this supplement are considered subclasses of the Fighter. As such, they have the same attack bonus and saving throws as Fighters of the same level. They should be treated as Fighters for all purposes, unless otherwise noted.

Ranger

Rangers are specialized warriors who roam the borderlands, where their mission is to keep the beasts and monsters of the untamed lands at bay. They generally operate alone or in small groups, and rely on stealth and surprise to meet their objectives.

Requirements: To become a Ranger, a character must have a Strength score of 9 or higher (just as with any Fighter), a Wisdom of 11 or higher, and a Dexterity of 11 or higher. They may use any weapon and may wear any armor, but note that some of the Ranger’s special talents and abilities are unavailable when wearing heavier than leather armor. Humans, Elves, and Halflings may become Rangers. If the Half-Humans supplement is used, Half-Elves and Half-Orcs may also become Rangers.

Special Abilities: Rangers can Move Silently, Hide, and Track when in wilderness areas, at percentages given in the table below. Apply a -20% penalty when attempting these abilities in urban areas. Move Silently and Hide may not be used in armor heavier than leather (unless the Thief Options supplement is in use, in which case the adjustments in that supplement should be applied).

Note: If the GM allows Thief characters to allocate their ability percentages, as given on page 153 of the Basic Fantasy RPG Core Rules, then the Ranger may also be allowed to do so. Rangers gain 14 points per level from 2nd to 9th levels, 9 points per level from 10th to 15th levels, and 4 points per level thereafter.

**When tracking, the Ranger must roll once per hour traveled or lose the trail. **

A Ranger must declare a chosen enemy. Against this chosen enemy, the Ranger gets a bonus of +3 to damage. This enemy might be a certain category of creature such as giants, humanoids, or dragons. With the GM's permission, the list might include rival organizations, nations, or similar agencies.

Rangers are always expert bowmen. When using any regular bow (shortbow or longbow, but not crossbow), a Ranger adds +2 to his or her Attack Bonus. At 5th level, a Ranger may fire three arrows every two rounds (a 3/2 rate of fire). This means one attack on every odd round, two on every even round, with the second attack coming at the end of the round. At 9th level, the Ranger may fire two arrows every round, with the second attack coming at the end of the round.

Paladin

Requirements: To become a Paladin, a character must have at least a Strength score of 9, a Wisdom score of 11, and a Charisma score of 11. There are no racial restrictions for the Paladin. They may use any weapon and may wear any armor or shield. If your GM is using the nine alignments option/supplement, you must either be Lawful Good or Chaotic Evil.

Special Abilities: Paladins emanate an aura equivalent to the spell protection from evil (or good, depending on the Paladin's particular faith) in a 10' radius. The Paladin can also detect evil (or good, as above) at will, as the spell.

Once per day, per level, a Paladin can make his or her non-magical melee weapon or attack form equivalent to a magic weapon for purposes of hitting creatures only able to be struck with a silver or magical weapon. This effect lasts for a turn.

Once per day, the paladin can Lay on Hands to any wounded character and heal 2 points of damage; add the Paladin's Charisma bonus to this figure. On each odd-numbered level (3rd, 5th, etc.) the Paladin may do this one additional time per day (so, twice per day at 3rd level, three times per day at 5th level, etc.) Starting at 7th level, the Paladin may choose to cure disease (as the spell) instead of providing healing as above. At 11th level, the Paladin may also substitute neutralize poison.

A Paladin can Turn (or command) undead as if a Cleric of a level equal to half his or her own, rounded down, starting at 2nd level.

Paladins gain the ability to cast appropriate Clerical spells at level 10. For purposes of spell effects that vary based on the Cleric's level, use one-half the Paladin's level, rounded down.

A Paladin must tithe, giving a minimum of 10% of all treasures gained or other profits as an offering to his or her deity.

A Paladin must obey a code of honor, as defined by the Game Master, and must try to perform duties assigned by his or her deity or religious hierarchy. If the Paladin breaks the code, all powers granted are taken away, and the character must atone for his or her actions as soon as possible. Until the Paladin successfully atones, as defined by the Game Master, he or she is considered an ordinary Fighter.

FIGHTER CLASS OPTION

There is a valid argument that no one would want to play a standard Fighter in a game with Ranger and Paladin classes available, based on the relative power levels of the classes. If you feel that this is or may be an issue in your game, you may wish to apply the following optional rule:

Weapon Specialization

Under this rule, the player of a Fighter may choose a weapon in which the character is especially skilled. Specialization only applies to "true" Fighters, and not to any subclasses thereof which may appear in this or any other supplement, unless otherwise noted.

At first level, the player applies one rank of specialization to the chosen weapon. This choice must be quite specific; for instance, a specialization in the longsword will give no bonuses when using a shortsword.

Every third level after first (that is, 4th, 7th, 10th, etc.) the player applies another rank of specialization. Each new rank may be applied to an existing specialization, or to a new specialization.

For instance, at first level Darion's player assigns a rank to longsword. Darion gains a bonus of +1 on attack rolls when using a longsword. At 4th level, the player may assign the new rank to longsword, giving a bonus of +1 on attack rolls and +1 on damage; or, the rank may be applied to a new weapon, such as the longbow, in which case both weapons have +1 on attack rolls but no bonus to damage.

As indicated in the Attacks Per Round column, at higher ranks of specialization the Fighter is allowed to attack more than one time per round. 3/2 means that the character may attack three time in every two rounds, once in the odd-numbered round and twice in the even-numbered round. At 2/1 the Fighter is allowed to attack with the specialized weapon two times per round. Additional attacks always come after all other attacks are resolved; that is, the Fighter attacks once on his or her Initiative number, then again after all “first” attacks are done. If more than one weapon specialist is involved in a battle, count Initiative down twice, once for “first” attacks and again for “second” attacks.

Some GMs do not like the 3/2 rate, as it does involve keeping track of even and odd rounds. In such a case, the GM may either choose to use 1/1 for both ranks, or 1/1 for rank 3 and 2/1 for rank 4.

NOTE: This is the same rule presented in the Combat Options supplement, Release 4. If you are using both this supplement and that one, and the Combat Options supplement is newer than Release 4, please verify whether this rule is different in the other supplement; if so, as GM you must decide which version to apply.