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Guide: The Ranger

Tags: #Ranger  #RP:Guide  #AllSpark 
  • Member
    November 7, 2016

     AllSpark’s Roleplay Guide 


    - The Ranger -

     

    - by Teccam -

     

     

    Welcome, dear reader, to my very first roleplay guide. As the title suggests, this guide will focus on the roleplay possibilities to reflect the life of a ranger in Skyrim. Before we start, the first question is…

     

    What exactly is considered a ‚Ranger‘?

     

    Rangers are usually former soldiers that have abandoned their military life and became solitary adventurers and hunters. They use their knowledge and experience to survive in the wilderness, hunt animals and build camps/find shelter while alone in the wild. They are skilled in the use of both swords and bows and are known to guide people safely through the most dangerous territories. Besides their battle talents, rangers are both highly respected and feared as botanical alchemists. They are able to mix strong healing potions or deadly poisons.
For various reasons, mostly personal, rangers try to avoid civilization and only seek the shelter of cities for trading or… the warmth of a nice bottle of mead.
Even if male Rangers are far more common, female rangers exist as well.

    How to roleplay a Ranger in Skyrim?


    
My last couple playthroughs were all characters that can be associated with the Ranger class and through these characters I was able to make a list of things to pay attention to while roleplaying a Ranger character and inspired this guide.

     

    The Backstory

     

    First, as every good roleplay, the character should have a backstory, in this case explaining how he/she became a Ranger. Was the character the witness of a terrible murder out in the woods and swore to protect the innocent from that day on? Was he/she driven to live a solitary life because he/she lost a beloved person and was in deep grieving? Did he /she grow up in a clan of rangers ? Was he/she a noble landlord but decided to rather live a life of adventure and danger than spend the rest of life in a castle? Is he/she a deserter from the army? These are just some examples of how your character could have started as a Ranger.
    Another idea is to use a random generator to flesh out your character if you can't come up with anything specific. This site works with dices or a random number generating app to create the backstory and personality of your character. This is a good starting point and I used it as well.
    A solid backstory should influence how the character acts throughout the journey and form his personality. I will add the backstory from my own Ranger character at the end of the guide as an example.

     


    What gear and weapons does a ranger use ?

     

    - By deathknowz (DeviantArt) -

     


    In my opinion, what makes a ranger different from a soldier is the armor and appearance. A ranger needs to be fast and agile, and may sacrifice protection, therefor light armor is ideal. Some of my characters, that were more of a hunter type, even wore unarmored clothes. Weightless clothes makes sneaking much simpler and for a ranger on the hunt or approaching enemies, this is crucial. Although direct hits will definitely be deadly and should be avoided at all cost.

     

    Armor


    The best way to start with the roleplay of a Ranger would be carry

    - a Fur Armor set with a Mage hood


    - and a green Mage robe with a Mage hood and mage boots

    and to adapt the gear to the different climates of Skyrim. If you don't use a mod like Frostfall (more about that later) you won't get any notifications of imminent weather changes but you can still react to the climate change. In the snowy regions your ranger will crawl in some warm fur and in the hotter regions, light robes will keep him/her cool. Of course you can mix and match robes/clothes with light armor parts however the armor should be simple and made out of leather, hide or fur. A ranger would definitely not wear armor made out of metal for unpractical reasons like weight, noise and unmobility.
    (screenshots of different armor combinations).
    Other armor that would be a good choice for a ranger could be the Thieves Guild armor or light Dawnguard armor.


    Weapons


    As weapons a Ranger would use a simple bow made of wood. The idea behind this is that rangers are simple people. They don't necessarily have the experience in smithing to craft a nicely curved Ebony bow or enchant an Elven-made bow. Long Bow, Imperial Bow, Hunting Bow and Ancient Nord Bow or even Dragonbone Bow (Blacksmithing perks required) are ideal for that task. You can gradually exchange or upgrade the bow. For arrows, use Iron or Steel arrows to hunt down deer and the more powerful arrows against larger enemies.
    As melee weapon the Ranger can carry both a sword and dagger or dual-wield those. Steel or Imperial swords/daggers look great and can pack a punch with the right skills. Some of my characters used a shield and sword and to roleplay the skill to adapt to certain situations, the ranger would not carry a shield but rather pick up the shield of a fallen enemy and drop it after the battle.

