Ranger Archive
Thread: The Rebel Ranger a short story
This is the story of a Star Wars Ranger in my ideal form, quite different from the current Star Wars Galaxies game template. It is my latest rant, a personal plea for some skill changes in a slightly more creative manner than usual. I feel the Ranger I have depicted here is not too powerful but also not nearly as dull and weak as the current skill set makes them. I do not expect all the skills here to be implemented, but I feel that any of them would be very beneficial to the profession. The faction is unimportant, but I chose Rebel for my hero here. If you are an Imperial, feel free to imagine the Ranger as one of your own, instead. The story, names, and unfortunately the Ranger skills used are all fictional. I hope you enjoy it.
“The Rebel Ranger”
One large squadron of Imperial soldiers glided over the sandy reaches of Tatooine on a particularly dark, windy night. Their destination was Anchorhead, where they had been ordered to put down an unruly group of Alliance soldiers that had been reported. The gathering needed to be struck down before it became a further threat to the Empire.
At the group’s head strode a dignified man donning the finest of armors. “We’re halfway there and not a single rebel. This will be blitzkrieg warfare at its finest,” remarked Squad Leader Holtz.
Stunen Umbast the Creature Handler exclaimed, “Haha, I just brought these three beasts back from Dathomir and they haven’t been fed in days. This will be the perfect opportunity, sir.”
“You and your pets... just put me within 64.0 meters of their precious General Behrick and this battle will be over before it starts,” offered Pitlitch the Rifleman, in a dark tone.
“I’m sure you’ll both get what you want,” said Holtz. “You there, Klein. What have you to report?”
A dark shape formed before them. Kleiner Leaflink was a Master Scout and could sometimes be a hard man to keep track of. Still, he was young and his career fresh. He was happy to have landed the lucrative opportunity to serve under Holtz, who held the rank of Sergeant Major in the Imperial Army.
“It looks like smooth sailing all the way, sir. There aren’t any patrolmen on duty in the rebel settlements nearby, either. You chose the perfect path,” said Kleiner.
“Excellent, my boy. We’ll make a soldier out of you yet,” replied Holtz, grinning widely.
“Wait,” cried Kleiner. “Oh, no… 50 meters Northeast!”
A shot rang out before the words had even left the Scout’s lips. Pitlitch dove to the ground. Another shot flew out of his rifle. There was a soft thud in the distance. “Finish him, sir?” asked the Rifleman.
“No,” said Holtz as he marched toward the spy. Nineteen soldiers followed him in a tight formation. “Heal him,” he said, once he stood over the body.
A wave of healing came from somewhere in the ranks. Instantly the fallen enemy was back on his feet.
“How long have you been tracking us?” bellowed the Squad Leader.
The man made no response. He seemed to stare past Holtz, into the distance.
“Sir, with his skills it might have been since we left Bestine. I’ve been on full alert the entire time, but he is more talented than I… I am sorry. I think he may be a Master Ranger.”
The Rebel pulled a capsule out of his satchel in a quick movement and tossed it over Holtz’s head. Promptly it landed atop Stunen’s fiercest creature, emitting bright electricity and stunning the beast until it became incapacitated. Nets flew out from the trap as well, engulfing the other creatures nearby.
“No, Fluffy!” cried the Creature Handler. Fluffy yelped feebly and the other creatures barked their displeasure; their movement speed seemed significantly hindered.
“Dammit, that was a mistake,” yelled Holtz. “Pitlitch, execute this worm.”
“With pleasure,” was the Rifleman’s response, raising his rifle to his shoulder.
The Rifleman seemed to wait, savoring the moment. But the hesitation became a lengthy pause. “Pitlitch?” demanded Holtz. Pitlitch’s sneer slowly twisted into a look of horror. He wobbled briefly then crumpled onto the ground. Blood trickled out of his helmet.
“Enemies North, Southeast, and South!” shouted Kleiner, as bullets began to travel among them.
“He tipped them off! Someone kill that damned Ranger,” ordered the Squad Leader, and yet the command was too late. The Rebel spy had vanished back into the night. “Kleiner, go get us reinforcements! Men, attack my target!”
“Yes, sir,” stuttered the Scout as he bolted back toward Bestine. Using his training he traveled twice the speed of any ordinary soldier, and he also utilized some crude techniques for hiding his presence. He knew it was critical that he recruit another force to rescue his own as they had no chance of winning the battle, even with Holtz’s masterful tactics.
The clamor of the battle began to fade away. When he realized he had gotten past the Rebel force, he allowed himself to let out a sigh. His pace slowed a notch. Then, abruptly, a blade buried into his gut.
He doubled over. Two shapes materialized in front of him. The Ranger had followed him and brought along a Swordsman. Kleiner had heard stories of Rangers using their powers to conceal groups of men, but had never seen such a feat done. He didn’t blame himself for the mistake. Still, his platoon would find no aid coming for them now.
