Ranger/dNetHack
| Roles in dNetHack |
|---|
| Roles in notdNetHack |
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the Ranger is one of the roles from NetHack that is available to the hero.
Rangers can be neutral or chaotic, and can be played as humans, orcs, incantifiers, gnomes, elves, drow, chiropterans, or half-dragons. In notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, they can also be played as salamanders or ents in addition to the listed races.
Starting equipment
Each Ranger starts with the following equipment, depending on their race:
| Human (default) | Gnome | Elf | Orc | Drow | Incantifier | Chiropteran | Half-dragon | Salamander (ndnh, nndnh) | Treant (ndnh, nndnh) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melee weapon (wielded) | +1 dagger | +1 dagger | +1 elven dagger | +1 orcish dagger | +1 droven dagger | +1 dagger | +1 dagger | +1 dagger | +1 spear | +1 dagger |
| Launcher (alternate weapon) | +1 bow | +1 crossbow | +1 elven bow | +1 orcish bow | +1 droven crossbow | +1 bow | +1 bow | +1 bow | +1 bow | +1 bow |
| Primary ammo (quivered) | 50-59 +2 arrows | 50-59 +2 crossbow bolts | 50-59 +2 elven arrows | 50-59 +2 orcish arrows | 50-59 +2 droven bolts | 50-59 +2 arrows | 50-59 +2 arrows | 50-59 +2 arrows | 50-59 +2 arrows | 50-59 +2 arrows |
| Secondary ammo | 30-39 +0 arrows | 30-39 +0 crossbow bolts | 30-39 +0 elven arrows | 30-39 +0 orcish arrows | 30-39 +0 droven bolts | 30-39 +0 arrows | 30-39 +0 arrows | 30-39 +0 arrows | 30-39 +0 arrows | 30-39 +0 arrows |
| Cloak | +2 cloak of displacement | +2 cloak of displacement | +2 elven cloak | +2 cloak of displacement | +2 droven plate mail | +2 robe | +2 cloak of displacement | +2 cloak of displacement | +2 cloak of displacement | +2 cloak of displacement |
| Boots | +0 pair of high boots | +0 pair of high boots | +0 pair of high boots | +0 pair of high boots | +0 pair of high boots | +0 pair of high boots | +0 pair of gauntlets | +0 pair of high boots | None (replaced by cram rations) | +0 pair of high boots |
| Food | 4-8 cram rations | 4-8 cram rations | 4-8 lembas wafers | 4-8 cram rations
two stacks of 1-2 random comestibles |
4-8 cram rations | 4-8 scrolls of food detection | 4-8 cram rations | 4-8 cram rations | 4-8 cram rations
additional stack of 1-2 cram rations (replaces high boots) |
4-8 cram rations |
| Lighting | 3 uncursed +0 torches | 3 uncursed +0 torches | 3 uncursed +0 torches | 3 uncursed +0 torches | 3 uncursed +0 shadowlander's torches | 3 uncursed +0 torches | 3 uncursed +0 torches | 3 uncursed +0 torches | 3 uncursed +0 torches | 3 uncursed +0 torches |
Chaotic Rangers have a 1⁄100 chance each of their weapon and individual stacks of ammo being coated in basic poison.
Rangers start with knowledge of any applicable racial equipment.
The Ranger's default starting pet is a little dog named Sirius.
Intrinsics
Rangers gain the following intrinsic properties upon reaching the given experience levels:
- XL 1: searching
- XL 7: stealth
- XL 15: see invisible
Attributes
Rangers have 75 points to distribute among their starting attributes like most other roles, while descendant Rangers have a total of 65 to distribute. Orcish Rangers have -20 points for a total of 55 to distribute, and descendant orcish Rangers have -25 points for a total of 50. Elven Rangers have +5 points for a total of 80 to distribute, and descendant elven Rangers have -5 points for a total of 70.
The Ranger's starting attributes are distributed as follows:
| Attributes | Strength | Dexterity | Constitution | Intelligence | Wisdom | Charisma | Remaining |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum attributes | 13 | 9 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 7 |
| Distribution percentages | 30% | 20% | 20% | 10% | 10% | 10% | |
| Mean w/ standard deviation (human) | 15.22±1.32 | 10.45±1.17 | 14.44±1.14 | 13.75±0.93 | 13.75±0.93 | 7.68±0.91 |
The means and standard deviations were calculated for NetHack via simulation, whose source code can be found on the role article's talk page, and assumes that all given roles are played as humans—non-human races will have different attribute means as a result of different attribute maximums. Due to the distribution of attributes having a wider variance among roles and races, these calculations may not be wholly accurate to this set of variants.
