The adventurer’s handbook
Mobile archer and relentless hunter
A Ranger selects one creature and takes a sustained personal interest in its departure from the living. The bow supplies the argument; careful footwork keeps the discussion at a civilized distance. Other adventurers see a room full of monsters. The Ranger sees one problem, several obstructions, and an irritating shortage of clear shooting lanes.
Choose the enemy whose defeat will help most, then keep a legal shooting position. Quarry also works in melee. Pinning Shot holds an enemy in place without stopping its attacks; use the time to gain distance.
Keep the abilities of earlier levels as you gain new ones. XP is experience; the figures below are cumulative thresholds from the beginning of an adventurer’s career.
0 XP
Hunter’s Quarry: +1d6 on the first successful weapon hit against your quarry each round.
2,000 XP
Bow Training: +1 to shortbow and longbow attacks.
4,000 XP
Pinning Shot, once per encounter.
8,000 XP
Skirmish, once per encounter.
16,000 XP
Rapid Shot, once per encounter.
32,000 XP
Pinning Shot increases to twice per encounter.
When declaring an attack on your turn, choose one visible enemy as your quarry. You can designate or change quarry at most once on that turn. Your first successful weapon hit against it each round deals +1d6 damage, with bows or melee weapons. Changing targets grants no new damage allowance. Quarry ends with the encounter, and a dead quarry must be replaced normally. Bonus damage inherits the weapon’s defenses; ordinary arrows do not become magical.
Shortbow and longbow attacks gain +1 to hit. You cannot make a normal bow attack while engaged in melee.
Once per encounter, declare Pinning Shot before a bow attack. On a hit, the target saves against paralysis or cannot voluntarily change areas through the end of its next turn. It can still attack and cast. Movement immunity applies, and flying creatures are not knocked down. The use is spent even on a miss or successful save. At level 6, you have two uses per encounter.
Once per encounter, spend your action to move or legally withdraw one area before or after one bow shot. Wear leather or no armor. The path and destination must be legal; the shot must obey range, visibility, and melee engagement rules when fired.
Once per encounter, add one bow attack to a normal bow attack action. Every attack in that action takes −2 to hit. Quarry still adds damage only once that round. Rapid Shot cannot combine with Skirmish.
An action is your main choice on a turn. A reaction answers a particular event. An encounter is one battle; a crawl includes all its rooms. Encounter resources return for a new battle, not by reloading a page or returning to the same fight.
AC measures armor defense; lower is better. THAC0 is the attack score needed to hit AC 0 before modifiers; lower is better. Saving throws resist hazards. The table shows the required unmodified saving-throw scores; lower is better. Class abilities and equipment can improve them.
| Level | THAC0 | Death / poison | Wands | Paralysis / stone | Breath | Spells |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 2 | 19 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 3 | 19 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 4 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 5 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 6 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |