Evil rangers

[Cret]

I was thinking. Now, after several years, of Malar having druids. Perhaps we could introduce rangers of Malar.

[Rictinta]

I have to agree with this... since Malar does support fallen rangers. Especially with the hunting, survival of the fittest aspect, I think this could work. But I also don't think that the evil ranger aspect should be just limited to those of Malar. Other rangers of good alignment do not have to be faithed, or faithed specifically to one god. What if we were to make this an evil class, of perhaps say Hunters? And that way the evils would also have some option of warriors with casting abilties. We don't have paladins or rangers... so I think we should have the option of a hunter class. There are many faiths of destruction that this could work with. And as hunters, we'd more be the destructive force against rangers specifically. Pochers, the idiots who hang trophy heads on their walls... start forest fires... etc... lol But I really think this could be a distinct possibility.

[Selveem]

There's really no need for a separate class. Even unfaithed Rangers still draw up the power of the forest provided they have the Wisdom for it. This MUD is long overdue for evil Rangers.

As for 'starting forest fires' and the like, I highly doubt any ranger would have this in mind. You need to remember that forests are the place where Rangers feel most comfortable. It's where most of their skills and abilities can be used best. I mean, think about it: they get animal empathy; do you think they'd get animal empathy if they wanted to go burn down forests? I doubt it.

I do think we should have evil rangers, but we don't need stupid characters. If the mprog for faithing were to explain to them their role and how they should view the wilds (regardless of faith), I really don't see any issue. Evil is not just destruction; there are tons of ways to be evil.

[Brar]

Well, I think it was said in another post that ranger would be open to all alignment but that building is needed for that due to the lack of suitable quest for non good rangers.

Now, about ranger and forest.
Rangers in DnD are not forest warrior, they are nature warrior... their feat/skills/ect works in the wilderness, not specifically forest.

Nature is not limited to forest, it tends to be view as such in FK because we have Mielikki as nature god instead of Silvanus (which is technically the big nature boss, encompassing all that is natural).

A lot of animal hunters, good or bad are rangers.
They track, hide in the wild, handle animals with empathy (by love or fear but both works), ect.

So I think, evil rangers would be good but would needs builders anyway, so it's not for tommorow.

Brar

[Lathander]

This topic comes up every now and again. It is not the time for this discussion again. Of course, I'm not saying you can't discuss it, merely that the arguments for evil rangers have already been made and we have those threads to reply upon. Any discussion here will not result in a speeding up of the staff decision or possible implementation. There are other things (glory for example) that are taking up our limited imm/staff time.

[Selveem]

Please don't take this as me being a smart-ass, but couldn't this just be accomplished by builders? There's nothing code-related or anything Imm-action-required about setting someone's guild. I would think that, provided the (relatively small) area, this could easily be accomplished by builders. Granted, I know our builders are already mostly being utilized, but I think I could probably accomplish this with the help of a Hard Coder.

[Lathander]

Yes and no, Selveem. The nuts and bolts of the areas, trainers, quests and the like can be done by builders. The decisions about what can and cannot constitute an evil ranger are not left to builders, but to Staff discussion. I can tell you that we, as a staff, have had that discussion before and the ground work supporting allowing or not allowing evil rangers has already been laid out by proponents of both points of view. The vast majority of those points were culled from public discussion on threads just like this one. So it seems to me to be a redundant thread. I don't believe in sharing the results of those staff-only discussions in a piecemeal (?sp) fashion. I'd rather, as an imm, be able to clearly tell our playerbase "We are not allowing evil rangers because X,Y,Z" or "We are allowing evil rangers but only under parameters A,B,C." We have not reached a definitive position with all aspects hashed out yet. To be honest, the discussion is tabled for the moment while each of us tends to areas of higher priority or personal interest. All of the work others have done on "score," feats, help files, armour weights/types, etc. etc. are things they chose to do first. My point here is that, while everyone is free to offer their ideas and opinions on this topic, the chances are that those ideas have already been posted before and we staff/imms will explore the options more closely and with more dedication as other items get ticked off the list.

Now I know how many of you (especially Selveem!) enjoy teasers. So, consider this collection facts and read between the lines. We have already removed the Markana token requirement for new rangers (though apprenticeships are still encouraged). The current warden has desired to step down for some time. Once the foregathering area file can be edited to reflect current concepts, an IC foregathering can be held and a new warden chosen. The overall concept of goodly ranger roleplay will then be guided by a new person.

I refuse to confirm or deny any conclusions you draw from the above statement.

[Rictinta]

As for 'starting forest fires' and the like, I highly doubt any ranger would have this in mind. You need to remember that forests are the place where Rangers feel most comfortable. It's where most of their skills and abilities can be used best. I mean, think about it: they get animal empathy; do you think they'd get animal empathy if they wanted to go burn down forests? I doubt it.

We need to work on your sense of humor sweetie... that part was a joke. Hence the lol... *rolls eyes*

But agreed, this would have to be hashed out by the imms as to how we should roleplay this. But also considering the view that we are evil... while we may feel at home in the forest, we're not going to gather hands and sing coombiah (sp?) around the campfire. There could be a multitude of reasons that an evil character has chosen to be a ranger.