Where are Belkar's Ranger abilities?

[DemLep]

Okay this might have been asked before I don't know. I will admit I haven't spent much time on this site (few weeks).

But all of the characters are high level, though I'm not sure what level exactly they are about level 15 give or take a level from what I can tell. Belkar is mostly a ranger, but he seems to have few of the ranger abilities. No combat style, no animal companion, only one favorite enemy (Kobolds) from what I can tell, and maybe a few of the other ones, not sure.

Now obviously this is a comic, an awesome one, but all the other character give some reference to there class and class abilities. Is he a variant ranger, or does he ignore is class abilities, or is it something else? Just wondering what's up with Belkar?

[Volthawk]

Well, combat style is shown. You ever noticed what he uses to fight with? Two daggers. Animal companion, see Mr Scruffy. Favoured Enemy, well, not too sure about that. Tracking, that's a running joke that he can't track well.

[DragonOfUndeath]

the cat is his animal. he has 2 daggers (2 weapon fighting style). he might have goblins as a favored enemy (the 2nd in command is a gobbo and did you see the pile of gobbos he killed in the battle for the city) that is all i can think of right now

EDIT: swordsaged

[DemLep]

Actually i believe he is using small-sized short swords. Okay I had a mind slip on those.

Ranger's get an animal companion at level 4 not 14. Those I guess Mr. Scruffy would fit the bill for the part.

Tracking is a running joke and is why I left it out of my original post. And though Belkar kills many the Kobolds seem to get a special treatment in there deaths, as to way I named them alone as a favored enemy.

And what about the divine spells?

[Volthawk]

And what about the divine spells?

His wisdom is too low. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0058.html)

[DemLep]

Heh, oh yea I forgot that. Up until then I thought he was a fighter. Okay so maybe they explain more of it than I thought.

He should take more levels in barbarian.

[King of Nowhere]

There are theories that he took favored enemy: everything that moves :smallbiggrin:

Aside from that, he spent heavily in hide, move silently, and jump (even before getting the ring). All ranger's skills.

[DragonOfUndeath]

maybe his animal companion is ELAN!!! (elan is stupid enough to be counted as such)

[DemLep]

He might have... he'd still have one or two more though (if we also assume the kobolds are one, which I still do.)

The Skills seem normal enough. It was more the class abilities that threw me off. The others see to make there class abilities more noticeable.

EDIT: Maybe and he upgraded to Mr. Scruffy when he was high enough level!

[Morquard]

Ranger's get an animal companion at level 4 not 14. Those I guess Mr. Scruffy would fit the bill for the part.

Noone forces a ranger to pick an AC at level 4. I also think that while Mr Scruffy is indeed his animal companion now, the bond happened without Belkar even realising it, I bet if you'd ask him for his animal companion class feature he looks at you funny and has no clue what you're tlaking about.

As for favored enemies:
my guess is Humans, Kobolds, Gnomes, Goblins (not necessarily in that order)

[DragonOfUndeath]

or just Sentient beings, Non-sentient beings, anything not a Sentient being or a Non-Sentient being, people trying to harm Mr Scruffy

[Moridin]

There are theories that he took favored enemy: everything that moves :smallbiggrin:



This will be his DOOM once the trees start attacking.

:durkon: I told ye

[DragonOfUndeath]

they can't attack without moving unless they have psionic or telekinetic powers otherwise Belkar gets Favoured Enemy: ITS MOVING KILL IT!!! :smallbiggrin:

[Kish]

Actually i believe he is using small-sized short swords.

No. Remember the very first strip? He was using two daggers because they were Light weapons for him, then they became two "small daggers," and he was upset specifically because his weapons were suddenly so small.

[The Rose Dragon]

No. Remember the very first strip? He was using two daggers because they were Light weapons for him, then they became two "small daggers," and he was upset specifically because his weapons were suddenly so small.

Also, because they were thrown weapons.

[137beth]

maybe his animal companion is ELAN!!! (elan is stupid enough to be counted as such)

Not quite. I'm pretty sure Elans's intelligence is too high...(though Thog on the other hand could be dumb enough:smallsmile:) He also used a bunch of his skill points (which are limited, since his int is probably low) on Craft Disturbing Mental Image.

