Ranger (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons)
The ranger was one of the standard character-classes available in the original Player's Handbook, one of five subclasses. The first edition rangers were a subtype of the fighters, using any weapon and wearing any armor, but they gained extra attacks at a slower rate than fighters and paladins. Unlike other warriors, the ranger used d8 hit dice instead of d10s, but had a second hit die at 1st level and maxed out at 11 hit dice instead of nine. Rangers also had extensive tracking abilities, based on a percentage score, and were able to surprise opponents on a roll of 1–3 on a d6 (rather than a 1–2) while they themselves could only be surprised on a 1. Rangers gained limited spell use at level 8, acquiring 1st–3rd level druid spells and 1st and 2nd level magic-user spells (two per level maximum). Rangers were most effective when fighting giants and humanoids (such as orcs), gaining a +1 to damage per level against these opponents. High level rangers gained followers, ranging in type and power from classed player-character races, to creatures such as pegasus mounts, pseudodragons, werebears, copper dragons and storm giants. As a general rule, the fewer followers a ranger gained (based on random dice rolls) the more powerful each individual follower was.[citation needed] Rangers were required to be of good alignment, and were initially limited to humans and half-elves. The only multi-class option open to rangers was the ranger/cleric, allowed to half-elves.
Power Rangers Forever!
Well arguably the next most powerful class behind Bard is the remort-class Ranger, made less so by the modern multi-remort Sohei or the 25INT brain-imploding evil Jedi, but still ranking near the top of the class pyramid by nature of their Animal Call spells. During their heyday, the Ranger could pet spam down any boss mob, but advances in boss mob AI, specifically pet wandering, has severely limited the purview of the Ranger.
Still, the 25WIS fumble, or a set of 25WIS multi-attribute damage skins, is a compelling reason to cultivate your mass remort ranger.
Since you'll be auto-rerolled when your remort, be prepared to reroll your stats until you get to at the very least a 7 to perf statistic set. Check out the remort class page and the page for tips on stat re-rolls.
We've compiled a list of ranger-related wiki pages that should help in your journey.