Chaos Ranger

D&D 3e (3.0/3.5) Rules

by Nightbringer

Chaos ranger. The name strikes fear into the hearts of most. Chaos rangers are rangers who, due to some tragic accident, have become like barbarians. A chaos ranger has lost sense of reality and has started a bitter crusade to protect his forest. However, unlike the name, chaos rangers are not part of the Legion of Chaos, although they may willingly join it.

DM's Notes: Chaos rangers are not restricted characters. They can be used in any age or campaign.

Characteristics: Chaos rangers have lost something. A chaos ranger will willingly sacrifice his life to protect his forest. He will not trust strangers but if he finds true friends he will protect them with his life (okay, maybe not his life, but...).

Alignment: Chaos rangers are chaotic good or rarely chaotic neutral, but must be chaotic.

Religion: Chaos rangers have no sense of religion unless the servants of a god caused him to be a chaos ranger. A Bloodcleared (see special rules) chaos ranger can take a god to worship.

Background: Someone becomes a chaos ranger because, say, a horde of draconians killed the ranger's family. The chaos ranger then swooped down and went in a killing rage, killing every one of them. He now attacks any dragonarmy unit entering his forest. This helps the Heroes of the Lance, and he's doing it for a good reason.

A chaos ranger is a forest dweller whose family was killed by an evil force such as draconians or Souls of Mina. He has now been driven mad and has vowed to kill all evil that enters his territory. He sometimes kills those who venture in and often ties them up and leaves them to get free. However, he will leave a blood red vine when he kills or escapes; it is a chaos ranger's calling card.

Other Classes: Chaos rangers usually do not get on well with other classes, but may have a "good feeling" about rangers or sorcerers. A chaos ranger may admire or pity a barbarian, depending on whether the chaos ranger is Bloodcleared or not. He may or may not get along with a paladin and is a druid's good friend. He likes the rogue as they both rely on stealth. To a chaos ranger, the fighter is a lesser combatant and wizards are old men with beards and fireworks.

Starting Equipment: One Chaos Crossbow, one set of Stealth Leather Armour, 2 throwing sticks, 10 vines, 5 bloodvines and 2 bastard daggers.

Game Rule Information

Chaos rangers have the following game statistics.
Abilities: Dexterity is by far the most important of all skills for the chaos ranger. Next are Strength, Wisdom and Intelligence. Charisma is last.
Alignment: Any chaotic.
Hit Die: 1d6.

Class Skills

The chaos ranger's class skills are Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Disable Device (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), Innuendo (Wis), Intuit Direction (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Perform (Bloodcleared only) (Cha), Pick Pocket (Dex), Read Lips (Int), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), and Use Rope (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (5 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 5 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the chaos ranger.

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Chaos rangers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with light armour. They are not proficient in the Chaos Broadbow (an exotic weapon).

Favoured Enemy: Chaos rangers can choose a favoured enemy from the list available to rangers. This is the race that drove them to become a chaos ranger.

Deep Rage: The chaos ranger attacks his favoured enemy with a range that the barbarian would respect. They gain +3 to their Strength and Dexterity and, if they pass a Fortitude Test, chaos rangers negate special abilities that would do extra damage against them. He also attacks any character entering his grove. Whenever he attacks with a friend, he rolls 1d6. On a 1 he goes berserk, attacking the closest character. On a 2-3 nothing happens. On a 4-5 he gains a temporary +1 to Strength and Strength modifier, as well as a temporary +1 to Constitution and Constitution modifier. On a 6 he goes berserk attacking the nearest enemy in a rage (as listed under barbarian in the Players Handbook). He will not negotiate with any character for over two minutes.

Eagle Eye: The chaos ranger can sight enemies twice as far as normal in all conditions.

Smite Treefoe: The chaos ranger gets +1 to Strength and Dexterity when confronting people who want to harm the forest.

Bastard/Longsword: The chaos ranger gets his choice of one of these weapons.

Treesneak: The chaos ranger takes a Dexterity test. If he passes, the chaos ranger can jump up a tree, scaling it in seconds. The chaos ranger gains +2 to Climb tests and can climb up 5m per second.

Carve: The chaos ranger can carve models of wood such as flutes or other small items, as allowed by the DM. If he carves a flute he may use the lowest Bard ability. This counts as a create/profession feat.

Circlestick: The chaos ranger can cause his Throwing Stick to come back to him and land in his hands.

Uncanny Dodge: As listed in the Players Handbook.

Lore of the Trees: The chaos ranger must pass a Reflex test as well as a Wisdom test. If he passes both he can have limited communication with trees to see who has been in the forest. Use of this ability requires a Wisdom check.

Bloodscent: The chaos ranger can smell the blood of his favoured enemy as soon as they enter the brink of his forest.

Heal from Earth: The chaos ranger learns the heal spell but can cast it merely by laying his hands on the wound and the earth. He can also heal trees and plants in this way. He may use skill points to increase the efficiency of this skill. He needs a wisdom check to do this.

Dropping Strike: The chaos ranger can drop out of a tree and roll past his enemy, dealing them a blow with his Bastard Dagger. The enemy is caught flat-footed. This ability requires a Dexterity check.

Call Forest Friend: The chaos ranger can summon animals from the forest. He can summon up to 2d20 Tiny or smaller creatures, or 1d6 Small or Medium-size creatures, or 1d4 Large creatures. If he has a flute or other forest instrument then he can re-roll the result and choose from the higher of the two. Every two levels he gains a +1 bonus to this skill.

Twirling Dodge: The chaos ranger can cartwheel out of the way. This requires a Dexterity check. If successful, the attack is avoided (ranged or hand to hand). If the check is passed he can use either Dropping Strike or Treesneak (but not both).

Levitation: The chaos ranger hovers 5 cm above the ground. He gains a +2 bonus to any difficult terrain, Balance, Jump, Swim, or Dexterity checks. He can choose whether or not to use this ability, which also avoids foot-sprung traps.

Chaos Broadbow: A chaos ranger reaching level 17 gains a Chaos Broadbow.

Bloodcleared: This is the ultimate goal for a chaos ranger. When he has killed all his enemies or has achieved his goal (at level 20) he loses his bloodlust. He is no longer subject to deep rage unless he chooses to have it affect him.

A Bloodcleared chaos ranger now freely associates with the public. He may still use any chaos ranger abilities. If the Epic Level Handbook is being used then the chaos ranger gets Bloodcleared at level 40.

Chaos Ranger Equipment

Bastard Dagger

Damage: 3d4+1
Critical: x2
Weight: 1kg
Type: Slashing, piercing
Description: Bastard daggers are special daggers. They are heavy, yet light. They are thin and that means that two can be used at once with no penalty. They are the chaos rangers' favoured weapons.

Vine

Weight: 2g
Effect: The vine gives the user a +1 for a treesneak test.

Bloodvine

Effect: Causes fear.
These blood red vines are used when a chaos ranger kills. If the favoured enemy or treefoe of a chaos ranger sees one of these and a dead body they get a sense of dread.

Throwing Stick

Damage: 2d8, see below.
Critical: x1
Weight: 2kg
Type: Bludgeoning
Description: These sticks look normal but are made out of iron and other metal. The chaos ranger can throw it and if it hits then can do severe damage. If it hits the victim takes damage. The chaos ranger then checks to see if it hits again. If it hits both times then it does the amount done the first time plus subdual damage.

Chaos Broadbow

Damage: 1d10+5
Critical: 18-20 x2
Weight: 5kg
Type: Piercing
Range: 120'
Description: The Chaos broadbow is like a longbow, it takes a partial round to load for 5 bolts which can be used to melee.

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