[Kish]

Craft Disturbing Mental Image.
Feat, not a skill.

[rokar4life]

Many of his class features are probably hanging out with all of his missing wisdom points.

[megabyter5]

Noone forces a ranger to pick an AC at level 4.

He does? Whoever this "Noone" guy is, I wouldn't want him as my DM.

[Werbaer]

I also think that while Mr Scruffy is indeed his animal companion now, the bond happened without Belkar even realising it, I bet if you'd ask him for his animal companion class feature he looks at you funny and has no clue what you're tlaking about.
I think it hapened in #622 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0622.html).
"It's you and me from now on, pal. We're in this together, to the top of the heap or bust, until the very, very end."

[Acero]

He has been shown using Wild Empathy, but he failed his save.

[ref]

The plural form of "ranger" is "rangers", not "ranger's".

[TreesOfDeath]

His wisdom is crap and he did not spend his skill points properly.

His animal companion MIGHT be mr scruffy

[JonestheSpy]

His tracking has actually gotten better, but it's manifesting iself as his sense of smell, it seems. That's how they found the bounty hunters.

[Shale]

I'd wager he put more skill points in Survival after being forced to admit that Miko was better than him at something.

[Barstro]

The plural form of "ranger" is "rangers", not "ranger's".

Unless you are stating that there is a certain "plural form" which is owned by a particular ranger. Then it is the ranger's plural form. :amused:

[Bongos]

why all the grammer nazis?

[Marnath]

why all the grammer nazis?

This is the internet, sir. Thats how it IS here :smalltongue:
Just be glad the Giant keeps a tight rein on flaming other posters.

[Boogastreehouse]

I rather like coming to this forum; good grammar is encouraged, which I feel in turn leads to more carefully thought out and interesting posts.

Also, I feel that people are more likely to develop an idea or theory and present it, because they are less likely to be shot down by some snot-nosed kid saying "shut up noob, u r teh gayz!"

I try not to Grammar-Nazi too much though, because it can quickly become another form of bullying. It's easy to dismiss someone's whole point just because they used the wrong your/you're or whether/weather.

http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww340/Joshrothathan/grammar-police.png

[Mystic Muse]

Noone forces a ranger to pick an AC at level 4. I also think that while Mr Scruffy is indeed his animal companion now, the bond happened without Belkar even realising it, I bet if you'd ask him for his animal companion class feature he looks at you funny and has no clue what you're tlaking about and then he'd turn your head into a chip bowl


Fixed it for you. He might just shank you in the kidneys though.

[Morquard]

I think it hapened in #622 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0622.html).
"It's you and me from now on, pal. We're in this together, to the top of the heap or bust, until the very, very end."

Actually I think it happened pretty much 100 strips earlier in #520 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0520.html) when he had Scruffy attack Tsukiko. From that time on the cat followed him everywhere and listened to his orders

[Devils_Advocate]

One might be tempted to think that the insertion of apostrophe (http://angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif)s into plurals undermines the grammatical distinction between possessives and plurals, thus defeating the point of using apostrophes in such words in the first place. One might therefore find this more annoying than leaving apostrophes out of possessives. But such usage of this punctuation mark is superfluous even without such haphazard placement, as in these cases context is sufficient to determine meaning. The obvious response, then, is to accelerate the removal of such needlessly complex grammar from the language (http://www.galactanet.com/comic/view.php?strip=411). DEATH TO THE APOSTROPHE! (http://www.angryflower.com/destro.html)

"Grammar would be a lot less confusing if we had smarter intellectuals."
- Dogbert


He has been shown using Wild Empathy, but he failed his save.
Check, not save (since we're being pedantic).


Ranger's get an animal companion at level 4 not 14. Those I guess Mr. Scruffy would fit the bill for the part.
In 3.0, Rangers and Druids acquired animal companions via the animal friendship spell rather than as a distinct class feature. But while Elan got a free chain shirt during the group's edition conversion (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0001.html), Belkar does not seem to have been upgraded appropriately at the time. Heck, he should have gotten Evasion automatically at his presumed level, but he doesn't display the ability (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0469.html) until much later, to the point that he's surprised that it's suddenly showing up. And if he didn't immediately get the additional two skill points per level that he should have gotten, either, that would explain a bit...