He knew no Imperial Doctors would find his corpse out here, so he took to hoping that the cloning would not be too painful.
The Ranger looked at him with pity as the Swordsman drew back for a killing blow. Kleiner returned the gaze with hate and awe. Someday he would beat this man, but he had much to learn. “Finish him,” muttered the Rebel Ranger. Then the world went black.
During beta, much was discussed about the issue of concealing also to PC's radar and sight.
It ended that it was too much to handle (not for devs but for players ... we didn't wanted another daoc-like uber-infiltrator/shadowblade).
So don't whine, because they will never implement it.
Regarding the traps, i agree with you : we deserve powerful traps that captures and stuns multiple creatures.
This is really an issue
Andnot whining... only suggesting, sir. Besides, I don't see how concealing only to radar would be too overpowering, but I guess I'll let the experts make the decisions.
Nice, even for a Reb.
Thanks Fixer, Mollimar... yeah, even insolent dogs can pick up a pen now and then, eh?
Ulot, I just have to point out to you what you are saying really quick:
Ulot wrote:
What is wrong with just being a hunter? Don't need stealth for that.
Read that over a couple of times, and then get back to me Okay, I don't hunt myself, but from my understanding it seems to be three parts stealth and one part marksmanship. Seriously though, only one of our lines is devoted to hunting. If you look to the third rank of our Exploration line, there it is staring us in the face- Stealth Techniques. The problem lies in the fact that we only have one stealth technique and that is to stink less... seems a bit meager, to me, all things considered.
I almost forgot... I tried to be very certain my Ranger did no damageto the other players. If you'll notice, the only thing he did was incapacitate one and debuff two pets. In no way was he "wiping out a group of Imperials." 
Ulot wrote:
Why do Rangers have to have PvP combat skills? What is wrong with just being a hunter? Don't need stealth for that. You don't see weaponsmiths writting stories about wiping out groups of Imperials.
I have to finally speak up on this subject. Yes, a Ranger is in FANTASY environments the master of the wilderness - think of Aragorn or the Ranger class in EQ (Hell no I am not equating the two as being the same - just of similar type). However, there is also the modern military scout - in the U.S. an elite group of which are called Rangers. Ultimately, I would like to see the Ranger encompass a bit of both. I conceed that our primary focus should be on combating creatures in the wilderness. I would also like to see the profession used as a stealthy, fast strike, scouting role in PvP combat as well. I certainly think this is not out of place.
Zandahl Dubh
Zandahl's Safari and Travel
Theed, Naboo
Eclipse
BTW....
If you want to have an absolute BLAST as a Rebel Ranger.... go to the Imperial Base on Dantooine and hunt around the surrounding area with the HORDES of Rebel Special Forces camps... if you are a Covert Rebel of good standing, they will fight along side you and they KICK ARSE!! Some of the Rebel Spec Ops are Rangers.. some are Commandos... Some are Combat Medics.... and they all LOVE a good fight...
Last night I had the most exciting battle of my life as I agroed an entire herd of Thunes (the pack leaders are vicious!) into a huge battallion of rebels (4 camps next to each other). There were 5 Thunes and about 20 rebels fighting in a huge battle. It was a 45 minute long slug fest!!! I've never had so much fun in my life as a Ranger.. the Thunes were taking out Rangers left and right but they kept coming... the crazy little Rebel Medic droid was running around trying to heal while being chased.. it was hilarious! I actually felt useful because I could root the Thunes to help some of the rebs run for cover and I was tossing glow-juice to lower the ranged def... the key was just keeping a specOp trooper between me and the Thune 
And to boot.... each trap hit on the pack leader was 675 trap xp, each harvest was 675 scout xp, and they drop about 100 resource... I didn't get much combat xp or weapon xp ... but it is just a blast to watch and try to stay alive.
I'd love to see some other Reb Rangers on Dantooine hunting like this.. it will give you chills down your spine when you see all that blaster fire and all the rebels charging past you to fight your mob... it KICKS ARSE!!!!
- Zarn
The example of the US Army Rangers fits closer to a commando or one of the other combat classes. Why don't you want them to have stealth?
Rangers are designed to be the PvE hunter/exploration skill set. All of our skills (while some may be broken) lead to that direction. There is nothing wrong with leaving it that way. Seems to me that you just want to play some sort of stealth combatant and believe that they should be called rangers. Sorry, but the name is already taken. We probably wouldn't be having this conversation if they were just called "animal hunters" instead of rangers.
I can understand you want to play with radar stealth, but it has nothing to do with rangers in SWG. Instead of thinking of rangers as Aragon and modern soldiers, think of them as the hunters they designed to be. Now does it make sense to make them invisible to other players? Makes more sense to give it to commandos who are suppose to be attacking people and not animals. I don't understand why the hunter class has to have stealth against players just because it is called ranger.