     


    What’s in my backpack - Ranger edition

     

    - by Axius Revan - 

     


    A ranger doesn’t carry a lot of gear, as it would slow him down, only the bare minimum to survive. Apart from your armor, clothes and weapons you should pack following:
    - a wood axe, pick axe and torches
    - Salt piles/frost salts to keep the meat fresh
    - Tundra cotton to light fire
    - Fire salts to keep your stews and soups hot
    - maximum gold should be no more than 200-500. Find a safe chest and place all your spare gold there, just like on a bank.
    - keep some healing potions, antidote potions and 'cure disease' potions
    - of course some food like some pieces of bread, cheese, vegetables to make stews, but most of the food should be prepared on the road

     


    Roleplay rules

     


    Next, let’s take a look at some of my roleplay rules for a Ranger character. You can add your own if you want:
    - Hunt tracking: make a real-life list of which and how many animals you killed and keep track of your hunting
    - Hunt responsively and eat what you kill or sell it during the next 24 hours, sell the hides/pelts
    - Spend only little time during day-time in cities and wear a hood to stay anonymous
    - Visit inns only at night to have a drink (or few). The next day you can drink again some mead to roleplay the headache with decreased stamina regeneration. Try to run after a deer while drunk.
    - Make a friend/contact in a city/village whom you will trust, trade with, make favors, take quests. These can be a blacksmith or an alchemy vendor or any person you can profit from having as ally. Ingun Black-Briar would be an excellent ally. After a small quest she has some alchemical goodies for you.
    - Avoid fast travel and travel only on foot/horseback. That way, you can explore as much as you want.
    - Give your horse a name and care for it and protect it. It is your only friend outside in the wild. For example, I named the horse on my last playthrough ‚Dagger‘.
    - Only use the map INSIDE cities or at waypoints. A ranger should have a perfect sense of orientation out in the wild. Using the map only at waypoints makes you much more careful on the road
    - On horseback, seek out a water hole or river and build your camp near it so your horse can drink and rest as well. If it is raining leave a distance between your tent and the water hole to avoid being flooded.
    - As most people are afraid of rangers, you can have a small bounty in different cities, to get a comment from the guards. A high speech skill can also reflect how people obey to your words out of fear or respect.
    - Find and inhabit a small shack or cabin to rest between hunts and trades. Good starting shacks are Anise's Cabin, Riverside Shack or Hunter's Rest. Another roleplaying idea is to build your own little cabin with the Hearthfire DLC as a ranger would be likely to build his/her own little cabin and customise it.

     


    The Alignment

     

     - The Nordic Ranger Outfit - 

     

    For me, the best example of a ranger is Aragorn from ‚The Lord of the Rings‘, which everyone should know. His alignment is clearly ‚Lawful Good‘, which means that he is, among other qualities, friendly, sensitive to the feelings of others, honorable, helpful, loyal and trustworthy. ‚Lawful Good‘ characters tend to be very peaceful and respect a certain code of law. However in Skyrim, the best alignment for a ranger would be from ‚Lawful Good‘ to ‚True Neutral‘. Your ranger should definitely act friendly and helpful towards innocent people but bring evildoers to justice. The Ranger might see himself/herself outside of the law of a city/hold and therefor won’t obey to it but yet he follows his/her own code of Law. Joining a side during the Civil War can be a good way to reflect your character's backstory

     

    Motivation and Goals


     

    - The Nordic Ranger Outfit -

     

    The main goal of your ranger should always be the drive to survive. When out hunting, the ranger is killing to have food for the evening or when exploring a cave the goal should be to make it safe to perhaps spend the night there. When wandering the roads, the ranger should keep it safe from bandits and robbers and help any person in need. As payment the ranger would prefer potions, food or other practical items to gold.

    However, some rangers might stay a bit more on the shadowy side. They might rob from rich travelers or kill animals with the sole purpose to sell the pelts for money , they might even trade with the Thieves Guild but yet they wouldn't kill just for pleasure.

    What I also like is to roleplay a Ranger that guards only a limited territory i.e the Nord Guard Ranger might only live and travel in the north of Skyrim and the Forest Ranger might prefer to stay in the southern regions of Skyrim. This makes it also easier to decide on an armor set.

    So, is there a Ranger guild in Skyrim or any specific questlines? Short answer is no, but some quests might suit for the roleplaying of a Ranger.

