Ranger Archive

I was just thinking of an old idea that's comes up from time to time in the Ranger forum and I've put some thought into it and felt it deserved another look becouse it's such a neat idea ifdone right and can revive alot ofnerfed professions as well as plenty others.

What we need is arevamp of the environment and how it effects player characters. There should be environmental damage (an encumbrance to ones health which gets worse with time) applied to all player characters when they leave the safety of a city, structure, camp, or a group where there is a player with a high mitigation from the environment such as a Scout or Ranger. The environments of alien planets should be dangerous to players without outdoor skills and knowledge. The severity and speedthis encumbrancebuilds upshould depend on a number of things such as the players race, the planet, time of day, clothing worn, food and drink consumed. Scouts and Rangers should have environmental mitigation built into our professions, so Squadleaders and Bounty Huntes may benefit also. Players without Scout/Ranger in their templates will be able to work around the enviromentaldamage and/or mitigate against it in a numbers of ways such as;

Grouping with a player with aScout/Ranger Template. Scouts and Rangers should have perament enviromentaldamage mitigation built into our proffesions and this should giveenvironmentalbonuses to all players who are in a group with them.

Food and Drink. Scouts and Rangers can further mitigate against harsh environments buy consuming or trading foraged food and drinks which will give a temporary buff to improve encumbrance to enviromentaldamage. More potent food and drink can be purchased from a Chef.

Clothing/Armor.BE's and Tailors can makematerial andclothingthathas built inbonuses to environmentaldamage. Certain clothing articles like dance costumes and Speedos should never have bonuses from the environment. Armorsmiths can buy materials from BE's or Tailors to make armorlayers that give protection from the environment.

Vehicles and Mounts can be used while traveling to reduce the amount of time a player character needs to be outside in the wilderness. A completely non-protected character who is on a long trip with his vehicle/Mount will have to plan a route which takes him/her through some metro areas, or stop at camps or public buildingsto reduce their encumbrance and recharge their health. Vehicles and mounts may also be created to give bonuses to environmental health encumbrance.

Cities, Structures, and Camps. As stated above, Cities, Structures, and Campscan be used to remove oneshealth encumbrace after spending time in the wilderness. Large Metro areas willreduce this encumbrance the fastest, maybe as fast as a minute and the basic camp kit willdo itthe slowest.

A Dancer or Musician walking from Bestine to their next gig in Wayfar in the mid-day Tatoonian sun while wearing bikinis and speedos should be encapped before they reach Wayfar, and unless someone with outdoor skills, clothing, food happens across them before their second encap, they'll arrive at Wayfar via the clonning chamber. Non-scout/Rangers will have to bring food, drink, protective clotihing, and maybe a speeder if they intend to make that journey.

Long duration hunting partieswill most likely need to bring a Master Scout or Ranger along as clothing, food and drink might not be enough to reduce the speed the encumbrance builds on them. Scout/Ranger group environmental bonuses, camps and foraged goods will save the day.

Scouts and Rangers will be affected by the environment too, but these professions are more resistant due to their training. Scouts and Rangers can stay out for longer periods then any other profession becouse we can simply put up a camp and forage for our own food and drink to reduce our encumbrance (although less effective than going back into town). A Master Ranger without any bonuses except what is given through his profession should be able to competely eliminate his/her environmental encumbrance by simply eating a foraged food or drink item every hour or so.