Adjusting Rangers and High Elves

[Glorelendil]

No, I don't really spend time trying to craft home brew cultures because I don't use them. (I don't even really use house rules

Why not?
Sure folks who write for RPG's professionally are bound to make better stuff than those of us who don't, but in the meantime, if the way Rangers are presently presented doesn't work for you, why not use ones that fit better at your table?

'Cause I'm funny like that. I like playing games as published.

[Angelalex242]

More to the Point, I'd call Minas Tirith the 'lesser Rangers' you're looking for. They have the XP penalty, but not as severe, and they don't have any other drawbacks.

[Glorelendil]

More to the Point, I'd call Minas Tirith the 'lesser Rangers' you're looking for. They have the XP penalty, but not as severe, and they don't have any other drawbacks.

Wait...what? I'm talking about Rangers in Eriador. Other than ancestry, how are these two things similar?

And their XP penalty is still pretty stiff. The whole idea would be to have a "normal" culture with 14 attribute points and no penalties.

[Angelalex242]

Oh. Wouldn't see the need for it. If you're trying to be woodsy, be a Woodman. If you're trying to fight, Minas Tirith. if you're trying to be primal, Beorning.

There's existing cultures that already do what you want to do. Leave the Rangers to their heroic awesomeness and 17 points.

[Glorelendil]

Oh. Wouldn't see the need for it. If you're trying to be woodsy, be a Woodman. If you're trying to fight, Minas Tirith. if you're trying to be primal, Beorning.

There's existing cultures that already do what you want to do. Leave the Rangers to their heroic awesomeness and 17 points.

So...use the Woodman culture, but claim he's from Eriador and is a J.V. Ranger? There's a bunch of things about the Woodman that wouldn't fit.

But using other cultures as a guide, what might the J.V. Ranger look like?

- Well, the heroic version has Body as its highest stat, Heart 2nd, and Wits 3rd. We'd want to mirror that. So attribute arrays similar to a Beorning.
- Weapons would clearly be some sort of sword, some sort of bow, and spear. So that's from Barding.
- Blessing would have something to do with resisting the Valour or Wisdom, or maybe Endurance. The Barding one would be a template.
- Virtues would be a combination of woodcraft/support/healing, so that argues for Woodmen. Maybe one combat-related one, but fluffed to relate to stalking and hunting, not the battlefield. Something to make up for low Wits/Parry*.
- Rewards would be...hard to say. Something heirloom-y, for one.
- Suggested Callings would be Wanderer and Warden; unusual would be Treasure-Hunter.

Hmmm...now I'm tempted to roll my own culture. That might seem to contradict what I said about about house rules, but a) I think game design is fun, and b) the real reason I contribute to house rules discussions is with the crazy idea that John and Dom and Francesco might be listening and the best ideas will make it into future supplements/editions.

[Arthur Fisher]

Hmmm...now I'm tempted to roll my own culture. That might seem to contradict what I said about about house rules, but a) I think game design is fun

Go for it!
Making a thing that other people can use is never a bad idea.

[Glorelendil]

Making a thing that other people can use is never a bad idea.

El Chapo is in an American prison for doing exactly that.

[Otaku-sempai]

The Rangers of the North seem to be a pretty dedicated lot. I don't see a non-heroic variant Culture existing other than, perhaps, some remnant of the Dúnedain of Rhudaur or Cardolan that has persisted for all this time and has somehow never integrated with the Dúnedain survivors of Arthedain. I don't think that there is any canonical basis for this idea.

Another idea would be to create a variant Eriadorian Culture based on the Men of Bree but more rural. Some could be of Arnorian descent without being full-blooded Dúnedain. Such Men of Eriador would be mostly descended from the Men of the North with some Dunlending stock and might be found scattered anywhere from the Lone-lands east of Bree-land to west of the River Lune to the wilds of Minhiriath, but they would be few in number. Such folk are mentioned in the Rivendell sourcebook, but not given a distinctive Culture. A precedent exists in the old MERP game in the Eriadorians found there including the Rivermen of the Brandywine and Lune.

[Glorelendil]

The Rangers of the North seem to be a pretty dedicated lot.

Oh, I agree! But does that mean the blood of Numenor runs equally strong through all of them?

The way I see it, there isn't any textual evidence* to suggest that all of the Rangers are exceptionally long lived, so it's a question of whether one wants to interpret it restrictively or expansively. Given that lots of people want to play Rangers, and playing the Heroic version of the Ranger is unsatisfying to some (many?), I'd favor the expansive interpretation.

It reminds me of the Mannish spirits debate. One could interpret the evidence many ways. Which way is the most fun?

*That I know of. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Otaku-sempai]

The Rangers of the North seem to be a pretty dedicated lot.

Oh, I agree! But does that mean the blood of Numenor runs equally strong through all of them?

A perfectly valid question, but I think that comes down to individuals rather than to whether there should be a variant Culture for the Northern Dúnedain.

I wasn't expecting to move on to the topic of Dúnedain life-expectancy, however, based on what I've read, I think that the Dúnedain still tended to have longer life-spans than other Men, but they had still shortened over time so that only those of the purest lines were likely to live for very much more than a century or so. Aragorn's mother Gilraen lived to be about 100 years old and wasn't her death considered to be a bit premature?