    Bards College: The Ranger could make some friends in the Bards College and visit them from time to time to learn from them. They might ask him for favors as he is travelling a lot in the wild and has experience with nature.

     

    Thieves Guild: As the Thieves Guild has had some time of bad luck, the Ranger might help them with his knowledge. In the Guild the Ranger meets outcasts of society, just like him/herself and might relate to them and lend a helping hand.

     

    Dawnguard: The Dawnguard is in need of capable warriors to fight against the Vampires. The Ranger knows the wild forests of Skyrim and is an excellent marksman that can help the Dawnguard in their cause.

     

     

    - By Teccam -

     

    Mods

     

     

    These mods add the immersion to make the roleplaying experience even more realistic. Personally, I only use the following mods but there may be more on the Nexus:

     

    Gameplay mods

     

    - Frostfall: This mod makes your roleplaying experience more immersive by making you to react to climate changes. The cold weather affects your stats and skills and ice-cold water might freeze you to death. Armor and clothes get a warmth and coverage rating that affects your survival and you gain the tools to build tents for the night. Oh, and don't forget the backpacks and cloaks.

    - Campfire: This mod adds buildable campfires that can heat you up in the cold night. Campfire is needed for Frostfall to work.

    - Convenient Horses: This mod changes your horse in every way. It adds a horse whistle, new saddle designs and armor and a horse bag to store items while travelling and exploring.

    - Footprints: This mod adds footprints in the snow for the player and npcs. Hunting in snowy forests gets even more immersive as you can follow the tracks left by deer.

    Recently, our user Mortiferous has compiled a list of mods that increase immersion and realism and I think that the mods mentioned fit perfectly for a Ranger. Check out Morti's Challenging Skyrim Mod List

     

    Armor mods

     

     

    - The Desert Runner -

     

    Here are some armors and accessory mods that would really fit a Ranger. 

    - Nordic Ranger Outfit (m/f)

    - Rough Leather Armor (m/f)

    - Face Masks of Skyrim (m/f)

    - zzjay and Grace Darklings Hoods with hairs (f)

    - Cloaks Of Skyrim or Winter Is Coming (m/f)

     

     

     

    Backstory (Example)

     

     

     - My own character Lucilia Viridius - 

     

    Lucilia Viridius is a former Imperial Commander. She was ordered to Skyrim to lead her troop in the imminent war against the Stormcloak rebels. However out of fear that Lucilia might play an important role after the war, General Tullius planned a trap for her and she was ordered to be executed. Fortunately she survived the following attack on Helgen and was able to escape her imprisonment. Lucilia left her old life behind and started to live the solitary life of a Ranger. Her former training served her well for hunting animals and surviving in the cold weather of Skyrim. She’s has no allegiance to any city nor has she planned to join the rebels but when the time is right, she will get her revenge for being betrayed.


    Not long after her escape, word went fast through Skyrim about her being a deserter and guards would look for her whenever she entered a city. However, Lucilia found an abandoned shack south-west of Whiterun, where she could peacefully live, at least for the time being.

     

    Final Words:

     

    Thank you for reading my guide and I hope you enjoyed it and learned a little something from it. Feel free to leave any comments below.

    The first and the sixth pictures are from our member Teccam and the third picture is from our member Axius Revan. I took them from the Screenshot Sharing Thread. The other pictures are from DeviantArt and the Nexus. All credits go to their respective artists.

    -AllSpark.

  • Member
    November 7, 2016

    Of course your guides would be awesome, Sparks, it goes without saying! Including the backpack section was a good catch, I always forget about that golden RP opportuntiy.

    There are a few things I wouldn't mind being added, but I'm a sucker for detail so that's to be expected:

    Having a section dedicated to the different locations a Ranger would use would be useful, from a convenience standpoint more than anything else. And adding subtle differences to each location - warm armour being stored at northernly outposts, leaving a few bottles of mead or even Skooma could add depth to a character, or indicate that their predecessor was on the darker side of Rangerhood etc.

    I also think that exploring the darker path of being a ranger could open up a lot of interesting options. Shin's Anathema is a great example of a darker ranger done right, but it doesn't even need to go that far. Addiction, PTSD, a past life of crime could transform a character's personality and motives, while still staying with typical ranger tropes.

