"In 2006, Joss Naylor ran 50 miles up and down seventy Lake District fells, ascending more than 25,000 feet in 21 hours. Not his best performance, but to be fair, he was 70 at the time."That post gives more context about fell running and a video. So, you have someone who's already had children if they wanted to, they've had a long life in the area and know it as well as anyone can, they can run for days, ghosting invading forces. Hell, with the abilities these fell runners have, they could keep tabs on an enemy's position by running back and forth between it and wherever they're reporting.
Okay, maybe add in proficiency with a bow, but I see them mostly as scouts. Not an interesting archetype to play I suppose, especially in a group where you wouldn't be able to utilize your running ability without leaving them in the dust, but this will probably be the standard for wilderness roaming rangers in my world.
That is good stuff, and a good reminder to stretch my boundaries of what's possible.
ReplyDeleteI've had DMs, not the best ones but a majority, who wouldn't be able to let that kind of thing happen in play for PCs. NPCs, sure, but PCs gotta roll to be cool, and even then its grudging. It's enough to make me understand where 3E feats and 4E powers came from, its a way to put bad-assness in the hands of the players instead of the DM. (Not saying that's the way to go, just that I see how it came about.)
Though I am okay with a combat angle also, going back to Rogers Rangers and others in the French and Indian War and American Revolution. "Ranger" as a concept actually dates back to the colonial Indian wars of the 1600s. There are some analogies possible between Indian fighting and orc fighting, which fits a ranger's mechanical bonus against giants and humanoids. Going that route would entail having actual military units made of rangers, with adventuring rangers having completed an enlistment rather than being loner wanderers.
Thanks for the comment. Yeah, a player with a military past would fit better in a party; their skills of stealth, ambush, trap setting, or whatever, would be useful in ways Joss Naylor's wouldn't be.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I suppose if a DM worked really hard they might be able to give players the spotlight for various solo skills like a fantasy A-Team.
I met a guy in the Swiss Alps on my way up to Lac Liason (just outside a little village called L'Etivaz, actually) who was jogging the return trip from Les Diablerets back to Rougemont. He was training to run a race across Liechtenstein. He was 68.
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