Then again, if he spent most of his skill points on Hide, Move Silently (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0270.html), Jump (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0130.html), Climb (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0230.html), Swim, and Search, that would be sufficient to account for his deficiencies in other areas.


Also, because they were thrown weapons.
I have this theory that Belkar gets +1 to hit with daggers even in melee, because they're listed as thrown weapons and halflings have a +1 racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown weapons. (I don't think that it's supposed to work like that, but it's certainly a possible interpretation.)


I'm pretty sure Elans's intelligence is too high...
Yeah, Elan's general mental incompetence is pretty clearly due to a combination of low Intelligence and low Wisdom, but neither individual score is... Well, his Int isn't horribly low, anyway; maybe 8 or so. His Wisdom could be worse, though probably not as bad a Belkar's.


His tracking has actually gotten better, but it's manifesting iself as his sense of smell, it seems. That's how they found the bounty hunters.
Belkar clearly has ranks in some sort of non-standard olfactory perceptual skill rather than the standard Spot and Listen.

His favored enemies are tough to guess, since he seems to be good at killing things in general. Reptilian humanoids seems obvious, but kobolds are the only race that Belkar has expressed particular dislike of, to my recollection. So seemingly either he doesn't have that attitude towards all of his favored enemies, or his other favored enemies are things that we haven't seen him fight yet, like fey or gnolls.

Humans and goblinoids are likely candidates, just because there are lots of them all over the place, so they're prime targets for murderin'. Indeed, having commonly fought favored enemies is the only compelling reason I can see for Belkar not to have gone with a Rogue/Barbarian build from the get-go. But, again, he seems to be generally quite efficient at killing, so maybe he knows something that I don't.

[suszterpatt]

His tracking has actually gotten better, but it's manifesting iself as his sense of smell, it seems. That's how they found the bounty hunters.
Belkar's smell seems to be race related (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0098.html), not class related. (see the relevant thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156681) on the subject)

[suszterpatt]

Oh, and re: favored enemies: humans are an extremely likely candidate (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0261.html).

:belkar: It's like my birthday came early, only instead of birthday cake, there are dead humans. Well, more dead humans, at any rate.

[JonestheSpy]

Belkar's smell seems to be race related (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0098.html), not class related. (see the relevant thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156681) on the subject)

His race may be the justification, but he is currently tracking people down by smell and never did before - though he did identify Nale that one time.

[Orzel]

Track and Swift tracker: He lacks the Survival ranks.
Favored enemy: He's got at least 3. Due to he poor knowledge of rules that can be ANYTHING.
Combat style and ICS: TWF, He's got it.
Endurance: He has to get this but it never comes up. I've played many rangers and I've rarely used the feat.
Animal companion: Possibly Mr. Scruffy.
Spells: Wisdom too low.
Woodland stride: See Endurance
Evasion: He has not been blasted by a non-party member in a while.
Class Skills: He's got Hide and Move Silently down pat.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Well he did use a shield that one time.

[Barlen]

Evasion: He has not been blasted by a non-party member in a while.

See Comic 469 (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0469.html) 2nd panel of the second comic.

He gets blasted by the fireball and takes no damage. His Response is "Huh, when did I learn evasion?"

This is appropriate too since during the first evasion joke he would not have reached level 9 (the level rangers get evasion) yet. He had gained several levels since then.

[Orzel]

Wow. I forgot about that.

[DemLep]

I'm glad this thread didn't get hijacked by the grammar police over one mistake. Correcting people is one thing, but posting just to correct someone is unnecessary and is rude in my opinion.

I think we've pretty much shown that Belkar has most if not all the ranger abilities he should have (Some might be hiding). His abilities just show up less in the comic.

I know he took 1 level of barbarian as well. Not sure if he ever took anymore, but he should use Rage more often.

[derfenrirwolv]

I wonder if he'll be able to pummel someone with two scrolls at once.

[DemLep]

I wonder what the damage on a scroll is? I'd say size wouldn't matter, but number of pages and tightness of roll rather would determine damage. Also loose-leaf would probably be nonlethal, but if it was one that was rolled around something then it could do lethal... wait isn't there a feat that let's you do lethal damage with things that normally do nonlethal damage?