Skills
Rangers have the following skills available to them:
| Ranger skills | |
|---|---|
| Max | Skills |
| Basic |
|
| Skilled |
|
| Expert |
|
Rangers start with Basic skill in daggers as well as their starting launcher, i.e. crossbows for gnomes and drow, and bows otherwise. They use the intelligence stat to cast spells, and their special spell is invisibility.
Special rules
Rangers have a base attack bonus of +0.75 per experience level, which is boosted to +1 when performing ranged attacks.
Rangers get a +1 multishot bonus when throwing or firing projectiles and other weapons.
Rangers gain an additional minimum "multishot" (i.e. they will shoot a minimum of two projectiles instead of one) at experience level 14, and gain another +1 multishot bonus at experience level 30.
Projectiles and missile that Rangers fire or shoot from launcher weapons gain an additional 100% skill damage bonus against a target's DR.
Rank titles
For Rangers other than elven and drow Rangers, the status line displays one of the following ranks for the corresponding experience levels:
- XL 1-2: Tenderfoot
- XL 3-5: Lookout
- XL 6-9: Trailblazer
- XL 10-13: Reconnoiterer/Reconnoiteress
- XL 14-17: Scout
- XL 18-21: Arbalester
- XL 22-25: Archer
- XL 26-29: Sharpshooter
- XL 30: Marksman/Markswoman
Elven Rangers are given their own rank titles for the corresponding experience levels:
- XL 1-5: Edhel/Elleth
- XL 6-9: Ohtar/Ohtie
- XL 10-13: Kano/Kanie
- XL 14-17: Arandur/Aranduriel
- XL 18-21: Hir/Hiril
- XL 22-25: Aredhel/Arwen
- XL 26-29: Ernil/Elentariel
- XL 30: Elentar/Elentari
Drow Rangers and other drow heroes share their own rank titles for the corresponding experience levels:
- XL 1-2: Wiu/Ligrr
- XL 3-5: Wanre/Wenress
- XL 6-9: Glenn/Kyorl
- XL 10-13: Elg'hasek/Venta'kyorl
- XL 14-17: Beldrar/An'kin
- XL 18-21: Helothann/Jallil
- XL 22-25: Linthar/Sil'in
- XL 26-29: Kas'ka/Qu'ess
- XL 30: Zil/Val'sharess
Gods
Unlike NetHack, the Ranger pantheon of Roman deities is replaced by several others, depending on the hero's race.
| Human (default) | Gnome | Elf | Orc | Drow | Hedrow (male drow) | Incantifier | Chiropteran | Half-dragon | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lawful | Apollo | Kurtulmak | Orome | Apollo | Eilistraee | the Eddergud | Apollo | Apollo | Apollo |
| Neutral | Latona | Garl Glittergold | Yavanna | Latona | Kiaransali | Vhaeraun | Latona | Latona | Latona |
| Chaotic | Diana | Urdlen | Tulkas | Diana | Lolth | Lolth | Diana | Diana | Diana |
Python Delpyne serves as the chaotic unholy deity for vampire heroes that worship within the pantheon, though vampires cannot normally be Rangers.
Quest
Similarly, the Ranger's quest and quest artifact also depends on their starting race: the default quest sees a Ranger fighting Scorpius for The Longbow of Diana, an artifact silvered bow that favors Rangers. The Longbow of Diana grants telepathy while carried, and while wielded it grants reflection and applies +1d5 to-hit and +1d6 damage bonuses to fired arrows, along with a +2 multishot bonus for Rangers and a +1 multishot bonus for other roles—arrows fired from the artifact have no maximum range, and will continue flying until they hit a monster or an obstruction. Invoking The Longbow of Diana creates arrows with the same beatitude as the bow and places them in the hero's inventory, with a small chance of producing poisoned arrows.