    Employment is another option to explore. Often rangers are explained to be employed by Jarls to look after their land, but it rangers being the bane of their existence - messing with flora and fauna that is integral to their land, killing bandits which could make the guards look weak etc. A Guild is also a common explanation, but vigilantes, deserters and escaped convicts are all reasonable reasons to pursue a life with nature. If you can explore these options, it would be great, and I'm always on hand if you need a second opinion!

    And finally, there might be some more you could say about a ranger's relationship with animals. Do they hunt just to keep the population at sustainable levels, for survival, entertainment etc? Are there a few animals they should go out of their way to hunt or avoid killing altogether? And what is their opinion on dragons, and how can this change depending on the character.

  • Member
    November 7, 2016

    Zonnonn said:

    Having a section dedicated to the different locations a Ranger would use would be useful, from a convenience standpoint more than anything else. And adding subtle differences to each location - warm armour being stored at northernly outposts, leaving a few bottles of mead or even Skooma could add depth to a character, or indicate that their predecessor was on the darker side of Rangerhood etc.

     

    Thanks, Zonnon, for the kind words and the positive criticism.

    Now, that bit about leaving fur armor, food and mead in a northern outpost is GENIUS. I'll put that definitely in. That's something I never thought about.

     

    Zonnonn said:

    I also think that exploring the darker path of being a ranger could open up a lot of interesting options. Shin's Anathema is a great example of a darker ranger done right, but it doesn't even need to go that far. Addiction, PTSD, a past life of crime could transform a character's personality and motives, while still staying with typical ranger tropes.

     

    I tried that with bringing in the Thieves Guild but I will check out the Anathema to see what it's about. 

    Addiction and PTSD now that's something I never roleplayed before, should be interesting.

     

    Zonnonn said:

    Employment is another option to explore. Often rangers are explained to be employed by Jarls to look after their land, but it rangers being the bane of their existence - messing with flora and fauna that is integral to their land, killing bandits which could make the guards look weak etc. A Guild is also a common explanation, but vigilantes, deserters and escaped convicts are all reasonable reasons to pursue a life with nature. If you can explore these options, it would be great, and I'm always on hand if you need a second opinion!

    And finally, there might be some more you could say about a ranger's relationship with animals. Do they hunt just to keep the population at sustainable levels, for survival, entertainment etc? Are there a few animals they should go out of their way to hunt or avoid killing altogether? And what is their opinion on dragons, and how can this change depending on the character.

    I will think about all your suggestions and update in a few days :)

     

     

  • November 14, 2016

    Haven't been on the site in a while, but it's good to be back. Loved the guide and will definitely make an effort to do a roleplaying playthrough one day.

  • Member
    November 15, 2016

    Fallout Night said:

    Haven't been on the site in a while, but it's good to be back. Loved the guide and will definitely make an effort to do a roleplaying playthrough one day.

    Thanks Fallout :D

  • Member
    November 16, 2016

    Very pertinent guide! I always love to see my favorite class done justice. I think the civil war is also prime questing for a ranger, I always loved the idea of a hardened, war strategist/survivalist scout.

  • Member
    November 16, 2016

    Very pertinent guide! I always love to see my favorite class done justice. I think the civil war is also prime questing for a ranger, I always loved the idea of a hardened, war strategist/survivalist scout.

  • Member
    November 16, 2016

    Gabe said:

    Very pertinent guide! I always love to see my favorite class done justice. I think the civil war is also prime questing for a ranger, I always loved the idea of a hardened, war strategist/survivalist scout.

    Same! But instead of being part of the main force, having a murky figure arise from the shadows, shoot some enemies with their bow, then retreat just when you turn to thank them. Just a really cool image in my head, which is now refuelling the restartitis bug that I thought I defeated...

    Looking forward to seeing you around here again, Gabe. You made a guide or two if I recall correctly, right?

  • January 4, 2017

    Loved this guide, I'm looking to get back into Skyrim and ranger build have always interested me.

    With the idea of having the caches of things at outpost around skyrim, the Mod hunterborn allow you to create cache markers that you can place, not completely sure how they work but it would be a way to have safe storage anywhere and be inkeeping with the RP as they are made from bone

  • Member
    August 17, 2018
    You can use the Alchemist Shack between Falkreath and The Rift near Ivarstead as a base if the Ranger is a bit of an alchemist.