Elven Rangers will embark on the Elvish Racial Quest, which sees them fighting the Necromancer for The Palantir of Westernesse, an artifact crystal ball that favors elves. While carried, the Palantir of Westernesse grants x-ray vision, telepathy, warning, and reflection. Invoking the artifact subjects nearby monsters to taming.
Gnomish Rangers will embark on the Gnomish Ranger quest, which sees them fighting the Great High Shaman of Kurtulmak for The Rogue Gear-spirits, an artifact crossbow that favors gnomes and Rangers. While carried, The Rogue Gear-Spirits grants telepathy, warning and fire resistance, and while wielded, it grants automatic searching, adds its enchantment as a bonus to manual search attempts, and grants +1d5 to-hit and double damage to both each crossbow bolt fired from it and to any damage done using the artifact in melee. When using The Rogue Gear-spirits as a melee weapon, it is treated as a double-damage pick-axe that deals piercing and blunt damage—when using it as a launcher for crossbow bolts, it will always shoot a minimum of 2, and if no ammo is quivered, it will automatically create and fire +0 crossbow bolts. Applying The Rogue Gear-Spirits allows the hero to dig as with a pick-axe, and each application will cause the artifact to supply a random rumor; the rumor will be true or false based on the artifact's beatitude. Invoking The Rogue Gear-Spirits allows the hero to untrap an applicable square.
Drow Rangers have different quests based on the hero's gender, as well as additional routes that they can take within the quests themselves:
- The base Drow Racial quest sees a female drow Ranger fight Seyll Auzkovyn for Silver Starlight, an artifact silver rapier that favors drow. While wielded, Silver Starlight has several effects: it grants +1d4 to-hit and +1d4 damage bonuses; deals +2d20 silver damage; grants a +2d4 precision damage bonus; treats thrown shuriken as silver; increases the size of the hero's sneak attack damage die by 1⁄2; ignores a target's equipped armor for calculating hits and DR; and deals full damage to insubstantial targets such as shades and Sharab Kamerel. Applying Silver Starlight allows it to be played for the same effects as a magic flute, which sets the same timer as though it had been invoked; doing so while the invoke timer is active will instead drain a point of enchantment. Invoking Silver Starlight blesses the artifact, applies erosion-proofing, sets its enchantment to +3 if it is currently lower, and generates a small stack of shuriken.
- The Hedrow Racial quest sees a male drow Ranger fight Daruth Xaxox for The Darkweaver's Cloak, an artifact droven cloak that favors drow. While worn, The Darkweaver's Cloak grants magic resistance when worn and can be safely enchanted to +7. Applying The Darkweaver's Cloak releases a patch of darkness if the hero is standing in light, or releases a patch of light if the hero is standing in darkness—releasing darkness reduces the enchantment of the cloak, while releasing light increases it, and doing so will never disintegrate the cloak in either case.
- A drow Ranger of either gender can betray their quest leader, Eclavdra, and join the faction of their former nemesis—this changes their objective to fighting Eclavdra for The Tentacle Rod, an artifact flail that is initially unaligned, but becomes lawful if the hero turns traitor. As a weapon, The Tentacle Rod only receives half the normal damage bonus from the hero's strength, and receives no damage bonus from their skill or from its enchantment—to-hit bonuses are applied as normal. While wielded, The Tentacle Rod has +1d7 to-hit and +1 damage bonuses, absorbs curses similar to Magicbane and acts as a spellcasting focus; while wielded or held in the offhand slot (even when not performing two weapon combat), the Rod has a 1⁄4 chance of lashing out against each adjacent hostile monster, and only one monster can be attacked this way per turn. Attacking with the Tentacle Rod via any means performs up to 7 strikes per swing, with varying effects depending on how many hits land:
- If it hits 3 or more times, it blinds, stuns or confuses the target.
- If it hits 6 or more times, it additionally slows the target, paralyzes them, or drives them insane.
- If it hits all 7 times, it also deals +d7 damage for each resistance property that the target lacks out of the following: shock resistance, acid resistance, poison resistance, drain resistance, and magic resistance. It also deals +2d7 if the monster has exactly one of either fire resistance or cold resistance, resulting in a maximum damage bonus of +7d7.
- Additionally, if a traitor drow Ranger retrieves The Tentacle Rod for their new quest leader, they can exchange it for another artifact: female drow Rangers can receive Crescent Blade, while hedrow Rangers can receive Spidersilk.
Strategy
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